{"id":11927,"date":"2021-07-02T18:41:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T22:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/?p=11927"},"modified":"2022-06-08T13:19:41","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T17:19:41","slug":"july-4th-a-country-founded-on-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/july-4th-a-country-founded-on-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"July 4th, A Country Founded on Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p>July 4th commemorated the day in 1776 when the Second Continental Congress adopted Thomas Jefferson\u2019s \u201cThe Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America,\u201d better known as the Declaration of Independence. That day started our journey as a free, self-governing country, upholding individual liberty and equality that the God of the Universe provided to every soul.<\/p>\r\n<h3>Principles of God<\/h3>\r\n<p>Most Americans are familiar with the Declaration\u2019s words, \u201cWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\u201d But there are more references of God in the Declaration of Independence, including, \u201cthe laws of nature\u2019s God,\u201d \u201cthe Supreme Judge of the World,\u201d and \u201cfirm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.\u201d Even today, these words still ring true and provide a firm foundation for governing both as a nation and as individuals; this is because divine truth was woven into the very fabric of our nation\u2019s founding.<\/p>\r\n<p>Many of our founding fathers were Christians, some were deists, and others agreed with Christian principles of equality. This mindset was popularized during the First Great Awakening, a religious revival that spread throughout the Colonies during the early to mid-1700s. As a result, religious beliefs and political beliefs of natural equality became widely accepted and grew from the concept that all people are created equal under God.<\/p>\r\n<p>Jefferson\u2019s original draft condemned slavery, but the clause was removed from the final draft as there was much debate over emancipation. The delegates believed it was better to remove that clause to pass the Declaration and stand united against England than to force a long debate and leave the separate colonies vulnerable to British attack and victory. But Jefferson retained the principle of \u201call men are created equal\u201d in the Declaration, leaving the door open for future Americans to pursue their inalienable rights of freedom and equality.<\/p>\r\n<h3>Faith of Our Fathers<\/h3>\r\n<p>\u201cGod who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Thomas Jefferson<\/strong><br \/>Author of America\u2019s Declaration of Independence<br \/>America\u2019s Third President<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cResistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. &#8230; Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>John Hancock<\/strong><br \/>First Signer of the Declaration of Independence<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cAs the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>John Adams<\/strong><br \/>America\u2019s Second President<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cWhile we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>General George Washington<\/strong><br \/>America\u2019s First President<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cWe have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>James Madison<\/strong><br \/>Primary Author of the U.S. Constitution<br \/>America\u2019s Fourth President<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cI have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth &#8212; that\u00a0<strong><em><u>God<\/u>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><em>governs in the affairs of men.\u00a0<\/em>And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Benjamin Franklin<\/strong><br \/>A signer of both America\u2019s Declaration of Independence and the Constitution<br \/>Founder of the University of Pennsylvania<br \/>A leading theorist of the American Revolution<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cIt cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Patrick Henry<\/strong><br \/>Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">We celebrate July 4th as America\u2019s Independence Day. Make it a time to reflect on the freedom that is God\u2019s gift to us. Thank Him for His gift, and may God bless America!<\/p>\r\n<p>==&gt; Also read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/ancient-christian-hymns\/\">Ancient Christian Hymns<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p>==&gt; And read &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/called-to-serve-god-and-county\/\">Called to Serve God and Country<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>July 4th, a country founded on faith, commemorates the day in 1776 when Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Declaration of Independence was signed by Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[582,361,585,42,581,584,587,586,56,583],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>July 4th, A Country Founded On Faith - West Park Baptist Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"July 4th, a country founded on faith, commemorates the day in 1776 when Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Declaration of Independence was signed by Congress.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/july-4th-a-country-founded-on-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"July 4th, A Country Founded On Faith - 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