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A NATION WITHOUT RELIGION
For many people today this would be an ideal situation. In fact, it has been correctly stated that, "If there were no God, man would create a god for himself." That statement is simply proven. Since the earliest recorded times man has worshiped some god. The question I wish to address, however, is not whether or not mankind has always had gods, but "Can morality exist in the absence of a revealed religion?". In other words, can a person lead a moral life who believes in a god, but has no moral code provided by that god to serve as a guide for personal conduct.
It is a matter of record that man has had gods for as long as we have recorded history.
Ancient records indicate that by 2500 BC Egypt had developed papyrus and ink for writing and built the world's first libraries. During this time the principal gods of Egypt were Osiris (death), Isis (life), Horus (sun), Hathor (mother goddess), Re (sun), Seth (evil; storm) and Ptah (the chief god; creator of gods and men).
By 1700 BC Mesopotamia the forerunner of ancient Babylon had developed skill in mathematics and understood the concepts of "cube" and "square root". They had written the first legal code, known as the "Code of Hammurabi." Their principal gods were: Anu (head of pantheon, Enlil (storm), Ea-Enki (fresh water and subterranean water) Nanna (moon), Ishtar (sex; fertility), Ninurta (war) and Taimat (salt water).
The list could be brought forward to the present day. We could easily include the gods of ancient Greece and Rome. Two points need to be made, however, concerning these ancient gods. First, none of them ever communicated with man concerning moral codes or standards of conduct. Second, even the people who inhabit those lands today admit that these "gods" were nothing more than myths.
The first written communication from a god ever recorded in the historical record are the written tablets given to Moses on Mt. Sinai which are commonly known as the "Ten Commandments." The God who made himself manifest to Moses and gave the first written codes concerning human conduct was Jehovah, the God of the Bible. To this day we find that those societies who have accepted and obeyed these commandments have prospered while those societies who either did not obey or did not have these commandments have failed to prosper.
Consider Israel under Solomon in 970 BC which, in its day, became the envy of the known world by obeying these commandments. However, 364 years later in 606 BC, when they had turned their back on these commandments they were carried away into captivity by the Syrians and the Babylonians.
Consider ancient Rome which became the greatest military power in the world of its day. They had no shortage of pagan gods. Jehovah, the God of ancient Israel was made known to them by the writings of the Apostle Paul yet they refused to accept them. The national moral degradation of Rome ushered in the "dark ages which lasted until approximately 1380 AD.
Consider the far Eastern nations which have various other gods, even today and look at the moral decadence and treatment of women in those countries. Look how far they have fallen behind the western world in their development and prosperity.
Consider the Moslem nations, though they claim to recognize Jehovah, whom they refer to as Allah, they have chosen to follow the teachings of Mohamed, a man they believe to be a profit from God. He wrote the Koran which outlines what they are to believe in place of the Bible. Consider the state of society and of women in those nations. We see daily on our TV screens the lack of respect for the sanctity life in those nations. We must never overlook the fact that every one of the terrorist seeking to destroy the civilized world is a Moslem.
Consider the continent of Africa which is still living in the dark ages. They have given the world slavery, cannibalism, aids, abject poverty, unbelievable levels of genocide and the lowest standard of living on the face of the earth. Yet they have their gods like every other nation.
Consider nations of the South American continent, which for generations have been denied access to the Bible thereby forcing the people to look to the priest for religious instruction. These nations are among the least developed nations in the world and with few exceptions the entire continent can be referred to as a continent of "third world" nations.
These are not just the opinions of this writer, they are historical fact easily verified by anyone willing to take the few minutes necessary to do so. My point is not to malign these nations but to show the correlation between obedience to the teachings in the Bible and the political, economic and social progress of a nation.
Now consider the Western nations of the world where the Bible and the Ten Commandments have been the basis of moral conduct since it was first translated into English in 1380 and first put in the hands of the people in 1526. The great Reformation in Europe produced some of the finest art and music ever known to mankind and most of it had as it's inspiration the Christian religion. A person has every right to close their minds and deny that the Bible has any bearing on the success of a nation but the correlation between the two is impossible to deny.
The pilgrims who landed on these shores in 1607 brought their Bibles with them and the men who founded this nation in 1776 relied heavily on the teachings of the Holy scriptures. America was founded as a Christian nation. Not only is this fact made a part of our national founding documents, it is also included in the Constitution of every single state in the union. Who would step forward to deny that America has become the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and who would deny that Christianity has been the basic religion of this nation.
Try as you might, there is simply no way around these facts. They are beyond dispute. Nevertheless, there are those today who want to remove God and the teachings of the Bible from every vestige of our society. In spite of all the lessons of history they want to make this a "Nation without God." Why they would want to do so is beyond my limited comprehension.
Still, there are more of us than there are of them and we have the power of the ballot box if we choose to use it. This nation is still a nation of "We the People." For two hundred and twenty-seven years "We the People" have made this nation work and built it into the greatest nation in the world. "We the People" have the power to demand that those God given religious principals which have led to our greatness be honored and respected by all who wish to be a part of the American dream. Those who disagree have every right not to participate in them but they have no right to deny the rest of us our right to practice them.
This is our country. It has been built with the blood, sweat and lives given even before the first shots were fired at Concord. This nation was settled by men and women with a gun in their hand and a Bible under their arm. The freedom which western Europe enjoys today was bought and paid for with thousands of American lives. Even as I write our young men are serving and dying in foreign fields that others might enjoy the freedom that we have. Every night they, their parents and many others pray to Jehovah God for their welfare.
In his farewell address to the nation, September 17, 1796, George Washington said:
"....reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in the exclusion of religious principle."
If we want God to hear our prayers and continue to bless this nation, the time has come for "We the People" to remove a number of judges, representatives, and senators from their self-serving positions of power and replace them with men and women who, unlike them, truly love this nation and want it to continue to be one nation under God.
A NATION WITHOUT RELIGION
For many people today this would be an ideal situation. In fact, it has been correctly stated that, "If there were no God, man would create a god for himself." That statement is simply proven. Since the earliest recorded times man has worshiped some god. The question I wish to address, however, is not whether or not mankind has always had gods, but "Can morality exist in the absence of a revealed religion?". In other words, can a person lead a moral life who believes in a god, but has no moral code provided by that god to serve as a guide for personal conduct.
It is a matter of record that man has had gods for as long as we have recorded history.
Ancient records indicate that by 2500 BC Egypt had developed papyrus and ink for writing and built the world's first libraries. During this time the principal gods of Egypt were Osiris (death), Isis (life), Horus (sun), Hathor (mother goddess), Re (sun), Seth (evil; storm) and Ptah (the chief god; creator of gods and men).
By 1700 BC Mesopotamia the forerunner of ancient Babylon had developed skill in mathematics and understood the concepts of "cube" and "square root". They had written the first legal code, known as the "Code of Hammurabi." Their principal gods were: Anu (head of pantheon, Enlil (storm), Ea-Enki (fresh water and subterranean water) Nanna (moon), Ishtar (sex; fertility), Ninurta (war) and Taimat (salt water).
The list could be brought forward to the present day. We could easily include the gods of ancient Greece and Rome. Two points need to be made, however, concerning these ancient gods. First, none of them ever communicated with man concerning moral codes or standards of conduct. Second, even the people who inhabit those lands today admit that these "gods" were nothing more than myths.
The first written communication from a god ever recorded in the historical record are the written tablets given to Moses on Mt. Sinai which are commonly known as the "Ten Commandments." The God who made himself manifest to Moses and gave the first written codes concerning human conduct was Jehovah, the God of the Bible. To this day we find that those societies who have accepted and obeyed these commandments have prospered while those societies who either did not obey or did not have these commandments have failed to prosper.
Consider Israel under Solomon in 970 BC which, in its day, became the envy of the known world by obeying these commandments. However, 364 years later in 606 BC, when they had turned their back on these commandments they were carried away into captivity by the Syrians and the Babylonians.
Consider ancient Rome which became the greatest military power in the world of its day. They had no shortage of pagan gods. Jehovah, the God of ancient Israel was made known to them by the writings of the Apostle Paul yet they refused to accept them. The national moral degradation of Rome ushered in the "dark ages which lasted until approximately 1380 AD.
Consider the far Eastern nations which have various other gods, even today and look at the moral decadence and treatment of women in those countries. Look how far they have fallen behind the western world in their development and prosperity.
Consider the Moslem nations, though they claim to recognize Jehovah, whom they refer to as Allah, they have chosen to follow the teachings of Mohamed, a man they believe to be a profit from God. He wrote the Koran which outlines what they are to believe in place of the Bible. Consider the state of society and of women in those nations. We see daily on our TV screens the lack of respect for the sanctity life in those nations. We must never overlook the fact that every one of the terrorist seeking to destroy the civilized world is a Moslem.
Consider the continent of Africa which is still living in the dark ages. They have given the world slavery, cannibalism, aids, abject poverty, unbelievable levels of genocide and the lowest standard of living on the face of the earth. Yet they have their gods like every other nation.
Consider nations of the South American continent, which for generations have been denied access to the Bible thereby forcing the people to look to the priest for religious instruction. These nations are among the least developed nations in the world and with few exceptions the entire continent can be referred to as a continent of "third world" nations.
These are not just the opinions of this writer, they are historical fact easily verified by anyone willing to take the few minutes necessary to do so. My point is not to malign these nations but to show the correlation between obedience to the teachings in the Bible and the political, economic and social progress of a nation.
Now consider the Western nations of the world where the Bible and the Ten Commandments have been the basis of moral conduct since it was first translated into English in 1380 and first put in the hands of the people in 1526. The great Reformation in Europe produced some of the finest art and music ever known to mankind and most of it had as it's inspiration the Christian religion. A person has every right to close their minds and deny that the Bible has any bearing on the success of a nation but the correlation between the two is impossible to deny.
The pilgrims who landed on these shores in 1607 brought their Bibles with them and the men who founded this nation in 1776 relied heavily on the teachings of the Holy scriptures. America was founded as a Christian nation. Not only is this fact made a part of our national founding documents, it is also included in the Constitution of every single state in the union. Who would step forward to deny that America has become the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and who would deny that Christianity has been the basic religion of this nation.
Try as you might, there is simply no way around these facts. They are beyond dispute. Nevertheless, there are those today who want to remove God and the teachings of the Bible from every vestige of our society. In spite of all the lessons of history they want to make this a "Nation without God." Why they would want to do so is beyond my limited comprehension.
Still, there are more of us than there are of them and we have the power of the ballot box if we choose to use it. This nation is still a nation of "We the People." For two hundred and twenty-seven years "We the People" have made this nation work and built it into the greatest nation in the world. "We the People" have the power to demand that those God given religious principals which have led to our greatness be honored and respected by all who wish to be a part of the American dream. Those who disagree have every right not to participate in them but they have no right to deny the rest of us our right to practice them.
This is our country. It has been built with the blood, sweat and lives given even before the first shots were fired at Concord. This nation was settled by men and women with a gun in their hand and a Bible under their arm. The freedom which western Europe enjoys today was bought and paid for with thousands of American lives. Even as I write our young men are serving and dying in foreign fields that others might enjoy the freedom that we have. Every night they, their parents and many others pray to Jehovah God for their welfare.
In his farewell address to the nation, September 17, 1796, George Washington said:
"....reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in the exclusion of religious principle."
If we want God to hear our prayers and continue to bless this nation, the time has come for "We the People" to remove a number of judges, representatives, and senators from their self-serving positions of power and replace them with men and women who, unlike them, truly love this nation and want it to continue to be one nation under God.
