Here are some thoughts on why we are in the mess we are in, and how we can become one again. These ideas are, in part, from my favorite blog www.denisonforum.org and Andrew Delbanco’s book The Real American Dream, both of which claim that our culture has developed around three forces in which Americans have sought hope: God, Nation, and Self.
There was a time when we were, as the Pledge of Allegiance states, ‘One Nation Under God.’ In our early years, God was the CenterPoint of our nation. Everything was under Him. Our Constitution was built around His principles, and the Founding fathers placed all their trust in him. Children used the Bible as textbooks, and the people of this great nation sought Gods counsel and searched His Word in all that they did; both on a personal basis, and as citizens of the world’s greatest nation. We were truly One Nation Under God.
The Civil War ended that, and the carnage of the worst war America ever experienced divided us into two camps forever. But we were finally re-united as a nation and were joined as patriots with a common cause; that nation. That patriotism gave us a unity that carried us into another century and thru two great wars. We became One Nation.
After the 2nd world War, however, we began to pull part from one another, each to his own way. Diversity become the key, rather than unity. The good of the one slowly overshadowed the good of the nation, and we were divided. We became a nation of Ones.
At first we were centered around God, then around the nation, now we center each around our self and our own needs. “A house divided” Lincoln told us ”can not stand”. We are more divided now that ever.
The only solution is to return to the way we began: first to put self aside and join in the common good, then place ourselves again under the unfailing hand of God Almighty. ‘One Nation Under God.’ It is more than a saying. It is the only way we can survive as a free nation.
garythepreacher.com 