The very institution of Christianity advances individual Liberty where the absence of Christianity recedes it. Our God-given rights are defined by Natural Law – our rights to Life, Liberty, and Property. In the absence of Christianity we no longer look to our Creator for these rights but to some other fallible earthly entity. When this occurs we no longer exist as individuals but as segregated groups “as member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation—only through some general category” (ie slavery)
“The Christian worldview, rooted in Judaism, broke the mold: it created the idea that someone could exist as a soul before God and apart from the social status they were born with”
“As the Victorian Jacob Burckhardt wrote, ‘In the Middle Ages … Man was conscious of himself only as member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation—only through some general category.'”
Ryan Shinkel of AEI provides a very insightful 2 part article on this subject.
“I should advise persisting in our struggle for Liberty, though it were revealed from Heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to perish, and only one of a thousand were to survive and retain his Liberty! One such freeman must possess more virtue, and enjoy more happiness than a thousand slaves; and let him propagate his like, and transmit to them what he hath so nobly preserved.” – Samuel Adams
March 2nd is Independence Day in Texas. So, Happy Independence Day to all my Texas native and non native friends.
Texas was then as it is now an independently minded citizenry. Those from Mexican descent and those that immigrated here, both enjoyed liberty under the Constitution of Mexico. It was not until the military dictator, Santa Anna, abolished the Mexican Constitution did Texans wish to flex that independence that they had come to love about their home.
The Declaration begins:
When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression.
The General Convention laid out all of the grievances perpetrated on the peoples of Texas and their rights trampled on by an oppressive dictator. Texans, like the Founder’s of the United States had an excellent grasp of Natural Law, as they describe the case for the first law of nature.
When, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance and abdication on the part of the government, anarchy prevails, and civil society is dissolved into its original elements. In such a crisis, the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation, the inherent and inalienable rights of the people to appeal to first principles, and take their political affairs into their own hands in extreme cases, enjoins it as a right towards themselves, and a sacred obligation to their posterity, to abolish such government, and create another in its stead, calculated to rescue them from impending dangers, and to secure their future welfare and happiness.
Self-preservation as the first law of nature must exist and should be used to protect the second – Liberty. Most of the declaration discusses the Liberties that were in jeopardy. Religious Liberty was one of such rights worth fighting.
It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a national religion, calculated to promote the temporal interest of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God.
God Bless Texas! Let us never lose the Independent spirit. Keep up the fight Patriots. As goes Texas, so goes the United States.
Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may. – Sam Houston
Congress was assembled in Independence Hall, at Philadelphia, when the Declaration was adopted, and, connected with that event, the following touching incident is related. On the morning of the day of its adoption, the venerable bell-man ascended to the steeple, and a little boy was placed at the door of the Hall to give him notice when the vote should be concluded. The old man waited long at his post, saying, “They will never do it, they will never do it.” Suddenly a loud shout came up from below, and there stood the blue-eyed boy, clapping his hands, and shouting, “Ring! Ring!!” Grasping the iron tongue of the bell, backward and forward he hurled it a hundred times, proclaiming
“Liberty to the land and to the inhabitants thereof.”
– from the Introduction of the 1848 book “Signers of the Declaration of Independence” by B.J. Lossing
Why should you care about putting a stop to taxpayer funded lobbyists and who is championing this for us in Austin?
Briefly, taxpayer funded lobbyists represent tax funded entities like your local school district, city council, water district, etc. It also includes other organizations that collect their dues from tax funded governmental entities.
A great example of one of these organizations is the Fast Growth School Coalition. The FGSC is made up of school districts that claim to represent schools whose growth exceeds the norm. Their stated goal is to represent these school districts in Austin lobbying the legislature to “ensure continued support for coalition members”
So, now here is the problem with that. The goal of this lobbying is to “help districts cope with the financial and structural demands of their rapidly expanding populations”, in English, they use your tax dollars to gain membership to the FGSC who then goes to Austin with the stated goal of increasing your tax dollars.
The school districts are not the only guilty participants to this scheme. Cities and water districts use lobbyists much the same way. We must hold our representatives accountable.
Our liberty depends upon creating less dependence on government and more on our Savior. This can only be done by electing God fearing representatives as described in Deuteronomy that will not be blinded nor have their words perverted by bribes from those whose words are already perverted and are already blinded.
“You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 16:18-20 NASB)
Currently in the Texas Senate, there are such champions of Liberty. Konni Burton has chosen to take a stand on this issue and she should be applauded. She will only allow the cities and school districts that she represents to address her office directly. A small step that speaks loudly to the Liberty she holds in great regard. I pray other representatives follow suit.
“I am here to defend and represent the taxpayer. Shining a light on this practice by not participating in it is helping to do just that.” – Konni Burton, Texas State Senator SD10
Were our Founding Father’s saints, were they without sin?
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone…” – John 8:7
There are those that have been sold the narrative that our Founding Father’s words should have no power because they owned slaves. The fact that some owned slaves is not in question. So why do we hold slave owners in such high esteem. I would ask why do we hold our Biblical heroes in such high esteem. King David murdered for his lust of a woman, Noah slept with his daughters, Abraham slept with his wife’s servant, and Paul stoned Christians. That is the very foundation and nature of God, that He uses all of us just as we are in spite of ourselves. The Christian world view is that “we have all fallen short” but by the Grace of Jesus Christ we are made righteous.
The Founding Father’s set up a form of government that looks to our Creator for our rights where “All men are created equal”. Even those that owned slaves signed on to an ideal that God created us all equal in his eyes. Frederick Douglass refused to condemn those Founder’s that owned slaves because whether consciously or only by Divine Providence, they set up a form of government that could not exist in the opposing views of Natural Law and Slavery.
“Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery.” – Frederick Douglas
Were all our Founding Fathers slave owners?
Absolutely not. Prominent Founder’s like Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and Benjamin Rush were staunch abolitionists that fought slavery because of their Christian Faith. Founders like Ben Franklin owned slaves, but during the Revolution began questioning himself and ended up becoming president of an abolitionist group.
The pure philosophy of Natural Law stands on its own no matter that it may have been interpreted with a whole people group excluded. It is in fact without prejudice of any kind.
“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker” – John Locke
Do not let the stain of sin blemish the Blessings of Liberty that God granted on this great country. Understand that Jesus died for those sins and that it is in Him that we are made Righteous and that our Founders found their righteousness in Christ also.
Author: Matt Krause Status: Filed Caption: Relating to the prosecution of the offense of online solicitation of a minor. Companions: SB 344 HB 861
“I will be very disappointed if we do not get across the finish line this session is HB815, the Online Solicitation of Minors bill. A few months ago a Judge threw out the statutory language because it was unconstitutionally over broad. So right now we really do not have a mechanism for those who are preying on innocent children online to be put-away and given the full punishment that they deserve. So we tailored the language, we have worked with a lot of law enforcement and Judicial agencies. So, the Online Solicitation of Minors bill will be more intact and firm so we can start putting these people away.” – Rep. Matt Krause, HD 93
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
It is no accident that our Declaration of Independence lists “Life” first among the rights given to us by God. John Locke, a philosophical mentor to our Founders, listed these “Natural Rights” as “Life, Liberty and Property”. Without the right to life, we have no need nor ability to exercise the remaining natural rights. Locke goes on, after establishing that God is the source of these natural rights, stating that they “oblige everyone”, that every life is “equal and independent…for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker”
“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker” – John Locke
On this anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I cannot help but feel that the words of our Declaration of Independence continues to only be applied to those that our culture deems worthy of their God-given rights. These natural rights at different times in our history have been lost on certain peoples with the most egregious being enslaved Africans, until the 20th century brought, I believe, the greatest assault on natural law in all of history…abortion.
Although, the number of abortions in America is not known, it is estimated that over 57.5 million lives have been lost to abortion since Roe v. Wade in 1973. It is not a reach to title abortion, “America’s Holocaust”.
The Supreme Court Justices who decided Roe v. Wade not only defied Natural Law, they also ignored the Tenth Amendment of our Constitution which states “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” This ruling is a blatant offense to the Constitution and to Life.
So many times in history, men and women have been so moved by their faith in God that they act. They act in bold and principled ways to right the wrongs against the natural laws of Life, Liberty and Property. Giants of faith like William Wilberforce, George Washington, Harriet Tubman, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther King Jr all had a burning desire in them to stand against those that would attack one of these God given rights and so made their mark on history.
The fight for Life today is no different than the challenges faced by those Christians before us. Our modern world presents many challenges for women and childbirth. We as Christians must stand in support of both these women and their unborn babies while at the same time fighting these so-called physicians and politicians that want nothing more than the power and money that is the abortion industry.
h/t to Online for Life
There is hope, and our voice is being heard; voices of love and determination. The birth of the crisis pregnancy center all over this country provides the answer to the question “What would Jesus do?” by an outpouring of Grace and love on young mothers whether they decide to keep their babies or not. Do not forget Jesus had is righteous anger side shown against the money changers in the Temple. There is a fight against those that would keep the killing of babies legal. Texas passed HB2 in 2013 that closed 13 abortion clinics overnight simply by demanding consistent and safe medical conditions for women.
What can I do?
First, know that no deed is too small. Contact your local crisis pregnancy centers for volunteer opportunities. Many of them also take donations. Contact your elected officials at both the state and federal level. There are many organizations like National Right to Life and Online for Life that are doing great things at both the legislative and grassroots levels. There are organizations like Embrace Grace that directly sponsor young mothers with love and blessings.
Without [Religion] there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. – Benjamin Rush, Of the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic, 1798
The Liberty Blessing 