Transcript

America's Providential History Podcast explores the hand of God in America's history

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Stephen McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you are joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. A couple of weeks ago, we began to look at seven ideas that have transformed the world and made America a success. The first fundamental idea is the Christian idea of God. In theology, we examined how our view of God is the most important thing about us because we become like whom or what we worship. And not only we as an individual, but a society as well. Then we looked at a second idea, the Christian idea of man. How man is created the image of God and has great value, but man is a sinner. And that has implications not only personally, but for our nation and our form of government and laws that we enact. And then we looked at a third idea, the Christian idea of the family, and how the family is the basic building block of society. And how the family goes, so goes the nation. And its mission is to extend the righteous rule of Jesus Christ over the whole earth. And that then leads us to today's podcast, where we are going to look at idea number four, the Christian idea of truth, our law.

One of the underlying tenets of government schools today is that truth is relative

Now, from a Christian perspective, we believe the Bible teaches that there is truth, there is such a thing as right and wrong, that there are absolutes that we can know. Now, for Christians, the source of that truth is the Bible, the inerrant word of God. And this was the view that just about every early American had, as well as we've examined in previous podcasts, that, those people who colonized our states and wrote our laws and constitutions and started our schools and universities and served in leadership in every sphere of life, most of them were Christians. And even those that weren't Christians still believe. We adhere to a set of truths, as the Declaration of Independence said, and that truth, we can find that truth in the Bible. So this was the view of the founders of America. This has actually been the view of Western civilization, for, centuries and centuries and centuries, that there is truth, that truth emanates from the Creator. It's revealed clearly in the Bible, and that it can be known and should be known. We should base our life upon that truth. So this is the view of truth, or law, if you will, of the founders of America. But in past generations, we have been casting that concept aside and we've begun to embrace the idea, that, well, truth is relative. This is one of the underlying tenets of government schools today is this concept of relativism, that there is no truth. You know, what may be true for you isn't necessarily true for me. You can believe that if you want, but that's not what I believe. But of course, those who abandon truth quickly come to the point. Someone else, if they don't believe like they do, need to be harassed or punished, thrown in jail, persecuted or something, such as the relativist. So relativism, this idea, there is no such thing as truth. All truth is relative. Truth emanates from what I believe truth is right. This is an idea maybe not, directly taught in government schools, but it's the underlying theme of most everything that people, young people learn, today. And of course, not just this generation, but before this generation, prior to this, those ideas began to be, sown. But this concept of relativism, where there's no such thing as truth, is not logical at all. When you begin to talk to someone, they begin to say, well, you know, truth is just relative. we all decide what is true for each of us. You can ask them one simple question. Are you sure? And if they say, well, I'm absolutely sure there's no absolutes. I'm, absolutely sure there's no such thing as truth. Of course, that makes no sense, because if you say it's true that there is no truth, then how can you know that that's true? Well, you can't, because relativism isn't logical. See, the world is absolutely sure there are no absolutes. You are wrong. I'm absolutely sure because I'm right. And so it's not logical, this idea of relativism, it's just really for the relativist today, the postmodernist, if you will. He thinks I am going to be the source of truth. Not just for me and what I. What I think, but everyone else needs, to think like me as well. So the biblical view of truth or law, because law is a statement of what a people consider to be true, right and wrong, moral or immoral, lawful or unlawful. But the biblical view of law is that there are fixed laws that apply to everyone and are always true. This is what Scripture says. God's word is truth and proclaims it many, many, many, many times throughout the Scripture, Jesus declared, I am the truth, and his word is truth. And William, Blackstone, who wrote that great. He was a great English jurist. He wrote the Commentaries of the Laws of England, first published in 1748. It was used for 150 years studied by anyone who became a studied law in at least the English speaking world and beyond for 150 years. But he reflected the view that these men had regarding truth and law when he wrote, man considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being. And consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his Maker's will. This will of his Maker is called the law of nature. Of course, we've heard that phrase in the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson when he used that phrase. It was well understood by Jefferson and everyone else in America when he spoke of the law of nature. It's the revelation of the Creator in his creation and in the conscience of man, the law of nature. And Blackstone goes on to write, these laws laid down by God are the eternal immutable laws of good and evil. This law of nature, dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this. And so this is the biblical view of law. That there is right, there is wrong, there is truth, there is falsehood. And that these laws that reveal to us what is right and true and good emanate from the Creator. any law that's contrary to God's higher law is no law at all. All. And so then, as created man, it's our duty to find out these laws of our Creator. What is right, what is wrong, what is lawful, what is unlawful. How do you want us to function and live? Because God's laws are a revelation of the state of reality. That's why it's so important for us to seek out truth as revealed in the Scripture. See, the law of nature is the revelation of God and in the conscience of man in his creation. He speaks of this in Psalm 19:1. The heavens declare the glory of God and showeth his handiwork. Paul writes about these in the book of Romans and other places. That all men have some knowledge of right and wrong because we're created in the image of God, but in our fallen state, that knowledge is limited. And so God reveals his specific law clearly written down in the Holy Scriptures. That's what's called the laws of nature's God. So when Jefferson used that phrase, the law of nature and laws of nature's God, he was, using a well established phrase. Everyone understood what that meant. The law of nature the revelation of God in his creation, the law of nature's God, the specific revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures. And so it's our duty for our benefit too, because if we violate the laws of the Creator, we're going to have problems. But if we adhere our life, our family, our business, our civil laws, to the laws of the Creator, then we'll be blessed. And the Bible teaches this over and over and over again. So that's the Christian view of law. The law upon which America was founded. That was one of those ideas that helped bring about flourishing and blessing, advancement and prosperity to the nation. Now this is in contrast to the secular view of law. This is reflected in the French Declaration of rights from 1794. You know, not long after America had a revolution, the French did. But the French Revolution was built upon a whole different foundation. Ours was built upon the foundation really of these seven ideas that we're covering, including this biblical view of law. But theirs was built upon more of a man centered view of life, secular view. There is no God. Man is his own God. We will decide what's right and wrong and everything else. And so in the French Declaration of Rights, it says that the law is the expression of the general will. The rights of man rests on the national sovereignty. This sovereignty resides essentially in the whole people. So the French Revolution is in contrast to the American Revolution. That's what that tale of Two cities that Dickens wrote reveals the bad fruit of these bad ideas that the French Revolution, was based upon.

The secular view says that law comes from man, not God

And that's why it produced great bloodshed and tyranny and everything else. And so the secular view is that law is a reflection of, the general will comes from man. Man is the source of law, not God. We are the source of law. The rights of man rest on the national sovereignty. And this sovereignty resides with the whole people. Of course, in reality, it wasn't the whole people, it was the select few who govern. It practically is what that means.

The source of law in America easily can be shown to be the Bible

So as we've posited before, I think in previous podcasts, a fundamental, question that every nation should be asking and none are, is who is the source of law of our society? It's a fundamental question because the source of law of a society is the God of that society. The source of law in America easily can be shown to be the Bible. Just read the early constitutions, compacts and charters, and you will see that that's who they appeal to directly, often quoting scripture and coveting together under God. This is where they looked to decide what's truth. What's right and wrong and how to, write their good civil laws. You see, law is the working religion of a people. Law reveals what a people consider to be ultimate right and wrong, moral or immoral. And that's your source of absolutes, your source of truth is really a, reflection of your faith, your religion, because religion, the faith that you have. Ultimately, you're asking the question, who do I look to as the ultimate one in my life, in my society, who will m. I, submit my action and life and thought to? That's the one that you serve. That's the one you have faith in. That's the one who really is your God? And so when you go and read the laws of a nation, you're really looking in insight. Okay, who do you serve? Who do you look as, the source of your faith, your religion? Do your laws protect life? Do they uphold the biblical family? Do they, put forth biblical morality and so many other things? Or is it like the French revolutionaries? Does your law reflect that man is his own God? See, the foundation and source of America's law and government was the Bible. We had a Christian view of law. God and the Bible were the source of our law. Now, this can be seen, as I said, from reading the early constitutions, compacts and charters. We looked at some of that in previous podcasts. There was over 100 different constitutions, compacts and charters written in, early America during our colonial period. I think 84 written in the colonies, 20 plus were written back in England. And when you read through all of those, one, you'll see, okay, they look to God as the Almighty one, the ultimate one. And if you were to read the influential political writers that shaped the worldview and thinking and action of those who founded America, you'll see that they, almost all of them had a biblical view of law. Montesquieu, Blackstone, Locke, Puffendorf, Cook, Grotius, Vatau, just to mention a few. A, number of decades ago, Dr. Lutz and Heineman did a study, professors at one was at Notre Dame one while I was at the University of Houston, that I met and talked with just right after he'd done this study, by the way, released I think 1984. But, these men, they did an exhaustive look at the source of the political ideas of the founding era. They wanted to find out who was it that shaped the worldview of these men, who gave us the Declaration and Constitution, who gave us this unique nation unlike any the world had seen. And A great leap forward in the concepts of civil liberty. So they wanted to find out where did it come from. They kind of, as were taught, as many are, that, we're a product of French Enlightenment or the Enlightenment thinking, humanistic Enlightenment thought. They wanted to find out, is that really true? So as I said, they read everything they could find. From 1760 to 1805, 15,000 political documents they examined. And as they went through them, every time someone was cited, in these writings, they recorded this. So there was 3,154 citations that they marked that were pointing to a source of the ideas. Now, what they concluded, by far the most quoted source from any place was the Bible. 34% of all citations for their political ideas. This was not for their theological or religious ideas, but for the political in those documents came directly from the Bible, four times more than any other source. And then the most quoted writers, the ones with the highest percentage of quotation, were ideas that they got from the Bible themselves. So Montesquieu is the most quoted. 8.3% of those citations were Montesquieu, 7.9% were Blackstone, 2.9% were Locke, and then all others were less than that. And so probably about 50%, of the citations of individuals had a biblical view of law. Most were Christians, but they all would have had a biblical view of law. So over 84% of all the citations came directly from the Bible or indirectly from the Bible for their political ideas. 10% came from some of the early Greek and Roman writers who, some of those ideas were more truthful, because man on his own can discover some knowledge of truth. Scripture tells us. And only 6% of them were really from atheistic enlightenment lighters like, Voltaire and Rousseau and those men. But then even that they were just recording the citations. They did not, evaluate or listen if the context of the quote was negative. So a lot of times they say, oh, yeah, we know the writings from, Voltaire, but we know it isn't true. We don't believe this, but it doesn't even take that into account. But this is just a study that shows, contrary to what some modern academics present is that the Bible, biblical ideas were the source of, of the concept political ideas and law and polity that early Americans had that shaped their thinking. again, another point of evidence that the American founders had a biblical view of law can be seen from the words, their words themselves. Let me just, I'll read a couple of quotes from some of them and we could do this for a long, long time m reading quotes from our founders that reflect a biblical view of law. James Wilson, for example, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He said this regarding God is the promulgator as well as the author of natural law. All laws, however, may be arranged in two different classes. One divine, two human. But it should always be remembered that this law, natural or revealed, made for men or for nations, flows from the same divine source. It is the law of God. Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law, which is divine. So Wilson points out two types of law. There is divine law and human law. Divine law is that revealed law of God in the scriptures. That is what he is talking about. And human law, or laws that man have written over the course of history. And of course, in early America, in the different colonies, they wrote lots of laws, books of laws. those laws were all biblical because they were searching the scripture for those laws. But all law flows from the same divine source. It's the law of God and should be the law of God. Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law, which is divine. God demands it of us, but it's also good for us, because if our law coincides with God's law, it produces blessing. But if the laws that we make are contrary to God's law, it's trouble we go backwards. And history affirms this. The Bible teaches this. Certainly the founders of America believed that that was true. Just one other quote from one of our founders, Rufus King, was a signer of the United States Constitution. He said, the law established by the Creator extends over the whole globe, is everywhere and at all times binding upon mankind. This is the law of God by which he makes his way known to man and is paramount to all human control. And so, since God is the creator, God did create everything to operate according to his law. Both, physical law and moral law, then it applies, extends over the whole globe, and it's at all times binding upon all mankind. And if mankind rejects God's law, there will be consequences, negative consequences, here in this life and the eternal hereafter as well. And so this is the law of God, by which he makes his way known to man and is paramount to all human control. So again, some of our books I can point you to the Bible, America's source of law and liberty. One of our books that you can get at our website, providencefoundation.com we delve much more into detail of quotes from the founders. And this whole idea of the Bible being the source of American law and liberty. And because of that, that was one foundation this free nation was built upon. And so this biblical view of law, as I said, is seen in our laws and our founding civil documents too. It's seen in the source of political ideas the founders read.

Early American colonists looked to God's law as source of their civil laws

It's seen in the words of the founders themselves. And it's seen if you actually read some of these laws. For example, the pilgrims, of course they came in 1620. Early on they began to write down civil laws. And at first they were all written by hand and kept in that handwritten document. But then in the 1600s later on they began to, to print them so everybody could get a copy and read them. And so they were printed. certainly by 1671 there's a book of general laws. And that book of general laws that were published, in the beginning says this laws are so far good and wholesome as by how much they are derived from and agreeable to the ancient platform of God's law. And so they look to God's law as the source of their civil law, because that they knew would make good and wholesome laws. The fundamental orders of Connecticut was written by that minister, Reverend Thomas Hooker. He moved a lot of his, about 80 members of his congregation from the Boston area over into the Connecticut Valley in 1636, that time frame. And, and he wrote the fundamental laws of Connecticut, 1638. And it again acknowledges God's higher law. And the oath that was part of these laws that all those elected to office had to take the oath bound them to administer justice according to the laws here established, and for want thereof according to the rule of the word of God. So again, the source they look to for what is good and godly law is the word of God. And then the oath ended in the fundamental laws of Connecticut. I will further the execution of justice according to the rule of God's word. So help me God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, these were evangelical Bible believing Christians that were starting these colonies and writing these laws. In 1641aminister, Reverend Nathaniel Ward, wrote the Massachusetts body of liberties. This was the precursor to the bill of rights. And in this Massachusetts body of liberty, a set of civil laws, the Pentateuch, that is the first five books of the Bible, where the law, God's law is given, was the, the basis for its criminal code. And in case of the defect of the law, in any particular case, the standard was the word of God. And so here in this law they say We've gotten. Here's a list of civil laws that we've compiled that we think are necessary for rightly ordering society. But if something comes up and they're not addressed in these laws, then the standard was the word of God. That's the standard we look to in the laws we've written here, and the standard by which we should judge any action, whether it be lawful or unlawful. So this biblical view of law was taught at homes, taught in schools, taught in colleges, taught in the churches. A very early, civics textbook in early American was written by Andrew Young, published first in 1846. The first chapter of this civics texts, if you will, textbook, it was used in schools as a textbook. It explains the nature of the law in general. It says this. The will of the Creator is the law of nature which men are bound to obey. But mankind in their present and perfect state are not capable of discovering in all cases what the law of nature requires. It has therefore pleased divine providence to reveal his will to mankind, to instruct them in their duties to himself and to each other. This will is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and is called the law of revelation or the Divine law. So Young, in his first lessons in civil government, again clearly states this biblical view of law, the view that just about everybody in America adhered to, and the founders of America who gave us the Declaration in the Constitution and before that wrote these different constitutions, compacts and charters and laws. This is the view they had. The will of the Creator is the law of nature. That's what that phrase means, means that Jefferson used. It's the revelation of God. But as he points out, in our fallen state, we can't clearly understand all of what the Creator requires of us. Therefore, it pleased God pleased divine providence to reveal his will to mankind. And where did he reveal the will? In the Holy Scriptures. And that's what's the divine law, the law of nature's God. So when you ever read the Declaration of Independence, you read that phrase. That is what everyone understood that to mean. So this was the view of law that America had for centuries. 1600s, 1700s, 1800s. Though in the later 1800s, contrary seeds began to be planted. We have the rise of an evolutionary view of law began to occur. And it was expressed by the president of Harvard Law school in the 1920s, Roscoe Pound, in a book he wrote the Spirit of Common Law. And, he, Roscoe Pound, he had enough understanding of our history to know that, yes, our civil law is founded upon the law, biblical law. Now it's clear anybody can understand that if people don't know that today, it reveals they are quite ignorant and hadn't really looked at any of these early laws or read them. So he understood that. He said yeah. And he didn't even attack the biblical foundation of our law. In fact he said, well, it's good appealing to biblical law, the law in the Bible. It has brought us to a certain point and we have advanced and embraced ideas of liberty. But he said, went on to say, but it's not good enough to take us into the future. If we want to continue to go forward and advance and flourish, then we need to look to another source. We can no longer look to those ancient laws in an ancient book that supposedly people have been at that time were discovering, shown this to be not true, that men have just made up this religion himself. So we can't keep looking to that. So we need a new foundation, a new source. Instead of looking to the absolutes of an ancient God, figment of people's imagination, we need to look to ourselves and look to the wisdom of man. We need to look to all of the wise understanding that learned men have gained over these generations. Then he made this statement. In this new condition where we no longer look to God, but we look to the consensus of man, man has advanced well enough and embraced ideas well enough that he himself now can determine what's really good and really right. And so then his statement was, in this condition, the state takes the place of Jehovah. No longer will we look to Jehovah. God, the Creator of all things is the source of right and wrong. We're going to look to ourselves. But it's not just ourselves as individuals. We're going to look to ourselves via the state, gain control of power in the state. And those key smart elect leaders, lawyers or whoever they may be, that's going to be sitting in positions of determining law, they are going to be the ones that we should look to to decide what's right and wrong, moral or immoral, lawful or unlawful. Supreme Court Chief justice from m 1930 to 1941, Charles Evans Hughes put it this way. We are under a constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is. And so here is one of the elite educated guys that are going to decide what law is, what right and wrong is, what the Constitution is. You know, we're the ones that are going to do that. And so that then is kind of the position that so many jurists, judges and lawyers think today, and professors in our Schools, law schools, and other professors. We have thrown off the concept of absolute law revealed by the Creator, and we brace the idea of evolutionary law. Law is changing and should change as a consensus of the people change, or as smarter people get in positions of declaring what the law should be. And so this is, really one area where we have a battle going on today. But it's not a new battle. Conflict between God's truth and law and man's truth and law. That's the battle that has taken place from the very beginning. The original sin of, Adam and Eve, Eve, as we read about in Genesis 1, 2 and 3, is that when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were determining for themselves what was right and wrong. That's what the Hebrew word, means, there to determine for yourself. When you know good and evil, it's saying that we determine for ourselves who what is good and evil. So that was the original sin of Adam and Eve. We see that same sin and thinking in those who built the Tower of Babel.

What view of truth and law are we as a people going to have

They said, we are going to build a tower that reaches to heaven. We are going to construct a society, a city, where we can, in essence, be our own savior and save ourselves. It is like in the time of Judges when, when the people set aside God's law and in its place substituted judges 21, 25, what was right in his own eyes. And so this sin of man determining what's right and wrong has been the original sin of mankind. And we're fighting that battle today of who is going to decide what's right and wrong. What view of truth and law are we as a people going to have? You know, statism, as we've touched on in past podcasts, and we'll explore it more in future ones, is the belief the ultimate authority in the earth is man and man via the state. Statism is the golden calf of America and the modern world. It's the God that we've created ourself. And we bow down to, man and man's own ability to determine right and wrong. This is adhered to by many people today in the United States and those who understand the Christian view of truth, the Christian view of law. This is the view, that America was built upon. This is the view that truth emanates from the Creator. We have to enter into the battlefield. We have to uphold this truth, and we have lots of support on our side. We have the Founding Fathers, we have those who gave birth to America. We have our early Constitutions. Compacts and charters. We have our founding covenants, the Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution on our side in fighting this battle. And so it's, very important that we exert this truth along with these other ideas. So that's the fourth idea, the Christian idea of truth, the Christian idea of law that made America successful and powerful. We must understand and act to restore this. Well, thanks, for joining us, this week on this America's Providential History podcast. We're going to pick up this story, next week because we have, three more, ideas that we want to. Fundamental ideas that we need to present. Because these seven ideas m, transformed not only America, but they've transformed the world because they were expressed in the birth of the American Christian Republic. We've been an example and a light to the nations of the good fruit that comes when we embrace good ideas. And many nations have begun to embrace these ideas, as well. To learn more, Visit our website, providencefoundation.com got lots of materials there that can, fill in, in much more detail, these ideas that we've been, talking about. In particular, there's one book, the American Dream, James and the Founding of the American Christian Republic, where I have a chapter that presents these seven ideas because that's part of the American dream. That's part of what produced the American dream. Because these ideas are like seeds. When you plant good seeds, you get good fruit. And these are good seeds. So, take a look there, providencefoundation.com to learn more. Thanks for joining us. Hope you can be with us next week. God bless.