Did America's Founding Fathers take their religious seriously?
than anything else I have posted to TheBibleMeditator web site.
It has received three times more than the second most viewed article.
the next article was viewed 6,375 times.
"'Year of our lord' was a common phrasing at the time. As in, all official documents were signed that way. It was not in any way a tribute to god or recognition of god being real and true. It was just a statement of date.
I will put some of this sermon into a reply to her.
she would have discovered that she ignored the facts.
would have shown her that they took religion seriously.
They did not want the free exercise of it disrupted.
a cooperative attitude, toward religion.
We typically say that the part before the semi-colon is about religion.
However, all that I have quoted can refer to religion.
Why did they make that exception for Sundays?
Did they watch football? Go golfing? Sleep all day?
You know what they were doing, and I do not even to say.
I was on the Site Council on Klamath Union High School.
A proposal was made for an activity on Wednesday nights.
she said many of the kids go to Bible classes on Wednesday.
just said that the proposed event might have low attendance.
that they believe the government should intentionally do things against religion.
The Sunday exception shows an attitude of cooperation.
That is an implicit reference to Jesus of Nazareth.
Although the secular liberal left seeks to downplay it.
Consideration of what they said about religion in The Constitution itself.
"The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Consider the calls for prayer that they put out during the Revolutionary War.
that Congress issued during the War.
I came across this page, "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic.
"The Continental-Confederation Congress, a legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, contained an extraordinary number of deeply religious men. The amount of energy that Congress invested in encouraging the practice of religion in the new nation exceeded that expended by any subsequent American national government. Although the Articles of Confederation did not officially authorize Congress to concern itself with religion, the citizenry did not object to such activities. This lack of objection suggests that both the legislators and the public considered it appropriate for the national government to promote a nondenominational, nonpolemical Christianity.
"Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, sponsored the publication of a Bible, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians. National days of thanksgiving and of 'humiliation, fasting, and prayer' were proclaimed by Congress at least twice a year throughout the war. Congress was guided by 'covenant theology,' a Reformation doctrine especially dear to New England Puritans, which held that God bound himself in an agreement with a nation and its people. This agreement stipulated that they 'should be prosperous or afflicted, according as their general Obedience or Disobedience thereto appears.' Wars and revolutions were, accordingly, considered afflictions, as divine punishments for sin, from which a nation could rescue itself by repentance and reformation.
they should ask Him for help again in putting together the Constitution.
They battled furiously over it.
He reminded all present that God heard their prayers during the Revolution.
they meant what it said.
What this means for you as a Christian.
These matters affect what we do and do not do.
God gave us government (Rom 13; 1Pe 2).
even as we do other things He has given us.
Ezra and his generation used a non-Israelite government to their advantage.
as well as their restoration of the temple.
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 3 Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem (Ezra 1.1–4).
Chapter four shows opposition from their enemies, making the Jews stop.
24 Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia (Ezra 4.24).
However, the prophets of God stirred up the people to rebuild the temple (Ezra 5.1).
And the Jews began again to work on the temple.
Without surprise their enemies opposed their work.
17 "Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the king's treasure house, which is there in Babylon, whether it is so that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send us his pleasure concerning this matter" (Ezra 5.17).
1 Then King Darius issued a decree, and a search was made in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. 2 And at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found, and in it a record was written thus: 3 In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem: "Let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offered sacrifices…" (Ezra 6.1–3a).
He backed them with the law.
25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?" 26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, "Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman." 27 Then the commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" He said, "Yes." 28 The commander answered, "With a large sum I obtained this citizenship." And Paul said, "But I was born a citizen." 29 Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him (Act 22.25–29).
9 But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things?" 10 So Paul said, "I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know. 11 For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar" (Act 25.9–11).
the religious activities of individuals.
does not mean it is so.
even as you discover things by reading God's Law.
brings blessings to us more than any past nation could have imagined.
some of them are saved.
to citizenship in the Kingdom of God.