Unfortunately, people write things like this for such an awesome day like July 4th, where God blessed this nation so greatly. It says:
"The Declaration of Independence is not a Christian document. It's a generically theistic document. It mentions a God of some sort in 4 different places. It doesn't mention Jesus, the Trinity, or quote verses and chapters of scripture for its authority."
Yet, the same men who signed the declaration of independence wrote this below just 45 days earlier:
"The Congress...desirous...to have people of all ranks and degrees duly impressed with a solemn sense of God's superintending providence, and of their duty devoutly to rely.... on His aid and direction... do earnestly recommend...a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that we may with united hearts confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions and, by a sincere repentance and amendment of life,...and through the Merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain His pardon and forgiveness."
Journals of Congress (1905), Vol. IV, pp. 208-209, May 17, 1776. [Bold mine]
What does a man say to this? Just what John Calvin told the world about Heshusius:
"The slanderer himself was undeserving of an answer."
2 comments:
...and through the Merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain His pardon and forgiveness."
Again, for a non-Trinitarian [unitarian] there's no problem with this--it's God who grants the pardon and forgiveness; Jesus is only a mediator, not necessary divine himself.
As I often argue, that isn't "Christian" enough for you or the pope, but for the historian or political philosopher, it's got plenty enough Christ in it to qualify.
As for "God" being Jehovah, yes, I think the invocation of Christ here rather establishes that! If Jesus is mentioned, the God can be none other than Jehovah! That's no small thing; you've come up with a strong rebuttal of the mealy-mouthed insistence that the God of the Founding was merely some vague theistic blob.
"The Declaration of Independence is not a Christian document. It's a generically theistic document. It mentions a God of some sort in 4 different places.
"...and through the Merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain His pardon and forgiveness."
This is not Unitarian because they believed Christ's vicarious atonement on the cross was not a sacrifice for sin, which "merits" were.
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