On the Founding Fathers
I'm still in the process of completing my next post on CP (which actually addresses Doyle's first question. The following two posts will address the points in the second question. (Those were questions I had intended to answer anyway) For now though, I just want to address the question 2C, "Did the Christian Founding Fathers go against God's will when they started the Revolutionary War?" Without going into the particulars of God's eternal will versus God's temporal will, I will say that the actions leading to the colonization and the independence of the United States were, in my opinion, contrary to the teachings of Jesus in Scripture and more in line with the greater ethos of the enlightenment. This becomes my trouble when I hear people say "America is, or at least was, a Christian nation, founded originally on Christian principles." I'm just not sure what exactly that means. Does that mean that America was built on the assurance of the resurrection and submission to King Jesus? Or was it built on some sort of neo-legislative moralism? But let me, at least a little bit, unpack my answer with a very (very) brief synopsis of American history from colonization to independence.
The colonists came from Europe to America for several reasons, but these are the two main reasons (as I recall from school). First, some wanted money. It's okay, we can say it. The Europeans didn't have noble intentions of spreading civilization (whatever that means) they were entrepreneurs. That is, by the enlightenment ethos, a good thing. Scripture, however, presents a different view of the lengths Christians should go to make money.
Other colonists wanted to escape the religious persecution they were facing in Europe. It seems to me that here some of the early American heroes "of the faith" come into play. However, Jesus said that you're blessed if your persecuted and your reaction should not be to flee, but rather to rejoice. I think there may be a direct correlation between that and why now we praise God for our religious pluralism (aka "freedom") and pray that he keeps America free of persecution as opposed to Christians in China who have praise God and pray for their continual persecution. Who knows?
Let's skip the Native American and slave trade issues and go right to the battle for Independence. It's obvious that the colonists had different economic and political views from England, but what was the great powder-keg of the revolution? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I recall, it was "taxation without representation." The line that was crossed was that the founding fathers didn't want to render unto Caesar what was his because they didn't get a say in it. Again, quite contrary to the direct teaching of Jesus. Yet still, for this they went to war.
So to reword the question, while God's will was accomplished by the Revolutionary War, were the Christian founding fathers of the United States acting out of the Christian ethos when they waged war against, killed, and defeated British loyalists (some of whom were probably Christians too) in order to ease persecution,secure their right to private property, and to bring forth a new more enlightened form of humanist materialism? I would say no, but that's not just because I'm a pacifist.
"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves."
Romans 13:1-2
CP pt. 2 coming soon.
The colonists came from Europe to America for several reasons, but these are the two main reasons (as I recall from school). First, some wanted money. It's okay, we can say it. The Europeans didn't have noble intentions of spreading civilization (whatever that means) they were entrepreneurs. That is, by the enlightenment ethos, a good thing. Scripture, however, presents a different view of the lengths Christians should go to make money.
Other colonists wanted to escape the religious persecution they were facing in Europe. It seems to me that here some of the early American heroes "of the faith" come into play. However, Jesus said that you're blessed if your persecuted and your reaction should not be to flee, but rather to rejoice. I think there may be a direct correlation between that and why now we praise God for our religious pluralism (aka "freedom") and pray that he keeps America free of persecution as opposed to Christians in China who have praise God and pray for their continual persecution. Who knows?
Let's skip the Native American and slave trade issues and go right to the battle for Independence. It's obvious that the colonists had different economic and political views from England, but what was the great powder-keg of the revolution? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I recall, it was "taxation without representation." The line that was crossed was that the founding fathers didn't want to render unto Caesar what was his because they didn't get a say in it. Again, quite contrary to the direct teaching of Jesus. Yet still, for this they went to war.
So to reword the question, while God's will was accomplished by the Revolutionary War, were the Christian founding fathers of the United States acting out of the Christian ethos when they waged war against, killed, and defeated British loyalists (some of whom were probably Christians too) in order to ease persecution,secure their right to private property, and to bring forth a new more enlightened form of humanist materialism? I would say no, but that's not just because I'm a pacifist.
"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves."
Romans 13:1-2
CP pt. 2 coming soon.
Labels: Christian Pacifism, Enlightment Ethos, The United States of America
posted by Shaun Cross at 14:49
6 Comments:
So, your answer is that we won, thus fulfilling God's will, but the reason's we went to war were against God's will? Aren't there some Biblical examples of people going to war against God's will and being smote? Why would God reward a people who act against his will by allowing them to succeed in their anti-God's-will war?
To answer the first question, yes. (but the first "will" means something different from the second "will")
To answer the second question, yes. There are also times where people who are outside of God's will win wars.
To answer the third question, I don't know. I would question our understanding of reward in this case. We probably need to distinguish between reward as materialism defines it and reward as the Bible would define it. I, however, would be arrogant if I preteneded to know more of the workings of God in cases like these.
so i hear alot of talk about pacfism on the level of history and nations here but maybe lets make this a little more personal...this is something i have to think about almost daily...i am at work, i recieve a call to a robbery in progress. i arrive at the victims house and go inside to find a man raping a women with a knife (or a gun) to her neck....my training (legal and tactical) tells me to draw my weapon and put two bullets into his head....my heart tells me i should do anything i can even lay down my life to help this women, am i misguided, or jsut flat out wrong, since i doubt killing someone fits in neatly with a CP world view...just curious for some thoughts...
Joel,
I have one more post that I have already written that I'm posting soon, but then I want to, at least, wrestle with your situation. It's by far the most intriguing to me because it's where you find a rift within those who affirm CP. So hold on to that thought for a bit.
"There are also times where people who are outside of God's will win wars."
How can anything exist outside of God's will?
I suppose the easiest way to explain this is just to split up the term "will" into two different terms. First there is the will of God that we'll call commands. What God wants us to do. Then there is the will of God that we will call ordination. That which will be. People can and do go against God's command for their lives, but that does not hinder God's ordained plan.
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