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Tuesday, March 3
to be free you have to be good
I heard an astonishing statement come from the mouth of a secular, impartial guest on CNBC this morning. He spoke about the widening downturn in our economy and the expansion of government influence and regulation:
"We have to come to term with the fact that it's our moral and ethical failings over the last decade that have brought us to this place."
I was reminded of something I once read in a Laura Ingalls Wilder book, of all places. She had just been to a Fourth of July celebration in the center of dusty Dakota Territory, heard the Declaration of Independence read, and sang God Bless America with the gathered crowd.
If society stops being good, it will by necessity stop being free. Don't blame socialism, regulation or big government on the political system, blame it on the failures of the American Church to fulfill its mission in the 20th century and see lives transformed from the inside-out. To fight on the front lines of freedom in our times will be to fight on the front lines of the cause of the gospel.
If we don't, I fear that give me liberty or give me death will become not an historical battle cry, but a prophecy.
"We have to come to term with the fact that it's our moral and ethical failings over the last decade that have brought us to this place."
I was reminded of something I once read in a Laura Ingalls Wilder book, of all places. She had just been to a Fourth of July celebration in the center of dusty Dakota Territory, heard the Declaration of Independence read, and sang God Bless America with the gathered crowd.
The crowd was scattering away then, but Laura stood stock still. Suddenly she had a completely new thought. The Declaration and the song came together in her mind, and she thought: God is America's king. She thought: Americans won't obey any king on earth. Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own conscience. No king bosses Pa; he has to boss himself. Why (she thought), when I am a little older, Pa and Ma will stop telling me what to do, and there isn't anyone else who has a right to give me orders. I will have to make myself be good.
Her whole mind seemed to be lighted up by that thought. This is what it means to be free. It means you have to be good. 'Our father's God, author of liberty' — The laws of Nature and of Nature's God endow you with a right to life and liberty. Then you have to keep the laws of God, for God's law is the only thing that gives you a right to be free.'
If society stops being good, it will by necessity stop being free. Don't blame socialism, regulation or big government on the political system, blame it on the failures of the American Church to fulfill its mission in the 20th century and see lives transformed from the inside-out. To fight on the front lines of freedom in our times will be to fight on the front lines of the cause of the gospel.
If we don't, I fear that give me liberty or give me death will become not an historical battle cry, but a prophecy.
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Wow. Pretty weighty stuff for a Tuesday morning, but I can't say I disagree. We've lost personal responsibility for just about everything we do- in life, in finances, and in the church. Thanks for the insight.
what was the response to the statement made on cnbc?
In the past, I've reflected on that very same passage from the Laura Ingalls Wilder book and had come to similar conclusions. I think the parallels you draw to our current situation (as well as what the CNBC guest said) are incredibly apt.
There's such wisdom in those beautiful books by Laura Ingalls Wilder...
There's such wisdom in those beautiful books by Laura Ingalls Wilder...
Steve - thanks for sticking around.
Abby - they pretty much blew past it and said "next question."
Monica T. - i've missed your insightful comments!
Abby - they pretty much blew past it and said "next question."
Monica T. - i've missed your insightful comments!
A couple hundred years ago, John Adams (the second US President), said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Without an internal moral compass, a person's only moral guide is the question of, "can I get away with this?" That's selfishness and there's no way to build a functioning society on that.
What's worse, is that I've seen that same thinking within the church. If the church becomes infected with this philosophy, I fear that all hope is lost.
Without an internal moral compass, a person's only moral guide is the question of, "can I get away with this?" That's selfishness and there's no way to build a functioning society on that.
What's worse, is that I've seen that same thinking within the church. If the church becomes infected with this philosophy, I fear that all hope is lost.