Certain Truths
What is it that you find most important in life? Truly a complex question, for the answer will differ from person to person. For some it is power, others fame, and even others still it is long life, or health, or wealth, or love; truly the list goes on and on. However, when broken down to the simplest of terms, one finds a pattern – people just want to be happy. And no nation knows this more than the United States of America. Our founding fathers answer to this question was thus:
"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.”
Happiness is Morality
One sentence. One document. One people. One nation that in which this has been produced, for all. The very words that distinguish the United States from all other sovereignty’s. It’s this document alone that serves as the lens through which our laws and values as a society are shaped and viewed. It is because of this, that we are special. It gives us the way to true happiness, happiness only found in Morality.
When taking a look at other countries, one finds that we all share something. We are all established upon certain laws. But these laws are based on something. Whether these laws be religious, secular, or otherwise. Each is trying to reach a certain goal. Yet when analyzing the countless types of law but one stands out as being objectively the best, and most definitely the most popular throughout history – law rooted in religion. And rightly so.
This is because laws do a lot - they prevent us from stealing, cheating, killing - but they don’t make us a good person. Just following a law is not in and of itself good, it just means your not a criminal. Religion bring fulfillment to the law, it’s the purpose behind it. Without religion we are not offered the chance to do good, at that point good is just preference. Good becomes a feeling - not a fact. Something liable to change. This is what religion gives us - unwavering truth. But what does this all have to do with Western Morality? Everything.
The Role of Christianity
This is because our nation was founded on the idea that there is a perfect goodness that we can attain; our nation was founded on Christianity. Our nation was founded on the Christian God, and all the moral obligation comes with it - and the rights. Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. We were and remain the first nation with such a belief. We are and remain the most free and prosperous nation. We are and remain a nation of Morality.
Many historians would say such success is due to the constitution, I’d have to agree. But there’s more to it than that. Such a success is due to God.
Now I must clarify God. He is more than the creator. He is the epitome of perfect goodness. An ideal to strive for in life. Now even with this you can look at Him in two ways - either the Creator and the law, or the representation of what we strive to be. You need not believe in Him to be a good person, but to be a good person you need follow His law.
An Unchanging Truth
This is not an argument for the existence of God, not at all, but rather that the ideal that he represents is. This is Western Morality. A Morality based on the truth of His word, and unchanging truth. It's a Morality not conformed to this age, but perfect in each. Unchanged for thousands of years. And with this comes a great responsibility. One in which we are called to preserve such a Morality. When it comes to God and Morality you can't choose one or the other. You can't have one without the other. You can't just pick and choose your values because again those values change. Such Morality is not true, it remains freestanding. Morality can't just hover in the air without a foundation, it defeats its purpose.
There are so many who would wish to do away with such a foundation. They call it unreasonable and some even unfair. This is because they wish to remove God from the law. In their eyes God represents the judge, the great ruin-er of happiness, rather than its author. Its to them I say thus; the law does not make you good. The law is not truth and never should be, but it can always be a byproduct of it. Just because it is law does not mean it is right, or just, or true. Real happiness comes from being morally good and moral goodness can only come from one place - religion. And when it comes to the United States that religion is Christianity. This is why it is so unwise to
dismiss.
When we attempt to remove God from our constitution, from our currency, from our lives… We take away not Him, but everything He stands for. We remove from our culture the very thing that makes it so great. Those who wish to do so understand not what they do. They want to remove God, to kill him, to destroy the very foundation of this great nation. Yet they are mistaken.
Because in the end you can’t kill God, you can't kill Christianity, but there is one thing you can kill. You can kill Morality. And the day when morality is dead, and the foundation of our nation crumbles, so to will our happiness.
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