The reader may have little interest in knowing what our “founding fathers” thought about the Bible, but there is a need to know! If we do not know where we were, how can we know where we are going? In other words, what was the thinking of our “founding fathers” and the state of our new nation? We all know the world has changed greatly through the passing years, but in what direction did we go; was it for better or worse?
Before moving on, that is away from the thinking of George Washington, to John Adams, there was one thought that appeared in the search, that I would like to call to your attention. I found it really striking! Here is the quote: “Washington’s genius, his greatness, lay in his character. He was, as Chateaubriand said, a ‘hero of an unprecedented kink.’ There has never been a great man quite like Washington before. Washington became a great man and was acclaimed as a classical hero because of the way he conducted himself during times of temptation. It was his moral character that set him off from other men.” We do not have such men today! Then, there were the words of Daniel Webster, “American has furnished to the world the character of Washington. And if our American institutions had done nothing else, that alone would have entitled them to the respect of mankind.” Is there anyone today in the political world that one might write such words about? This is not to demean every elected person today but to show the character of George Washington!
It is time to notice the words of John Adams, who said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” If one were to question what is wrong with America today, could it be that our leaders today would never use such words to describe our nation! Then, there are these words, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.” If America is in trouble today, and she is, could it be because the American people at large, would be fearful that such a thought might be uttered today. At the present time, a growing majority want no part of a nation that would yield itself to be governed by any relationship with Christianity!
Just for the younger folks who might read this article, let it be noted that John Adams was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, judge, diplomat, he also signed the “Bill of Rights,” and was the first Vice-President and the second President of the United States. Adams also said, “The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity.” Here is an interesting thought from the mind of John Adams, “Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. . . . What a Eutopia – what a Paradise would this region be!” No, America has never been a Christian nation, she has never been a “Eutopia,” but she has been in her past years a nation that has stood above all others, because her leaders believed and expressed their faith in the greatness of the nation which was built upon the principles of Christianity!
Today, our nation is being tested by the desire of some, that even a cross might be on land owned by this nation. In the mind of some, every time a cross is seen, it must express Christianity! However, could it be, that a cross simply expresses that a loved one died here? In other words, when we see a cross, we do not think of Jesus or Christianity, but death, as in a loved one died here! But those who hate Jesus and Christianity, it never enters their “little” minds that the cross may be no more than a symbol of death.
If only our nation today had such leaders as those in her early years! Those who not only believed in the greatness of Christianity, but in their humble lives lived more closely to the principles of Christianity. They also knew even as they wrote the laws, that would govern this nation, they understood the laws they wrote for a people that believed in the Bible
Frank R. Williams