Can you imagine an America where cursing and swearing were illegal? You could be fined or incarcerated for behaving so vial in public. Surely the people would have been duly miserable under such an oppressive government! However, if there were any misery in the colonies, it was not due to oppressive laws. The people of this land and these settlements were very pious with a deep desire to honor and serve the Lord. This was simply an expression of their desire for the civil and social climate they hoped to produce. The freedom they sought was the freedom to live such a life. If you do a google search on life in colonial America you will find something like this: "The colonists relocated to the New World with a notion that the New Land would be rich in gold, silver, and precious stones. As the colonists settled in the colonies and became familiar with the surroundings, they understood the fallacies of their notions. They did not get any help from the precarious conditions in their motherland. Even for farming, they had the basic problem of adjusting to the changed climatic conditions. Initially, life in the New World was not as easy and prosperous as it was thought earlier." That statement is supposed to reflect a true historical account of the people who settled this land. It may be an accurate account of the people who are here now, but it is a completely false assessment of the true history and purpose.
Truth is a precious commodity, and the older it is the more valuable it becomes and the more difficult to obtain. Multitudes of books have been written to form American History in a fashion to support our current agendas and personal crusades. Truth in our current American climate is very difficult to acquire. The older the account the better, and the surest way to know who and what Americans were in the beginning, is to read their own words and examine their society.
James Oglethorpe obtained a charter in 1732 to establish a colony in North America. He had previously devoted himself to the kind work of relieving persons who were imprisoned for debt and suffering in loathsome jails. He actuates one of the true elements of the American experiment with a desire to see such be placed in an independent colony in America.
The great historian George Bancroft states concerning Oglethorpe, "For them, and for persecuted Protestants, he planned an asylum and a destiny in America, where former poverty would be no reproach, and where the simplicity of piety could indulge the spirit of devotion without fear of persecution from men who hated the rebuke of its example." - George Bancroft (1800-1891) [However, that rebuke now resides in America alive and well.]
In January 1732, Oglethorpe, with one hundred and twenty emigrants, landed in America, and on the basis of the Christian religion laid the future commonwealth of Georgia.
President Stiles, of Yale College, 1783 stated, "It is certain that civil dominion was but the second motive, religion the primary one, with our ancestors in coming hither and settling this land. It was not so much their design to establish a religion for the benefit of the state, as a civil government for the benefit of religion, and as subservient and even necessary towards the peaceable and unmolested exercise of that religion for which they fled to these ends of the earth. They designed, in thus laying the foundations of a new state, to make it a model for the glorious kingdom of Christ." - Ezra Stiles.
Before the Declaration of Independence, the Bishop of St. Asaph published the following in light of the American colonies, "It is difficult for a man to look into the destiny of future ages, the designs of Providence are vast and complicated, and our own powers are too narrow to admit of much satisfaction to our curiosity. But when we see so many great and powerful causes constantly at work, we cannot doubt of their producing proportional effects.
"In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America, I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country." - Alexis de Tocqueville. Democracy in America (New York: Vintage Books, 1945), Vol. I, p. 319. This is not that America, it would be more like France today, Tocqueville again would not be impressed in his visit today.
"Religion in America . . . must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief." Today Mr. Tocqueville would find quite the opposite.
I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion for who can search the human heart? But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of the republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society. - Alexis de Tocqueville. Democracy in America (New York: Vintage Books, 1945), Vol. I, p 316. Today Mr. Tocqaueville would find most institutions in America disregarding religion altogether.
Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.- Alexis de Tocqueville. The Republic of the United States of America and Its Political Institutions, Vol. 1, p. 335. Today liberty in the minds of most Americas has nothing to do with religion.
If so godly a people struggle so with injustices and sin breaking forth in their society, how should we expect the passions of our society to behave, who have been set free from the law and religious restraint?
Our 2nd President John Adams understood this very well, it is articulated in his statement, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams. If you remove the religious influence and the moral base that rests upon that religion, the government as they gave it to us is wholly inadequate. We must therefore expect a change in the form and structure of the government in this land. As the base is gradually removed it is gradually replaced with another. As that removal is accelerated so is its replacement. There are still elements of the original government still giving some stability to our nation, but it is in an accelerated state of change even at this moment. We must remember there is no way back except the way we came, through the kind providence of God if he be so pleased to give grace to a nation yet once more.
The religion and law gave restraint because the Christian Gospel produces the fruit of the heart that gladly obeys and rejoices in righteousness. Religion and law outside the Gospel is a tyrant bent on oppression and conformity, society without either is lawlessness.
In the most significant way, our society has already changed, what Tocqueville observed in American society no longer exists. There is a new religion that has replaced Christianity, in its profession of love it is only tolerant of the tolerant. It will allow you to believe whatever you want to believe as long as you don't claim to know the truth. Once you do that, it is declared you must be stopped! There is a portion of this new religion that has even taken the name of Christianity but holds a philosophy of beliefs no different than the Atheist with the exception of the belief in a deity to promote them.
The following was posted on Facebook and agreed to and liked by average American folks who grew up in rule America in the 1950s and '60s, attended church and are kind to their neighbors, grew up with prayer and the pledge of allegiance in their school schedule, and are generally good and honest people:
"When I was a Christian extremist, I was obsessed with pointing others to Jesus to save them because I GENUINELY LOVED PEOPLE. I mean, if hell is real, and you really cared about people, you'd spend every waking minute trying to pull people out of the fire.
I was born into Christianity, and didn't know anything else. It wasn't until I took a step back to think about it logically that I realized how GRUESOME and UNLOVING the belief in hell is. It is OPPOSITE of LOVE. Because I genuinely loved people, once I saw it that way, I was HORRIFIED over my zeal and how I came across to people. I don't hate people who are really caught up in the belief of hell and are genuine in their love for others. I get it. I was the same way.
The belief in hell is just not showing love to people the way you want it to. It's dangerous. It's harmful. It's toxic. It's unfortunate that Christianity has so much power, it sucks good people in. I don't believe that everyone needs to think like me. I am not responsible for anyone else except me and how I guide my children.
I was very vocal about deconstruction while I was actively deconstructing. I still spoke about it over the years, but not as much as I do now. I don't care what adults do with their own time and energy. Adults are capable of making their own choices. No one needs me to tell them otherwise. When Religion has actively taken a hold of the SCOTUS, and I know Christian extremists' unrelentless agenda is to strip Americans of basic human rights and freedom in the name of God- that's where I stop respecting.
As much as they boldly proclaim the gospel, as much as they boldly try to take over America, I will boldly speak out against them, and will actively try to dissuade people from Christianity without remorse. People's eternal lives aren't at stake, but people's REAL LIVES ARE. This life on earth matters. It matters to a lot of us. When I come across good people who spread the gospel, I am grieved because I love them, and they are hurting others unaware. I won't stop even if it hurts people's feelings.
Just as you have the freedom to practice your religion, I have the freedom to share my personal story and to warn people about spiritual traps. They have a clear agenda to take over our government, and they won't stop unless we stop them." - Recent Facebook posting
It is amazing this philosophy has gained so much traction in this country and is growing at an accelerated rate. It sounds almost reasonable until you take it apart and examine it. First, the very essence that our founders named indispensable to the support of our society, they mark as dangerous, harmful, and toxic. They remove all restraints under the pretense they are capable of making their own decisions and no one dares tell them otherwise. One has to ask what decisions are they arguing for? They answer with the next statement when referencing the Supreme Court, which is obviously pointing to at least the recent abortion ruling. It is not the freedoms we have always cherished in America that they have such concern about, but the moral restraints that have always been with us. It is those they now want to cast off, any who would attempt to hold on to those time-tested restraints are labeled as extremists who are presented as trying to strip us of our basic rights.
It is when one embraces the moral fabric upon which this country was founded they turn from their boast of love and toleration to the warning they will never stop at their efforts until they achieve their purpose. They confess with their loving demeanor that anyone has the right to practice their own religion, except when it comes to traditional historic Christianity, which they claim has a clear agenda to take over our government and must be stopped.
This is the course of nations, it always has been. We have been a people who have been blessed beyond measure, more so than any in human history. Amid all our mistakes and blunders the principles that guided us gave us great opportunities for peace and prosperity. The hope set forth in the Gospel strengthened our hearts and established our culture. As we reject that hope we lose that culture and exchange it for another. Know for sure the Gospel will remain and the Christian faith will persevere, but we may lose our nation as we know it and return to the way the world was before this great experience of freedom. If that is our course, let us as Christian embrace it with all faith and assurance, knowing we reside in the hands of a faithful and loving Father and Saviour. It may be we are called to be a light in a truly dark and godless America.
May the grace of God be upon each of you,
David
