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please govern yourself
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By Terry Dashner
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Please, govern yourself!
Continuation of a series on the separation of church and state...
Faith Fellowship Church...PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK74013...Terry Dashner
The American Constitution was written for people that are ableto govern themselves. John Adams wrote, "Our Constitution wasmade only for a moral and religious people. It is whollyinadequate to the government of any other." Historian and authorGary DeMar wrote as a follow up to Adams' statement, "Whenself-government is abandoned for self-serving opportunism, weshould expect a decline in the health of the nation."
What is government anyway?
Before World War I, textbooks dealing with national governmentwere qualified with the title "Civil." According to Gary DeMar'sbook entitled, God and Government (American Vision, INC. 2001,page 3), "An example of this can be seen in a textbook used in1903: Elements of Civil Government. According to its author,'The family...is a form of government, established for the goodof children themselves, and the first government that each of usmust obey' (p. 18). The book continues by defining five areas ofcivil government: 'the township or civil district, the villageor the city, the county, the State, and the United States' (p.18). The term 'government,' as the older educational definitionindicates, is broader than the state. Textbook writers wereaware that there were personal, family, church, school, andcivil governments, each having a legitimate realm of government.The state was seen as only one government among many."
Not so today. Currently, all entities of government are lumpedinto one general definition--the government. It seems that thecivil government has assumed responsibility to be thegovernment. Washington has relieved us from what we believe isthe heavy burden of governing ourselves, our families, ourchurches, and our schools. Again DeMar writes, "If the people ofthe United States do not once again establish self, family,church, local, state, and national governments to their properplaces of power and authority, our nation is doomed." Good point.
Concluding remarks...
Noah Webster stated that government begins with the individualand the "regulation" and his "conduct." Government, in the olderdefinition, is moral and personal before it is practical andinstitutional. Without self-governed individuals who follow somemoral code, we cannot expect good family, church, and civilgovernment to be developed. Self-government (or self-control)under God is the foundation of any society (ibid. p. 11).
We can not force morality on the citizens of this nation. Norcan we govern the ungovernable by simply adding more laws. Civillaw is for those who obey authority. Those who have noself-control, who care nothing about civil harmony and law,wouldn't obey authority and live in peace with their neighbor nomatter how many laws were put on the books. What is important toAmerica's survival is family government. It is theresponsibility of the parents to train up their children in the"nurture and admonition of the Lord." To fear God is to governoneself according to the moral instructions of the Bible. Ifself-government is taught in this fashion, national governmentwill find its proper sphere. Pastor T.
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