How to Make America a Better Place

How to Make America a Better Place

What to Do to Make America a Better Place

When we look around at our country, our society, our world, as Christians, what we’re doing isn’t working. What is happening in our country is not moving things forward. Jesus taught his disciples, to pray “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” But, we’re not moving closer to that.

Why are Christians failing to improve the world? One reason Christians have failed to positively impact the country, the world, and legislation is because they have not studied what the Bible says about government. Hosea 4:6 says My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…”

When we’re being brutally honest with ourselves, we understand that what we’re doing spiritually is not working, not working collectively, not working individually, as far as having a positive impact on our country and on our nation.

With what we’re looking at in our world, there would be some people that would tell us that we shouldn’t be concerned about what we see in this world. We just need to prepare for heaven. If that’s the case, then why did Jesus teach us to pray that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Why even bother with it if we’re not supposed to be engaged in that? So again, what we’re doing isn’t working, and we all know that on the inside.

Understanding Where Self-Evident Truths Come From

Could it be that there’s something that we don’t know? Could it be there’s some knowledge that we’ve lost along the way?

One day, I was thinking about the Declaration of Independence. One phrase from the Declaration of Independence stood out to me in such a way that it never had. And that’s when our founders wrote and said, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. And in thinking about that, I thought, yeah, I can see that from the scripture, because again, they’re attributing it to the Creator. And I could easily make a case that we’re all the same before God, that all are created equal. But then it got a little tough on me.

The next phrase is that they are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. I had trouble with that. I’m thinking the founding fathers are saying that this is a self-evident truth. And the implication is that it is a self-evident truth from the scripture. And I’m sitting there thinking, I have no idea where they got that. I don’t understand where in scripture it would tell us that we have unalienable rights. I don’t see that. And then it goes on saying, among these are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

When I looked in the Bible, I easily found Bible verses about life and it being a self-evident right. Liberty, on the other hand, I had trouble with. Pursuit of happiness I had even more trouble with. But yet our founding fathers said that these were self-evident truths. I couldn’t see how God had given us unalienable rights, that we had liberty, we had the pursuit of happiness, basic concepts of it. For me to say with the founding fathers that’s a self-evident truth. I was not there. And I dare say that most of us are not there. Could it be that our society has went the direction that it has went because we now lack the knowledge of some self-evident truths from Scripture and that lack of knowledge is destroying us?

Should Christians be involved in politics? To learn more, visit my article How Should Christians View Politics?

2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I believe that the Scripture gives us the answer for every situation. And when God says that we’re destroyed for a lack of knowledge, like in Hosea 4:6, if there is destruction and decay taking place, then one of the first places we need to go is a lack of knowledge.

The thought went through my mind, evidently the Founding Fathers knew something that I don’t. They’re studying the Bible in a way that I haven’t. My personal opinion up to that point in time was that the Bible really didn’t say much about government. The Bible really didn’t prescribe it. It was all about faith and practice, virtually nothing about government. I began to study the Scripture, looking for self-evident truths. What was it that they saw? How were they reading it? And as a result of that, I actually began to see that Bible addresses government and the handling of government throughout the entire scripture.

What the Bible Says About Government

God freed the children of Israel from the government of Egypt. He took them to the Promised Land, established their own government. Their government was divided into two nations, Israel and Judah. Their nation, their government was overtaken by foreign powers. And as you look through there throughout the prophets, they prophesied not just about Israel, but they prophesied about nations that were not Godly. They prophesied about how God would judge them for the things that they would do. And I began to realize that God is not separate and distinct. Our faith is not separate and distinct from government. But God has something to say about how every government functions, even those that do not proclaim Him. And they even come under the judgment of God. I began to see that differently.

I began to see that if we want to see our nation go in another direction, then we’ve got to understand what God says about government. Not just certain laws, not just the Ten Commandments, but what are the underlying principles that God established.

 

Does God expect Christians to vote? To learn more, visit my article Does God Expect Christians to Vote?

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