Getting Back to “One Nation, Under
God”
By Susan Klein
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
In his book One Nation, Dr. Ben Carson challenges readers to consider
the above verse. He states, “It is appalling how far our country has strayed
from the principles of the founding fathers.” He quotes our second president,
John Adams, as saying, “Our Constitution was made only for moral and religious
people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Dr. Carson responds
to this quote by saying, “Adams’ quote makes it clear that the founders did not
want to extract God from our lives, but rather intended for his principles to
be a central feature of our society. What they wanted to avoid was a
theocracy-like state where the church dominated public policy or where the
government dictated religious practice. That was the whole point of the
separation clause of the First Amendment.”
He goes on to say,
“The fact that people want to take the words ‘under God’ out of the Pledge of
Allegiance and others want to remove the words ‘In God we trust’ from our money, demonstrates the depth
of misunderstanding of the First Amendment’s separation clause.”
So how do we, as
Christ-followers, respond to these deviations from our forefathers’ intent?
First of all, we respond. Sitting
idly by is not an option. Believers must use their voices to defend not only
the Constitution as it was intended and is written, but we must also proclaim God’s
Word as it is written. We must vote for godly people, pray for God’s
intervention, and speak truth at every opportunity… not fearing personal risk.
Pastor Tommy Nelson
claims, “When Jesus spoke, ten percent of His words were quoting Scripture.”
What if we were to follow that example today? What if parents, in rearing their
children, used ten percent of their words to share what the Bible says? What if
ten percent of what is taught in schools was scriptural? What if the government
spent ten percent of their time discussing what God’s Word has to say about
laws and public policy? This may be far-fetched, but we must definitely do more
than we are doing.
As Paul exhorted
Timothy, “Guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless
chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some
have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith” (1Timothy 6:20-21).
GOING
DEEPER:
1. How might you stand up for the
Truth?
2. Are you
willing to take risks?
FURTHER
READING:
Susan is married to Mark, and
they have two adult children. She enjoys teaching Bible studies, writing, and
tutoring with the Literacy Council. She is a member of the Peace Team at
Oakwood, and she also co-leads a Wednesday Night Community small group.
