This to me is a very disappointing response.
I remember well the nature of the Faith/Religion forum at Creednet, where most of not all of us came from. I remember it as a place of people of many different faiths and perspectives. It was not a christian only board, and as such, healthy debate, and sometimes very heated debate was normal.
I have and never really had any problem with healthy debate and friendly and civil disagreement. Such things are never really bad, so long as they stay friendly and civil. In the context of such discussions, it's rare that anyone's mind is ever changed, but it's still an opportunity to learn more about other people's views.
I know you and I Keli have come to have very different views and beliefs in certain areas.
That said, while I would not wish or want to necessarily squash any form of healthy and civil debate, the purpose of this post, while indeed critical of Obama, was mainly to encourage christians who have pride and devotion both to their faith and to their country and the ideals that it was founded upon. I did not "love this e-mail" because it agreed with my political ideals. I loved this e-mail because it agreed with my faith. To think back and look at some of the solemn and sincere expressions of faith expressed in the very stone of some of the buildings of our nation's capital is amazing to think about and to consider. The reverence that most of the men had for God and their looking to Him to guide and bless this nation was something that I believe was very real.
It's interesting the comment made about reading the book personally deepening the faith of Sean Hannity. How can such things not deepen the faith of a christian? How can such things not make a christian have that much more respect for the heritage of this nation, and the ideals that let it come to be as a sovereign nation? It's as the best and most knowledgeable bible teacher I have ever come across states, in a very short amount of time we became the super power of super powers and the greatest nation in the world. That can't be just a coincidence, but came about from the blessings of God. How do you acheive the blessings of God? You seek out and try to do His will and you lead your life accordingly. You lead your nation accordingly.
Many people look at the word caucasian and say, well that's talking about a white person. But it goes a lot deeper than that. You had the House of Judah, which also included the tribe of Benjamin, and then you had the House, or kingdom of Israel, which consisted of the other tribes. The House of Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians, and then they were scattered. But where did they scatter to? More to the point, how did this word "caucasian" come to be?
It came from the fact that the tribes of the house of Israel were taken by the Assyrians to the Caucasus Mountains, and they would migrate over those Caucasus Mountains. It refers to an event more than it does a race or skin color. But it refers to an event concerning the 10 tribes (minus Judah and Benjamin) of Israel. Most people today look at Israel just as a country in the Middle East, and some christians today even speak of it with a bit of jealousy because they are called God's chosen people, and they do it being ignorant of their own history. They don't even realize the origin of Anglo Saxon, Saxon being "Isaac's Sons"... again the tribes of Israel!
http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/migration12.html
Then you look at where most Americans are considered to "come from"... that being England. In England they have crowned nearly all of their monarchs on a coronation stone. That may not seem all that significant except when one considers the history of this stone, which has moved around a good bit through the ages. It's been to Ireland, it's been to Scotland, and it sits now in England. Some call it the Stone of Scone, some call it the Stone of Destiny, but the interesting thing about it is it's a type of stone that isn't natural to or found in England. It is found in Judea and Moab... and it's the very stone that Jacob laid his head down on in Genesis 28. It's interesting as well that the English royal line goes back to the royal line of David.
http://www.revelationsofthebible.com...illarStone.htm
When they say "God save the Queen", for instance, where does that originate from?
2nd Chronicles 23:11Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.
It is believed by many that the nation of Britain is of the tribe, or actually half tribe of Ephraim and that America is of the tribe of Manasseh. While many of the people may not know and forgot who they are, God certainly knows.
There is much on the blessings and destiny of Ephraim and Manasseh here.
http://www.theseason.org/genesis/genesis48.htm
Why am I going into this digression of sorts? Well because I think it's important that people know and understand who they are. If God made a covenant with the nation of Israel and made promises to the people thereof, how can people claim those promises if they don't even know who they are?
I guess what I'm saying is that the "Judeo-Christian" principles and traditions go back farther in this country than many people even realize. It's interesting too that as I have been reading in 2nd Chronicles the history of the kings, mainly the kings of Judah, at that time, but how when things went well for them, they were following the ways of the Lord, and in particular the king was. When that king started to allow the return of idolatry and other forms of worship and heathen practices to seep into the kingdom of Judah, invariably it would result in God coming down on Judah, most generally by utilizing heathen nations to do the correcting, and ultimately allowing both the House of Israel and the House of Judah to be carried away into captivity.
America I believe did things God's way and was very richly blessed. Imagine the concept of a nation that was only a couple of hundred years old becoming the richest, most powerful nation on the planet... a nation that did not achieve such a status through conquering other nations either. But rather we became a nation that was seen as the standard bearer of freedom and liberty, and who sought to help other people enjoy the same freedoms and liberties. I'm sure such a thought would have been seen as impossible to most of the world. And yet it happened.
But now, can we honestly look at America today and say it's as great as it was 50 years ago? 100 years ago? 150 years ago? Looking at America today and all of our problems that we face, economically, socially (crime, tensions between groups of people), politically in terms of bad government, bad policies both domestic and foreign, and whatever else. Is it really coincidence that as we have just sat back and allowed a few who get offended by the sight of anything mentioning God in "the wrong place" to have their way that things have gotten worse? I mean really hasn't that the way it's always worked? Do your best to follow God both as an individual and as a nation and you'll be fine. But forsake God, and He will forsake you. How many examples do we have set before us that very thing in God's Word?
I'll say a bit more later, regarding the regarding the First Amendment... though truthfully I had no desire to debate or to argue. Like I said, I meant this as something for christians to take heart in and reflect upon. I'm sorry it had to turn into something else.
Jason