On this most important of Federal Holiday’s, I would like to share some thoughts I have had, and/or sent to me that I agree with. This is a deviation from my normal blog, but a deviation I think necessary.
This holiday, while enjoying bar-be-que and beer, and while socializing with family and friends, please take time to remember that this day of fun and mirth was paid for with the bravery and blood of many Americans.
God Bless America, PLEASE!
(PS – I will be posting my usual – an non-political – Scripture relection this Sunday. I post a new reflection every Wednesday and Sunday. Please tell your friends and enemies to read my reflections. Pax et Bonum)
Founding Father Quotes:
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity … to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
James Madison, 1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia
“The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.”
John Quincy Adams.
“All the miseries and evils which men suffer from: vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”
Noah Webster
Bible Quotes Appropriate for this Holiday:
Psalm 9:17 (NRSV), “The wicked shall depart to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.”
Esther 4:14 (NRSV), “For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”
My Reflection on God and America:
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL (Born & Unborn)!
On July 4, 1776, 56 men (53 being Orthodox Christians), representing the entire United States of America signed perhaps the most radical, world-shattering, and innovative document in history: The Declaration of Independence. These men placed conviction over convenience in the purposeful act of separating from English rule. Some of them lost their homes, their families, their fortunes, and even their lives.
Although Christians have lost much ground recently in this nation largely founded by Christians, we owe it to our forefathers who sacrificed so much to establish this nation on “godly” principles to get back our Country from the teeth of a minority, yet powerful secularist and atheist sect.
Our country has experienced a vast social, spiritual, and cultural decline over the past years. We need to realize that the Bible, even more than the Constitution, founded this great nation of America.
Earlier this year, the President of the United States spoke at a commencement ceremony for Notre Dame University (A supposed “Catholic” entity of “higher” education) despite protests and condemnation by many U.S. Bishops, and the USCCB. The opposition to the President’s speaking at a Catholic university was because of his promises to remove restrictions on abortion, considered a morally wrong practice by the Roman Catholic Church, and many other religious and non-religious bodies.
Non-Catholics may not understand the severity of refusing to accept Catholic teachings on abortion and contraception while claiming to be Catholic. It is a matter of obedience to a fundamental teaching on the sanctity of life at all stages and ages of life. As one cannot call themselves American and still support the actions of terrorists against America (an act of treason); supporting abortion (particularly while serving as a public official) while calling oneself Catholic is to put oneself outside the communion with other Catholics. In either case the individual is lying to themselves, and all others.
There is a consistent pattern of nominating pro-abortion and dissident Catholics to important U.S. Offices in this administration, with at least nine so far: Joe Biden, Kathleen Sebelius, Alexia Kelley, Kenneth Salazar, Tom Vilsack, Regina Benjamin, Sonia Sotomayor, Miguel Diaz, Douglas Kmiec. It is no accident that the spotlight is being thrust on as many dissenting Catholics as can be found. It seems that the criteria needed for an important role in this administration is to be Catholic; favor abortion; and can serve in the capacity for the office chosen.”
Before America’s founding, most people only believed in the divine right of their king, and that God only gave power to kings, with those kings not accountable to anyone. But what made America unique was that it was founded on the notion of “Divine Providence.”
Consider the words “endowed by their creator” in the very first line of our Country’s Declaration of Independence? This phrase is a unique and revolutionary (literal) concept at that time. It means that God had a hand in establishing our Country: the world’s greatest experiment of democracy. Whether our “Founding Fathers” believed in religion or not, (though 53 of the 56 were orthodox Christians), each of “Founding Fathers” abided by the laws of morality, and a natural God.
The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church; a Christian Church in full communion with the Holy See. It is the largest single religious denomination in the United States with 22% of the population claiming to be “Catholic.” With 68 million Catholics in the U.S., it is the fourth largest Catholic population in the world (only after Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines).
In the early 1980s, there was only one Catholic justice on the U.S. Supreme Court: William J. Brennan, Jr. In the mid-1980’s Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy (both Catholics) were appointed to the court. President George H. W. Bush appointed Clarence Thomas to the court. John Roberts and Samuel Alito, both Catholics, were appointed by the younger George W. Bush, creating a Catholic majority on the Supreme Court for the first time in this Country’s history. With the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice coming soon, six of the nine justices will be Catholic. Is having Liberal Catholics known to dissent on issues of morality going to be a good thing for this Country? I don’t know, but I am praying!
Ben Franklin described the religion of America this way:
“I believe in one God, the creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.”
Like our Founding Fathers, I believe our Country’s success is in the belief that our rights are given to us by God and lent to our government only to protect our rights to life and liberty, while we pursue happiness.
Interestingly, while America is moving more towards atheism, godlessness, and secularism; almost all other atheistic communist countries have deteriorated to non-existence. The people in these former atheistic countries are now reaching out to receive the Bible and Jesus into their lives and culture with open and glad hearts.
America’s Founders did not intend for there to be a separation of God and State, as shown by the fact that ALL 50 states in our union acknowledge God in their individual State Constitutions. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution (in the “Bill of Rights”) prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. It reads:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Read the two lines I underlined again. The Constitution of the United States DOES NOT prohibit prayers in public areas; including public schools, school sporting events, in government buildings, on city owned property, or anywhere else. It actually protects those individuals wanting to pray in public, at school, or anywhere else for that matter. The Government CANNOT prohibit free speech (which praying is) because it may offend someone. Regulating the ability to pray offends me!
“A Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary
for Politicians, & the USA”
O Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, at this most critical time, we entrust the United States of America to your loving care.
Most Holy Mother, we beg you to reclaim this land for the glory of your Son. Overwhelmed with the burden of the sins in our nation, we cry to you from the depths of our hearts and seek refuge in your motherly protection.
Look down with mercy upon us and touch the hearts of our people. Open our minds to the great worth of human life and to the responsibilities that accompany human freedom.
Free us from the falsehood that lead to the evil of abortion and threaten the sanctity of family life. Grant our country the wisdom to proclaim that God’s law is the foundation on which this nation was founded, and that He alone is the True Source of our cherished rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
O Merciful Mother, give us the courage to reject the culture of death and the strength to build a new Culture of Life. Amen
Information gathered from the following sources:
Glenn Beck
Wikipedia
http://www.examiner.com/x-18639-Grand-Rapids-Church–State-Examiner
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/god-constitutions.htm
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/god-constitutions.htm
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