|
Now you may be wondering, What is a Biblical Worldview?
Well, a Biblical Worldview is having your worldview come out of what the Bible says.
Now what is a Worldview?
A
worldview is how view everything that happens around you. What angle or angles you see everything from.
You see my
worldview is a Biblical Worldview. I try to do everything that I do, including what I think about from the Bible just like
our nation's 250 founding fathers did.
|
The Importance of Voting and Christian Involvement in
the Political Arena
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John
Adams
We electors have an important constitutional power placed in our hands: we have a check upon two branches of
the legislature, as each branch has upon the other two; the power I mean of electing at stated periods, one branch, which
branch has the power of electing another. It becomes necessary to every subject then, to be in some degree a statesman: and
to examine and judge for himself of the tendencies of political principles and measures.
[John Adams, The Papers of
John Adams, Robert J. Taylor, ed. (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1977), Vol. 1, p. 81, from "'U' to the Boston Gazette" written
on August 29, 1763.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samuel
Adams
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment
to please an individual--or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in
human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.
[Samuel Adams, The Writings of Samuel Adams, Harry
Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907), Vol. IV, p. 256, in the Boston Gazette on April 16, 1781.]
Nothing
is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust be
men of unexceptionable characters. The public cannot be too curious concerning the character of public men.
[Samuel
Adams, The Writings of Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907), Vol. III, p. 236-237,
to James Warren on November 4, 1775.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthias
Burnett
Consider well the important trust . . . which God . . . [has] put into your hands. . . . To God and posterity
you are accountable for [your rights and your rulers]. . . . Let not your children have reason to curse you for giving up
those rights and prostrating those institutions which your fathers delivered to you. . . . [L]ook well to the characters and
qualifications of those you elect and raise to office and places of trust. . . . Think not that your interests will be safe
in the hands of the weak and ignorant; or faithfully managed by the impious, the dissolute and the immoral. Think not that
men who acknowledge not the providence of God nor regard His laws will be uncorrupt in office, firm in defense of the righteous
cause against the oppressor, or resolutly oppose the torrent of iniquity. . . . Watch over your liberties and privileges -
civil and religious - with a careful eye.
[Matthias Burnett, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Norwalk, An Election
Sermon, Preached at Hartford, on the Day of the Anniversary Election, May 12, 1803 (Hartford: Printed by Hudson & Goodwin,
1803), pp. 27-28.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick
Douglass
I have one great political idea. . . . That idea is an old one. It is widely and generally assented to; nevertheless,
it is very generally trampled upon and disregarded. The best expression of it, I have found in the Bible. It is in substance,
"Righteousness exalteth a nation; sin is a reproach to any people" [Proverbs 14:34]. This constitutes my politics - the negative
and positive of my politics, and the whole of my politics. . . . I feel it my duty to do all in my power to infuse this idea
into the public mind, that it may speedily be recognized and practiced upon by our people.
[Frederick Douglass, The
Frederick Douglass Papers, John Blassingame, editor (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), Vol. 2, p. 397, from a speech
delivered at Ithaca, New York, October 14th, 1852.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles
Finney
[T]he time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord
will curse them. . . . Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But the time has come when they must act differently.
. . . Christians seem to act as if they thought God did not see what they do in politics. But I tell you He does see it –
and He will bless or curse this nation according to the course they [Christians] take [in politics].
[Charles G. Finney,
Lectures on Revivals of Religion (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1868), Lecture XV, pp. 281-282.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James
Garfield
Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant,
reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave,
and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . . [I]f the
next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture,
and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.
[James Garfield, "A Century of Congress"
published in Atlantic, July 1877.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Francis
Grimke
If the time ever comes when we shall go to pieces, it will . . . be . . . from inward corruption - from the
disregard of right principles . . . from losing sight of the fact that "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but that sin is a
reproach to any people" [Proverbs 14:34]. . . .[T]he secession of the Southern States in 1860 was a small matter with the
secession of the Union itself from the great principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, in the Golden Rule,
in the Ten Commandments, in the Sermon on the Mount. Unless we hold, and hold firmly to these great fundamental principles
of righteousness, . . . our Union . . . will be "only a covenant with death and an agreement with hell."
[Rev. Francis
J. Grimke, from "Equality of Right for All Citizens, Black and White, Alike," March 7, 1909, published in Masterpieces of
Negro Eloquence, Alice Moore Dunbar, editor (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2000), pp. 246-247.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexander
Hamilton
A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections
is one of the most important rights of the subject, and in a republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law.
[Alexander Hamilton, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Harold C. Syrett, ed. (New York, Columbia University Press,
1962), Vol III, pp. 544-545.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John
Jay
Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and
interest of our Christian nation , to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.
[John Jay, The Correspondence
and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1890), Vol. IV, p. 365.]
The
Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon and choosing the forms of
government under which they should live.
[John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston,
ed. (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1890), Vol. I, p. 161.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas
Jefferson
The elective franchise, if guarded as the ark of our safety, will peaceably dissipate all combinations to
subvert a Constitution, dictated by the wisdom, and resting on the will of the people.
[Thomas Jefferson, The Writings
of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, ed. (Washington: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903), Vol. 10, p. 235.]
[T]he
rational and peacable instrument of reform, the suffrage of the people.
[Thomas Jefferson, The Works of Thomas Jefferson,
Paul Leicester Ford, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1905), Vol. 12, p. 136.]
[S]hould things go wrong at
any time, the people will set them to rights by the peaceable exercise of their elective rights.
[Thomas Jefferson,
The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Paul Leicester Ford, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1905), Vol. 10, p. 245.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William
Paterson
When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.
[Supreme Court
Justice William Paterson reminding his fellow justices of Proverbs 29:2. United States Oracle (Portsmouth, NH), May 24, 1800.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William
Penn
Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them; and as governments are made and moved by men, so by
them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments. Let men be good and the
government cannot be bad. . . . But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil
it to their turn. . . .[T]hough good laws do well, good men do better; for good laws may want [lack] good men and be abolished
or invaded by ill men; but good men will never want good laws nor suffer [allow] ill ones.
[William Penn quoted from:
Thomas Clarkson, Memoirs of the Private and Public Life of William Penn (London: Richard Taylor and Co., 1813) Vol. I, p.303.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel
Webster
Impress upon children the truth that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty of as solemn a
nature as man can be called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every elector is a trustee
as well for others as himself and that every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others as well
as on his own.
[Daniel Webster, The Works of Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1853), Vol. II, p.
108, from remarks made at a public reception by the ladies of Richmond, Virginia, on October 5, 1840.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noah
Webster
In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of
the candidate--look to his character. . . . When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust;
he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor, he betrays the interest of his country.
[Noah Webster,
Letters to a Young Gentleman Commencing His Education to which is subjoined a Brief History of the United States (New Haven:
S. Converse, 1823), pp. 18, 19.]
When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers,
let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, "just men who will rule in the fear of God."
The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place
unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for
selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be sqandered
on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure
public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and
administer the laws.
[Noah Webster, History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), pp. 336-337, ¦49.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John
Witherspoon
Those who wish well to the State ought to choose to places of trust men of inward principle, justified
by exemplary conversation. . . .[And t]he people in general ought to have regard to the moral character of those whom they
invest with authority either in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches.
[John Witherspoon, The Works of John
Witherspoon Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815), Vol. IV, pp. 266, 277.]
|
