Let freedom ring

Let freedom ring! What is freedom? What does it look like? Does freedom in money mean that we have no restrictions? Can we spend as much as we want? Or does that just produce debt and bondage to payments? Does freedom in marriage mean I can sleep around with others, or do what I want? We call that adultery and broken promises, which produces a prison of heartache, sorrow and bitterness.

Freedom is not without rules. Freedom without boundaries or rules is nothing more than chaos. The very idea brings excess and destruction to self and others.

On July 8, 1776, a ?chime that changed the world? rang from the bell tower of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pa. That chime rang to invite people to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Written on that chiming bell was Leviticus 25:10 which read, ?Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.? Why would they quote scripture for the basis of liberty? Because they believed that our creator, God, was the only one who gave to mankind true freedom.

It is written in our Declaration of Independence, ?We 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.? Understanding that God is the giver of rights meant that they would form a government to protect those rights. This had never been the basis of government before. And so we were known as an exceptional nation.

John Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and second President said, ?It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.?

As we continually undermine religion and morality in our schools and communities, we prepare the next generation to believe our nation and its constitution are based upon rights that the state gives us, rather than the rights God gives to us. The rights that the state gives are ever-changing based upon culture, fads, and new movements. But the rights that God gives are never changing. They are eternal. We should never change our right to life, or liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.

Charles Carroll, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, said it in even stronger language, ?Without morals, a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are denying the Christian religion...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.?

These signers understood you can never make enough laws if people are evil. And you will soon lose your freedoms if you cannot control your human fleshly desires. They saw the Bible as the key to mankind?s problems and wrong desires. It?s why Benjamin Franklin wrote, ?Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and violent, they have more needs of masters.?

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court wrote in 1824, ?No free government exists in the world, unless where Christianity is acknowledged, and it is the religion of the country.?

I see the confusion in our society today asking, ?What in the world is happening to our nation?? Mass shootings, metal detectors in our schools, easy internet access to pornography, sexual activity in our junior and senior high schools, sex trafficking, confusion of sex identity, same-sex normalized, massive increases in cheating, lying and violent behavior. All of these are moral issues, issues of virtue and purity.

But we are so afraid of speaking about morality because we will be viewed as ?intolerant,? or branded hateful or non-compassionate.

Is it possible our founders were right? None of them wanted a separation of religion and state; they just wanted to make certain the government didn?t start a religion by law. ?The U.S. Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting the establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion...?

Without virtue and the purity of Jesus Christ, a nation, its citizens, and its rulers will become a reproach. Proverbs 14:34: ?Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (nation).?

Just as Jedidiah Morse, the father of American geography, wrote, ?To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys...Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all the blessings that flow from them, must fall with them.?

May the Bible once again become our standard of measurement of good and evil, of right and wrong. May its message of hope and forgiveness bring about virtue and moral goodness in our lives. Let freedom ring.