“What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don’t let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).
Independence Day or July 4 is when Americans remember the historic signing of the Declaration of Independence setting the United States free from the tyranny of British rule. We celebrate those who fought hard and stood their ground giving us one of the most unique countries in the history of the world. We celebrate our freedoms as individual human beings equally created with the inalienable right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness as ‘one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’
Freedom or Slavery
Americans, especially younger Americans, who have not studied nor have been exposed to the details of the United States Constitution, have no idea what freedoms they actually have and which ones they have already lost or are in the process of losing while many of their peers stand in the heat of foreign countries sacrificing their lives for that Constitution. Recently some college-aged people I talked with actually said it didn’t matter what happened with the Constitution because it didn’t affect them directly; one even suggested that its very age invalidates it. If such ignorance of how this country was founded is indicative of the larger populace who raised this next generation, then I believe the demise of this country has already occurred.
There are those who say that every generation witnessed what we’re seeing – burning of flags – and that expression of freedom of speech is what makes this country great. Though Americans have the right to burn an American flag, I don’t believe what happened in the 1960s rebellion came from an ‘I hate the foundation of America’ but an ‘I hate what America is doing in the world’ especially when it came to the Viet Nam war. What I do find interesting is that after the most ‘historic event in American history’ that allows everyone to love and ultimately marry whomever they choose, young people continue burning the American flag. It seems ironic because they are not protesting something America is doing or has done, but as an outright hatred for the very country that allows them to burn the flag! Since the condemnation and removal of the Confederate flag as a symbol of slavery, purchases of Nazi and ISIS flags boomed. Now men and women kneel at athletic events to protest ‘social injustice.’ Though this is evidence of the freedoms we have, I believe it is a new kind of slavery. As Galatians states, we can be freed for freedom, but find ourselves even more enslaved.
Separation of Powers
The Constitution of the United States explicitly outlines three branches in our federal government. Each has been given certain powers and authority so as not to over-step others’ boundaries. This is known as checks and balances. There is the executive branch which includes the president. This branch of our government executes the laws created by the legislative branch. The chief executive or president is elected through the electoral college. Though many cry out that it’s an outdated system and doesn’t represent the majority vote of the nation, it is how we elect our president since we are not a full-fledged democracy with a majority wins system. By having the executive come under the check and balance of the judicial and legislative branches, We the People are protected from tyranny or one person (i.e. the president) using his pen to make laws and becoming a dictator based on what he wants or thinks is right or wrong.
The second branch of government is known as the legislative which creates the laws. State representatives and senators are elected by We the People in our states and are supposed to be our voice in congress at the national level. We the People are given the privilege to suggest laws and vote for changes through the law-making body that we elect. By having a legislative branch representing the people, we retain a government ‘for the people and by the people.’ Again, because we are not a full-fledged democracy but a Constitutional Republic, changes in the law and even the Constitution take time to enact so that all people, not just large groups or special interests have their voices heard.The executive and judicial branch check and balance the Constitutionality of the laws created before they are executed. The third branch is the judicial which interprets the laws created by Congress and executed by the president.
The nine Supreme Court justices are nominated by the president and approved by the Senate so that, once again, We the People are protected from nine judges making laws from personal and public opinions for the whole the nation (this would be oligarchy where a few rule over the many). They are checked and balanced by the executive and legislative branches of government.
The first problem with the #lovewins law is that the Supreme Court overstepped its Constitutional boundaries and created a law. The second problem is that is was done by nine justices of the Supreme Court who are not elected by the American people again overstepping the Constitutional checks and balances. When the Supreme Court creates a law and then executes it over We the People, we become pawns in a political system rather than a free people in a self-governing nation. With too many complacent and uneducated Americans not demanding the Supreme Court to follow its Constitutional directives, it can now create and enact whatever laws it wants over We the People.
The Supreme Court ruling also affects another fundamental right of the American people – Freedom of Religion. This freedom was enacted so that the there would never be a state-run religious system like the Church of England from which the Pilgrims wanted freedom. For years the cries of ‘separation of church and state’ nearly make ones ears go deaf. While that phrase is nowhere in the Constitution and was not written by any of the Founding Fathers, it is a phrase that has become the buzz-cry of anti-religion Americans even though freedom of religion gives every American the right to be atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Satanist, Jewish and Christian. As this buzz phrase becomes more grounded in our cultural lingo, Judeo-Christian symbols continue to be the only religious symbols removed from government buildings and property at the same time erasing those values from society.
Because I love the God of Israel and live my faith based on the Bible, I know that man’s worldly governments will always be contrary to God’s. That’s the way it is. Yeshua knew it. I know it. He lived with it. I live with it. He was not offended. I am not offended. His Kingdom is not of this world. I am a citizen of his Kingdom and only an ambassador here.
However, with the mandate that all states have to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the separation of church and state are no longer separate. The Supreme Court is now telling religious organizations they must officiate weddings contrary to their religious beliefs with financial consequences if they don’t. The non-religious cheer the very thing they disdained – the co-joining of the church and state.
From my personal point of view, marriage is a religious institution that is the foundation of civilization itself. Every religious system in the world considers marriage between a man and a woman whether a person is Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish or Christian. Marriage licenses should never have been issued through the state in the first place, however, they became state issued to make a sexual relationship between a man and a woman legal when fornication (sex outside of marriage). Now, sodomy has become legal.
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