Complimentary Story
Editor, Wisconsin Christian News:There’s a lot of talk about whether America is still great or if we can make her great again, but maybe most of us don’t know what made her great in the first place. It wasn’t our army, tenacious as it has always been. It wasn’t our navy, Old Ironsides included. It’s not our inventiveness or our industry. A look into history tells us a different story. As Edmund Burke, Winston Churchill and Paul Harvey all said, if we forget our history, we are doomed to repeat it.
During the reformation and the age of enlightenment, scientists such as Galileo, Mendel and Newton discovered an order in the universe and natural world that opened up whole areas of new study and revelations of God. Lawyers were no exception. As they studied the Bible and God’s dealings with mankind, they were struck by the fact that God operates within the principles of His law; not feelings, whims, or emotions; he is not a facetious God.
This concept was labeled “the moral government of God,” “moral” meaning “principled.” One of the early
proponents of this view was a Dutch lawyer named Hugo Grotius, credited today with being the father of international law. He wrote voluminously both theological and legal books and papers, which were read by clergy and lawyers throughout Europe. An English international lawyer, John Locke, read Grotius’ work and wrote his own books which were read in the American colonies. Grotius’ Bible commentaries were brought to America by Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Puritans and Methodists.
For many who had fled the pointed religious persecutions of Europe, the concept that there could be a government that was held to the same law as the common citizen was a novel idea but it began to take on reality as the founding fathers began to debate independence. When it was declared, the assertion was made that God gave the rights, not governments. The first ten amendments to the constitution recognize basic rights of citizens, giving birth to the nation everyone wanted to live in.
Of course there were flaws that had to be worked out. Slavery wasn’t dealt with in the constitution, but preachers such as the Wesleys, George Whitefield, Charles Finney and commentator Albert Barnes honed the teaching of God’s moral government and brought out His love, justice, mercy, patience and the fact that all men are created equal and the Abolitionist movement was born. Later these same themes would spark the civil rights movement and support voting rights for women. God’s compassion encouraged us to welcome immigrants, a practice that has historically contributed to the growth of the American economy, not diminished it.
As people understood God’s government better, they wanted their representatives to abide by the same laws everyone else has to. Today, we are incensed when legislators vote a law but exempt themselves from it, even in retirement. We are appalled that law enforcement can lie to obtain evidence to bring criminals to justice (two wrongs make a right?). We shake our heads and wring our hands when politicians who commit crimes and hide behind their office are only mildly rebuked if not excused for their wrongdoing. We shudder when extremist ideologies that we thought had died with another generation suddenly rise up with significant followings in today’s society. A tool we have to hold politicians accountable to the laws is our vote.
We have a great country, patterned not so much on the Roman Republic as on the principles of God’s universe. A government of, by and for the people is only as good as the citizens it governs. If, as Christians, we were to spend time getting to know God and the principles of His government and then communicate that good news (gospel) to our unbelieving friends, neighbors and coworkers, we would see a return to the principles which originally made us great.
-Denise Frey, Spencer, Wis.
