"Freedom" is the absence of "archists."
"Archists" are those who believe they have a right to impose their own will on others by force or threats of violence.
When one man ("mono+archist") or a group of men ("olig+archy") have solidified their ability to impose their will on others by force, you have
depending on the mythology used to justify the imposition of force. If the recipients of violence do not consent to the acts of the archists, the situation is called "slavery" by those who object. If the recipients of violence accept their condition, it's called "the rule of law."
Acceptance of the moral legitimacy of archists is sometimes called "patriotism."
If you want to live in a society free from "archists," you must "serve" God and obey His Commandments. The Bible frequently describes Christians as "servants" of God, and the word "servant" is "slave."
Those who are literally, legally enslaved, are commanded to serve their masters as they would serve Christ Himself (Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-25; 1 Corinthians 4:2; 7:21-24; 1 Timothy 6:1-2; Titus 2:9-10; 1 Peter 2:18-20.
Those who wish to be like Christ must become the slaves of others, in the sense of putting the welfare of others ahead of our own personal convenience.
The
"capitalist" (who believes in a pure laissez-faire market freed
from regulation and interference by archists, as opposed to "crony
capitalists") believes "The
Customer is King." In order to make profits (without government
bailouts and subsidies), capitalists
must "serve" the consumers.
If we refuse to become the servants of God,
and the servants of others, God will
send archists to "eat out our
substance."
If we consent to serve God and others, God will not send
"the sword" or archism, and we will enjoy peace/freedom (Leviticus
26).
If Americans would be even more willing to serve communists, Muslims, and other "bad guys," and if Americans would place a high value on continuing lifelong learning and increasing job skills, America would lead the world in productivity and invention, the "bad guys" would be hooked on our consumer goods and the rising standard of living we provide, and would be less inclined to invade, conquer, and destroy the goose that lays the golden eggs. Free trade prevents war. But we must have something to trade, and that means work, and that means serving consumers around the world, and that means "slavery."
Accepting this kind of "slavery" results in freedom from archists.
Let's apply these principles to the Fourth of July, "Independence Day."
| In this column is Patrick Henry's Famous Address - Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death from the Yale Law School's Avalon Project. | In this column is a reply
to Patrick Henry, from the perspective of Micah's vision of a “Vine
& Fig Tree” society. Patrick Henry is one of my favorite Founding Fathers. He was a Bible-thumping Christian. He addressed his remarks to Christians in a Christian nation. He opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. He said it could not prevent tyranny. "I smell a rat in Philadelphia." He was right. |
Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
|
His speech in the left-hand
column is more
properly entitled, "A Call to Arms" He was wrong. Taking up arms was wrong. It was the end of America as a Christian nation. |
| No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. | It is certainly a good thing to revere the Majesty of Heaven above all earthly kings. |
| Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. | |
| I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! | "the last ten
years" John Adams said the American Revolution really began in 1761 when James Otis opposed the British "Writs of Assistance" before the Superior Court in Massachusetts. "American Independence was then and there born," Adams wrote nearly sixty years later, in a letter to William Tudor, 29 March 1817.
It has been said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." "Eternal" is a long time. Perhaps someone should have told Patrick Henry that "entreaty and humble supplication" might have to go on longer than ten years. It is, in fact, the obligation of humanity, generation after generation, to confront archism with the truths of Scripture and the life of Christ. There is no end to this obligation. But if we accept this duty, we will enjoy peace and freedom on a scale the Old Testament prophets could hardly imagine. Jesus was mocked and tortured, but He did not return evil for evil. He suffered a whole lot more than the American colonists did under the "Writs of Assistance" and other British abuses. The Pacifist Christ is our model. Read 1 Peter 2. "If we wish to be free...we must fight." This is Patrick Henry's thesis. When he says "we must fight," he means "we must kill." The "call to arms" is a call to murder another human being created in the Image of God. If you feel called to get out your musket to kill an archist because he seeks to govern you, you are not free. You are a slave to sins of anger and covetousness. You serve an idol. If you refuse to follow in the steps of the Pacifist Christ, God will continue to send archists until you repent. |
| They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. | The Third Amendment to the
Constitution in the Bill of Rights is a forgotten Amendment. It bars the
"quartering of troops." Many Christians say they just don't have
time to got out and do any evangelizing. Well how about if the government
sends someone out to your home for you to evangelize? Will you have the
self-discipline to turn off the TV and talk to the guy? Can you
communicate your reasons for the hope within you? (1 Peter 3:15) No
sane archist should ever send one of his soldiers to spend the night in a
Christian home with a vibrant faith. The archist should fear that his
soldiers will defect. Are you equipped to be able to persuade a soldier to
go AWOL and become a Christian? The enemies of Christ not only bound Him hand and foot, they nailed Him to a cross. He told His followers to take up their own cross and follow Him. He did not command them to take up their musket, or take up the sword. Patrick Henry erroneously appeals to "a just God" who will (apparently) cause the French and the Indians to take up their muskets and join the Americans in killing British Christians. Is War Inevitable? Patrick Henry said it was. I think he was wrong. Among the British were men like Edmund Burke, sympathetic to the American point of view, who well could have helped avoid an escalation of archism by the British. The cause of liberty is civilizational -- a word which I just made up but discovered it's in the dictionary. What I mean by the word is that civilization is the expansion of the reign of Jesus the Messiah over the ages. It's not something that we need only struggle for ten years to achieve, and failing that, to start killing people. The willingness of the American colonists to kill British Christians has been "civilizational" in that it set in motion a civilization of death which we see now two hundred years later. Even if Henry was right, and the British were irrevocably set on tyranny in the colonies, the tyranny may have only lasted a few decades before men like Burke prevailed, especially in the face of the Christ-like demeanor of the colonists, and the mass defection of Red Coats to the American/Christian cause of liberty. As it turned out, however, America abandoned the quest to be a Christian City upon a Hill, took up arms, and has instead now become an empire of global atheistic violence. |
| It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! | Patrick Henry concludes with
words which in effect mean this: I would rather die than follow in the steps of Jesus. And the words "I would rather die" really mean "I would rather kill." It is a completely un-Christian thing to say "Don't ask me to serve anyone, as if I were serving the Lord Jesus Himself. I would rather be dead." It is the supreme irony of post-reformation history that a great Christian, Patrick Henry, in a speech laden with Biblical references, brings an end to a Christian nation based on the Bible. America as a Christian nation ended "then and there," to quote John Adams and his "Clasical Allusions." To take up arms is to reject Christ. It is to become the slave of an idol. |