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In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
Yesterday we celebrated the 248th birthday of our great country. We have survived many difficulties, mistakes and successes, good times, and not so good times – but we have survived! But what does our future now look like?
Under our Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights our founding fathers secured our place in history as a constitutional republic to be governed “By the people, for the people.” Our founders were all knowledgeable, patriotic and very much aligned with their different beliefs on how God had brought them together to form a country that would be guided by Christian tenants, the Ten Commandments and the laws set out in the Bible.
Unfortunately, we have strayed from our original paths. Even the last 15 years have seen many changes in the beliefs – or lack of beliefs – within our population. Since 1970 we have removed God, the Bible and the Ten Commandments from our schools. More and more of our children are being raised by parents who were not brought up with any religious instruction since they themselves also have no religious background.
Originally most of our schools were aligned with a local church or religious organization. Even Harvard University was originally a religious school. We are now upside down.
I have to believe that my generation (now in our 65-plus years) is probably the last generation with the majority of young people at least being taught religious beliefs in their childhood and teens. I’m not sure what the ratio is now of children who know who God and Jesus are versus those who have never heard of Them. That is VERY scary.
We are at a place in time that may determine our future existence as a free country. Our government is no longer run by people who have the best interests of “we the people.” They are more interested in how they can use politics for their own purposes and financial gains. Yes, there are a few that don’t fall into this category, but not many.
Our Constitution is no longer the law of the land, our law enforcement agencies and court systems are under attack, and the political parties refuse to work with each other on things they might possibly have in common.
Last Thursday night the entire country had an opportunity to see the weakness, mental instability and frailness of our current president. He was unable to maintain his train of thought to answer fairly easy questions and could not even speak clearly enough to be understood. It was very sad.
Many of us had seen in the media how these issues were progressing since he took office, but people who only watch the liberal, Democratic-approved media have been kept from these things. Even commentators on CNN, MSNBC, etc. seemed to be totally shocked by the appearance of the president in the debate that he himself had called for.
During the previous administration Democrats called for the then president to be removed with the 25th Amendment because of HIS cognitive abilities or disabilities. It’s going to be very interesting to watch what happens from now until the November elections.
I would hope that all of us who profess to be Christians will turn our prayers to concentrate on the future of our country. We are in a very insecure position with our enemies around the world and are seen as a country without a true, strong leader. It is time we put aside our incorrect ideas that we were born Republicans or Democrats and realize that our common nature as Americans should come first above politics. Neither of the political parties stand for the same things they stood for in the 1800s – in fact, there are areas where they have almost swapped platforms.
It is time for the American people to return to our original values and beliefs that our country is based on God-given rights, that all men are created equal and that by working together we can achieve a more perfect Union.
It’s time to put aside our differences in order to concentrate on the many things we have in common. Communication is needed because I think we just are not really listening to each other when we are actually saying many of the very same things. I don’t care what nationality you come from, what race you are, your educational background, or your religion. I don’t care if you are old or young, tall or short, male or female – we all have more things in common that we can sit down and find solutions for. And we need to do this without any leadership from a political party – they are the ones who keep us apart so they have the power.
My Sunday School lesson this past Sunday was from Second Chronicles where the following call from God came from – “… my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and HEAL THEIR LAND.” It’s time we come join together to do this before we find ourselves and our country no longer exists. We are being destroyed by people who do not consider themselves Americans.
I would love to see ALL our churches come together to provide opportunities for us to become the family of God we were meant to be and find our common grounds. I think I will say a prayer for just that! How about you?