IT IS NOT ABOUT LABELS

As I begin to write, I don’t intend to write a long, complicated post. The idea is, I think, relatively simple.

What inspired me to finally get around to writing this post? Reading Musings by NICHOLAS. NICHOLAS begins his post by looking forward to Pentecost and expressing his admiration for those who choose to live in accordance with the Gospel. Then NICHOLAS begins to express considerable gloom about the world.

Pondering on some of the recent pieces at NEO, I’ve had cause to reflect on the label “conservative” and on how I would no longer describe myself as an evangelical. Labels, it is often said, can be unhelpful.

I think many of us have questioned how “conservative” some of our new-found allies really are. In the old days, the people massing under the populist banner would not have been in alliance. It has taken the radicalism of the Left to bring these disparate groups together, who, differing on many points, have in common a desire for free speech and moderation (at least in some areas).

from Musings (nebraskaenergyobserver.wpcomstaging.com)

NICHOLAS goes on to muse about the growing rot and the increasing suffering of ordinary people.

What is the trouble that NICHOLAS sees? How do we define it? NICHOLAS actually does a decent job.

This rot has always been there – it is the sinful nature found within each individual. Every age has had to fight the war against the political expressions of this evil: tyranny, unjust wars, exploitation, etc.  However, for many of us, there is a sense that it is getting worse, that it is coming to its conclusion.

from Musings (nebraskaenergyobserver.wpcomstaging.com)

How close are we to this conclusion? No one knows, but we should know that we will not succeed in properly governing ourselves without high moral standards. At, early Americans understood the necessity of high moral standards.

While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. — John Adams

FROM TO THE OFFICERS OF THE FIRST BRIGADE OF THE THIRD DIVISION OF THE MILITIA OF MASSACHUSETTS, 11 October, 1798

Because we have set up a government-run public school system that supposedly provides each child a “free” education, each successive generation has made less and less effort to educate their children about the teachings of the Bible. So, each successive generation has less Biblical wisdom. Therefore, we have become less and less capable of governing ourselves.

What does Biblical wisdom do to make it possible for our Constitution to work? Consider.

Here is the oath the Constitution requires our President to take.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The U.S Constitution, Article. II., Section. 1.

In fact, the Constitution requires all public officials to take an oath to support it.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

The U.S Constitution, Article. VI.

What if we don’t take our oaths seriously? What if our public officials don’t take their oaths seriously? The Constitution is just a set of rules. If we don’t take our oaths seriously, then we will break and bend the rules in the Constitution any which way we can.

Study the Constitution — our Constitution. Are our public officials — is our President — taking their oaths seriously? Are we holding them accountable, or are we letting them buy us off with “other people’s money”? Of course, we all know the answers to these questions. Too many of our public officials don’t take their oaths seriously, and we are not holding them accountable. Instead of leaders exercising the limited powers given to them by our Constitution, we now have leaders who spend and BORROW money to buy our votes, and these leaders have the gall to pretend they are “investing” public funds. Instead of leaders who seek to use their constitutional powers to protect our rights, we have leaders who will, if they can, enslave us, supposedly to protect us.

Because too many of us lack Biblical wisdom — because we are not a moral and religious people — increasingly we must contend with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. This is just a small example of how much we need to turn to our Creator and beg for His Wisdom.

Jeremiah 17:5-11 New American Standard Bible

5 This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind

And makes flesh his strength,

And whose heart turns away from the Lord.

⁶ For he will be like a bush in the desert,

And will not see when prosperity comes,

But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,

A land of salt that is not inhabited.

⁷ Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

And whose trust is the Lord.

⁸ For he will be like a tree planted by the water

That extends its roots by a stream,

And does not fear when the heat comes;

But its leaves will be green,

And it will not be anxious in a year of drought,

Nor cease to yield fruit.

⁹ “The heart is more deceitful than all else

And is desperately sick;

Who can understand it?

¹⁰ I, the Lord, search the heart,

I test the mind,

To give to each person according to his ways,

According to the results of his deeds.

¹¹ As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,

So is a person who makes a fortune, but unjustly;

In the middle of his days it will abandon him,

And in the end he will be a fool.”