"We Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident"

In the 8th chapter of John is found the story of the scribes and the Pharisees bringing to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. They were looking for an opportunity to accuse Him, and we remember from this story that Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground, and all the accusers left one by one. Jesus says to the woman; "Did no one condemn you?", to which she answers; No one, Lord". "I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on, sin no more."

-

American values have changed dramaticly in just the last 50 years. For example, sex outside of marriage is no longer considered a sin. This is not only a secular view but it is held as well by many church going people. The reason for that is simple. We live in a country which is covered by a thin veneer of Christianity, overlaying a core mostly made up of non-Christian values. This was not always so. Even though there have always been a lot of non-believers, non-religious, or other religious people in this land, most our our founding fathers, such as John Adams, were well educated and deeply committed Christians. Or they were Deists as was Thomas Jefferson. Our country's founding documents reflected the mindset of a large majority of the early leaders that there existed an Almighty God, and that all rights and obligations of a country and it's citizens were based on what came from Him. And through the centuries, as both everyday evangelism and large revivals drew scores into the faith, and as colleges, universities and churches were founded to educate young Christian minds, most laws and judicial decisions reflected values consistent with Christian scripture.

-

This didn't make America a Christian land. Christianity was not a state religion. But it was considered right and natural to acknowledge God, and to ask for His guidance and blessing publicly as well as privately. People were still sleeping with others outside of marriage, and all the other vices were evident. Yet overall, society in America had laws and values that reflected the Christian beliefs of a good portion of it's population. And in most cases these were not people looking to throw the first stone to condemn the sinner, but neither were they seeking to condone the actions of the sinner.

-

It is different today because worms have eaten away the meat of the wood beneath the veneer. We still have the founding documents, but more and more they are interperted by "an evolving social conscience". We still have prestigious centers of higher learning, but they are now bastions of secular thinking. Even in most colleges that are Christian in name, many students that are Christian by family affiliation still freely engage in sexual relations, heavy drinking, and drug use, finding no contradiction between historic Christian teaching on morals and doing what safisfies their bodily desires. We still have seminaries that were founded in response to spiritual awakenings, but now the gods of situation ethics, scriptural demythology, and passionless, blah-blah, milky-toast theology walk many of the halls. And we still have a wide variety of church buildings in most cities and villages, many of them now pastored by men and women taught by the gods of those liberal seminaries. Now it is the conservative Christian who is ducking stones, accused of violating the chief value of this post-Christian society, "tolerance". In the public mind, truth, rights and obligations no longer flow from the will of an Almighty God. And if the light that reveals truth does not come from God, it must then come from the mind of man. A mind that is strongly influenced by the desires of the flesh, and just as easily deceived by the appealing lies of the evil one.

-

Just after His conversation with the woman caught in adultry, Jesus says the following things; "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life . . . You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. But even if I do judge, My judgement is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me."

-

"Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, but the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed . . . I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me."

-

We need to have a firm foundation in our relationship with God, being reborn in the spirit so Jesus is truly our Lord and Savior, and we need to build upon that foundation in truth and light. We come to know the will of the Father through prayer and worship, by studying scripture and other inspired commentaries, and through interaction with mature believers. In all this we should be attentive to the move of the Holy Spirit. And we need to be diligent in leading our children to the light, providing them a foundation in the scriptures, and teaching them, by word and example, how to listen to the Spirit, and how to stand firm against temptation. The values of a society are determined by the people of that society. Truth must be proclaimed and defended. And the light of truth comes from the Father.