Articles of Freedom, part 17

This is a series of posts concerning the works of the 2009 Continental Congress. Two week ago, I wrote about Article 15 of the Articles of Freedom, which was about the illegal immigration problem. I will continue with “Divine Providence”, the text of which follows my comments.

Of course, this all makes common sense and it’s good that they have acknowledged God and asked for his assistance in these matters of great importance. But note the ambiguity about the true identity of this God. Jesus Christ is not mentioned. If you watched the deliberations, you know that this was because they didn’t want to lose supporters. Elisheva Levin, a Jewish delegate from New Mexico, almost didn’t sign the document even as it is because of this section and she and many others complained that it would exclude atheists. How ridiculous. Notice that they say “In Respect to our Founding Fathers” as if they doing it solely out reverence for them and it’s not really about God. The mixing of non-Christians and Christians to accomplish a goal just doesn’t work very well. As the Psalmist put it:

1Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. 3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Psalms 127 (KJV)

Also, a motion to add an amendment to one of the articles by two of the Kentucky delegates concerning the protection of the unborn was tabled by a 27-12 vote in the delegation. They only got the last vague statement in this section as a consolation:

“Our Founding Fathers recorded in the founding documents the God-given Rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness to every citizen. Without Life, there is no Liberty or Pursuit of Happiness.”

I don’t believe that God is going bless this effort since the abortion issue was ignored in favor of inclusiveness. Uuuuh, that John Bush really annoyed me. I knew that things would not go well even from the beginning since they chose Michael Badnarik, a pro-choice libertarian over vocally pro-life Florida delegate and Constitution Party member Dan Gonzales. What good is it to achieve these goals, if hundreds of thousands of innocent unborn babies are murdered every year and their killers are allowed to go free? What if we all lived in Nazi Germany and discussed how we were going to stop them from imposing gun control laws and unreasonable searches and seizures, but mentioned nothing about the Holocaust for fear of alienating racist Germans? You might as well forget it. There were many little things in this document that I disagreed with, but the reason why I have decided not to sign it is because of what isn’t in it. If you would like to hear delegate Richard Treitz’s abortion amendment and deliberations concerning it, click here and then click on 11/18/2009, part 3.

Next week I’ll wrap up this series.

THE ASSISTANCE AND PROTECTION

OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE

WHEREAS, America’s Declaration of Independence contains essential principles underlying the greatest governing documents ever given to mankind, and

WHEREAS, among our essential principles is the belief that we are endowed by our CREATOR and NATURE’S GOD with certain unalienable Rights and that Governments are instituted among men to secure these Rights, no more, no less, and

WHEREAS, the maintenance of these principles depends upon, “a firm Reliance on the Protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE.”

THEREFORE, We, the Delegates of Continental Congress 2009, recommend the following actions to be taken by the People:

1. Each of us, beginning with ourselves and our family, set apart a day of fasting, weekly, monthly or whenever, to appeal to and to meditate and pray for the blessing of Divine Providence, in guiding our steps and assisting us in our struggle against the enemies of liberty, in reclaiming our freedom, and to encourage our friends and neighbors to do the same;

2. Encourage your minister, priest, rabbi, or other religious or spiritual leader to lead their congregation in a monthly day of fasting, meditation and prayer, for the blessing of Divine Providence to guide the success of our efforts;

In Respect to our Founding Fathers

Our Founding Fathers recorded in the founding documents the God-given Rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness to every citizen. Without Life, there is no Liberty or Pursuit of Happiness.

(from Articles of Freedom, the Works of the Continental Congress 2009)

Click here to read the final article in this series.