Those who forget the past...

Recently I was asked the question “Why should religious liberty be able to trump civil liberty?” This is a great question, and it is one that flows out of the post-modern times that we in the United States now live in. The so called 'civil liberty' context in this case is this: Should homosexual individuals be able to demand a service from a private business that, if provided, would violate the business owners religious liberty, or freedom of conscience?

George Washington said the following in his Farewell Address “Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?”

Virtue, handed down by Providence, was a bedrock principle the Founders of this country embraced as they debated, crafted, and then codified the documents that forged this nation. The Declaration of Independence observes that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Creator, Judge, and Protector

“Created equal” means that we have an equal standing before God, the Creator. No individual or race is better than any other in His eyes, and in relation to Him. We would be a planet of robots if “created equal” meant anything else. It certainly does not mean an individual can demand something or anything from someone else because he is “equal” with everyone else.

The Founders recognized that God judges mankind. In what capacity does God judge? He judges the heart of man, what he thinks, what he says, and what he does. If these thoughts, intentions of the heart, and actions violate the standard of God for man, then man must pay the penalty for that sin, for he alone is responsible for his comport. Here is how the Declaration for Independence states the idea “We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions...”

We the people value virtue to the extent that we write it into our founding documents, chisel it in and on our public buildings, sing about it in our songs, and speak about it in our public meetings. We recognize our contingency on God and say as much in the Declaration of Independence: “...and for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

The Judeo-Christian Heritage

It is an inescapable fact that the Founders acknowledged the Bible and the God of the Bible as the Supreme Authority. Before debating on what to do about British oppression, the first Continental Congress, on Sept 7^th 1774 sought guidance from the King of kings and Lord of lords, ending the prayer with “All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior.”

The Constitution itself closes with the following: “...done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven...”

The point is simply this. The United States of America was founded upon the virtue of acknowledging, believing, and acting upon the relationship of the creature to the Creator as described in the Bible. Does this mean that all the Founders were perfect, or that anyone since is? Of course not. What it does mean is that every individual, as well as the nation as a whole, is personally responsible to the One who knows the intentions of the heart. Conversely, if that heart, and on a greater scale, the heart of the nation is given over to vice, the nation will not stand.

Homosexuality is a vice, plain and simple. It goes against nature, and is clearly condemned in the Bible. The following is Romans 1:24-27

“(24) Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, (25) because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (26) For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; (27) and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” ESV

When the government becomes evil, by rejecting its foundation and creating laws protecting sexual vice, and special people classes based on sexual vice, it effectively destroys religious liberty, and ultimately destroys itself. The citizens who seek to do business and conduct their lives while honoring God are forced through a man-made law, to violate the higher law, the very law the country depends on for protection, and the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

“Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue?”

George Washington understood virtue and its place in the heart of the nation. There is no longer felicity in our nation as a nation. For the past 100 years, the progressive agenda has sought to undermine the religious underpinnings of America and replace it with a humanistic federal government that seeks to implement its atheistic world view through legislation. It has largely achieved that goal.  As a result, our nation has been and is being torn asunder, because unlike our Founders, acknowledgment of and submission to God--and truth--in our nation is not embraced but rejected. The Bible describes current day America in the book of Romans, chapter 1:

“(18) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (19) For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. (20) For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (21) For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” ESV.

The Good News

The Creator is calling out to everyone though the world around us. And the good news is that the cross of Christ is where the sins of every person that cries out in repentance hang. A new life in Christ is one of joy, hope and love. This new life is the only hope for the lost, and for America.