Monday, May 11, 2009

BELIEVE IT OR NOT - YOUR CHOICE

A blogger who calls herself "Z" (GeeeeeZ ) had this very special quote in her side bar:

If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper, but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury our glory in profound obscurity.....Daniel Webster.

Whether you are "religious" or not (I'm not...I am a practicing Christian but I am not the least bit "religious."), it would serve you well to understand and apply this quote.

A large part of our country has come to believe that there are no moral absolutes, and that each of us must decide on our own what is "right" and what is "wrong."

This is blatantly false.

Like the professor who was asked, "Are there any absolutes in life." "None," he responded. "Are you sure?" the questioner inquired. The professor answered, "Absolutely."

A careful, and honest, reading of the works of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, et. al., will lead you to understand their confidence in the need for the nation to be guided by God (who, in the true Christian perspective is one with Christ), and the principles laid out in the Holy bible.

President BO, has proclaimed that we do not consider ourselves to be a Christian nation.

He's wrong.

I consider our nation to be Christian, so that blanket statement is patently wrong on its face.

There are at least 400 members of my church who consider this nation to be Christian.

So, for President BO to make such a broad-brushed statement is just plain stupid.

Either that, or he has some ax to grind with Christianity, which during the campaign he claimed to embrace.

So what are we, then?

Are we a Muslim nation?

We have Muslims living here, but the answer to the question is, "No."

Are we a Buddhist nation?

We have Buddhists living here, but the answer to the question is, "No."

We are a nation founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic and we allow, indeed insist on freedom of religion.

The principles laid down by our founders came from the Bible.

Try the Ten Commandments on for size.

Which of them is not a good principle to live by?

(I'll bet you don't know more than four or five of them.)

The fact is, we were founded upon, lived by and practiced those principles for the majority of our existence.

We are turning from those principles through a corporate disinterest in those ideals and thus are suffering the consequences of divisiveness, national anger, and economic turmoil.

If we return to the basic tenets of the Judeo-Christian ethic, we will accommodate all of those segments of society that share a search for the goodness of mankind, even though they might not understand the Christian principles of "sin" and "God's forgiveness."

Our decision making processes will be made easier and more correctly, both nationally and internationally.

Those principles are laid out in the Bible.

Believe it or not...your choice.

12 comments:

Pasadena Closet Conservative said...

I remember when moral absolutes were taught in public school when I was a kid in the 1950s and 1960s! Those days are long gone.

Ask a kid nowadays what Aesop's Fables are, or what the Golden Rule is, and you'll get a blank stare.

Joe said...

PCC: The stares I get don't rise to the level of blank.

shoprat said...

You are correct but so many will never listen.

Ration Al said...

What a bunch of hogwash - this poster intimates that Jefferson was a Christian?

"A careful, and honest, reading of the works of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, et. al., will lead you to understand their confidence in the need for the nation to be guided by God (who, in the true Christian perspective is one with Christ), and the principles laid out in the Holy bible."

Sorry, Jefferson was a Deist.

Someone needs a little refresher course in history.

But why attend to accurate history when you have faith?

:o)

Ration Al

snaggletoothie said...

Ration Al
A careful reading does not not point to any assertion that Jefferson was a Christian. The only mention of Christ is in the parenthesis. And The matter in the parenthesis is not necessarily in reference to Jefferson. It is an explanation of how a Christian views the Bible.
Are you aware of any overt assertion by Jefferson that he was not a Christian? I'm not an expert but I have read a bit by him and about him and I am not aware of any such declaration from Jefferson himself.

Joe said...

Ration Al: Somebody told you that, you thought it was a good thing and you believed it.

It is not, however, true...not in the least.

Jefferson was not a "conventional" Christian, and certainly not an evangelical in the usual sense of the word, but his own writings support the notion that he subscribed to a uniquely Jeffersonian Christianity.

He even held worship services in what is now the rotunda of the White House.

Yeah...worship services.

He actually wrote his own version of the Bible which he used to support his "brand" of Christianity and to use in his worship services.

When he established the University of Virginia, Jefferson and his Board of Visitors (i.e., Regents) founded the it as a school not affiliated with only one denomination; it was specifically founded as a trans-denominational school.

Consequently, it did not incorporate the three features so commonly associated with other universities at that time, thus causing modern critics wrongly to claim that it was founded as a secular university.

Jefferson was embracing the position that had been nationally set forth by an evangelical Presbyterian clergyman, Samuel Knox of Baltimore, whom Jefferson later asked to be his first faculty member at the University of Virginia.

Jefferson had begun actively promoting Christian non-preferentialism in his famous 1786 Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, which disestablished the Anglican Church as the only legally recognized and established denomination in Virginia and instead placed all Christian denominations on an even footing.

Jefferson personally ensured that religious instruction would occur, directing that the teaching of...
"the proofs of the being of a God – the Creator, Preserver, and Supreme Ruler of the Universe – the Author of all the relations of morality and of the laws and obligations these infer – will be within the province of the Professor of Ethics." His own words.

He also said: "On the contrary, the relations which exist between man and his Maker – and the duties resulting from those relations – are the most interesting and important to every human being and the most incumbent on his study and investigation."

And he NEVER embraced deism.

My friend, you need to UNLEARN what some half-witted, liberal leaning, teacher and/or professor, or friends taught you and go do some first person reading of your own.

You are dead wrong.

Absolutely undeducated on the subject and just parroting what you have heard from others.

Wake up.

Joe said...

Ration AL: By the way, my friend, I am an olde man, probably dying with a heart that wants to stop beating.

I have no reason to make stuff up, nor do I just spit out what others have said. It gains me nothing.

When I write my opinion, anybody is free to disagree with me.

But I NEVER...NEVER write about FACTS without fully checking them out.

Do you?

Ration Al said...

Yes I do, Joey.

And the first definition of a Christian is that they profess their belief in Christ.

Name one quote that Jefferson said about his belief in Christ.

Name one. I dare you.

You're dancing around alot of facts, Joey.

And you are 100% wrong. And unfortunately, I think you know it.

Jefferson wrote ALOT. He kept a daily diary of the weather, and many other things. I just turned around and counted 6 volumes of Dumas Maone's bio of Jefferson, plus about 10 other books on the man.

Give me one quote where Jefferson professes his belief in Christ. If you can provide a quote where Jefferson says anything to the effect that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God's presence on Earth, and the path to heaven is your belief in Him, and his path only" I'll write you a check for $100.

Jefferson wrote alott, and if he was a Christian he would have written and least one sentence that clarifies his faith in Christ.

He was not.

Unless of course, you can prove it, and you haven't yet.

GIVE US SOME FACTS FOR A CHANGE, JOEY.

Joe said...

Ration AL: You have made a lot of statements about a lot of things Jefferson has written, but you have not quoted a single thing he said, giving evidence that you know he wrote them but have no idea what they said. Only what you have been TOLD they said (or didn't say).

Watch for tomorrow's post.

Ration Al said...

Next! POST! FACTO!!!!!

Where's the next post on Jefferson's Christianity St. Joey?

Ok, I'll bite, what do you want me to comment on regarding Jefferson? If Jefferson never cared to comment on Jesus Christ, how can I quote it? He wasn't a rabid anti-Christian, he just didn't think that Christianity was relevant in his life.

So he didn't write about it.

So, Joe, show me where Jefferson speaks about his own beliefs on Christianity.

If Jefferson doesn't profess it, how do you expect to prove it?

Cough up the evidence SCROGGINS.

Problem is, you can't.

Woot!! Cough it up Joey-boy-o.

BIG HAT NO CATTLE.

Pfffttt!!!

Rational Al said...

I spit in the eye of those who want to rewrite history.

Joe said...

Ration Al: First, and most important of all, there is no "R" in my name.

Secondly, had you paid attention you would have seen that I was answering you in this comment string, but the "tomorrow" reference referred to the 14th. It will be here tonight at 12:05 AM.

Thirdly, will you be ready to eat crow when I quote Jefferson TOMORROW? Turns out he had a lot to say about Jesus, Christianity, the clergy, the church and their relationship to American society.

Fourthly: The next time you spit in my eye, I'll begin deleting all of your comments. That is unmanly and uncivilized.

Fifthly: When you read the post you'll see that your statement, "He wasn't a rabid anti-Christian, he just didn't think that Christianity was relevant in his life." is a very, very uneducated statement that you just made up.

Finally: How do you like your crow?