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.

On Tuesday I tried to provoke a discussion about “rights” as declared in one of our nation’s founding documents.  I believe in a way that I failed.  It seems that we all have a tendency to assign our own definitions to words when it comes to ideology.  And many of us want to go off on tangents that take us to those things that we individually hold dear.  I sometimes get a little frustrated and when I try to clarify it may seem a little harsh.  I do not mean it that way.  I am just trying to get some answers to questions that I have.  I do want your opinions and your participation, even when we do not agree, but I do want to discuss from common ground.

If you have ever discussed theology with one of our Catholic brothers, then you might understand.  As Protestants, most of us shore up our doctrine with the Word of God as proclaimed in the Bible.  But Catholics will quickly let you know that some of their beliefs are not biblically justified but are just as reliable doctrinally due to other things such as church doctrine, Catholic writings, the catechism, and even the words of the pope.  We can’t truly discuss anything with them because of the basic lack of an agreed upon foundation.

The same thing seems to be going on in my previous post.  Being a simple man, and maybe not at the level of intelligence as some of my commenter’s, I tend to read most things as they are written.  I am not trying to apply a certain definition to “rights” or “equal” or “life” or “liberty” or “the pursuit of happiness”.  I simply define them for what they are in light of the context of the words I am reading.  So I will define what I see being said as I go.

We hold these truths (an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude) to be self-evident (evident in itself without proof or demonstration; axiomatic.), that all men are created (to cause to happen; bring about; arrange, as by intention or design) equal (Having the same quantity, measure, or value as another.), that they are endowed (provided or supplied or equipped with) by their Creator (God) with certain unalienable (Not to be separated, given away, or taken away) Rights (Something that is due to a person), that among these are Life (the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual), Liberty (freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control, from external or foreign rule, from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint) and the pursuit (an effort to secure or attain) of Happiness (good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy).

It seems to me that this whole statement shows that the framers of this highly esteemed document did not really know the Creator very well at all.  Before you get angry at me, remember that I am not arguing about what the founding fathers wanted or tried to establish.  It seems they did their very best in a fallen, sin-stained, self-absorbed world to fashion a nation that takes the one thing in the statement above that is true, equality, and makes it almost a reality.  But even that has taken over two centuries.  Just think about why there was recently a historical precedent set when our newest president was inaugurated.

Our rights, especially life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are what we hang on to.  These are the points behind which we stand and declare that we are something special indeed.  It seems that our adversary relied on this same concept in the garden.  Aren’t we as special as God?  As Americans, we surely are.

When I read some of your comments over the last two days I am tempted to give in and agree with some of you.  All these things sound good to me but yet, I do not ever want to see something about God that is not true.  I really almost want to agree about life as a right but even that has to looked at as what it is.  And what is the word I would use instead of rights?  What, exactly, is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?  I agree these do come from our creator, but they are not rights.  They, like everything else God has given us, are gifts.  Someone used the word privilege and that to me is not quite right either.  Privilege is like an allowance, something given maybe because it is earned or due.  I believe we can become even better soldiers for the Kingdom when we realize everything, all that we have, are “gifts”.

When I read this famous statement and compare it to what I know and what the bible teaches me about God, about the only thing that stands as truth is the part about us all being equal.  But as we know from history, and even the times we live in, equality as a concept still has a long way to go.  Equality is very biblical.  We must start pursuing it like we do happiness.  We must start valuing it as much as we do our liberty.  We must start seeing it as being as important as life itself.

I, personally, do not think we have any rights, anything that I am owed just for existing, from God.  I instead thank Him for the gift of life, for the liberty I have in Christ, and in the place of happiness, for the sheer joy I have in being one of His.

My Declaration of Independence from the kingdoms of the world begins with…

I hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and for a loving relationship with God and each other, that we are blessed by our Creator with more Gifts than we can imagine, and that among these are Life and  Liberty in Christ and Happiness and Joy by pursuing the Kingdom of God.

I thank God for these Gifts.

Love you all

Tags: America, catholic writings, catholics, certain unalienable rights, Christ, Church, Creator, Kingdom, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Love, relationship, Theology, Truth

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Genesis 2:25

When God first created Adam and Eve He did not furnish clothing to them.  There was no need.  They were made in the image of God and walked in relationship with Him that you and I just can’t comprehend.  They had been created as adult beings but were actually children in the eyes of God.  They were innocent and they were good.

One of the things the Fall brought about was the loss of innocence.  This was an innocence that not only allowed them to have a perfect relationship with God; they actually perceived no difference between themselves and God.  They did not even realize they were naked.

The serpent exposed them to self-centeredness and one of the results was that loss of innocence that kept them from even realizing that they were different in ways that might need covering.

Just look at children.  All children start out with this same innocence I am talking about.  You can bathe most two year olds, whether the same sex or not, in the same bathtub and they will not notice any difference between them.  This changes in every kids life at a different age.  It changes when they are taught the differences.  A kid will ask certain questions and we give them certain answers.  Our answers will be based on our own notions about our differences.  Some kids can maintain a level of innocence longer than others because some parents are not as anxious about those differences themselves.

Another area where kids are innocent is race.  A small child can play with or have friends of different races and just never perceive any differences.  Again, this usually ends when questions are raised and the answers the adults give start a child along the path to what they think of their differences.  Innocence lost.

I heard a white evangelist say that if he could preach as well as T D Jakes, he would not mind having Jakes color of skin.  He also said at another time that he would not preach at a church that did not welcome blacks.  This actually happened to him and he followed this conviction.  My question is, why, if he does love people of color, doesn’t he see that his first statement is blatantly racist?  I know many “Christians” that are much more vocal in their racism also.

Don Imus went through a lot of strife for statements about “nappy headed” basketball players but insisted it was not meant as a racial slur.  And what about our presidents statement about a black being articulate.  He also said, or people said for him, that nothing was meant.  And even closer, I know white “Christians” that would have their children marry a white atheist rather than a black Christian.

Racism is alive and well in America in 2009.  It is not as bad as it was at another time, but it is far from gone.  And not only is this a white problem, it is also a black problem and a Hispanic problem and many others.  But what really saddens me and has to grieve the Holy Spirit is that the church is not exempt.

Even the best of us have to describe people like this.  “He was a very dynamic black preacher.”  Or, “She is a very beautiful black woman.”  Or many other racially charged descriptive.  What is wrong with just saying he was a dynamic preacher or she is a beautiful woman?  Why do we continue to see everyone as so very different than we are?  Aren’t we all God’s children with no differences between Jew and Greek, male or female, black or white?

I know that everyone that uses the divisive words for descriptions is not using them in a racially motivated way.  But we have to begin to see all people as the same, even with the obvious differences.  All people are worthy of our love because God loves us all.

We are going to inaugurate a man for president tomorrow.  It will be a historic moment because he will be the first “black” president.  Or at least it is being hailed that way.  Actually his racial identity is more along the lines that we all should be.  He has more than a few distinctive racial markers in his makeup.  But yet he is a man with one body.

The church is supposed to be one body.  We need to start acting like it.

Tomorrow will be a historic day and I for one am proud of this nation in this one thing.  This was not even thought possible just fifty years ago.  I doubt when Obama was conceived that any of his family foresaw this day.  Now we need to move on, tearing down more walls in our society, our culture, and our lives.  One day a “black man” will be elected president and we will just say that a “man” was elected president.  Or this is my prayer.

One day we are going to be with God.  I read that we will be clothed in white robes.  But I wonder if maybe we might just once again, be naked before God.  Innocence found.

Love you all

Tags: America, Church, Culture, evangelist, Holy Spirit, image of god, loss of innocence, Love, naked, Prayer, relationship, self centeredness, t d jakes

Today is the day that some of us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  And today is the day that some just enjoy another holiday.  It is also a day which some try their best to ignore because they feel it is a pagan holiday or one for only those bigoted, intolerant people known as Christians.

Whatever your view, and I am sure there are some others, it is still Christmas day.  Whether you try to change it by refusing to say Merry Christmas or just ignore it, you simply cannot change the fact that a little over two thousand years ago, God took it on Himself to become one of us in the person of Jesus.  Submitting Himself to the indignity of being birthed the same bloody, nasty, helpless way that you and I were born.

If a king or a presidents or even a CEO’s son was being born today, they would be surrounded by the best of facilities and personnel, ready to attend to that special new baby.  A clean, sterile environment, cutting edge technology and only the finest doctors would be in order because of the VIP status of the newborn child.

But the King of Kings, the Lord of Glory, the Alpha and Omega, the very Creator of all came to us and was born in the cold of night, surrounded only by a stable of dirty, smelly stable animals.  Nothing clean and nothing warm except the loving arms of Mary were there for this baby who was God.

He came to be among us, to feel what we feel, to experience what we experience.  And it seems He decided to do all of this on the lowest, most common level.  Why?

He did this because He wanted to truly have a relationship with us.  He did all of this because He loves us and He wanted us back.  I am humbled just imagining it all.

I asked you what you enjoyed most of all about this holiday a couple of days ago.  There is no wrong answer to this because it is purely subjective.  And as some noted, it seems to change from year to year based on a number of things.  Family, age, level of spirituality, all of these must affect our answer.  I know for me it seems to change every year as I grow in Christ.

This year, I would have to say that the best part of Christmas is the fellowship opportunities.  As I have said a few times lately, I have a growing hunger for relationships and fellowship with those others in the Kingdom of God.  I believe it must be a sign of maturity in the faith and a necessary component of Kingdom advancement.  We do not spread the gospel or make disciples by being alone.

A lot of people, me included, have looked at Christmas in America and have knocked it and bemoaned the passing of the true celebration of Christ’s birth.  I still see all of the commercialization of this sacred holiday and am saddened by it.  But I must admit that I am not as upset as I have been in the past.  The Holy Spirit has directed me to some things that I want to share.

Christmas is becoming more and more commercial and secular.  But as I look around, I see something that I did not notice before.  That is that love is more evident at this time of year than any other.

People reach out to those in need.  Shoebox ministries to needy kids, the inevitable ringing bell and red kettle in front of Wal-Mart, families being bought food and gifts for the holiday, pleasant attitudes and well wishes in business establishments, and other small and large things that we can see going on around us, if we’ll take the time to notice.  Even the greeting of Happy Holidays, although upsetting to some, is better than the nothing we get all the rest of the year.

And all of this is being done by more than just Christians.  I have been wished a Merry Christmas by some that I can’t even imagine in a church.

I am naturally skeptical and probably a little pessimistic.  But this year, I have been awakened to the fact that there is still some good in this world; and some good people.  It just seems that after a full year of self-centered attitudes, most people let it go for a little while in December and are filled with at least some love for one another.

It has to be because of what the holiday really stands for.

As I said earlier, a little over two thousand years ago, the very epitome of true love stepped off the throne and entered into creation.  A baby named Jesus came to fulfill a rescue mission.

The wonder of it all still fills the air to this day.

I hope that you all have a really wonderful, very merry, Christmas!

Love you all

Tags: America, Believe, Christians, Church, Creation, Creator, Fellowship, God, Good, Holy Spirit, Hope, Jesus Christ, King, king of kings, Kingdom, lord of glory, Love, Merry Christmas, pagan holiday, Relationships

“But I am an American. I am a Christian. I have a duty to God and Country.”

This is the statement that started the conversation for last Tuesday.  I did not give much background information, just posited a statement that was made on another site.  I also said that it bothered me but not how or why.  Then I gave all of you the opportunity to respond and you gave some excellent thoughts about the whole issue of duty.

Duty, as stated by one of the commentator’s, has a definition that anyone can look up in the dictionary.  I did it and most do.  When we do this we see that out of all the listings it boils down to basically two different things can be meant by the word.

It can mean a duty is something that you have to do or should do because of your job or some role that has been assigned to you.  While in the army of this nation it was my duty to fight because of the job I took and the role I was given, not to mention the oath that I took.  But it is also the duty of the janitor to sweep and mop floors.  It is his duty, in this sense of the word, because it is his job.  We tend to reserve the word duty, in this definition, for people that are a little higher profile than the janitor, but we shouldn’t.

Now the second sense, or definition of the word, is that duty is something we ought to do.  Morally, legally, or spiritually I really ought or owe something to someone.

Read the last statement again and maybe you can “foreknow” or “foresee” what bothered me about the statement.

If duty, as the statement is implying, is something I owe, then it has to be to someone or some group of someone’s.  In my view, the statement we started with has a couple of things wrong with it.  First the implication is there that being an American and being a Christian are somehow equal and can be true.  Before some of you get mad at me, I know we are Americans.  But only in the sense that we live on a certain piece of dirt not in a sense of true identity.  As people, Americans are not anything special.  I am a Christian because the One who made that certain piece of dirt, and even made us out of some of it,   chose to adopt me into His family thereby guaranteeing my eternal citizenship in the Kingdom of God. (Christianity)  And we are special people.

As one of you stated “my allegiance is also to the Lamb” and therefore cannot be to the USA.  This is a recent change in me, by the way.  I can live here, work here, raise a family here, and even fight to protect what I have here, but it is still so very temporary.  And I do not owe anything to America.

“Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”

This was a moving statement, provoking a sense of duty, possibly at a time when it was needed.  But it is still a load of hogwash.  (What is hogwash?)  I believe you get what I mean.

A nation, especially this supposedly great nation, is supposed to be set up to serve and represent the people in it.  Do I need to capitalize people here?  This would be a time when I could go along with the sense of owing a nation, if it was meant to owe a group of people.  But the United States is not a servant of the people anymore and according to JFK we shouldn’t even expect it to be.  This nation stopped being about people a long time ago and instead is a machine grinding out one new group of self interested parties after another.

I owe it nothing.  This country never made me, it never cared for me, and it never saved me.  This country is an it.  It is a place to live.  It is a piece of dirt.  I am paying monthly for my little piece of dirt so what else do I owe.  The ones I am buying my dirt from bought it from someone before them, who bought it from someone before them,… who stole it from someone before them, who took it from someone before them,… who parked themselves on it and claimed it as their own before them, while the One who truly owns it all just has to be laughing at our ideas about possessions.

I do not believe we owe or have a duty, as implied in the statement starting all of this, to any nation.  I am conservative in most of my values but getting more liberal in my affections every day.  I believe this is what becoming Christ like is all about.  I owe nothing to any entity but do owe all to God and also to you.

So many conservatives lashed out at every compassionate attempt at a solution to the illegal immigrant issue.  (Which has been waylaid again)  There have always been objections, and I think rightly, to any plan that lets someone come and be a citizen here if they are not willing to learn the language and forsake their allegiance to the country they are leaving.  But Christian Americans are hypocritical in this sense.  We just don’t want to forsake our allegiance to America for the Kingdom.

That seems to be because some of us have mistakenly believed America is the Kingdom of God here on earth.  But we have fellow citizens all over the world.  Some are even being blown up by American Christians right now.  America never was a Christian nation and it never will be, unless God annexes it into the New Jerusalem.  It was a nation founded on Judeo Christian values and that is that.  Freedom of religion was a guaranteed right, from the start, no matter how many of the founders were Christians themselves.  They seemed to understand what we sometimes don’t and that is, that this Kingdom we are supposed to be a part of is not a Kingdom advanced by the sword, but instead experiences growth only through loving service to PEOPLE themselves, not to a nation or any piece of dirt.

I am an American by definition based on where I live, but I am a child of the King, a citizen of The Kingdom of God, and an Ambassador for Christ and His Kingdom while he leaves me here on this piece of dirt called America.

To answer my own questions; I don’t like the statement and believe it to be false as stated, I have a duty to the God that saved me and He really only expects that as a loving duty and not coerced, and I don’t owe this nation a thing.  It owes me the protection and service that it was set up for and even that I have to pay for.  So that even proves that in one sense of the word, America has a duty to me.  It is its job.

Love you all

Tags: allegiance, America, Christian Americans, Christians, Compassion, Conservative, God, god and country, Jerusalem, Kingdom, Liberal, Love, Self, Servant, USA, Work