South Florida Bible College was the setting last night for a speech by Dr. Jerry Newcombe in which he discussed the findings of his new book entitled The Book That Made America: How the Bible Formed our Nation. I took a day off from work and me and the Mrs attended. (She can't say that I never take her anywhere :-p) After Dr Newcombe's speech, he was interviewed more in depth by a gentleman and I saw that the event was being taped. Perhaps this will run on C-SPAN in the near future much like his previous "How Would Jesus Vote?" discussion.
Time quickly passed and there was only enough time left to take a few of the questions that audience members had written down before hand on index cards for the interviewer to ask him. Lo and behold, the first question asked was the one I had written down. What luck! I basically asked him if, while researching his book, he came across any information that would lead someone to believe that Thomas Jefferson was more evangelical in his beliefs than the typical deist that he is commonly portrayed as. Dr Newcombe stated that he didnt really know if Jefferson (or Benjamin Franklin for that matter) had actually made statements that they put their faith in salvation in the Blood of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on Calvary's cross. He did mention a couple of items though that could give someone pause and wonder if in fact that was the case. First was that Jefferson OK'ed federal monies to be used in missionary efforts among Native American tribes. Secondly, while attending church service at the US Capitol Building (they were held there until about the 1880's) Jefferson once brought in the Marine Band to play during the service there. Could you imagine if something like that happened nowadays? The ACLU would have a heart-attack!
If history and Christianity are interests of yours, I would highly recommend his fine book to anyone who wishes to explore America's Christian foundations further. Interesting and well researched, it's a must read for those who are interested in where we as a country have come from and the enormous differences of today when any symbol or reminder of out Christian heritage is slowly being stripped away by our multi-culti, increasingly secular society.
4 comments:
I understand and appreciate the whole separation of church and state.
Nonetheless, I believe that God formed the universe to work along certain principles. A non arguable one would be gravity. Gravity is a principle of our earth, and even if we don't believe in it, we are affected by it. I believe that there are lots of financial and moral principles that bring about blessing; not as an earned by God thing, but just as a cause and effect principle.
John (husband) & I have talked a lot about how America has received so MANY blessings through the years because as a nation, in years past, we followed God's moral and financial principles. Even if people were not really seized by a great affection for and by God, they followed His principles and America was blessed as a result.
I hate to be negative, but over the past 30 yrs we have moved more and more and more away from these principles. We are also seeing the sad results.
Youre right Tracy. Last night, Jerry defined it as not so much "Seperation of Church and State" that is being perpetrated here but more like "Seperation of God and State" as if they want to remove ANY reference to God, no matter how innocuous.
While the attempt to remove Christianity from the public square is lamentable and has had a detrimental effect on society at large, it has had or can have a salutary effect on the church. It has become increasingly difficult to be a mere cultural Christian, and those who profess Christianity now have to count the cost. Granted, we have not yet reached the point of open persecution, but it is definitely now more costly to be a Christian in America.
Jerry Newcombe was substituting a Sunday school class I went to a few years ago when I visited CRPC. What a sharp individual! Thanks for the post. Hopefully I'll be able to order the book in the next week or two.
Post a Comment