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America's Christian History The Principle Approach Teaching and learning from a Biblical perspective |
Examine the Principles upon which our nation was founded - as taught in the Holy Scriptures |
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Implementing The Four R’s
How our form of government came into being The Principle Approach
"We have staked the future...upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of God."
Analyze that sentence any way you like and it is obvious the person is writing about his contemporaries, their abilities, and that the basis for folks to govern and sustain themselves is the Ten Commandments- rules! Who were the writer's contemporaries? The founders of the United States of America and this writer was none other than James Madison, one of the composers of the Constitution of the United States of America.
Then I began to hear things like, "The Hand of God in American History." Would you believe that? Not only is God the God of Biblical history; he is the God of all history. Of course that makes sense. If he's the God of Biblical history, he must be the God of all history.
Then I learned that, not only were the founders of our country not deists and atheists, but that they were Christians who knew the Bible well. In fact, I learned that the liberty, prosperity, and comfort resulting from their writings, work, and warrings were the direct result of their implementation of the Biblical principles they had practiced and used in the creation of their forms of colonial civil government!
I’d heard-well, wasn’t the above because our country is so rich in natural resources? Everything that followed just happened--naturally! Or does it? Is there such a thing as cause and effect? If we plant tomatoes, will we get tomatoes? or potatoes? (Modern historians must have missed something.) Things don't just happen. History, isn't just a bunch of haphazard events just waiting to happen. It was caused--and Jehovah, the God of the Bible, is the great First Cause! Imagine! I confess: learning about "The Hand of God" in the making of Christian America was new, and exciting, to me. But our founders knew all that. I love this:
The events of history are not accidents. There are no accidents in the lives of men or of nations. We may go back to the underlying cause of every event and discover in each God's over-ruling and intervening wisdom. It has been said that history is the biography of communities; in another, and profounder sense, it is the biography of Him "who worketh all things after the council of His own will," (Ephesians 1:11) and who is graciously timing all events in the interests of His Christ, and of the kingdom of God on earth....God's hand is seen in the starting, speeding, retarding and matching such coincident and colliding influences as mark the progress and constitute the varied crises of history. (Rev. S.W. Foljambe, quoted in Consider and Ponder, Verna M. Hall, editor, pp. 46-47.)
Isn't that much more satisfying than believing that every-thing just "happened by chance"? Isn't it comforting to know somebody's in charge? Indeed, being the kind of God he is, wouldn’t he write rules/principles for civil government, cause and effect being one? Yes, Jehovah is the Great First Cause." Think about that. Question: What is man’s chief end? Or, stated another way, what is God’s ultimate goal for men?
Answer: From the Westminster Shorter Catechism: "Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." Whether...ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God, I Corinthians 10:31; Trust in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy..., I Timothy 6:17. Post a Review Want to comment on this article? We value your input Please send us your comments and if you wish, a link to your site or a link to another page that supports your views and we'll post your valued input here.
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NEW
A Guide to Teaching Grammar using the Principle Approach
With Liberty and Justice for All
Creative Writing and the Essay
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When I was in school I hated history: meaningless
names, dangling dates, and outlandish outlines. Did history affect you
that way? I hoped I'd never have to think about history again.
But,
alas, that didn't happen. A friend insisted on my going to a history
class she planned to teach! I loved Biblical History; I could see the
hand of God in that history; but secular history! Then my friend told
me that American history is Christian History, that we need to look at
cause and effect, and the Christian principles of civil
government! Imagine! I had a hard time with that. But, I continued in
the class. We read original documents written by our Founding Fathers
and it began to dawn on me that something had been missing from my
"education." I read this:
