Is America A Christian Nation, Part XIV, Transferring Ideal Authority

In the last installment in the series, Is America A Christian Nation, standing atop the conclusions realized in earlier installments, we pointed out that the Declaration of Independence does not specifically stipulate that the authority for America comes from God of the Bible, including the New Testament. But because the laws in each colony/state-to-be required any representative of the people to profess faith as a Christian, any reference to God endorsed in the Declaration these men signed as representatives of the people, can only have been God of the Bible and New Testament.  For this reason, the expressions of the Declaration of Independence support that American sovereign authority derives from God, the Holy Trinity, through Jesus Christ, who according to New Testament scriptures is given all authority in Heaven and earth.  Because Jesus Christ owns all authority, any authority for a nation, must pass through Him on the way.

Following that train of reason, according to the Declaration, based upon certain New Testament scriptures, Jesus Christ endows all men with certain authority, certain human rights, and does so equally, all men being equal in the eyes of God.  There are numerous scriptures from which this principle derives, perhaps notably, Matthew 22:37-39, where Jesus is quoted to say

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

That Jesus commands men to love others as they love themselves, that command requires men to respect that all men are created equal in the eyes of God.  If that were not true, then God would understand loving certain individuals, perhaps even one's self, more than others. 

There are many other New Testament scriptures from which the principle that 'all men are created equal' derives.  The Golden Rule is certainly one.  Another is John 15:13 where Jesus is quoted, saying

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

That one might voluntarily lay down life for a friend, necessarily implies that the life of one's friend is of equal value to that of one's self, the equity of the exchange allowing  one to sacrifice for another freely.  But this scripture also specifically implies that a friend's right to life is equal to one's own claim on the same, here again requiring believers in Jesus Christ to respect each man's equal right to life.

These are just of few of New Testament scriptures that help to demonstrate that the Natural Laws of God cited in the expressions of the Declaration of Independence, derive from the New Testament. 

And before we go further, I think it is important to realize that, during the period encompassing 1776 and 1781, the United States of America was a nation governed solely by the principles of the Declaration of Independence, governed solely by ideals.  Wow! Imagine that, a nation governed solely by just a few simple ideals!  But think about it; that is the exactly the way that Jesus Christ describes Christian life, self-government by ideals, government of men, by men, whose laws are few but who each respect the rights of others.  This demonstrates yet another way in which American sovereignty derives from the scriptures.

Now this next point is very important going forward, so I hope you get this if you don't get anything else from this series.  And that point is that those few simple ideal principles, stated clearly in the American Declaration of Independence, are still authoritative.  Every law in the land, every statute, every regulation, each individual act of every tool of government, finds its source of authority in those few principles in the Declaration of Independence.  There is no other source of authority for American national government.  So what does that really mean???

It means that any governmental intention that violates the intentions of those principles, is unauthoritative, null, void before it is enacted into law or before it is acted upon by a tool of government.  Because the entire nation of the United States of America draws its authority from these few principles, these ideals, ordered as they are in the form of a rational reason for that authority to exist, then any American authority to act, in theory, is restricted to those actions, the intentions of which are in support of and consistent with those principles.  And THAT was Jefferson's brilliance.  And THAT is the importance today of the Declaration of Independence. Even the very principle that authorizes men to institute a national government derives from the authority that flows from one of the principles, the Natural Laws of God, in the Declaration of Independence.  Just for example, let's see how that works.

Remember in the previous installment XII, I wrote, 'Principle # 4 is the Natural Law that authorizes government to exist.'  That law states the following:

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;

Because that Natural Law of God is 'truth,' self-evident 'truth,' that principle carries authority.  That is because authority derives from truth.  Truth is authoritative because one can always count on truth.  One cannot count on falsehood.  So truth can be used to construct authoritative agreements.  Agreements without truth are agreements based in falsehood, bad faith, bad intentions which are null and void and thereby unenforceable.  Agreements made in good faith, truthful intentions, are enforceable using the authority of the agreement.  So efforts carried forth which are intended to fulfill the principle #4 above, or any of the principles of the Declaration, are authorized.  Those efforts and the fruits of those efforts therefore carry authority, the authority that derives from Truth.  Now truth itself derives from love, but that is a topic for another time.

Carrying this discussion a smidge further, as long as the representatives of the people of the United States design a government, the intentions of which are in keeping with principle #4 above, and do not violate any other of the Declaration's principles, the results of their efforts carry authority.  And that is exactly what the people's representatives did in constructing America's first 'constitution.' And that is why that document, the Articles of Confederation, carry authority.  That is the only reason.  Had principle #4 above been left out of the Declaration, and had the founders enacted some other rationale to justify independence from Great Britain, one that did not authorize an institution of government, then any government that may have sprung from those efforts would not have carried authority. 

So in keeping with the authority that flows from principle #4 of the Declaration, America's first effort to institute a national government was that government described under the agreement ratified in 1781, the Articles of Confederation. Understanding now how that document came to its authority, in our next installment we will return to the matter at hand. We will look at America's 'first constitution' and understand what it might have to say which will aid us to fully and completely answer the question, Is America a Christian Nation.

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Have a great day and I'll be back for more soon.

Hank