4th of July 2015

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.” Psalm 33:12

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Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.  -Thomas Jefferson
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 Patriotism is not a short frenzied burst of emotion, but the long and steady dedication of a lifetime. - Thomas Jefferson

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Today, the 4th of July, 2015 many in the United States will celebrate the day and events around the drafting, approving and signing of the Declaration of Independence by the 56 signers 224 years ago. Celebrating our independence as a nation is a very good thing but as with any holiday or memorial celebration, over time the facts and history behind the celebration become less clear and the celebration becomes more focused on the "how" of the event itself rather than the "why". This tendency to focus on the "How" and not the "Why" is quite common. We need look no further than Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter for a few quick examples, but I digress.

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The signers of the Declaration numbered 56. These men were the representatives for the people living in the British colonies under British rule. These men and countless others had been working for years to secure liberties and freedoms that were not being extended to the British colonists. By signing the Declaration of Independence and the actions by the colonists in the months and years to follow a nation was born, The United States of America. A nation unlike any other in the history of mankind.

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 WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

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, that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.............

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Grace & Peace