With the Florida primary soon upon us, I want you to take a read of some wonderful quotes from history.
From Sam Adams: in 1779: “A general Dissolution of Principles & Manners will more surely overthrow the Liberties of America than the whole Force of the Common Enemy. While the People are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their Virtue they will be ready to surrender their Liberties to the first external or internal Invader. How necessary then is it for those who are determind to transmit the Blessings of Liberty as a fair Inheritance to Posterity, to associate on publick Principles in Support of publick virtue.”
From John Adam 1772: “The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation, it is impossible they should be enslaved. This can be brought to pass only by debasing their Understandings, or by corrupting their Hearts.”
From Ben Franklin 1787: “because I think a general government necessary for us there is no Form of Government but what may be a blessing to the People if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”
From John Adams 1776: “[Republican Government’s] Principles are as easily destroyed, as human Nature is corrupted. Such a Government is only to be supported by pure Religion or Austere Morals. Public Virtue cannot exist in a Nation without private, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics. There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest, Honour, Power and Glory, established in the Minds of the People, or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real Liberty….”
George Washington 1797: “Believing, as I do, that Religion and Morality are the essential pillars of civil society, I view, with unspeakable pleasure, that harmony and Brotherly Love which characterizes the clergy of different denominations—as well in this as in other parts of the United States; exhibiting to the world a new and interesting spectacle, at once the pride of our Country and the surest basis of universal Harmony.”
From Daniel Webster 1820: “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”
Some weeks ago I was at a meeting for the Victim Service Center of Central Florida. They were honoring some local leaders who had done much with the VSC. I was among the group who was in the audience being called to our own higher service. As various speakers shared, and the honorees were exalted, many called for us as leaders to do all we good to help show young men a better path than violence. In particular was the hope and prayer for an end to violence against women.
Later that week, at least 4 different news stories came of violence in our society, including police officers being gunned down, two high school students in Arizona shot, and a mass shooting at a nightclub here in Orlando. As I listened to the speakers at VSC and heard the news reports, I was again committed to the reality that our problem as a nation is a spiritual one. I wrote about this last year and nothing has changed my mind. A return to Christian morals and virtue, the Christian God, is our answer.
But, if that is too much for you, then I submit the thoughts of some of our Founders. Think of it as a return to our historic values that served as a foundation for our success. Each, including some of the more Deist-leaning leaders, clearly understood that our entire concept of government was one of laws based on a social contract. The notion of a contract emerges that depends on each willing to be moral in approach to the laws. Without Christian virtue in the mix, then the ability to equally value the laws breaks down.
Thus, as Franklin admits, we will only be capable of any society that is despotic, dictatorial where people sort of obey the laws under massive threat. Yet, such a society also becomes easily corrupt, where leaders are bought and people look only for a corner to cut, for someone to buy off in order to get their way. More and more people would disobey the law which would then mean more and more negative interaction with the police who would be in a losing effort to stem the tide of lawlessness. Leaders would choose to simply ignore the law and celebrities would turn a blind eye to social laws they deemed unnecessary.
Do you not see that this is our society now? Merely wishing for violence to stop because…well, just because; hoping that moral leaders will rise to the top because..well, just because; thinking that people once they are rich will willingly give over their money for the benefit of all because….well, just because. All of that is naive and foolish. Either we return to the morality and virtue of our past, a Christian set of values….or our only answer is dictatorial force and stronger enforcement of laws that will be equally met with obstinance. Meaning, that is not an answer.
There is NO OTHER ANSWER.
Think my friends. Our nation is in peril, just as many founders predicted would come once we left our moral and virtue behind…just as we did in the 1950s and ’60s once we became a rich, indulgent and gluttonous society.
I know some of you reading resist this line of thinking because you know of many Christians or churches that have failed miserably. You know of people who claim Jesus name and yet are hateful or do things no one claiming virtue should ever do. Yes, I know this is true too. Yet, the failure of some who claim His name do not negate the truth of God’s call to virtue and morality. And, while anyone can see the way to live God’s ways, the reality is that none of us can without His help and transformation. The normal pull of life is to be conformed to the world’s ways of darkness and immorality. Jesus is the only way that true transformation takes place.
As Floridians head to the polls, please take time to think deeply about the call of the founders to a private virtue. Our hope in the future does not rest on who our elected officials are, but rather is a hope in God. Yet, that hope in God becomes lived out in how I individually live my life, a life guided by virtue and morality. Certainly such a personal life can’t vote for many of these candidates who so willingly and eagerly break the law, ignore morality and trample on decency.