Chris Pinto's documentary, The True Christian History of America to my mind succeeded in establishing that Christian history beyond anything I had thought. I knew the country was originally settled by Christians with a solid Christian worldview, that the Mayflower Compact was a Christian conception, that here and there we see court judgments that affirm the Christian nature of America, and that the population was predominantly Christian even into the 20th Century. The book "The Light and the Glory" written back in the seventies painted a very strong Christian portrait of the nation through the writings of the founding generation, but somehow its arguments didn't make the case for me the way Pinto's film seems to. In fact Pinto's first documentary films about America managed to undo any idea of America's Christian character by tracing the pagan influences involved in it as well as the decidedly NONChristian thinking of Washington, Adams, Jerfferson and Franklin (The Hidden Faith of the Founding Fathers for instance). That kind of blew The Light and the Glory out of the water for me, although I was aware nevertheless that there was a great Christian influence in the country that was getting buried by too much emphasis on the nonChristian side of it. The Light and the Glory left itself open to such treatment, however, by focusing only on the Christian elements and ignoring the other side of it.
But with this latest film Pinto has not only restored the Christian character of the country, but shown the Christian inspiration behind the governing principles in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitujtion. The film traces the principles of liberty and justice that are the bedrock of our Constitutionaql Republic back to their origins in Christian thought. Phrases you thought were invented in relation jto America turn out to go back centuries, to Christiaqn leaders in Europe, and especially in England.
It is always a mistake in a fallen world to make too much of the personalities of those who have contributed great ideas to the benefit of humanity. People have all kinds of moral failings and yet can produce valuable concepts for the formation of a great nation. Thomas Jefferson rejected the supernatural and was no Christian but nevertheless made use of the Christian-inspired concepts of freedom and justice in what became foundational to America. Although John Adams was a Unitarian he made strong statements affirming the Christian worldview as essential to the character of the new nation. Even Thomas Paine who was personlly an atheist contributed a biblical framework in his "Common Sense" pamphlet that had such a strong influence on the American Revolution. Later he revealed his personal opposition to those biblical principles. This is shown in Pinto's film.
And of course many of them held slaves, in a time when it was a common practice all over the world (and still is outside of the West). The fact that they made provision for freeing their slaves and strongly opposed the practice (it was opposed on the basis of biblical Christian principles) is unfortunately lost on today's small-minded ideologues. God help us with these vicious mental midgets in charge of the nation today.
I'll say again, however, that it is our own fault since we've failed to oppose the treasonous workings of the Marxist America-haters. We're good at verbalizing the problem, lousy at doing anything about it. However, it's also true I think that we haven't had the right knowledge to support us, and I do think that Pinto's film could set us on the right track. The Christian nature of America is in those principles spelled out down the centuries as the film shows, it is not in personaliites, character flaws or personal qualities of any kind, it is in the intellectual heritage itself based on the Bible.
There are of course many unbelievers who love America and appreciate the principles of liberty and justice that have made America great, who see the danger of losing the great American experiment in the current political zeitgeist and strive to their utmost to find a way back. Although some of them might acknowledge that Christianity played some part in its formation, some would deny it altogether, and if we have any hope at all of restorng the nation we need to educate everybody out of that misonception. So many things we need to do, somehow float a massive education project needed at a time when censorship of the truth prevails, reform the churches, succeed at convincng God to give us reival.... That's why I think we've lost America and will never be able to recover her. Still, even in the teeth of such impossibilities I keep hoping I'm wrong. God is, after all, the God of the Impossible.
Speaking of passionate patriotic unbelievers, I suspect that some of the books Mark Levin has written would be very useful for the reeducation project that is so necessary. Although I probably won't be able to read it because my eyes are getting so bad, I did order his latest, American Marxism, which will be out in July. He wants to save the nation as much as I do, I hope he has a plan we can use. His books have great subjects and great titles, like Liberty and tyranny that sound like they would do well as a platform for a reeducation project in what Amrica is all about, wish I were still able to read long volumes like that.
. Speaking of what America is all about, it was a jarring experience, though illuminating. to find out that the MAGA slogan was felt as "a poke in the eye" to some who haven't had it so great in America, particularly blacks. Hearing that, I finally understood the otherwise incomprehensible hatred of that slogan, and was appalled at the narrowness that makes such an equation. That notion alone accounts for much of the Great Political Divide that's taken over the country in the last few decades.In this age of Marxist anti-Americanism everything is now about people, oppressor and oppressed class warfare that pits groups against each other, completely undoing the work of centuries toward a genuine equality. America had just about eradicated racism, cedrtainly at least institutional or systemic racism (the statistics are there only the left never hears about them), but now it's being made into the main problem in the country, just out of the blue because it makes for good political divisiveness to bring it down, the only possible reason snce it had been so effectively done away with there is no other excuse. Now we're actually getting real racism in the targeting of the white race as peculiarly evil. TAhe most evil propaganda ever concocted, and extremely dangerous. It reminds me of the propaganda campaign against the Tutsits that eventually provoked the Hutus into slaughtering them, a Catholic bishop on the radio demeaning them with such epithetcs as "cockroaches." Like how the Nazis propagandized against the Jews. Propaganda is the weapon of the fascistic mind. And this version we have now is conjured up out of Cultural Marxism with the Marxist agenda to destroy civilization and bring in their trannical form of government. They silence the voices of truth, they try to do away with the means of protecting people and property, they put good for evil and evil for good and so far they've been getting away with it.
What makes America great IN SPITE OF FALLEN HUMAN NATURE, is the principles of our founding, concepts of liberty and justice for all hammered out over centuries, grounded in a Biblical worldview. Keeping selfish fallen human nature from turning into tyranny was the motivation for designing American institutions to minimize its influence. Checks and balances among the branches of governement for instance were one protection against tyranny. They are trying to take that away now and establish a one-party rule .So they would remove this fundamental wisdom of America's vision and create a tyranny to end all tyrannies. Utopias always either disintegrate or lead to tryanny. Ignorance of the wisdom of the American vision is at least one reason this is happening here now. The fallen nature has been made the standard and God help us all.
The main political tactic on the left today is intimidation by character assassination, as far as you can get from the American vision. Rule by Law is supposed to eliminate dependence on any particular human being or party or ideology, because they are inherently untrustworthy. It takes vigilance to maintain a government based on law and principle and now that the forces of evil have gained the upper hand we aren't going to be getting any benevolent dictators, we're going to get the most destrucrtive ideology ever invented to rule over us.
To take MAGA as "a poke in the eye" to anyone is to show a terrible ignorance of what America is all about. MAGA simply recognized that we'd come a long way based on our American principles, were a power in the world for good, had finally done away with the grossest forms of inequality which are endemic to fallen human nature, practiced a capitalism that brought the greatest prosperity to the greatest number. and really did allow for liberty of its citizens. MAGA was the statement of the opposition to the anti-American Marxist wrecking ball that was already doing its damage. The wrecking ball seems to have a lot of friends so they killed MAGA and all those American gains are what they are now taking away from us as fast as they can lest another MAGA come along. And it's our own fault.
God help us. God have mercy.
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