Saturday, October 29, 2011 "Christian Nation" Part III

Saturday, October 29, 2011

"Christian Nation" Part III

First From Julie's Keyboard:

Today as I spent some time among relatives I haven't seen in a while, it got me thinking about the changes in our society.  Life as we know it here in this earth has shifted so much from even a couple of decades ago.  My heart gets a bit grieved at times when I see the passivity in the lives of people and the tolerance of everything under the sun.

The issue in mind is how we're to just be one big, loving, happy family, patting one another on the back, and passing out kudos to our young ones while they try and see how many different paths they can travel in this life.  Someone may need to enlighten me, but as far as I know, God's Word has not changed one iota!  Why do we invent new terms for the "same old sins" that have plagued mankind throughout the ages?

Then of course, when you attempt to make a point in this regard, all of a sudden you've become the biggest legalist imaginable.  You will often hear a sermonette on how we're not under the Law but under Grace.  Thanks be to God that we are indeed under His Grace and Mercy or we would have been sentenced to doom all too long ago.  However, He surely didn't mean for us to go on and live as the majority of society, in sin, and pulling out grace and mercy like they're cards to swipe for payment!

I submit to you today, that He deserves so much more.  It's so great for us that Jesus Christ came and fulfilled the law and the prophets.  However, He never intended for us to disregard the lessons to be learned from studying these.  They tell us things that our God loves as well as what He hates.  Don't we need to know this anymore?

If we're going to build a successful relationship with anyone, especially our Heavenly Father, we need to know what He loves and what He hates.  With anyone that we love in sincerity, we desire to please them.  How much more priority should be placed on developing this closeness with the Father, God. 

Will you get to know Him today?  Will you learn the things he prefers?  If we do get to know Him, there will be a desire to do just this.

Scripture Reference:
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."                I John 2:4

Have a blessed week,

Julie



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"Christian Nation" Part III

In continuing to explore the concept of a Christian Nation as defined by the United States Supreme Court in 1892 as discussed in post http://spiritualheritage.blogspot.com/2011/10/christian-nation.html lets look at America's first constitutions.

In the "Fundamental orders of Connecticut" (1639) which was not only the first constitution written in the United States but was also the direct antecedent of our current federal Constitution we find this wording:

"Well knowing when a people are gathered together, the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people, there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God." - - - - The code of 1650, Being a Complilation of the Earliest Laws and Orders of the General Court of Connecticut (Hartford: Silus Andurs, 1822), p. 2.

This constitution expressed the peoples desire to:

"Enter into combination and confederation together to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess . . . which, according to the truth of the said Gospel, is now practiced amongst us." - - - - Code of 1650, p. 2

Later in the same year, New Hampshire established a similar constitution that declared:

"Considering with ourselves the holy will of God, and our own necessity that we should not live without laws and civil government among us, of which we are altogether destitute; do in the name of Christ and in the sight of God combine ourselves together to erect and set up among us such government as shall be to our best discerning agreeable to the will of God." - - - - Hazard's historical collections, Vol. I, p. 463.

It is interesting to note that by 1643 Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Plymouth, and New Haven joined together to form the "New England Confederation" which was America's first "united" government.  This document expressed their goals as:

"We all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ." - - - - Hazard's Historical collections, Vol. II, p. 1.

We could continue listing documents and government formations that reflected similar views and desires, but these should suffice here for the moment.  Our spiritual roots in the Christian religion has been and can be easily verified, supporting the U. S. Supreme Court ruling in 1892, establishing the nature and character of the United States and supporting the term "Christian Nation" as referred to when referencing the United States of America.

I am aware of the Statement and wording used in dealing with the Islamic issue in Tripoli where it is said that America is not a Christian Nation.  That statement came at a much later time in our history and was made in trying to solve diplomatically, issues with Muslim attacks upon American ships.  It was also defining the term "Christian Nation" using different definitions that what was referenced in the 1892 U. S. Supreme Court ruling.

Putting that argument aside for time being, as we continue to travel across our History we are continuing to see the influence of Christianity upon our people, education, and laws.  These in themselves are defining who and what we are without any government enforcement.  It is simply the heart of a free people expressing themselves through their understanding of the world around them.  And they saw that world through the lens of scripture.

Perhaps we will continue to explore this next week,

May God bless each of you,

David