Both the Jewish and Christian dogma balance freedom with the travails and sacrifices that freedom requires. One was to seek to live his life with purpose, use his talents, work hard, and by action demonstrate thankfulness for the gift given. Culturally, these traditions were so engrained in all Americans that freedom was always understood in the following context: Freedom was bought and those who’ve received the blessing should be circumspect and humble before the sacrifice.
Americans have been known for their Puritan work ethic, fastidious personal hygiene, and moral rectitude in the face of evil. All of these characteristics flow out of their relationship to God. This is what the Judeo-Christian ethic means.
These themes underpin the whole of the American legal system. Checks and balances are acknowledgements that man, when given power, tends to do terrible things and must be checked. Personal responsibility and the freedom that comes with it are acknowledged to only work when someone is law-abiding. Lawlessness, by its nature, makes one a slave — to government authorities, sure, but also to one’s own drives.
Human nature is not good. Left by itself, it’s sinful, resulting, among other things, in death of the soul. This was once understood. Christians, especially, have a fundamental understanding that human nature is fallen and lost. Thus, the need for redemption. However, there’s not much focus on sin these days. It’s an uncomfortable word because it implies universal laws were broken and that breaking those laws has consequences, not the least of which is death. In Romans 3:23, Paul tells the Roman church members that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” I John 3:4 says that, “Sin is transgression of the law.” [KJV] To be sinful is to be filled with iniquity and to defile oneself and to be impure. Romans 6:23 says that, “The wages of sin is death.”
With less church-going, agnosticism seeps into the culture and results in a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature. Colleges are but 1 example of this cesspool encouraged by ignorance. Great symbols and themes that were once considered assumed knowledge are being dismissed as the traditions of “old white guys”(1). This ignorance and arrogance breeds contempt for the freedom and the God-given rights Americans enjoy. America didn’t just happen. It was bought and paid for with blood and belief. A system was created that acknowledged human nature, and it counted on every citizen having the humility and God-fearing grace to attempt to live a life animated by gratitude for the gift they’d been given.
And it all comes back to sin. Without understanding the fine line between evil, fallen natures, and societal chaos, and the work to keep all that in check, Americans find themselves in dead ends politically and policy-wise. Solutions that used to be, and still should be, found in the family and church, are being sought in public policy to fruitless ends. Ultimately, America only works if Americans know who they are and where their rights come from and why. As Americans lose their humility before God and their love of the Bible’s truths, they’re losing respect for the Constitution, which is built on both those things. When you lose that you eventually lose America itself.
1. The more recent Church document, Centesimus Annus, cautiously endorsed the free market, praising western civilization’s respect for freedom and human dignity while warning against the perversion of freedom into the pursuit of superficial material goods.
Supplemental Info:
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