A 'Revolutnion'ary Doctrine

Pop Quiz: On what historical document does the following phrase occur? "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this . . . "

Yep, you guessed it - the United States Constitution. The document itself is the center of every discussion we seem to be having these days as a People. It is the foundation of our modern society and is, no doubt, largely responsible for much of what goes on today in terms of our laws, legislation, policies, etc. This weekend we celebrate the anniversary of America's Independence - known popularly as the 4th of July! I love celebrating and holiday's of all sorts, but I truly, truly love the celebration of the 4th of July! This day is always a great reminder for me to re read, scan and give attention to the documents (read, 'ideas') that have helped form this truly great Nation among nations! I usually spend a few hours considering the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Magna Carta (much older), as well as documents relating to our modern history. You can find all of these documents on the web and I would highly recommend you spend some time just checking them out! Here is just one page you may want to check: www.usconstitution.net

As I read these documents I am almost always overcome with what I have personally called the 'Doctrine that Drove the Revolution.' After all, all of these documents in some way formed the Revolutionary position of the early colonies or the 'formed' the nation after the revolution was over and the new country began to stand on her own. But there is one single Christian truth, often overlooked and avoided in modern times. This Truth gave much impetus to the formation of our nation and could still serve as a 'magnetic north' for us as a country today.

Now, before I go much further, I already here my skeptics screaming, 'hey wait a minute; many of the founding fathers were not Christians. They were deists, agnostics, humanists, etc. so don't try to claim this is a 'Christian' Country. To them, let me say, yes you are right. There were no doubt several streams of thought that merged to form this great idea we call America. There were the secular humanist (and plenty of them) and there were the agnostics (not quite as many - or else they were really quiet) and there were the deist (these did hold position of influence). But there was also the Christian. I would, in fact, argue that while you can divide our earliest 'leaders' between these competing ideas, the populace itself - that is the normal every day Colonist, was overwhelmingly Christian. Even further, they were primarily a Christian of a certain 'stripe' - these folks had been formed by the great Puritan tradition and were steeped in what is commonly called the 'Great Awakening.'

This gets me to my point. As our earliest leaders, teachers, preachers and laymen and women began buckling under the presurre of 'taxation without representation' a theme underlying their discontent began to emerge. This theme is known today as the 'separation of powers.' Our founder were in concert in this one key area - they all believed in the separation of powers and a system that would ensure 'checks and balances.' In fact, they believed that powers left 'unchecked' without proper checks and balances would lead to the very demise of liberty.

Now, let me ask you, can you think of a single Christian doctrine (teaching) that would drive this concern for checks and balances? You may have to think really hard because it is almost rejected out of hand in modern times. Okay . . . give up? Well, then join me Sunday and I will tell you what it is. Of course, feel free to leave a post if you think you know!

Have a great Fourth of July - come worship with us as we celebrate our God of Freedom, Christ our Lord and thank Him for this great country in which we live!

Pastor Biz