Love One Another

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:9-13, my emphasis)

It is often alleged in American media and popular entertainment that God-fearing conservatives and Christians are hard of heart and don't care about the poor and needy. It is said that we focus on obscure moral issues like marriage, family, and patriotism, and forget about the disadvantaged among us. Unless one favors a large, tyrannical government to dominate our lives, we must be unjust and lack compassion for the oppressed masses.

Such a view is not surprising from those institutions, and the elite in general, as they condescend upon the Christian faith and life and authentic American values. The condescension from the elite is very palpable and borders on outright hatred. As our Savior Christ taught us, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John 15:18-19)

This may appear simplistic in reasoning, so it is important to understand the nature of Christian love and charity. Our forefathers, the Pilgrims and the Puritans, their contemporaries and successors, who came to the New World in order that they may no longer have to hide in their homes to practice their faith, but could do so publicly and without fear, understood their Christian responsibility for each other quite well. John Winthrop, leader of the Puritans and governor of Massachusetts, stated this in 1630 in his famous sermon, Christian Charity:

For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

This faith in the power of men redeemed by the Holy Spirit was not lost on succeeding generations, including the Founding Fathers. The Constitution of Massachusetts, penned by John Adams in 1780, quite explicitly states what our forefathers believed, in Article III of the Declaration of Rights:

As the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion and morality, ... the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, or religious societies, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality, in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily.

A conservative worldview that doesn't stress public piety and morality is an unrighteous and immoral philosophy. As Americans avoid their Christian duty towards each other, not only does it put us outside of Christ's love, but the very foundation of our freedom decays, and our civil rights and liberties erode. The institutions that our forefathers built are being delivered to those who have no loyalty to our fathers. Our new leaders place heavy burdens on our people: high taxes, intrusive regulation, and the removal of the liberties for which our fathers spilled their blood. The new postmodern "liberties" of sin and wickedness are proclaimed by our judiciary, having no basis in our founding documents, and seek to displace the true liberty that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As John Hancock, first signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Massachusetts, stated in a public supplication of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God in 1791, the same year as the ratification of the Bill of Rights, "... And above all, not only to continue to us the enjoyment of our civil Rights and Liberties; but the great and most important Blessing, the Gospel of Jesus Christ: And together with our cordial acknowledgments, I do earnestly recommend, that we may join the penitent confession of our Sins, and implore the further continuance of the Divine Protection, and Blessings of Heaven upon this People; ..."

As Americans, if we are to reverse the calamity that has befallen us, we must return to God, and to each other. We must serve each other in the bond of brotherhood, realizing that everything we are, everything we have and own, is given to us from above. To find our way, we must rededicate ourselves in love and charity towards one another. As Christ taught us, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:43-45)

Discomfort them, O Lord

Discomfort them, O Lord, that trust in their own multitude and strength, and forget not that thou art even he, our God, which destroyest wars from the beginning; for the Lord is thy name. Lift up thine arm, and in thy power bring their power to nought; cause thy might to fall in thy wrath. There was never proud person that pleased thee, but in the prayer of the meek hath thy pleasure been evermore.

These words were constructed around a Thomas Tallis motet in 1588, when England was at war with Spain. The words also appear in the Septuagint in Judith 9:9-11 and, in general, this idea is a repeated theme in God's holy Word.

This brings us to our present course in America's War on Terror. Following the aircraft attacks on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush sought to punish the people who orchestrated them. As a head of state, and obliged by our national covenant, the Constitution, to secure our national self-defense, this seemed reasonable. In the succeeding five years, things seem to have gone astray, with America using our multitude and strength to pursue causes which are not in our national self-defense, but seek to impose a postmodern, amoral worldview on other God-fearing peoples.

America, especially our men and women in high positions of power, seem to have forgotten about God, and His righteousness, justice, love and mercy. When our forefathers founded this nation, the Pilgrims and Puritans, and their successors, they bound themselves and their posterity into a covenant with God and one another, faithful to the purity and simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Where America has gone today would be anathema to our forefathers, and they would not hesitate to condemn us themselves. Our birthright is not one of blood and soil alone; we become faithful sons of our fathers by doing the things our fathers did. Similar to God's faithful servant Moses in his farewell to the Israelites, John Winthrop, aboard the Arbella in 1630, exhorted his fellow countrymen that if we broke this covenant, we shall surely bring God's wrath upon us:

Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath He ratified this covenant and sealed our commission, and will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it; but if we shall neglect the observation of these articles which are the ends we have propounded, and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, and be revenged of such a people, and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant.

In our present cause in this war what has America wrought for herself and the world? Unhappiness here at home, strife in Iraq, the Holy Land, and the entire Middle East, and increased discord between Islamic civilization and Christendom. It is true that America is not solely blameworthy, and that violence and terrorism are always outside of God's law, but as America is a great nation, it is called to use its immense power to foster peace and concord, not to respond with an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Our mission into Iraq was intended to bring the ideas of liberty and self-government to the Middle East. However, we have drifted from this goal, and instead, in our own arrogance, insisted on imposing our way of life on another people. Self-government means what it means, that the people decide on their own form of government. The people of Iraq have a right, as a nation and in their local communities, to combine themselves into any form of government they wish. As they have seen where the West has gone, who are we to wag the finger when faithful followers of the Prophet Muhammed want to ensure that morality is preserved in their nation.

Evil does not exist in certain people or in certain places, but as what is born of the flesh is flesh, evil exists in all men, because by nature we are separated from the righteousness of a perfect God. However, as right and wrong, and good and evil, are known and recognized by all people, it is up to us to overcome this defect of human nature. "Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity," as John Winthrop told us, "is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God."

Parable of the Lost Son

The parable of the prodigal son is undoubtedly one of the best known and most beloved in the Scriptures, and it's directly related to forbearance. In the story, a father has two sons, one of whom wants to leave home, so the son asks for his portion of the inheritance. The son wastes the entire fortune and lives in poverty for some time, when he decides to return home and ask his father to make him one of his servants. When the father spots him, he immediately forgives him and restores him to his proper place in the family, beginning with the celebration of a grand feast.

Of course, the parable is about more than a father and his sons, it's about God and us children. The parable shows God's unfailing love and devotion for us, in which He is willing to forget the past and welcome each one of us anew into His household. If God will do this for us, are we willing to do the same for our brothers?

For human beings practicing forbearance may be difficult, but it is something that we are in desperate need of in today's world. Forbearance increases the bond of brotherhood among men, this can be said without doubt. To let your fellowman off the hook for a wrong that was done to you, or simply to show charity and good will without recompense, tends to veer away from human nature. Yes, to be forbearing is not in the law of nature, but, as human beings, we are certainly capable of much more than that. If we are to say we are made in the image of a loving Creator, much more is expected of us, as we are called into service under the law of God. Certainly each one of us is capable, as the burden is light, but why do we fail?

We fail because we backslide into our fallen nature, as opposed to our nature in the Spirit. We need to rearrange our priorities and shine as a light in a dark world. We need to surround ourselves with constant reinforcement of the values with which we want to live. We've lost the spirit of our forefathers, as when they arrived on the shores of Massachusetts, to live in freedom in the purity and simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the same spirit that built the America we've inherited. An America from which we've been drawing down the principle without replacing what we've taken.

We've got to do a better job of teaching our sons and daughters the values that our forefathers transferred to us. We have a duty to our God and our nation to ensure that the transmission of the faith and values of our fathers is bequeathed to our posterity. To accomplish this, our values must permeate society at all levels, and they need to be expected from all people at all times and in all places. At a time when our civic institutions seem to be at war with the people they serve, replacing the values of our fathers with the pursuit of pleasure at all costs, we need to persevere as the salt and light of the world. We need to reclaim ownership of our civic institutions, and have them reflect the values that we want to impress on our children.

To start, we need to put local neighborhoods back in charge of our public schools, and parents more rights over the affairs of their children's education. We need to rediscover the faith and values of our forefathers, follow them consistently, and celebrate them always and everywhere. As citizens, it is more than a suggestion; it is patriotic duty to ensure that our nation is a righteous and just nation, and that our children grow up in a land where we can be proud to call ourselves Americans.

So, starting today, let us rededicate ourselves to practicing forbearance, love and charity with our neighbors, even those with whom we have had disagreements in the past. Let us begin the process of reclaiming our civic institutions for the purposes of infusing our whole society with the values of forbearance, love and charity. Then we will be able to say that we are Americans and we are sons of the Most High.

"... it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other ..."
(Constitution of Virginia, Article I, Section 16)