"Jeffersons Faith"

This is a short post to consider the faith of one of our most controversial Presidents considered to be among the elite group called our Founding Fathers. Atheist claim him as an advocate for their side and offer many anti-religious quotes or statements made by him during his lifetime. The most general consensus is that he was a Deist. Yet, many Christians also claim him as their advocate and offer many favorable Christian statements uttered during his tenure.

So what was Presidents Jeffersons faith? I suppose if you were to ask him he would say something like:  "My views . . . are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the antichristian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which He [Jesus] wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others." ~ Thomas Jefferson. (Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, editor (Boston: Grey & Bowen, 1830), Vol. III, p. 506, to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803.)

In trying to understand what Jefferson believed about God and religion we need to consider more than just the quotes offered by Atheist as well as those offered by Christians. We must understand like the rest of us, Jefferson was not born a Christian, he was born a sinner. Like the rest of us, he would have had to hear the Gospel and by a special work of the Holy Spirit become convinced of his sin and repent and believe by faith alone in Christ alone.  However, even after such a profession, a time of growth must be allowed for that faith to mature. Also, one must consider the influences over the curse of his life that would hinder or strengthen that faith. Where ever we are in our Christian faith, if we have been a Christian very long we did not start where we are now. Our views and understanding of the Gospel have changed over the years. Depending upon the teachings we have received and the influences we have had in our life all affect the growth and understanding of our faith.

2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Because of the sinfulness of men, Christianity has had those who for their own profit or pride bring un-sound or unbiblical teaching into the church. They all hold the Bible as their authority or claim they have discovered some new understanding of its contents. Many have been subjected to such teachings, some to their destruction. These unbiblical teachings range from doctrinal error to outright heresies. Jefferson's faith appears to have grown and become strongly rooted in the Reformed tradition and he held very Orthodox views within the Church. This is reflected in a national prayer he offered March 4th, 1805 stating:

"Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners. 

Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.

Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth.

In time of prosperity fill out hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." ` Thomas Jefferson, March 4th, 1805.  

In this prayer, we see an understanding of the Trinity, of Gods Sovereignty, of his Providential workings in His creation and among the nations. We see the source of authority and our total dependency upon God to save us. We see the understanding of our responsibility to evangelize as a people true to God and to be thankful for that which we have been given and commissioned. And finally, we see his understanding that Christ is the source and the sustainer of our faith.  All of the elements in this prayer are fundamental elements of Orthodox Christian beliefs and of sound doctrine. They most certainly are not the beliefs of a Deist or one with anti-christian views.

However, the latter part of his life left him with a very different understanding of the Gospel.

"The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute inquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament, there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills." 

~Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814

In the latter part of his life, he came to deny the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. This appears to be a result of a religious movement that influenced much of his area of Virginia. This movement was carried by men such as Thomas Campbell, Barton Stone, and a close friend of Jefferson a Reverend James O'Kelly as well as others. These men brought un-Orthodox teachings, advancing their personal views and proclaiming their sect as the group returning to true biblical teachings. It came out of what is known as the Cane Ridge Revival of Kentucky.  They rejected traditional Christianity, the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, the authenticity of the Bible, and many of the writings of the Apostles. They claimed that only certain parts of what we have as scripture now could be understood as true teachings. Of course, they were the ones who knew which parts were true.  Jefferson became heavily influenced by these men and this movement. His faith was so troubled in the end it is difficult to say if his faith was a saving faith or a destructive heresy.

The lesson we learn here is not whether or not Jefferson was a Christian, but the importance of sound doctrine. Not everything that cries Christian is Christian. It may look good, sound good, and bear a very close resemblance to true Christianity, however, we must be very diligent in our study. We must test every doctrine against the scripture and the church's understanding of that scripture over history. For many have had their faith made shipwreck.

Tit 1:9  Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. 

Tit 1:10  For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 

Tit 1:11  Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. 

May the Grace of God be upon each of you,

David

  

"The rise and fall of a Nation"

"A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about." - President Woodrow Wilson.

Websters 1828 dictionary of American English ~ NATION, n. [to be born]
1. A body of people inhabiting the same country, or united under the same sovereign or government; as the English nation; the French nation. It often happens that many nations are subject to one government; in which case, the word nation usually denotes a body of people speaking the same language, or a body that has formerly been under a distinct government, but has been conquered, or incorporated with a larger nation. Thus the empire of Russia comprehends many nations, as did formerly the Roman and Persian empires. Nation, as its etymology imports, originally denoted a family or race of men descended from a common progenitor, like tribe, but by emigration, conquest and intermixture of men of different families, this distinction is in most countries lost. 

Generally speaking, we all have a special affection for the land in which we were born. We often think ourselves superior to those born elsewhere. In rare instances, one is able to be involved in the formation of a new nation. This may inspire one to greater affections for that land because of the hardships and sacrifices that have been personally felt or witnessed. As we consider our history from where ever we are in the world, we must recognize nations rise and nations fall. I will suggest in this post, that rise and fall can at times be so subtle its people don't even recognize it's demise.

In the case of the American experience, we have a people coming together for a common purpose under common influences. One usually thinks of the word "freedom" when the American Revolution is mentioned. However, more is involved than just freedom and the desire for it. For you see, a criminal desires freedom, yet freedom obtained is an injustice done and a demise to human society. 

Paul tells us in Rom 6:22  (But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.) Freedom from one thing must mean willing servanthood to another. Otherwise, freedom without law is not true freedom but anarchy. American freedom was the putting off of one rule and the putting on of another. The new government that was established embodied a particular world view and ideas of freedom that was derived for the most part from the religious principles by which they the people then desired to live. Much concerning these principles have been written about on this blog over the past decade, one can peruse through those if interested, for the moment I want us to consider a specific perspective.

We must I think, consider the quote above from President Wilson a present reality. We as Americans, for the most part, have forgotten what we were about as a nation. We don't know where we came from nor what we have been about. We are confused about the remnants of our history and the shadows of the original government that remains.

I would suggest the nation that then was no longer exists, it has fallen and another one has risen. I say this because the people of that America would not recognize the government that is now. And the people that are now, have no desire to be ruled by the principles that governed Americans then. We are casting off all we have been about and embracing that we know not what. The early American system thrived with its Christian influence and religious values. 

President John Adams rightly observed: "It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation’s humble acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence." 

His son, John Quincy Adams later would state on July 4, 1837:  "In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. It forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation. The Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission on Earth [and] laid the cornerstone of human government on the first precepts of Christianity.”

It can be summed up by the words of Alexis de Tocqueville, “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

That America has but all been stripped away, we as a people now are clothing ourselves with values entirely different. Freedom rings to a different note than it rang for us in early America. It is a difficult time for us as a people; the social, moral, and religious issues divide us greatly. We have taken opposing sides and all to often see each other as enemies.

Enemies we are not, but simply a fallen people who have lost their way and forgotten what they have been about. I think Tocqueville missed the point slightly in his statement, "America is great because she is good," America was great because the Gospel had born fruit, and the people did not feel bound by our laws but kept by them. Our jurisprudence was conducive to our religious values. It cannot be denied that the influence of the Gospel upon our people from the very beginning gave us a very unique ability to govern ourselves. It set standards of behavior in human affairs that gave us our understanding of justice and right government. It formed our society and the way we were expected to live and work and raise our families. This was all an effect upon the heart of our people.  The definition of all these things have now changed and thus we are in great conflict. Unless there is a revival of our former spiritual affairs, an entirely different nation will emerge. One nation will have fallen and another will have arisen. It is my desire that the God of Providence will be pleased to once again turn our hearts to the Gospel. 

God bless each of you,

David