Preacher’s Corner: Remembering Who We Are as a Nation

America is a Christian Nation.”  How strange that this simple statement should elicit such controversy and debate in our country.  Since the founding of our republic it was an accepted fact that America was known to be a Christian nation.  However, from university lecture halls to public school classrooms to Federal offices in Washington, the move to revise American history and erase any vestiges of Christian influence and teaching from our government has become the politically correct position of the day.

Most nations and civilizations have always held to some dominant form of theistic identity.  For instance, in the nation of India the predominant religion is Hinduism.  Much of Asia has been marked by Confucianism or Buddhism.  The majority of nations in the Middle East hold to Islam as their principle religion and Israel is identified with Judaism.  So why then is the idea of America being known as a Christian nation met with such outcries of hostility?  If America isn’t a Christian nation then what other kind of nation is she?  Are the claims of her Christian heritage unfounded and inaccurate?  Quite the contrary, for the evidence for America’s Christian heritage is incontrovertible.  Consider the following historical facts…

The discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 was marked by a song of praise and a prayer of dedication as the explorer consecrated the New World to God.

The Virginia Charter of 1609 says, “The principal effect which we can expect or desire of this action is the conversion of the people in those parts unto the true worship of God and the Christian religion.”

The Mayflower Compact of1620 was America’s first great governmental document, signed by the Pilgrims before they disembarked from their ship, the Mayflower, making it clear that the move was “to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion to the glory of God Almighty.”

George Washington said, “without God and the Bible it would be impossible to govern.”

Patrick Henry said, “This nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians; not on religion but the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thomas Hodge, whom many attest to being America’s greatest theologian said, “The proposition that the United States is a Christian nation is not so much the assertion of a principal as it is a statement of a fact.”

The historical evidence of our nation’s beginning is clear… America was founded on the Bible, upon the teaching s of Christianity and for the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The founding of our republic and the civil institutions of our government were formed by men who were trained in Christian schools and raised under Christian influences.  Their ideas of civil and religious liberties were fashioned from the Bible.  Thus the freedoms by which our nation is known for today were incorporated into the very fabric of our nation’s government and civil institutions as the expression of those Christian virtues, mores and principles which the majority of our founding fathers held sacred as the fruits of their Christian faith.  Therefore Christianity is not the enemy of freedom as many argue today, but it is the very foundation for freedom itself.

A cursory review of the growth of western civilization will reveal that wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached and believed then the development of freedom has naturally followed.  Once the human heart has been set free then governments and nations become free themselves.  The Lord Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

As we celebrate our nation’s freedom this July 4th, may we give thanks to God for the ultimate and lasting freedom found in His only begotten Son and secured forever by His sacrifice upon Calvary.  “The freedom forged by the cross,” said one writer “is the freedom that inspired the Constitution.”  With prayer and purpose of mind and heart, may we remember this Independence Day to live a life in which “In God We Trust” is more than mere words engraved upon our currency but the character of our freedom and the liberty which only faith in Christ can bring.

Dr. Bryan E. Smith, Senior Pastor of

First Baptist Church Roanoke

www.firstroanoke.com

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