Biblical Citizenship Course Review – Week 4

by Nancy Murray

Week 4 we discussed The Seeds of Liberty.  The Declaration of Independence is the “platform upon which the Constitution of the United States had been erected.” ¹  

The Declaration of Independence outlines all the unlawful acts of the King of England against the people of the Colonies and states that “A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people….We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for rectitude of our intentions, do, in Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;…” and dissolves all allegiance to the British Crown. “… and as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right to do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” ²

The Declaration of Independence tells us who we are and what we are about, similar to Articles of Incorporation of a business. The Constitution is like the by-laws, telling us how the business will operate.

Before the Constitution was written, the Declaration of Independence was ratified by all States in the Union, this provided a framework for the Constitution. Everyone is encouraged to study the Declaration of Independence and the original intent of the Constitution.

There are four essential principles that hold our freedom firmly in place:

1. Self-evident Truths – The undeniable fact that moral absolutes exist.

2. Endowed by our Creator – Our unalienable right to individual freedom comes from God.

3. Consent of the Governed – We have a voice in our government.

4. The Pursuit of Happiness – The importance of free enterprise to our freedom.

We have the privilege as a nation to discover the freedom and purpose to support Biblical Citizenship, but today, we settle for short weekly sermons as Christians. We need a non-violent revolutionary movement to get citizens to step up and exercise their rights. 

I believe we are seeing the start of this revolution with college aged kids at Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point (TPUSA) events. His efforts are waking up young people to the evils of socialism and resulting in a higher percentage of the younger generation registering as Republicans. 

“The American Revolution was liberty WITH God and it led to the most successful nation in the history of the world. The French Revolution was liberty WITHOUT God and it led to the guillotine and total chaos.” ¹

The US Constitution is a constitutional republic, this is where active citizens worship God and influence the government, in other words, power flows from God directly to the people and then power is given to the governed only as the people deem appropriate. 

“If the government does not give us our freedom, then the government cannot rightfully take it away.” 

Thomas Jefferson believed that liberty was a gift from God.

We are reminded of the difficulty of our Founding Fathers collaborating on writing the Constitution. Many are quoted as to relying on God for assistance in drafting the Constitution.  Benjamin Franklin, certainly not one of the most religious Founding Fathers, recommended praying daily before each session, “imploring the assistance of Heaven, and it blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business…” 

 In a socialistic society, the people are ruled by the government and God is not in the picture. There isn’t a single successful socialistic society that is beneficial to all people it governs. Even the Pilgrims tried socialism, but it led to food shortages and laziness. After nearly starving, they made two important changes, implementing private property and free enterprise. They soon produced more than they could eat and ended up exporting their excesses.

The Six Immutable Principles in the Declaration of Independence:

1. There is a divine Creator. 

2. Inalienable Rights come from God. 

3. Government exists to protect inalienable rights. 

4. There is a fixed moral law. 

5. The consent of the governed, or the will of the majority.

6. The people’s right to change their Government. 

Christian influence is throughout the Constitution. It is believed that Thomas Jefferson “copied” The Declaration of Independence from John Locke’s book “The Treatises of Government” which cites the Bible over 1500 times to show the proper operation of civil government. Additionally, many phrases in the Declaration of Independence were originally preached by John Wise, whose sermons were reprinted and published by the Founding Fathers before the Revolution.

In summary, the Founding Fathers relied heavily on the Christian faith, the Bible, and God, when writing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. All citizens should study both and understand how our country was established.

¹ Green, R. (2021). In Biblical Citizenship in Modern America (pp. 25-40). essay, Patriot Academy. 

² Green, R. (2021). In Biblical Citizenship in Modern America (pp. 89-91). The Declaration of Independence, Patriot Academy.