Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Righteousness and Wickedness

From our Introductory Post:

“The righteous have sat back and allowed the wicked to take over our relationships to God, families, churches, governments, schools and colleges, journalism, entertainment, sports, sciences, and a whole litany of other endeavors in our society.”

Righteousness and Wickedness

A righteous person is FOR God and, according to Webster, is “observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous man.” One who is righteous is aligned with the holy Creator God. The holiness of God means He is “perfectly pure, immaculate and complete in moral character.”

A wicked person is AGAINST God and is described as “deviating from the divine law.” One who is wicked is aligned with Satan, an evil being who is totally against God but whose power is, in no sense, equal to God’s.

There is no middle ground in the distinction between righteousness and wickedness. Jesus Christ, the eternally existent Son of the Creator God, said, “He that is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30)

In 1831 a young French aristocratic statesman and political philosopher, Alexis De Tocqueville, visited the United States to observe the distinctively American system at work. He later wrote a lengthy book, Democracy in America, to document his observations. A quote similar to “America is great because America is good” has often been attributed to De Tocqueville. He may or may not have said this, but in his book he did say “I cling with a firmer hold to the belief that for democratic nations to be virtuous and prosperous, they require but to will it.” This quotation is taken from Democracy in America, Chapter VIII, General Survey of the Subject. This says virtually the same thing in different words.

Summary

Therefore, we are not talking about self righteousness but about a righteousness which comes only from the Creator God through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Being righteous is being FOR God while wickedness is expressed in attitudes and actions AGAINST God. We will follow this thought as we investigate our personal relationship with God in a later post. This alignment is evident even to external observers who desire to make an unprejudiced judgment.

I remain yours in the name of Jesus Christ, the name above every name.

“Mr. Phil”

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Introduction

Having held back for far too long I have decided to take the plunge into “blogging” and may even dabble in Twitter, Tangle, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. Who knows?

The righteous have sat back and allowed the wicked to take over our relationships to God, families, churches, governments, schools and colleges, journalism, entertainment, sports, sciences, and a whole litany of other endeavors in our society. With this blog I am drawing a line in the sand and saying, “This far and no farther.” The righteous are taking back God’s world and becoming good stewards as He instructed us.

Disclaimer

1) This is a work in progress.
2) I don’t know everything, but I am learning.

The Rules

This is my blog, so I am making the rules. This is NOT a democracy! The rules are fairly basic:

1) No profanity, no exceptions; if I see profanity, your comment will NOT be posted.
2) No pornographic or sexual content; if you need that, subscribe to cable TV or take the porn filter off your Internet browser.
3) No abusive language or pejoratives (See 1 Peter 3:15).
4) Keep it short; this will likely be the longest blog I will post
5) Other than that, we are open to just about anything to discuss, but before we do:
a. Read The Bible
b. Read the Mayflower Compact
c. Read the Declaration of Independence
d. Read the U.S. Constitution

I realize that this may be challenging for some. If so, LEARN TO READ first. Then, we can begin having some discussions. This especially applies to many recent graduates of government schools.

Getting Started

In this initial blog I would like to quote and look at some commentary on the guiding principle of this blog from the Bible: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3 (KJV)

Dr. Henry Morris, deceased, and Dr. John MacArthur are two of my favorite Bible scholars and commentators.

“The wicked, with wordly wisdom, attack that which is foundational in the life of the righteous. For example, the truth of creation as recorded in Genesis is foundational to the rest of the Bible and to the faith and practice of the Christian. This is the primary focus of the attack of the ungodly. The Christian often is oblivious to this critical danger.” (The Defender’s Study Bible, Dr. Henry Morris, pg. 603)

“These are the words [Psalm 11:3] of a committed but confused saint. His philosophical problem is, ‘in view of the crumbling of the theocratic society, what can one righteous person, out of a shrinking remnant, do?’” (The MacArthur Study Bible, John MacArthur, pg. 752)

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are two giants of our American Founding Fathers. It is interesting to review some of what they have said about the Creator God and the role of true Christianity in our country.

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” (Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, 1781)

“The Christian Religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.” (Letter Moses Robinson, Thomas Jefferson, March 23, 1801)

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” (Quotation, James Madison, 1778)

“The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the World and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities to be impressed with it.” (Letter to Frederick Beasley, James Madison, November 20, 1825)

So, thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying. I close with another favorite passage: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV)

I remain yours in the name of Jesus Christ, the name above every name.

“Mr. Phil”