Choose for Yourselves
For critics of a nation based on Judeo-Christian principles, you can’t ignore Joshua 24:15!
Joshua’s words to the children of Israel as they entered the Promised Land was this declaration: “. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served . . . in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua offered a choice. He announced he and his family were going to serve God, but that others were free to choose differently. And each had to live with the consequences of that choice—for good or bad!
America’s blessings, IF they continue, will be contingent on the extent to which we understand our biblical heritage—AND—the effort we’re willing to put forth to preserve those principles in public life and policy today!
(From This Precarious Moment/Biblically Founded Nation section)
Affirmation of a Judeo-Christian Nation
It may surprise you to discover what America’s founding fathers affirmed in their original state constitutions!
Hardly the declarations of so-called atheists, agnostics and deists is this statement from Delaware’s 1776 constitution—whose authors included three of the signers of America’s Declaration of Independence.
“Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust shall make and subscribe the following declaration: I do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed forevermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration.”
And there are many more I could read to you. These are precarious moments in our history, in the challenging of the very foundations of our Judeo-Christian nation.
(From This Precarious Moment/Biblically Founded Nation section)
The Exception to the Rule
The majority of America’s founders were strongly Christian!
But that’s NOT what you hear today from many in academia!
The tendency today in academia is to make the exception the rule! They cite Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who expressed beliefs in conflict with basic Christian doctrines, and then conclude all the other founders believed like they did. A true educator would never allow such a weak argument.
Signer Roger Sherman said: “God commands all men everywhere to repent. He also commands them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and has assured us that all who do repent and believe shall be saved.”
I could tell you of many more just like that! What academia should do is show how strongly Christian most founders were, and then point to Jefferson and Franklin as exceptions!
(From This Precarious Moment/Biblically Founded Nation section)
Facts Are Stubborn Things
Much of today’s beliefs about religion in the founding of this country is based on modern opinion rather than actual historical fact!
John Adams, our second president and a founding father observed: “Facts are stubborn things!” I couldn’t agree more.
Check the “facts” and you’ll discover the religious nature of our American founding is definitely NOT secular or Godless. John Adams summarized what previous generations of Americans knew and believed. He said: “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were . . . the general principles of Christianity . . . these general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
I could give you quote after quote. The historical evidence was so clear that both religious and NON-religious leaders in early America agreed that America was founded on biblical and Christian—that is, Judeo-Christian, principles!
(From This Precarious Moment/Biblically Founded Nation section)
Praise and Positive Feedback
We demand less from young people, expect less and then blame them when they make mistakes as adults!
Young people today respond to a world that gives them trophies just for showing up. They’re used to being rewarded and praised, regardless of their behavior and performance.
Successful leaders motivate young people, not through criticism but through deserved praise and positive feedback. Millennials are generally moved by emotion and heart rather than numbers, facts, or even what we present as “truth.” What you’ll discover is that they’re motivated and open to change through relationships. And that opens a door for you as a mentor and a model to them.
Become friends with young people. Invest in their lives. You’re up against a culture that has dismally failed them, and as a result failed an entire nation.
(From This Precarious Moment/Millennial section)
Don’t Become Weary in Doing Good
Millennials tend to be obsessed with two words from the Bible: “Judge not,” and that “judging” other people is one of the greatest of human evils!
You can’t change indoctrinated minds in one conversation!
It will require being intentional, spending time sharing your life experiences and your insights with the young people in your sphere of influence.
In Galatians 6:9, Paul says: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Changing “group think” will require us to do what Jesus did. He spent one-on-one time with those he was mentoring. Ultimately it was that smaller group of disciples that Jesus personally mentored, who changed the known world.
The bottom line is that millennials are a very reachable generation—one by one, over time!
(From This Precarious Moment/Millennials section)
