Taking a Break

I wanted to post for the few that read my blog and let you know that I am taking a break.  I have material written to post, but with my mothers passing I have the responsibility of settling her Estate, and that is going to take a major piece of my time.  I will continue to post the series on the Ten Commandments as time allows.

Succat Patricus

Succat Patricus was born around 360AD at Dumbarton, Scotland. His father, Calpurnius, was a Roman civil officer, and a deacon in a Baptist church, and had been converted to Christ while on a business trip to Rome. In spite of being reared in a godly home, Succat was a wild and unruly youth, and at the age of seventeen, while working on his father's farm, he and several others were seized and carried away captive by a band of pirates. He was stripped of all he had, and was sold into slavery on an island country. Even his name was changed. It was during this dark period of his life that he remembered the Christian upbringing and bible teaching he had as a lad from his godly father, and was converted to Christ. At the age of twenty five, he escaped his captors and returned to his home in Scotland, only to find that his father had passed. He answered the call to the ministry, and set out on a missionary journey that took him right back to the island country that was the land of his captivity for eight years, to preach to his captors. In doing so he demonstrated the love only God could put in a man's heart for lost souls, and became the most famous Baptist missionary to that land in all recorded history. His writings still exist, and from them we know of his doctrine, faith, and practice, and that he held to the belief that the scriptures alone were the sole rule of all matters of faith and practice. He started well over 300 independent churches during his ministry and ordained as many pastors, and some of those churches still remained as late as 1635.

It was well after his death, some 1400 years in fact, that the most tragic event surrounding him transpired, when he was taken captive again. And just as before, his captors took away his identity. Perhaps you are more familiar with his "new" name? For this great missionary, Succat Patricus, in his post-mortem captivity, was renamed Patrick, and today is commonly known as St. Patrick of Ireland, the greatest Baptist missionary in the history of Ireland.

Only now you know the rest of the story....

The Relevance of the Ten Commandments

Can man govern himself?  Government, and all law and order, must be based upon a standard.  If that standard is set by man, then man can also change the standard.  If man governs himself, then the golden rule applies: He that hath the gold maketh the rules.  Throughout history, when man is left to set his own rules, he invariably changes them to suit his fancy.  It is no different today within our own nation and our elected officials:   They make laws to govern the masses that do not apply to them.  It’s a ‘good law’ as long as they don’t need to live by it.  We can see in this a principle in actions: The one that writes the rules will always think he is above the rules.  The answer to the question, can man govern himself, is a resounding “NO”!

The only way to have a cohesive society is to derive a fundamental sense of what right and wrong is.  Granted, this assumes that society accepts the premise that there is in fact right and wrong, and one clear sign of a society in decline is when they reject this truth.  This is called moral relativism: The ends justify the means and there is no absolute right and wrong.  Because man will always exempt himself from standards, standards cannot come from man.  God knew that, and God gave us, in the Ten Commandments, the fundamental basis for a successful society.  These Ten Commandments are as relative today as they were when God spoke them in the ears of the Israelites some 3000 years ago.  The Ten Commandments do not need to change because the fundamental nature of man does not change; Man still has the same problems he had 3000 years ago.  Without God, there is no absolute right and wrong, and without right and wrong, there can be no social compact.

A skeptical individual might argue that most of these are universal laws, like ‘thou shalt not kill’ – everyone knows it’s wrong to kill, so why does anyone need to bring God into it?  Indeed we do all know this, unless we have seared our conscience (as some have).  Consider this passage from the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans:

Romans 2:14-15  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:  (15)  Which shew (show) the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

According to the same bible the Ten Commandments are recorded in, God wrote this fundamental law in our hearts.  We know ‘right from wrong’ because God gave us the ability to know it.  This universal understanding crosses cultures, centuries, and continents, and no other beliefs are this universally held.  This fact alone must tell you that man did not dream this up on his own.      

We can take this conversation one step further: without right and wrong there can be no Law; without Laws there can be no Liberty.  Liberty only exists within a framework of morality, and that morality must be derived from something beyond man.  In a society of moral relativism, you will move toward Anarchy until someone masses enough power to have a Dictatorship, then you have Totalitarianism.  The most egregious examples of this are Hitler, Stalin, Mau, and Kim Jung Il.  The list does not stop there, and religious dictatorships are by no means excluded: The blood feud between Catholicism and Islam rages to this day.  We concluded that Liberty can only be maintained when people uphold moral virtue, and these fundamental virtues are found in the Ten Commandments.  If our entire society obeyed just the last six commandments, that could be the extent of our entire legal code.  Under our form of government, with personal liberty a fundamental right.  I can do anything except for four basic things:

I can't have your stuff

I can't have your wife (and kids)

I can't have your life (kill you)

And I cannot lie to get your stuff, your wife, your kids, or your life.  

Sound familiar?  It's the 6th through 9th commandments.  It is the very basis of our legal system.  In our society, I am allowed to do just about anything I want, except these four things.  But - the more exceptions we make to these four things, the more laws we need.  

I am often amazed that the perception most people have it that God has so many laws and restrictions that you can't even have any 'fun'.  I would start by challenging the definition of fun, but that aside, in reality, God has far less 'rules' than man does, and God's laws are simple, straightforward, and consistent.  If you think man is any of these, I would challenge you to read the IRS tax code.  I'll take War and Peace instead.    

It is my belief that the Word of God is the very source of our civil Liberty.  The further we drift from it as a society, the worse our society will become, until we border on the brink of anarchy, and I regret to say I believe we are there.  Then a dictator will seize power.  It happens every time. 

America is only the second nation in recorded history to have its foundation laid upon the Word of God.  Our legal system, organization of republican government, division of powers, age of representatives, original immigration policy, economic structure, and many other elements of our Government were clearly derived from scripture, a point I will attempt to make as I work through these lessons.

I’d like to end this introduction on a positive note: Without the Ten Commandments in the founding of our nation, America never would have been, so we can thank God our Founding Fathers understood them; without the Ten Commandments in the future of our nation, America will cease to be.  So much for the positive note.

The Second Amendment

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Introduction

It is always prudent to define your terms, especially in an essay such as this. Those who argue against the individual's right to keep and bear arms duck and dodge this part of the conversation. Or they defer to court rulings or modern definitions of words. I choose to do neither. The definitions in this essay are taken from Webster's 1828 Dictionary, which is the closest dictionary we have readily available from the period in which the Bill of Rights was written. Since the meaning of words change over time, it is important to define these terms as the authors of the Bill of Rights did, so we use Webster's 1828 dictionary.

" , " The Comma

I'd like to start this discussion in an unusual place, with that big bold grammatical element called the comma.

" , ". I love the comma. It is such an interesting part of our language. Here is what Websters 1828 dictionary had to say about it. 

COMMA n. [Gr. xo~qm,a segment, from ~ to cut off.]

1. In writing and printing, this point [ , ] denoting the shortest pause in reading, and separating a sentence into divisions or members, according to the construction.

Thus, "There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not."

Comma's represent a pause in speech, or a pause in thought, depending on the structure of the sentence. So let’s go on an English expedition and do something I always hated in school: Diagram a sentence!  Yes Mrs. Guernsey, I am actually using your English lesson J

A well regulated militia, [pause in reading] being necessary to the security of a free State,[ Pause in Thought] the right of the People to keep and bear arms, [pause in reading]
shall not be infringed."

It's clear from a diagram of this sentence that there are two separate thoughts here. Some will no doubt argue that this is not a proper diagram of this sentence, so lets go on to a few more definitions and see if they support or contradict this diagram. 

MILITIA - The body of soldiers in a state enrolled for discipline, but not engaged in actual service except in emergencies; as distinguished from regular troops, whose sole occupation is war or military service. The militia of a country are the able bodied men organized into companies, regiments and brigades, with officers of all grades, and required by law to attend military exercises on certain days only, but at other times left to pursue their usual occupations.

PEOPLE, 1. The body of persons who compose a community, town, city or nation. We say, the people of a town; the people of London or Paris; the English people. In this sense, the word is not used in the plural, but it comprehends all classes of inhabitants, considered as a collective body, or any portion of the inhabitants of a city or country.

Thank you Noah Webster. We clearly have two (2) separate groups of people mentioned in the Second Amendment: The militia, and the People. It is on this point that I will hang the rest of my essay. 

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…"

Please consider what document this statement is made in. Context does matter here, and the document this is recorded in matters. It is in the Bill of Rights, a document which enumerates and codifies the Rights of The People into writing. It does not list the rights of the Government, it lists the rights of the People. If we frame this statement in context which it exists, answer the following question: Does this statement by itself enumerate a right? Is it a right of the People to have a well regulated militia? The answer is, of course, no. In this statement alone no right is ever mentioned. So if it does not list a right, why say it? 

We should go back to our definitions and look at Militia again. The closest thing we have today that fits this definition of Militia is our Reserve Corps, or perhaps what we call the National Guard today. I believe this was meant to be at the Federal level, because it says 'a free State', not 'the free States', etc. Regardless of what this group was, or who had authority over them, it is absolutely clear from the definition of Militia that this group is separate and distinct from 'the People', which is all citizens of the country. It is this Militia that may be regulated, not the People.

REGULATE – To adjust by rule, method or established mode; as, to regulate weights and measures; to regulate the assize of bread; to regulate our moral conduct by the laws of God and of society; to regulate our manners by the customary forms.

2. To put in good order; as, to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances. 

3. To subject to rules or restrictions; as, to regulate trade ; to regulate diet.

REGULATED, Adjusted by rule, method or forms; put in good order; subject to rules and restrictions.

It me, it is absolutely clear, that our Founding Fathers understood the need to have able bodied men trained, organized, and ready to be called upon if the need arose. I believe they saw the possibility that the argument would eventually be made, and perhaps was even made in their day, that if we have a well regulated militia, there is no need for the individual to keep and bear arms. Many of these men had seen in their own lives how the Militia soon became an extension of the political desires of those in power. So the Founding Fathers acknowledgement that there is a need to have a well regulated militia, but went on to say…...

"…the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Now we have the actual right that is being protected by this document. It is the right of the People to both keep and bear arms. Remember that the phrase "the People" encompasses all Citizens of this country, while the militia is a specific group of Citizens. This falls perfectly in line with the 'checks and balances' concept of our Government. Both the first and second amendments play a role in the checks and balances.

This is my Story

 I grew up a religious “nothing”, and was glad.  My mom was Catholic, my dad was Lutheran, and I did not see any value in either religion, or any other for that matter.  I tried reading the bible once, but never even made it through the first book.  In my opinion, Religion was just a way to get money out of people.  There was so much hypocrisy in it that I really had no interest.  Religious people seemed to do as much wrong as non-religious people, so what made them right? 

In my senior year of High School, my stepfather died in a car accident, and I fell into depression.  I had enlisted in the Navy prior to his death, and headed off to boot camp.  In the Navy you meet all kinds of people, and since I had the opportunity, I asked everybody about their religion.  They all basically said the same thing: get baptized, join a church, give money, etc, and when you die, you might go to Heaven.  Well I liked the way I lived and the few times I ever went to church I did not care for it, so I just kept doing what I was doing.  None of the religious people had any assurance or confidence they were actually right, so why change?  I had a life, I had plans, and I did not need religion. 

Depression is not something you can just ignore, if you don’t face it, it doesn’t go away.  I got quite drunk a time or two, and the Navy sent me to counseling.  After my interview the counselor said to me “You are not an alcoholic, but you are clinically depressed.”  It’s a really good idea in the Navy to follow orders, so off to rehab I went!  A Chaplain came in one day to talk to us.  He said “It does not matter what you believe, as long as you have a higher power.  A doorknob could be your higher power, what matters is that you believe”.  Back at my bunk I said to myself, that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.  I believe there is a God, so there must be a way to get to God.  I may be religiously ignorant, but I do know math, and 1 + 1 = 2.  If there is a God, then it only stands to reason that there would be a way to know Him.  After Rehab I returned to my ship, and laying on my workbench was a pamphlet called “God’s Simple Plan of Salvation.”  I read it and thought “that’s it, that’s the answer.  But I don’t have time for this right now,” and I threw it away.

The Navy decided to discharge me early, and I went home and got a job in sales for my mom’s company, and was good at it.  I made good money for not having a college degree, and liked what I did.  I had an opportunity to move on and work in sales for an Insurance Agency, and I took it.  I worked with a ‘religious’ guy named Steve, and started to ask him questions about what he believed just like I had done many times before.  But Steve responded differently.  He told me he knew he was “saved” and knew he was going to Heaven when he died.  Stop the press.  I had never heard of this ‘saved’ thing, and I never met anyone who said they knew it.   I asked Steve what ‘saved’ was, and how he ‘knew’ he was going to Heaven.  Steve said that He had confessed to the Lord Jesus Christ that he was a sinner, and asked the Lord to forgive him.  And he knew at that very moment that all his sins were forgiven and that he was on his way to Heaven.  He quoted this bible verse:   

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.  (1 John 5:13)

For three months I would ask Steve questions and he would answer me from the bible.  One day I asked him “Why do you always quote the bible, I want to know what you think, not what the bible says.  I don’t believe the bible”.    He smiled and said “it does not matter what I think, what matters is what the bible says.  The bible is our Judge:”

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.  (John 12:48)

Stop.  I was going to be judged by what was written in the bible!?!?  Yes.  Not by a man or a religion or someone’s opinion, but by what was written in the bible, and I had no idea what was in that book.

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.  (James 2:10)

If I had ever broken just one of the Ten Commandments, I was guilty of breaking the whole law.  One lie, one theft, one lustful look at a girl, one thought of having something someone else had, taking one single thing that was not mine. 

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  (Romans 3:19)

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)

It did not take long for me to realize that I was guilty under God’s Law, and that made me a sinner.  Under the law of God the penalty for sin was Hell.  That was a horrible thought, but I knew from my experience with depression that ignoring something like this will not make it go away.  This all seemed quite heartless – it did not fit my idea of a loving creator.  Steve answered my concern:

God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance: (II Peter 3:9)

God did not want me in Hell, or anyone else for that matter, so out of love He sent Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to pay for my sins Himself:

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  (1 John 4:10)

And He did something no one else had ever done: He rose from the dead:

… Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

He did this out of love for you and me:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)

Steve gave me a pamphlet, “God’s Simple Plan of Salvation”, the same one I had read two years before in the Navy.  I read it again, and came to the same conclusion; this was the answer.  It also gave the solution to the problem:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  (Romans 10:9)

This did not seem to fit any religious process I ever heard about.  Just confess and ask for forgiveness? No Baptism, no works, no money, no religious rites?  That seemed all too easy.  I was invited to church (again), and called a friend I DJ’ed with at a local college bar to see if he wanted to go along for the ride.  He was shocked that I was even considering it, but said yes.  After that service, I knew I needed what they were talking about.  I knew I was a sinner, and I was under the condemnation of the Law of God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. 

I was absolutely terrified at the thought of dying, and where I would go.  I got home and paced about the house, looking for that pamphlet, which I could not find, but I remembered what it said: Confess to the Lord that you are a sinner and ask Him to forgive you and save your soul.  I knelt down in my living room and said “Lord, I know I am a sinner, and I don’t want to go to Hell when I die.  I sure hope I don’t have to confess all my sins, because I don’t remember them all, but I am asking you to forgive me and save me.” 

That dreadful fear was gone, instantly.  There was a sense of relief, even joy, and this indescribably peace. How could I be in such desperation one minute and have complete relief the next?  What is this joy that I am feeling, this peace?  What just happened?

The answers to all these questions are found in the bible.  The last question is the book of Romans:

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

On Sunday, July 13^th 1989, I called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, confessed I was a sinner and asked Him to save me.  I was not reciting some ‘magic incantation’ prayer:  These were my words, from my heart to God’s ears.  It was not what someone else told me to say, it was what I wanted to say.  I wanted the pardon that God was offering through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I went from believing that Jesus was invented by Religion to control people and get money out of them, to personally experiencing the saving grace of God, and the pardon for sin.  I had a personal relationship now with the one whose name I cursed!

Very quickly, my old friends knew something had happened, even though I had not said anything to them. One of them asked me “what happened to you”.  I said “what do you mean,” and he replied, “you quit swearing”.  I had not noticed, but he was right: My ‘sailor’s mouth’ was gone. 

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.   (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I did not know that this was in the bible, but it certainly applied to me.  Christ had not only paid for all my sins, and forgiven me for them, but He also gave me a whole new life, one that has proven to be far better than anything I ever could have imagined!

This event was the greatest event in my life.  I now understand what Steve meant when he said “I know my sins are forgiven, I know I am going to Heaven when I die”.  I also know, just like Steve did, and you can know as well.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:17)

God is truly no respecter of persons.  Race, Creed, Color, Class, all mean nothing to Him.  You too, can have that peace that passes all understanding.  Christ is just as willing to forgive you as He was to forgive me.  You don’t have to take my word for it, you can take His. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I invite you to know the God that changed my life.