When I was a child, my father taught me some of his basic rules for living. These rules, he learned from his father and found such merit in them, that he passed them on to me. Some of you might have even heard them, from your parents, growing up as well. Simple rules really, but still, very profound. Rules like; Finish what you start. You are only as good as your word. If you can't afford to pay cash, than you can't afford it. ( I wish I would have paid better attention to that one ) He also taught me that nothing in life is free. If it comes too easy, you take it for granted, but, if you work hard and earn what you want for yourself, and in life, you will appreciate it more because of what you had to go through to get it.
The last one has gotten me to think about our situation in America these days. It's no secret that our parents had to work harder, to achieve what they did, than we had to. We live in such an age of convenience, compared to them, I'm not sure if I could have even walked in my fathers shoes, let alone my grandfathers. And my kids, forget about it, modern technology pretty much insures that, unless they are playing a sport, they probably will never break a sweat. Is this our problem today? Have things come to us too easily? Have we lost our appreciation for liberty and freedom because we, as a generation, personally didn't have to fight to obtain or keep them? How many times have we seen our children, who after begging for that certain something, that they just had to have, express sheer joy, when unwrapping that gift found under the Christmas tree, only to discard it after a few weeks of use? Or even I myself, Knowing fully the pain and suffering that my Lord, Jesus Christ, went through to offer himself ,as a sacrifice, so I could receive his gift of salvation, just to take for granted, at times, what he has done for me.
Thomas Paine once said, "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value." The American Crisis, No. 1, December 19, 1776.
I fear that, if we don't hold on dearly to what was given to us, as a nation, freely from those who fought so hard so we could have them. We won't truly appreciate our freedoms and liberties, until we have to fight to obtain them ourselves.
Showing posts with label In god we trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label In god we trust. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
"In God We Trust" is More than a Motto
Group Seeks to Block 'In God We Trust' Engraving
The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in western Wisconsin, claims the taxpayer-funded engravings would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/14/group-seeks-block-god-trust-engraving/
As a Christian, I am not so naive that I can't see that we are slowly becoming a minority. It's easier, these days, to recognize when our country is trying to separate or distance themselves from God. The truth is it's an inevitable fact, which unfortunately, we are not in control to reverse. If you believe God's word, as I do, He laid it out quite frankly. The promise of His return was not based on that the majority would be following Him rather that, ALL will have the opportunity to accept Him, or in some cases, reject Him. But this is not the main theme of my post today.
What got me started on this, when I read the article referenced above, was the ridiculous reasons they give for their lawsuit. The first one about "the tax-payers funding, of the engraving, would be unconstitutional". Would you give me a break? With all the wasteful spending that is happening today; millions of tax-payers dollars for Nancy Pelosi's field mice, $100's of $1,000's on studies for the connection of alcohol and promiscuity in gay bars or the NIH funding the study of "Why men don't like to use condoms" for the sum of $423,500.00. Why isn't anybody suing for these misuses of tax-payer money? The article goes on saying; "The lawsuit says both the motto and the words "under God" in the pledge were adopted during the Cold War as anti-communism measures." Here's a little history; The motto " In God We Trust" was first used on coin currency back in 1864, The only time it came under scrutiny was when Pres. T. Roosevelt felt in 1907 that the motto was being used as a political slogan and was in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege. He felt it would cheapen the motto by using it on coins and postage stamps. As far as the Pledge of Allegiance, In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge we say today. So I guess what this group is saying is; It was acceptable to use, rely or call upon God when we were fighting communism, but now that communism is not a direct threat to us anymore, we can neatly put God back in a little box, place Him in a closet or on a shelf until we need Him again. My direct argument for that is; what about socialism? Wouldn't it be wise to keep him out of His box for a little while longer, to help ensure victory over the threat of socialism in our country?
The fact is, our Founding Fathers believed in a nation under God enough to write: "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" Who do you think they were referring to as their "Creator" ( big C not little c ) And Ben Franklin was referring to the Bible as the 'Sacred Writings" when he said; “ God governs in the affairs of man. *And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that **except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Ben Franklin-Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was convinced, as I am, that unless we are a nation that truly builds it's foundation on God, all our efforts to bring our country back to health are in vain. Now more than ever, we need God's blessing on our nation. The atheists and agnostics have always and will always be around. We cannot shrink against their efforts to pull us away from our roots. We must continue to fight for the freedoms our Founding Fathers fought to give us.
I cannot tell you what the future holds in store for our country. All I can tell you is that, With God, My future is secure.
*Matthew 10:29-31 “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
**Psalm 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”
The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in western Wisconsin, claims the taxpayer-funded engravings would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/14/group-seeks-block-god-trust-engraving/
As a Christian, I am not so naive that I can't see that we are slowly becoming a minority. It's easier, these days, to recognize when our country is trying to separate or distance themselves from God. The truth is it's an inevitable fact, which unfortunately, we are not in control to reverse. If you believe God's word, as I do, He laid it out quite frankly. The promise of His return was not based on that the majority would be following Him rather that, ALL will have the opportunity to accept Him, or in some cases, reject Him. But this is not the main theme of my post today.
What got me started on this, when I read the article referenced above, was the ridiculous reasons they give for their lawsuit. The first one about "the tax-payers funding, of the engraving, would be unconstitutional". Would you give me a break? With all the wasteful spending that is happening today; millions of tax-payers dollars for Nancy Pelosi's field mice, $100's of $1,000's on studies for the connection of alcohol and promiscuity in gay bars or the NIH funding the study of "Why men don't like to use condoms" for the sum of $423,500.00. Why isn't anybody suing for these misuses of tax-payer money? The article goes on saying; "The lawsuit says both the motto and the words "under God" in the pledge were adopted during the Cold War as anti-communism measures." Here's a little history; The motto " In God We Trust" was first used on coin currency back in 1864, The only time it came under scrutiny was when Pres. T. Roosevelt felt in 1907 that the motto was being used as a political slogan and was in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege. He felt it would cheapen the motto by using it on coins and postage stamps. As far as the Pledge of Allegiance, In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge we say today. So I guess what this group is saying is; It was acceptable to use, rely or call upon God when we were fighting communism, but now that communism is not a direct threat to us anymore, we can neatly put God back in a little box, place Him in a closet or on a shelf until we need Him again. My direct argument for that is; what about socialism? Wouldn't it be wise to keep him out of His box for a little while longer, to help ensure victory over the threat of socialism in our country?
The fact is, our Founding Fathers believed in a nation under God enough to write: "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" Who do you think they were referring to as their "Creator" ( big C not little c ) And Ben Franklin was referring to the Bible as the 'Sacred Writings" when he said; “ God governs in the affairs of man. *And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that **except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Ben Franklin-Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was convinced, as I am, that unless we are a nation that truly builds it's foundation on God, all our efforts to bring our country back to health are in vain. Now more than ever, we need God's blessing on our nation. The atheists and agnostics have always and will always be around. We cannot shrink against their efforts to pull us away from our roots. We must continue to fight for the freedoms our Founding Fathers fought to give us.
I cannot tell you what the future holds in store for our country. All I can tell you is that, With God, My future is secure.
*Matthew 10:29-31 “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
**Psalm 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”
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