The Urge to Eden - Practical Faith in an Age of "Reform"

"A spring will cease to flow if its source be dried up; a tree will wither if its roots be destroyed. In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but of spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man - these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause. "
- From 'The Inspiration of the Declaration Speech at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Calvin Coolidge, July 5, 1926

We persist in falling into the error that the solution to our current problems lies in economic reforms, or adding more "fairness" to government, or even to more "democracy." But if we are basically a people who are rebellious and dismissive of the God who gave us our Liberties, then no matter how good our plans might be - whether Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Liberal or Libertarian - they will fail. Our liberty, as the Declaration so eloquently puts it, is an endowment given to us by our Creator. But endowments can be squandered and polluted, and ultimately lose their benefit.

I believe America is and has been in deep trouble because we, as Coolidge so aptly put it in the quote above, have "neglected and abandoned the cause." We don't have money problems; we have moral problems.

True reform and restoration of prosperity will not occur if we fail to recognize and return to first principles. Reliance on plans, programs, and parties - seeking to build a righteous society by our own works - will fail.

I am a conservative Christian. Frequently, I dust it up with Liberals, whose proposed solutions are almost diametrically opposite to those I espouse. The dialog sometimes devolves into diatribe. But that is not right to do that. Liberals and Conservatives are all people who, at heart, desire a world of fairness and love. We all desire to be regarded as persons of value. Our methodology is vastly different, but in one way or another, we are all striving for Eden. Karl Marx, while emphatically rejecting the God of the Bible (he was a Jew remember), tried to define a utopian society based upon the notion that economics drives human beings before all other considerations. While I strongly reject his thesis, I also recognize the urge to Eden in his writings. The same analysis can discover much the same goal in all reform movements, whether in government or religion. We have a heart-yearning for something that is missing in ourselves and in the world of men.

Remember the term "Compassionate Conservatism?" Why was it coined? Because those who adhered to principles of property rights, limited government, personal freedom - all good and proper things - were subject to the charge that they did not care about those in society who needed help. Conservatives were characterized as "heartless" and "cruel" because they did not sign on to the huge government welfare programs the Liberals were sponsoring to "help" the poor. Aside from the fact that the Liberals got it even more wrong in their proposed solution than the Conservatives, I think it is fair that we Conservatives may be most guilty in that we have forgotten that our "neighbor" is also our "brother."

We owe a debt of love to every man. We are not put on earth to just serve ourselves. We have obligations to one another. And the self-aggrandizing spirit that has grown out of the prosperity that has been afforded us in this blessed land has led many - many who ought to know better - to live primarily for one’s self and one's family, and thunderously neglect those around us - in whatever form that neglect might take. We have not loved our brothers. That failure has been laid at the feet of those of us who claim a Divine mission, but have so miserably failed to live up to its implications. Genuine Christianity ought to transform our Society as it transforms our hearts toward one another. It starts in the heart.

The story of the Good Samaritan told by Jesus is in answer to the question "Who is my neighbor." His reply is very convicting. Liberals have a point in charging people of faith with being hypocrites. Unfortunately, their own solutions, being bereft of even a hint of the wisdom of God, have results that are far, far worse than mere neglect. They invoke the "law of unintended consequences" in their "solutions" to the problems of inequity in this world. Socialism is the bringer of tyrrany.

It has been said that there are no perfect people, only perfect intentions. There is more than a little truth in that. But there is actual Truth and it is God's Truth alone. If we don't pursue that first, there is no hope for any solution that does more good than harm.

But, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 10 "... I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." He puts his finger right on the problem: They are "going about to establish their own righteousness"; that is, what they think is best. But they are doing it in ignorance or outright defiance of what God has ordained. No good can come of that.

We live in a God-created world and there is nothing we can do about it, nor should we seek to escape from the implications of it. God is good, and we ought to submit to Him. But we have an in-born tendency to go our own way. Ps 2 describes the efforts of men who know God is there but furiously reject Him so that they might set themselves up as gods. He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh.

It all comes back to what Coolidge called the Unseen World. It may be unseen by the eye of man, but the God of the unseen world "ruleth over all." We need to start with rebuilding our personal and national relationship with the God of Creation who is also the God of Redemption of broken people. That's all of us. We cannot have a political revival if we don't first have a Moral - or more correctly, a Spiritual revival.

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