This issue takes a close look at the Declaration of Independence.

SINCE YOU ASKED
While America’s Constitution has received considerable “press time” in the last few years, the Declaration of Independence seems to have been relegated to the back corner of some antiquities vault. Why is that? Is it not all that important, or does it contain something someone wants to keep hidden? At the Constitutional Convention, during the formation of the Declaration, most of the founders expressed the view that if the new nation was not built on God and His Word, it would fail. This principle was embedded in the Declaration, and was expressed in eight words that set the tone and the foundation for the entire document.  It begins:
 
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…
 
These eight words-the law of nature and of nature’s God-were behind our desire to separate from Great Britain. By the time the Declaration was being written, these same eight words were well known and understood. “Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Law” was the “Bible” for lawyers. For 160 years it was the “Law Textbook” of America. It was first introduced in 1758, 18 years prior to the Declaration. Blackstone made it clear that for any law to be valid, it must be based on the eternal laws of God-laws that would never change-laws that applied to all people at all times. The framers of the Declaration drew on this understanding. The “laws of nature” that Blackstone wrote of referred to laws derived from the study of nature. By studying the natural world, we learn about God’s immutable characteristics and His laws for us. “Nature’s God” refers to the second way God revealed Himself and His will to us-through Jesus Christ and the Bible. The Declaration, therefore, starts out by stating that since our society is based on God and His laws, our legal system should do the same.

AS I SEE IT
The Revolution was necessary because Great Britain had violated nature’s laws and biblical principles. Therefore, the colonists had to separate. In fact, they listed 27 specific violations against God’s will and plan. Sam Adams, known as the “Father of the Revolution,” was instrumental in informing the masses of the decisions the leaders were making. Through the Committees of Correspondence, he and others took the news by horseback throughout the colonies. The goal was threefold:
 
1.     Explain to the American people what our rights were.
2.     Explain how these rights had been violated.
3.     Explain what they should do.
 
In the “Old South Leaflets” Adams said that if anyone wanted to know what their rights were and how they had been violated, they should read the New Testament. What a profound statement. To the founders, the Bible was clearly the source of inspiration, guidance and truth.
 
It’s easy to see the consequences of rejecting what our nation’s founders held so dear. Just look around. As our foundations are crumbling, every part of the house is on the verge of collapse-our economy, our morality, our families-you name it. Our legal system, for example, which once used the Bible and the Constitution as plumb lines, now follows case law, citing previous court decisions at the expense of biblical or Constitutional precedent. The list goes on and the results are the same-disaster.  
 
Our founders had come up with something very unique in the history of civil government. In a future edition, we’ll look at what it was and why it was chosen over all the alternatives.

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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
What’s the difference between a southern zoo and a northern zoo? The southern zoo has a description of the animal along with a recipe.