Source: Gerry Charlotte Phelps
Needed Most - An Explosion of Christianity
Europe and the U.S. are literally on the brink of bankruptcy. They are being crushed by debts too big to repay. It will only get worse, for a long time. No one can foresee how this will end. And I am writing about the need for Christianity to grow explosively? At a time like this? Why? Is there some connection? Some good reason to turn at least some of our time and energy from this unprecedented crisis to another front?
There is. In fact, it is more urgent than our present danger. In fact, we cannot solve this problem without it. So it is of the greatest urgency.
First, Governments caused this problem. They are the ones doing the most borrowing, spending money they do not have, mortgaging the future incomes of their citizens. These governments have long been slipping out of control of their populations. In Europe, the votes of ordinary citizens no long matter. The EU rules without them. In the U.S., government spending has long been out of control.
Second, these weakened democracies will not change for the better until their peoples change. We were warned long ago about this. Ben Franklin warned that the new American republic could not "be kept" without "a religious and moral people." Why not? Because democracies cannot work without morality. Even democracies with a constitution. They become more and more corrupt. And morality comes almost entirely from religion.
Why? Morals must be absolute in order to work. If not, then everyone can decide for themselves what is right and wrong, good and bad. That is chaos.
Governments cannot decide for us what is right and wrong. Unless that conviction comes from inside people, there can never be enough policemen to make us do what is right in the government's eyes. "Law and Order" stops working. For "law and order" to work, morals must come from inside people.
Only religion has the authority to say "this is right and that is wrong." We grant such authority only to ourselves and to God. And only religion is able to plant standards of right and wrong within people so strongly that they will obey those standards even when no one is looking. (After all, God sees and knows everything we do. Religious people believe that, and are more likely to behave accordingly.)
Dictatorships can exist without religion. But in dictatorships, while the ruling class prospers, most of the people are poor. Only in democracies can most of the people prosper, or even be free. And democracies cannot survive without religion. So without religion, the world would be poor and enslaved - a condition that suddenly is a possibility for the West.
If we are to have any hope of survival as a free people, or even as countries where most people are prosperous then, we must become again a "religious and moral people."
It is not too late to become Christian countries again. But it is getting harder every year. If it is ever going to happen, we have to get started. Now. It is even more urgent than fixing the economy. More urgent than the people taking back their governments. We can't wait any longer to build up "a religious and moral people."
Comment:
Thanks Gerry...you are sooo right!
As I've said in a commentary to another, "This country was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles and there should be nothing stopping us from practicing those principles."
As Cicero is often quoted, we are truly threatened by the enemy within...,""A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies in the heart of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear. The traitor is the plague......" Marcus Tullius Cicero, speech to the Roman Senate"
Recommended Reading...highly recommended! "Out Of The Iron Furnace" ...it's a true story!
There is. In fact, it is more urgent than our present danger. In fact, we cannot solve this problem without it. So it is of the greatest urgency.
First, Governments caused this problem. They are the ones doing the most borrowing, spending money they do not have, mortgaging the future incomes of their citizens. These governments have long been slipping out of control of their populations. In Europe, the votes of ordinary citizens no long matter. The EU rules without them. In the U.S., government spending has long been out of control.
Second, these weakened democracies will not change for the better until their peoples change. We were warned long ago about this. Ben Franklin warned that the new American republic could not "be kept" without "a religious and moral people." Why not? Because democracies cannot work without morality. Even democracies with a constitution. They become more and more corrupt. And morality comes almost entirely from religion.
Why? Morals must be absolute in order to work. If not, then everyone can decide for themselves what is right and wrong, good and bad. That is chaos.
Governments cannot decide for us what is right and wrong. Unless that conviction comes from inside people, there can never be enough policemen to make us do what is right in the government's eyes. "Law and Order" stops working. For "law and order" to work, morals must come from inside people.
Only religion has the authority to say "this is right and that is wrong." We grant such authority only to ourselves and to God. And only religion is able to plant standards of right and wrong within people so strongly that they will obey those standards even when no one is looking. (After all, God sees and knows everything we do. Religious people believe that, and are more likely to behave accordingly.)
Dictatorships can exist without religion. But in dictatorships, while the ruling class prospers, most of the people are poor. Only in democracies can most of the people prosper, or even be free. And democracies cannot survive without religion. So without religion, the world would be poor and enslaved - a condition that suddenly is a possibility for the West.
If we are to have any hope of survival as a free people, or even as countries where most people are prosperous then, we must become again a "religious and moral people."
It is not too late to become Christian countries again. But it is getting harder every year. If it is ever going to happen, we have to get started. Now. It is even more urgent than fixing the economy. More urgent than the people taking back their governments. We can't wait any longer to build up "a religious and moral people."
Comment:
Thanks Gerry...you are sooo right!
As I've said in a commentary to another, "This country was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles and there should be nothing stopping us from practicing those principles."
As Cicero is often quoted, we are truly threatened by the enemy within...,""A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies in the heart of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear. The traitor is the plague......" Marcus Tullius Cicero, speech to the Roman Senate"
Recommended Reading...highly recommended! "Out Of The Iron Furnace" ...it's a true story!
Wow! This article has said it all..
ReplyDeleteI just don't know how to fix a nation that is as divided as we are right now..
I believe some really terrible things are going to happen to us before people wakeup and see what a corrupt govt. can do to a nation.
Honestly, I really don't believe that there is any particular reason that Christianity should reign supreme over any other religion. Most are and have succeeded in being well known and accepted around the world with the ever present and abiding Golden Rule-do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Said as I was taught when I went to church as a little girl. I soon found as I got older that the majority hide behind this religion or that religion-not just Christianity- to hide more nefarious natures that I would have much preferred to have never had any contact with in my entirety of life. Any more, society's individuals have become a paranoid schizophrenic, who in terms of self preservation lives by the law of kill or be killed, steal from them before they steal from you, run before they can. It's all materialistic to the extreme. Hence just about every holiday that can be commercialized has been to a point at which the ties are becoming loose on the straight jacket that holds all of this chaotic nonsense together. People have forgotten that no matter what label of clothing we wear, we are all still human beings. I personally have read about as many books on as many religions as I can get my hands on...until I make it to the book store next. Almost all share the fundamental view that we should all respect life, our chosen deity or deities as it were and worship the only one that is the true one. So, my question is this: What fundamentally makes Christianity the Only One that can pull this country back together again? If someone becomes a born again Christian, are they going to quit making rude remarks at the supermarket when they have to wait in line for 2 minutes? Are they going to stop giving dirty looks to the poor in our own country and try to help first? Will they really all of the sudden decide to drop every single premise of themselves and be born anew? Really? I simply think it's a matter of manners and mutual respect that I see little practiced and even less taught among society as a whole. We have all dropped the ball on this one at one time or another. I am not Christian, I don't believe in Christianity's particular view of God either; none the less, it doesn't make that religion or any other less valid. I have chosen to be Pagan for the larger part of my life and in this I find comfort. Because someone believes different than me, I see it as an opportunity to speak respectfully with each other and compare our views on life and how sometimes it's great and sometimes it's hard, and how, sometimes, it's just life. I have not, nor will I ever see it as an opportunity to tell the other person that they are wrong, ignorant, uneducated, and out and out poor for their ever so wrong view of the world as it is. Every single person sees things differently than the next, no matter how comparable they may be, they are still different in their own form.
ReplyDeleteRef:"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I really don't believe that there is any particular reason that Christianity should reign supreme over any other religion...etc, etc."
Your entire commentary hints of Secular Humanism but I'll try not to make any assumptions. Instead,let me try to answer the question, "What fundamentally makes Christianity the Only One that can pull this country back together again?" 'Fundamentally' is the key word here. This country was 'fundamentally' formed by Christians and the basic tenets of Christianity. The country grew on those principles and as long as we accepted them the country grew stronger and became the most successful form of government in the history of the world. Then, as other great nations, when the citizens began to forget from whenced they came and ignored those principles the society ultimately failed (I think most scholars use the example of the fall of Rome). So without those Christian fundamentals the country can no longer exist as it was. As far as religion goes...religion was around much longer than any government and will continue on even if all governments fail. And though it was said by the Founder of Christianity, "There will be wars and rumors of wars.", history proves that He was correct. Will there always be bad people on this earth that will, by their actions and ideology, cause war? The answer to that is, "Yes." but we may have to define 'bad' people. For those that would behead you for not following in their ways; are they bad? Certainly they don't think so! So good versus bad is always relative...just depends on who's side your on. So we have a person in the White House who is a Muslim sympathizer and he wants to fundamentally change America by encouraging Sharia law...Should I have to accept this change? Well in this case I will not allow anyone to answer on my behalf for I fundamentally disapprove of Sharia law and all that is written in the Quran...and I will fight to the death to maintain that belief. So who is the bad guy? Me or the guy forcing me to fundamentally change?
Now, if I may, let me make one assumption (in the form of a question), "Were your teacher's a product of the radical sixties?"
Anonymous #2, your entire argument points to those who have misused Christianity, not those that adhere to it.
ReplyDeleteI see some merit in your argument, though. The three major religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity and Islam stem from similar roots and supposedly share some aspects.
It is those shared aspects that have become misused to the detriment of mankind, not the religious beliefs itself.
Find yourself an old Bible somewhere, blow the dust off and read Ecclesiastes 8, paying particular attention to verse 9.
When one decides to destroy the other, as in the case of too many from Islam of late, they have abandoned the teachings of old and we see many of the troubles we see today.
Likewise, when men become clergy for personal gain instead of serving their fellow man, they have abandoned teachings of old.
That is what should be avoided and instead, a basic teaching of the New Testament must be brought forth and embraced, And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "You Shall Love The Lord Your God With All Your Heart, And With All Your Soul, And With All Your Strength, And With All Your Mind; And Your Neighbor As Yourself." (Luke 10:26, 27)
That is what is being called to return to.
As was said by Lew, when he quoted (Luke 10:26, 27), Love is the key. This is what happens to a nation when "the love of the many grows cold". It decays from within as it did in the time of Cicero.
ReplyDeleteWithout God there is no love, for God is Love; and without love, this nation will perish.
Thanks Lew and John
ReplyDeleteI hoped that Anonymous would come back with a reply...and may he/she did but was unable to reply after reading the comments. ...and thanks for mentioning Cicero; I always like to include his famous quote...sooo true!
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies in the heart of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear.
The traitor is the plague......" Marcus Tullius Cicero, speech to the Roman Senate.