God bless America; celebrate freedoms
The 242nd anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence from England has been celebrated with the usual fireworks and trips to cooling water sources like lakes and water parks along with family trips and, of course, Arkansas’ usual July weather.
Based on actual facts (if information found on Google is correct) we might need to have a “period of celebration” rather than a single day. According to the various sources on the internet, Congress actually declared our Independence on July 2, 1776, and approved the Declaration on July 4, 1776. Limited by various obstacles, like travel, communications and States’ approval, it was signed Aug. 2, 1776.
Whatever date we use and when and how we personally choose to celebrate, we can now rejoice that we live in a free (relatively) nation and have the highest standard of living known to the world. What I fear we lose in all the freedom and seemingly endless fireworks, is the price that many have paid to make us what we are — the United States of America. We offer a degree of freedom of speech and choice of religious beliefs which have been paid for by the lives of so many and the personal sacrifices of our ancestors.
We are blessed to have organizations who devote much of their time and other resources to trying to remind us of our Spiritual heritage which is so easily forgotten in our rush to obtain personal wealth and sample all the creative means of entertainment developed by our society. I believe we are blessed to have companies such as Hobby Lobby, and affiliated Hemispheres and Mardel Stores, who run full page ads reminding us of our nation’s beginnings and what prompted the leaders 242 years ago to take the stand for Independence that gives us our opportunities today.
In a full page statement appearing on page 8A, Sunday, July 1, 2018, of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the Hobby Lobby Corporation quoted Psalm 33:12 of the Bible’s Old Testament with the headline “Blessed is the Nation whose God is LORD.” Not only do I agree with that statement, but I would add we are also blessed to have companies who profoundly and openly proclaim these truths.
There will be many who take issue with a private company going on record and using its resources to share its religious (I prefer spiritual) views. An AT&T or Boeing couldn’t do this without an uproar on Wall Street and in “The Wall Street Journal,” but a privately held company — which is still the mainstay of America’s economy — can proclaim its views independent of the ACLU and the company stockholders who might prefer the money be used to pay a larger dividend.
The full page was devoted to short statements about God, the involvement of God in the early life of America and the views of the writers concerning God and our Nation. The page contained the views of former presidents, Founding Fathers, Congress, Supreme Court Justices, Supreme Court rulings, education and even two foreign (French) opinions about Christianity in America in the 1830s era.
In my 80 plus years, I have seen America turn to God in World War II and also turn away and allow mass media to try to neutralize our view of, or dependence on, God today. I am not fond of people standing on street corners passing our tracts to promote their spiritual beliefs, but I feel we need to look to the “Faith of Our Fathers” as a guide on how we (America) got here.
Our nation has multitudes of mega churches — non-denominational and those affiliated with the recognizable denominations — as well as the small churches that draw smaller crowds, but serve and worship the same God. When we worship and how we worship depends on our own convictions. Our personal view of the very nature of God determines our personal spiritual direction. Our individual understanding of the Bible and how we have found it applicable in our lives makes a very big difference in how we see and accept a gift such as the full page Hobby Lobby ad. That is part of the privilege afforded us by this great nation we are blessed to reside in.
We all make choices and remembering our nation’s heritage and celebrating 242 years of independence and the freedom it has brought to all of us reminds me of our household choice — as Joshua said in the Old Testament (Joshua 24:15) “as for me and my house we will (choose to) serve the Lord.” (My quote in parenthesis.)
May God continue to Bless America!