By Catherine Millard
Many Americans think of Thanksgiving as a wonderful time to celebrate getting out of school for a long weekend, and eating a great dinner. Or, maybe they think it is the start of the Christmas holiday season. What is the real meaning behind Thanksgiving? Catherine Millard writes:
We can trace this historic American Christian tradition to the year 1623. After the harvest crops were gathered in November 1623, Governor William Bradford of the 1620 Pilgrim Colony, “Plymouth Plantation” in Plymouth, Massachusetts proclaimed:
"All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones, do gather at the Meeting House, on the hill… there to listen to the pastor, and render Thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings."
This is the origin of our annual Thanksgiving Day celebration. Congress of the United States has proclaimed National Days of Thanksgiving to Almighty God many times throughout the following years. On November 1, 1777, by order of Congress, the first National Thanksgiving Proclamation was proclaimed, and signed by Henry Laurens, President of Continental Congress. The third Thursday of December, 1777 was thus officially set aside:
"…for solemn thanksgiving and praise. That with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor;… and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them (their manifold sins) out of remembrance… That it may please Him… to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety under His nurturing hand, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth of 'righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost'…"
Then again, on January 1, 1795, our first United States President, George Washington, wrote his famed National Thanksgiving Proclamation, in which he says that it is…
"…our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue is… our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experienced…"
Thursday, the 19th day of February, 1795 was thus set aside by George Washington as a National Day of Thanksgiving. Many years later, on October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, by Act of Congress, an annual National Day of Thanksgiving "on the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." In this Thanksgiving proclamation, our 16th President says that it is…
"…announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord… But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, by the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own… It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people…"
So it is that on Thanksgiving Day each year, Americans give thanks to Almighty God for all His blessings and mercies toward us throughout the year.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sabbath for the Christian
11.24.09
J.A. Matteson
"Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you." Deuteronomy 5:12
The spiritual significance of Sabbath for the Christian is summed up in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The origin of the Hebrew word Sabbath is sabbat from the toot bat which means to cease or to rest. At Mt. Sinai the Lord delivered His covenant to Israel and codified the idea of Sabbath introduced earlier, “Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning" (Ex. 16:22).
At this time Israel understood the Sabbath as integral to the Lords act of creation where on the seventh day of creation He rested, and the imago dei in man required His people to rest as He rested as a perpetual reminder of His governance and provision, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:11). In this passage from Deuteronomy Moses restates the covenant to Israel given by the Lord at Mt. Sinai, but this time in the broader context he mentions Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage as the basis for the Sabbath observance, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15).
For the nation of Israel they understood Sabbath as the perpetual reminder of the Lord’s act of creation of the heavens and the earth and His delivering them from Egyptian bondage. The early church began meeting on the first day of the week, Sunday, rather than the last day of the week, Saturday, which had been the traditional day of Sabbath observance for the Jews in accordance to the Decalogue and the reason for this change is wrapped up in the theological significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The resurrection of the Son of God signified that His atoning work on the cross was acceptable to the Father to save His people from their bondage to sin, being new creations in Christ Jesus to the glory of the Father. The description of Christians as those who are “in Christ” is a summary statement of their redemption whereby they are elected in Christ, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4), justified, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1), sanctified, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ….” (1 Cor. 1:2), and glorified, “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).
The tie for the believer between the Lord’s Day of resurrection (Sunday) and the Sabbath is two fold: first, the believer is a new creation in Christ Jesus, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17); second, the believer as a new creation has been set free from the bondage of sin and death, “…and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:18). The old covenant understanding of Sabbath anchored in the six days of creation and deliverance from Egyptian bondage foreshadowed the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The resurrection speaks to both the Father’s approval of the Son’s atoning death for His people and to the reality of their spiritual resurrection/creation to new life in Christ Jesus.
With the resurrection the old covenant of the Law became obsolete, giving way to a new covenant—a better covenant (Heb. 7:22)--of grace with the Law of God written on the heart. The early church established the pattern of meeting for worship and Sabbath rest on the Lord’s Day in commemoration of His completed work of atonement, recognizing that in Christ they were literally new creations, set free from bondage to sin and death.
Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
J.A. Matteson
"Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you." Deuteronomy 5:12
The spiritual significance of Sabbath for the Christian is summed up in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The origin of the Hebrew word Sabbath is sabbat from the toot bat which means to cease or to rest. At Mt. Sinai the Lord delivered His covenant to Israel and codified the idea of Sabbath introduced earlier, “Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning" (Ex. 16:22).
At this time Israel understood the Sabbath as integral to the Lords act of creation where on the seventh day of creation He rested, and the imago dei in man required His people to rest as He rested as a perpetual reminder of His governance and provision, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:11). In this passage from Deuteronomy Moses restates the covenant to Israel given by the Lord at Mt. Sinai, but this time in the broader context he mentions Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage as the basis for the Sabbath observance, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15).
For the nation of Israel they understood Sabbath as the perpetual reminder of the Lord’s act of creation of the heavens and the earth and His delivering them from Egyptian bondage. The early church began meeting on the first day of the week, Sunday, rather than the last day of the week, Saturday, which had been the traditional day of Sabbath observance for the Jews in accordance to the Decalogue and the reason for this change is wrapped up in the theological significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The resurrection of the Son of God signified that His atoning work on the cross was acceptable to the Father to save His people from their bondage to sin, being new creations in Christ Jesus to the glory of the Father. The description of Christians as those who are “in Christ” is a summary statement of their redemption whereby they are elected in Christ, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4), justified, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1), sanctified, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ….” (1 Cor. 1:2), and glorified, “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).
The tie for the believer between the Lord’s Day of resurrection (Sunday) and the Sabbath is two fold: first, the believer is a new creation in Christ Jesus, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17); second, the believer as a new creation has been set free from the bondage of sin and death, “…and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:18). The old covenant understanding of Sabbath anchored in the six days of creation and deliverance from Egyptian bondage foreshadowed the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The resurrection speaks to both the Father’s approval of the Son’s atoning death for His people and to the reality of their spiritual resurrection/creation to new life in Christ Jesus.
With the resurrection the old covenant of the Law became obsolete, giving way to a new covenant—a better covenant (Heb. 7:22)--of grace with the Law of God written on the heart. The early church established the pattern of meeting for worship and Sabbath rest on the Lord’s Day in commemoration of His completed work of atonement, recognizing that in Christ they were literally new creations, set free from bondage to sin and death.
Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
Monday, November 23, 2009
Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
Drafted October 20, 2009
Released November 20, 2009
PREAMBLE
"Christians are heirs of a 2,000year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering. While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.
After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture. It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the 16 th and 17 th centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country. Christians under Wilberforce’s leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.
In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible. And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement. The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class. This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes – from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.
Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.
DECLARATION
We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image. We set forth this declaration in light of the truth that is grounded in Holy Scripture, in natural human reason (which is itself, in our view, the gift of a beneficent God), and in the very nature of the human person. We call upon all people of goodwill, believers and nonbelievers alike, to consider carefully and reflect critically on the issues we here address as we, with St. Paul, commend this appeal to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions.
Because the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as a union of husband and wife, and the freedom of conscience and religion are foundational principles of justice and the common good, we are compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act in their defense. In this declaration we affirm: 1) the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life; 2) marriage as a conjugal union of man and woman, ordained by God from the creation, and historically understood by believers and nonbelievers alike, to be the most basic institution in society and; 3) religious liberty, which is grounded in the character of God, the example of Christ, and the inherent freedom and dignity of human beings created in the divine image.
We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence. It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty.
LIFE
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
Although public sentiment has moved in a prolife direction, we note with sadness that proabortion ideology prevails today in our government. The present administration is led and staffed by those who want to make abortions legal at any stage of fetal development, and who want to provide abortions at taxpayer expense. Majorities in both houses of Congress hold proabortion views. The Supreme Court, whose infamous 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade stripped the unborn of legal protection, continues to treat elective abortion as a fundamental constitutional right, though it has upheld as constitutionally permissible some limited restrictions on abortion.
The President says that he wants to reduce the “need” for abortion—a commendable goal. But he has also pledged to make abortion more easily and widely available by eliminating laws prohibiting government funding, requiring waiting periods for women seeking abortions, and parental notification for abortions performed on minors. The elimination of these important and effective prolife laws cannot reasonably be expected to do other than significantly increase the number of elective abortions by which the lives of countless children are snuffed out prior to birth.
Our commitment to the sanctity of life is not a matter of partisan loyalty, for we recognize that in the thirtysix years since Roe v. Wade, elected officials and appointees of both major political parties have been complicit in giving legal sanction to what Pope John Paul II described as “the culture of death.” We call on all officials in our country, elected and appointed, to protect and serve every member of our society, including the most marginalized, voiceless, and vulnerable among us. A culture of death inevitably cheapens life in all its stages and conditions by promoting the belief that lives that are imperfect, immature or inconvenient are discardable. As predicted by many prescient persons, the cheapening of life that began with abortion has now metastasized. For example, human embryodestructive research and its public funding are promoted in the name of science and in the cause of developing treatments and cures for diseases and injuries. The President and many in Congress favor the expansion of embryoresearch to include the taxpayer funding of so called “therapeutic cloning.” This would result in the industrial mass production of human embryos to be killed for the purpose of producing genetically customized stem cell lines and tissues. At the other end of life, an increasingly powerful movement to promote assisted suicide and “voluntary” euthanasia threatens the lives of vulnerable elderly and disabled persons.
Eugenic notions such as the doctrine of lebensunwertes Leben (“life unworthy of life”) were first advanced in the 1920s by intellectuals in the elite salons of America and Europe. Long buried in ignominy after the horrors of the mid 20th century, they have returned from the grave. The only difference is that now the doctrines of the eugenicists are dressed up in the language of “liberty,” “autonomy,” and “choice.” We will be united and untiring in our efforts to roll back the license to kill that began with the abandonment of the unborn to abortion. We will work, as we have always worked, to bring assistance, comfort, and care to pregnant women in need and to those who have been victimized by abortion, even as we stand resolutely against the corrupt and degrading notion that it can somehow be in the best interests of women to submit to the deliberate killing of their unborn children. Our message is, and ever shall be, that the just, humane, and truly Christian answer to problem pregnancies is for all of us to love and care for mother and child alike.
A truly prophetic Christian witness will insistently call on those who have been entrusted with temporal power to fulfill the first responsibility of government: to protect the weak and vulnerable against violent attack, and to do so with no favoritism, partiality, or discrimination. The Bible enjoins us to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to speak for those who cannot themselves speak. And so we defend and speak for the unborn, the disabled, and the dependent. What the Bible and the light of reason make clear, we must make clear. We must be willing to defend, even at risk and cost to ourselves and our institutions, the lives of our brothers and sisters at every stage of development and in every condition. Our concern is not confined to our own nation. Around the globe, we are witnessing cases of genocide and “ethnic cleansing,” the failure to assist those who are suffering as innocent victims of war, the neglect and abuse of children, the exploitation of vulnerable laborers, the sexual trafficking of girls and young women, the abandonment of the aged, racial oppression and discrimination, the persecution of believers of all faiths, and the failure to take steps necessary to halt the spread of preventable diseases like AIDS. We see these travesties as flowing from the same loss of the sense of the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life that drives the abortion industry and the movements for assisted suicide, euthanasia, and human cloning for biomedical research. And so ours is, as it must be, a truly consistent ethic of love and life for all humans in all circumstances.
MARRIAGE
The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:23-24
This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:32-33
In Scripture, the creation of man and woman, and their one flesh union as husband and wife, is the crowning achievement of God’s creation. In the transmission of life and the nurturing of children, men and women joined as spouses are given the great honor of being partners with God Himself. Marriage then, is the first institution of human society—indeed it is the institution on which all other human institutions have their foundation. In the Christian tradition we refer to marriage as “holy matrimony” to signal the fact that it is an institution ordained by God, and blessed by Christ in his participation at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. In the Bible, God Himself blesses and holds marriage in the highest esteem.
Vast human experience confirms that marriage is the original and most important institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all persons in a society. Where marriage is honored, and where there is a flourishing marriage culture, everyone benefits—the spouses themselves, their children, the communities and societies in which they live. Where the marriage culture begins to erode, social pathologies of every sort quickly manifest themselves. Unfortunately, we have witnessed over the course of the past several decades a serious erosion of the marriage culture in our own country. Perhaps the most telling—and alarming—indicator is the outofwedlock birth rate. Less than fifty years ago, it was under 5 percent. Today it is over 40 percent. Our society—and particularly its poorest and most vulnerable sectors, where the outofwedlock birth rate is much higher even than the national average—is paying a huge price in delinquency, drug abuse, crime, incarceration, hopelessness, and despair. Other indicators are widespread nonmarital sexual cohabitation and a devastatingly high rate of divorce.
We confess with sadness that Christians and our institutions have too often scandalously failed to uphold the institution of marriage and to model for the world the true meaning of marriage. Insofar as we have too easily embraced the culture of divorce and remained silent about social practices that undermine the dignity of marriage we repent, and call upon all Christians to do the same. To strengthen families, we must stop glamorizing promiscuity and infidelity and restore among our people a sense of the profound beauty, mystery, and holiness of faithful marital love. We must reform illadvised policies that contribute to the weakening of the institution of marriage, including the discredited idea of unilateral divorce. We must work in the legal, cultural, and religious domains to instill in young people a sound understanding of what marriage is, what it requires, and why it is worth the commitment and sacrifices that faithful spouses make.
The impulse to redefine marriage in order to recognize same sex and multiple partner relationships is a symptom, rather than the cause, of the erosion of the marriage culture. It reflects a loss of understanding of the meaning of marriage as embodied in our civil and religious law and in the philosophical tradition that contributed to shaping the law. Yet it is critical that the impulse be resisted, for yielding to it would mean abandoning the possibility of restoring a sound understanding of marriage and, with it, the hope of rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. It would lock into place the false and destructive belief that marriage is all about romance and other adult satisfactions, and not, in any intrinsic way, about procreation and the unique character and value of acts and relationships whose meaning is shaped by their aptness for the generation, promotion and protection of life. In spousal communion and the rearing of children (who, as gifts of God, are the fruit of their parents’ marital love), we discover the profound reasons for and benefits of the marriage covenant.
We acknowledge that there are those who are disposed towards homosexual and polyamorous conduct and relationships, just as there are those who are disposed towards other forms of immoral conduct. We have compassion for those so disposed; we respect them as human beings possessing profound, inherent, and equal dignity; and we pay tribute to the men and women who strive, often with little assistance, to resist the temptation to yield to desires that they, no less than we, regard as wayward. We stand with them, even when they falter. We, no less than they, are sinners who have fallen short of God’s intention for our lives. We, no less than they, are in constant need of God’s patience, love and forgiveness. We call on the entire Christian community to resist sexual immorality, and at the same time refrain from disdainful condemnation of those who yield to it. Our rejection of sin, though resolute, must never become the rejection of sinners. For every sinner, regardless of the sin, is loved by God, who seeks not our destruction but rather the conversion of our hearts. Jesus calls all who wander from the path of virtue to “a more excellent way.” As his disciples we will reach out in love to assist all who hear the call and wish to answer it.
We further acknowledge that there are sincere people who disagree with us, and with the teaching of the Bible and Christian tradition, on questions of sexual morality and the nature of marriage. Some who enter into same sex and polyamorous relationships no doubt regard their unions as truly marital. They fail to understand, however, that marriage is made possible by the sexual complementarity of man and woman, and that the comprehensive, multilevel sharing of life that marriage is includes bodily unity of the sort that unites husband and wife biologically as a reproductive unit. This is because the body is no mere extrinsic instrument of the human person, but truly part of the personal reality of the human being. Human beings are not merely centers of consciousness or emotion, or minds, or spirits, inhabiting nonpersonal bodies. The human person is a dynamic unity of body, mind, and spirit. Marriage is what one man and one woman establish when, forsaking all others and pledging lifelong commitment, they found a sharing of life at every level of being—the biological, the emotional, the dispositional, the rational, the spiritual—on a commitment that is sealed, completed and actualized by loving sexual intercourse in which the spouses become one flesh, not in some merely metaphorical sense, but by fulfilling together the behavioral conditions of procreation. That is why in the Christian tradition, and historically in Western law, consummated marriages are not dissoluble or annullable on the ground of infertility, even though the nature of the marital relationship is shaped and structured by its intrinsic orientation to the great good of procreation.
We understand that many of our fellow citizens, including some Christians, believe that the historic definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is a denial of equality or civil rights. They wonder what to say in reply to the argument that asserts that no harm would be done to them or to anyone if the law of the community were to confer upon two men or two women who are living together in a sexual partnership the status of being “married.” It would not, after all, affect their own marriages, would it? On inspection, however, the argument that laws governing one kind of marriage will not affect another cannot stand. Were it to prove anything, it would prove far too much: the assumption that the legal status of one set of marriage relationships affects no other would not only argue for same sex partnerships; it could be asserted with equal validity for polyamorous partnerships, polygamous households, even adult brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters living in incestuous relationships. Should these, as a matter of equality or civil rights, be recognized as lawful marriages, and would they have no effects on other relationships? No. The truth is that marriage is not something abstract or neutral that the law may legitimately define and redefine to please those who are powerful and influential.
No one has a civil right to have a nonmarital relationship treated as a marriage. Marriage is an objective reality—a covenantal union of husband and wife—that it is the duty of the law to recognize and support for the sake of justice and the common good. If it fails to do so, genuine social harms follow. First, the religious liberty of those for whom this is a matter of conscience is jeopardized. Second, the rights of parents are abused as family life and sex education programs in schools are used to teach children that an enlightened understanding recognizes as “marriages” sexual partnerships that many parents believe are intrinsically nonmarital and immoral. Third, the common good of civil society is damaged when the law itself, in its critical pedagogical function, becomes a tool for eroding a sound understanding of marriage on which the flourishing of the marriage culture in any society vitally depends. Sadly, we are today far from having a thriving marriage culture. But if we are to begin the critically important process of reforming our laws and mores to rebuild such a culture, the last thing we can afford to do is to redefine marriage in such a way as to embody in our laws a false proclamation about what marriage is. And so it is out of love (not “animus”) and prudent concern for the common good (not “prejudice”), that we pledge to labor ceaselessly to preserve the legal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and to rebuild the marriage culture. How could we, as Christians, do otherwise? The Bible teaches us that marriage is a central part of God’s creation covenant. Indeed, the union of husband and wife mirrors the bond between Christ and his church. And so just as Christ was willing, out of love, to give Himself up for the church in a complete sacrifice, we are willing, lovingly, to make whatever sacrifices are required of us for the sake of the inestimable treasure that is marriage.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1
Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. Matthew 22:21
The struggle for religious liberty across the centuries has been long and arduous, but it is not a novel idea or recent development. The nature of religious liberty is grounded in the character of God Himself, the God who is most fully known in the life and work of Jesus Christ. Determined to follow Jesus faithfully in life and death, the early Christians appealed to the manner in which the Incarnation had taken place: “Did God send Christ, as some suppose, as a tyrant brandishing fear and terror? Not so, but in gentleness and meekness..., for compulsion is no attribute of God” (Epistle to Diognetus 7.34).
Thus the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the example of Christ Himself and in the very dignity of the human person created in the image of God—a dignity, as our founders proclaimed, inherent in every human, and knowable by all in the exercise of right reason. Christians confess that God alone is Lord of the conscience. Immunity from religious coercion is the cornerstone of an unconstrained conscience. No one should be compelled to embrace any religion against his will, nor should persons of faith be forbidden to worship God according to the dictates of conscience or to express freely and publicly their deeply held religious convictions. What is true for individuals applies to religious communities as well. It is ironic that those who today assert a right to kill the unborn, aged and disabled and also a right to engage in immoral sexual practices, and even a right to have relationships integrated around these practices be recognized and blessed by law—such persons claiming these “rights” are very often in the vanguard of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife.
We see this, for example, in the effort to weaken or eliminate conscience clauses, and therefore to compel prolife institutions (including religiously affiliated hospitals and clinics), and prolife physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other health care professionals, to refer for abortions and, in certain cases, even to perform or participate in abortions. We see it in the use of antidiscrimination statutes to force religious institutions, businesses, and service providers of various sorts to comply with activities they judge to be deeply immoral or go out of business. After the judicial imposition of “same sex marriage” in Massachusetts, for example, Catholic Charities chose with great reluctance to end its century long work of helping to place orphaned children in good homes rather than comply with a legal mandate that it place children in same sex households in violation of Catholic moral teaching. In New Jersey, after the establishment of a quasimarital “civil unions” scheme, a Methodist institution was stripped of its tax exempt status when it declined, as a matter of religious conscience, to permit a facility it owned and operated to be used for ceremonies blessing homosexual unions. In Canada and some European nations, Christian clergy have been prosecuted for preaching Biblical norms against the practice of homosexuality.
New hate crime laws in America raise the specter of the same practice here. In recent decades a growing body of case law has paralleled the decline in respect for religious values in the media, the academy and political leadership, resulting in restrictions on the free exercise of religion. We view this as an ominous development, not only because of its threat to the individual liberty guaranteed to every person, regardless of his or her faith, but because the trend also threatens the common welfare and the culture of freedom on which our system of republican government is founded. Restrictions on the freedom of conscience or the ability to hire people of one’s own faith or conscientious moral convictions for religious institutions, for example, undermines the viability of the intermediate structures of society, the essential buffer against the overweening authority of the state, resulting in the soft despotism Tocqueville so prophetically warned of.
Disintegration of civil society is a prelude to tyranny. As Christians, we take seriously the Biblical admonition to respect and obey those in authority. We believe in law and in the rule of law. We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral. The biblical purpose of law is to preserve order and serve justice and the common good; yet laws that are unjust—and especially laws that purport to compel citizens to do what is unjust—undermine the common good, rather than serve it. Going back to the earliest days of the church, Christians have refused to compromise their proclamation of the gospel. In Acts 4, Peter and John were ordered to stop preaching. Their answer was, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Through the centuries, Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required. There is no more eloquent defense of the rights and duties of religious conscience than the one offered by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Writing from an explicitly Christian perspective, and citing Christian writers such as Augustine and Aquinas, King taught that just laws elevate and ennoble human beings because they are rooted in the moral law whose ultimate source is God Himself. Unjust laws degrade human beings. Inasmuch as they can claim no authority beyond sheer human will, they lack any power to bind in conscience. King’s willingness to go to jail, rather than comply with legal injustice, was exemplary and inspiring.
Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryodestructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other antilife act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances
will we render to Caesar what is God’s."
Original List of Signers:
Drafting Committee
* Robert George
Professor, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
* Timothy George
Professor, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University
* Chuck Colson
Founder, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview (Lansdowne, Va.)
Signers (as of November 19, 2009)
1. Dr. Daniel Akin
President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, N.C.)
2. Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola
Primate, Anglican Church of Nigeria (Abika, Nigeria)
3. Randy Alcorn
Founder and Director, Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM) (Sandy, Ore.)
4. Rt. Rev. David Anderson
President and CEO, American Anglican Council (Atlanta)
5. Leith Anderson
President of National Association of Evangelicals (Washington, D.C.)
6. Charlotte K. Ardizzone
TV Show Host and Speaker, INSP Television (Charlotte, N.C.)
7. Kay Arthur
CEO and Co-founder, Precept Ministries International (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
8. Dr. Mark L. Bailey
President, Dallas Theological Seminary (Dallas)
9. Most Rev. Craig W. Bates
Archbishop, International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church (Malverne, N.Y.)
10. Gary Bauer
President, American Values; Chairman, Campaign for Working Families
11. His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Basil Essey
The Right Reverend Bishop of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America (Wichita, Kan.)
12. Joel Belz
Founder, World Magazine (Asheville, N.C.)
13. Rev. Michael L. Beresford
Managing Director of Church Relations, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (Charlotte, N.C.)
14. Ken Boa
President, Reflections Ministries (Atlanta)
15. Joseph Bottum
Editor of First Things (New York)
16. Pastor Randy & Sarah Brannon
Senior Pastor, Grace Community Church (Madera, Calif.)
17. Steve Brown
National Radio Broadcaster, Key Life (Maitland, Fla.)
18. Dr. Robert C. Cannada, Jr.
Chancellor and CEO, Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando, Fla.)
19. Galen Carey
Director of Government Affairs, National Association of Evangelicals (Washington, D.C.)
20. Dr. Bryan Chapell
President, Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis)
21. Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver
22. Timothy Clinton
President, American Association of Christian Counselors (Forest, Va.)
23. Chuck Colson
Founder, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview (Lansdowne, Va.)
24. Most Rev. Salvatore Joseph Cordileone
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, Calif.
25. Dr. Gary Culpepper
Associate Professor, Providence College (Providence, R.I.)
26. Jim Daly
President and CEO, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
27. Marjorie Dannenfelser
President, Susan B. Anthony List (Arlington, Va.)
28. Rev. Daniel Delgado
Board of Directors, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Pastor,
Third Day Missions Church (Staten Island, N.Y.)
29. Patrick J. Deneen
Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Associate Professor and Director, The Tocqueville Forum
on the Roots of American Democracy, Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
30. Dr. James Dobson
Founder, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
31. Dr. David Dockery
President, Union University (Jackson, Tenn.)
32. Most Rev. Timothy Dolan
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of New York, N.Y.
33. Dr. William Donohue
President, Catholic League (New York)
34. Dr. James T. Draper, Jr.
President Emeritus, LifeWay (Nashville, Tenn.)
35. Dinesh D'Souza
Writer and Speaker (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.)
36. Most Rev. Robert Wm. Duncan
Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America (Ambridge, Pa. )
37. Dr. Michael Easley
President Emeritus, Moody Bible Institute (Chicago)
38. Dr. William Edgar
Professor, Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia)
39. Brett Elder
Executive Director, Stewardship Council (Grand Rapids, Mich.
40. Rev. Joel Elowsky
Drew University (Madison, N.J.)
41. Stuart Epperson
Co-Founder and Chariman of the Board, Salem Communications Corporation (Camarillo, Calif.)
42. Rev. Jonathan Falwell
Senior Pastor, Thomas Road Baptist Church (Lynchburg, Va.)
43. William J. Federer
President, Amerisearch, Inc. (St. Louis)
44. Fr. Joseph D. Fessio
Founder and Editor, Ignatius Press (Ft. Collins, Colo.)
45. Carmen Fowler
President and Executive Editor, Presbyterian Lay Committee (Lenoir, N.C.)
46. Maggie Gallagher
President, National Organization for Marriage (Manassas, Va.)
47. Dr. Jim Garlow
Senior Pastor, Skyline Church (La Mesa, Calif.)
48. Steven Garofalo
Senior Consultant, Search and Assessment Services (Charlotte, N.C.)
49. Dr. Robert P. George
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.)
50. Dr. Timothy George
Dean and Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School at Samford University (Birmingham, Ala.)
51. Thomas Gilson
Director of Strategic Processes, Campus Crusade for Christ International (Norfolk, Va.)
52. Dr. Jack Graham
Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church (Plano, Texas)
53. Dr. Wayne Grudem
Research Professor of Theological and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary (Phoenix)
54. Dr. Cornell "Corkie" Haan
National Facilitator of Spiritual Unity, The Mission America Coalition (Palm Desert, Calif.)
55. Fr. Chad Hatfield
Chancellor, CEO and Archpriest, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Yonkers, N.Y.)
56. Dr. Dennis Hollinger
President and Professor of Christian Ethics, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, Mass.)
57. Dr. Jeanette Hsieh
Executive Vice President and Provost, Trinity International University (Deerfield, Ill.)
58. Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr.
Senior Pastor, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church (Newport Beach, Calif.); Chairman of the Board, Christianity Today International (Carol Stream, Ill.)
59. Rev. Ken Hutcherson
Pastor, Antioch Bible Church (Kirkland, Wash.)
60. Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church (Beltsville, Md.)
61. Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse
President, American Orthodox Institute; Editor, OrthodoxyToday.org (Naples, Fla.)
62. Jerry Jenkins
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Moody Bible Institute (Black Forest, Colo.)
63. Camille Kampouris
Editorial Board, Kairos Journal
64. Emmanuel A. Kampouris
Publisher, Kairos Journal
65. Rev. Tim Keller
Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York)
66. Dr. Peter Kreeft
Professor of Philosophy, Boston College (Mass.) and at the Kings College (N.Y.)
67. Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky.
68. Jim Kushiner
Editor, Touchstone (Chicago)
69. Dr. Richard Land
President, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC (Washington, D.C.)
70. Jim Law
Senior Associate Pastor, First Baptist Church (Woodstock, Ga.)
71. Dr. Matthew Levering
Associate Professor of Theology, Ave Maria University (Naples, Fla.)
72. Dr. Peter Lillback
President, The Providence Forum (West Conshohocken, Pa.)
73. Dr. Duane Litfin
President, Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.)
74. Rev. Herb Lusk
Pastor, Greater Exodus Baptist Church (Philadelphia)
75. His Eminence Adam Cardinal Maida
Archbishop Emeritus, Roman Catholic Diocese of Detroit
76. Most Rev. Richard J. Malone
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine
77. Rev. Francis Martin
Professor of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Heart Major Seminary (Detroit)
78. Dr. Joseph Mattera
Bishop and Senior Pastor, Resurrection Church (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
79. Phil Maxwell
Pastor, Gateway Church (Bridgewater, N.J.)
80. Josh McDowell
Founder, Josh McDowell Ministries (Plano, Texas)
81. Alex McFarland
President, Southern Evangelical Seminary (Charlotte, N.C.)
82. Most Rev. George Dallas McKinney
Bishop, Founder and Pastor, St. Stephen's Church of God in Christ (San Diego)
83. Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns
Missionary Bishop, Convocation of Anglicans of North America (Herndon, Va.)
84. Dr. C. Ben Mitchell
Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy, Union University (Jackson, Tenn.)
85. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, Ky.)
86. Dr. Russell D. Moore
Senior Vice President for Academic Administration and Dean of the School of Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, Ky.)
87. Most Rev. John J. Myers
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, N.J.
88. Most Rev. Joseph F. Naumann
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City, Kan.
89. David Neff
Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today (Carol Stream, Ill.)
90. Tom Nelson
Senior Pastor, Christ Community Evangelical Free Church (Leawood, Kan.)
91. Niel Nielson
President, Covenant College (Lookout Mt., Ga.)
92. Most Rev. John Nienstedt
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
93. Dr. Tom Oden
Theologian, United Methodist Minister; Professor, Drew University (Madison, N.J.)
94. Marvin Olasky
Editor-in-Chief, World Magazine; Provost, The Kings College (New York)
95. Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix
96. Rev. William Owens
Chairman, Coalition of African-American Pastors (Memphis, Tenn.)
97. Dr. J.I. Packer
Board of Governors' Professor of Theology, Regent College (Canada)
98. Metr. Jonah Paffhausen
Primate, Orthodox Church in America (Syosset, N.Y.)
99. Tony Perkins
President, Family Research Council (Washington, D.C.)
100. Eric M. Pillmore
CEO, Pillmore Consulting LLC (Doylestown, Pa.)
101. Dr. Everett Piper
President, Oklahoma Wesleyan University (Bartlesville, Okla.)
102. Todd Pitner
President, Rev Increase
103. Dr. Cornelius Plantinga
President, Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
104. Dr. David Platt
Pastor, Church at Brook Hills (Birmingham, Ala.)
105. Rev. Jim Pocock
Pastor, Trinitarian Congregational Church (Wayland, Mass.)
106. Fred Potter
Executive Director and CEO, Christian Legal Society (Springfield, Va.)
107. Dennis Rainey
President, CEO, and Co-Founder, FamilyLife (Little Rock, Ark.)
108. Fr. Patrick Reardon
Pastor, All Saints' Antiochian Orthodox Church (Chicago)
109. Bob Reccord
Founder, Total Life Impact, Inc. (Suwanee, Ga.)
110. His Eminence Justin Cardinal Rigali
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia
111. Frank Schubert
President, Schubert Flint Public Affairs (Sacramento, Calif.)
112. David Schuringa
President, Crossroads Bible Institute (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
113. Tricia Scribner
Author (Harrisburg, N.C.)
114. Dr. Dave Seaford
Senior Pastor, Community Fellowship Church (Matthews, N.C.)
115. Alan Sears
President, CEO, and General Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
116. Randy Setzer
Senior Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church (Lincolnton, N.C.)
117. Most Rev. Michael J. Sheridan
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs, Colo.
118. Dr. Ron Sider
Director, Evangelicals for Social Action (Wynnewood, Pa.)
119. Fr. Robert Sirico
Founder, Acton Institute (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
120. Dr. Robert Sloan
President, Houston Baptist University (Houston)
121. Charles Stetson
Chairman of the Board, Bible Literacy Project (New York)
122. Dr. David Stevens
CEO, Christian Medical and Dental Association (Bristol, Tenn.)
123. John Stonestreet
Executive Director, Summit Ministries (Manitou Springs, Colo.)
124. Dr. Joseph Stowell
President, Cornerstone University (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
125. Dr. Sarah Sumner
Professor of Theology and Ministry, Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, Calif.)
126. Dr. Glenn Sunshine
Chairman of the History Department, Central Connecticut State University (New
Britain, Conn.)
127. Joni Eareckson Tada
Founder and CEO, Joni and Friends International Disability Center (Agoura
Hills, Calif.)
128. Luiz Tellez
President, The Witherspoon Institute (Princeton, N.J.)
129. Dr. Timothy C. Tennent
President, Asbury Theological Seminary (Wilmore, Ky.)
130. Michael Timmis
Chairman, Prison Fellowship and Prison Fellowship International (Naples, Fla.)
131. Mark Tooley
President, Institute for Religion and Democracy (Washington, D.C.)
132. H. James Towey
President, St. Vincent College (Latrobe, Pa.)
133. Juan Valdes
Middle and High School Chaplain, Florida Christian School (Miami, Fla.)
134. Todd Wagner
Pastor, WaterMark Community Church (Dallas)
135. Dr. Graham Walker
President, Patrick Henry College (Purcellville, Va.)
136. Fr. Alexander F. C. Webster, Ph.D.
Archpriest, Orthodox Church in America; Professorial Lecturer, The George
Washington University (Ashburn, Va.)
137. George Weigel
Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center (Washington, D.C.)
138. David Welch
Houston Area Pastor Council Executive Director, US Pastors Council (Houston)
139. Dr. James Emery White
Founding and Senior Pastor, Mecklenburg Community Church (Charlotte, N.C.)
140. Dr. Hayes Wicker
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church (Naples, Fla.)
141. Mark Williamson
Founder and President, Foundation Restoration Ministries/Federal Intercessors (Katy, Texas)
142. Parker T. Williamson
Editor Emeritus and Senior Correspondent, Presbyterian Lay Committee
143. Dr. Craig Williford
President, Trinity International University (Deerfield, Ill.)
144. Dr. John Woodbridge
Research Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought,
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, Ill.)
145. Don M. Woodside
Performance Matters Associates (Matthews, N.C.)
146. Dr. Frank Wright
President, National Religious Broadcasters (Manassas, Va.)
147. Most Rev. Donald W. Wuerl
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
148. Paul Young
COO and Executive Vice President, Christian Research Institute (Charlotte, N.C.)
149. Dr. Michael Youssef
President, Leading the Way (Atlanta)
150. Ravi Zacharias
Founder and Chairman of the Board, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (Norcross, Ga.)
151. Most Rev. David A. Zubik
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
152. James R. Thobaben, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Bioethics and Social Ethics, Asbury Theological Seminary (Wilmore, Ky.)
153. Rev. J.A. Matteson, M.Div.
Immutable Word Ministries (Redmond, OR; self-added and not included in the original signers)
For more information visit www.manhattandeclaration.org
Released November 20, 2009
PREAMBLE
"Christians are heirs of a 2,000year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering. While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.
After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture. It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the 16 th and 17 th centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country. Christians under Wilberforce’s leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.
In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible. And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement. The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class. This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes – from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.
Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.
DECLARATION
We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image. We set forth this declaration in light of the truth that is grounded in Holy Scripture, in natural human reason (which is itself, in our view, the gift of a beneficent God), and in the very nature of the human person. We call upon all people of goodwill, believers and nonbelievers alike, to consider carefully and reflect critically on the issues we here address as we, with St. Paul, commend this appeal to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions.
Because the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as a union of husband and wife, and the freedom of conscience and religion are foundational principles of justice and the common good, we are compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act in their defense. In this declaration we affirm: 1) the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life; 2) marriage as a conjugal union of man and woman, ordained by God from the creation, and historically understood by believers and nonbelievers alike, to be the most basic institution in society and; 3) religious liberty, which is grounded in the character of God, the example of Christ, and the inherent freedom and dignity of human beings created in the divine image.
We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence. It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty.
LIFE
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
Although public sentiment has moved in a prolife direction, we note with sadness that proabortion ideology prevails today in our government. The present administration is led and staffed by those who want to make abortions legal at any stage of fetal development, and who want to provide abortions at taxpayer expense. Majorities in both houses of Congress hold proabortion views. The Supreme Court, whose infamous 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade stripped the unborn of legal protection, continues to treat elective abortion as a fundamental constitutional right, though it has upheld as constitutionally permissible some limited restrictions on abortion.
The President says that he wants to reduce the “need” for abortion—a commendable goal. But he has also pledged to make abortion more easily and widely available by eliminating laws prohibiting government funding, requiring waiting periods for women seeking abortions, and parental notification for abortions performed on minors. The elimination of these important and effective prolife laws cannot reasonably be expected to do other than significantly increase the number of elective abortions by which the lives of countless children are snuffed out prior to birth.
Our commitment to the sanctity of life is not a matter of partisan loyalty, for we recognize that in the thirtysix years since Roe v. Wade, elected officials and appointees of both major political parties have been complicit in giving legal sanction to what Pope John Paul II described as “the culture of death.” We call on all officials in our country, elected and appointed, to protect and serve every member of our society, including the most marginalized, voiceless, and vulnerable among us. A culture of death inevitably cheapens life in all its stages and conditions by promoting the belief that lives that are imperfect, immature or inconvenient are discardable. As predicted by many prescient persons, the cheapening of life that began with abortion has now metastasized. For example, human embryodestructive research and its public funding are promoted in the name of science and in the cause of developing treatments and cures for diseases and injuries. The President and many in Congress favor the expansion of embryoresearch to include the taxpayer funding of so called “therapeutic cloning.” This would result in the industrial mass production of human embryos to be killed for the purpose of producing genetically customized stem cell lines and tissues. At the other end of life, an increasingly powerful movement to promote assisted suicide and “voluntary” euthanasia threatens the lives of vulnerable elderly and disabled persons.
Eugenic notions such as the doctrine of lebensunwertes Leben (“life unworthy of life”) were first advanced in the 1920s by intellectuals in the elite salons of America and Europe. Long buried in ignominy after the horrors of the mid 20th century, they have returned from the grave. The only difference is that now the doctrines of the eugenicists are dressed up in the language of “liberty,” “autonomy,” and “choice.” We will be united and untiring in our efforts to roll back the license to kill that began with the abandonment of the unborn to abortion. We will work, as we have always worked, to bring assistance, comfort, and care to pregnant women in need and to those who have been victimized by abortion, even as we stand resolutely against the corrupt and degrading notion that it can somehow be in the best interests of women to submit to the deliberate killing of their unborn children. Our message is, and ever shall be, that the just, humane, and truly Christian answer to problem pregnancies is for all of us to love and care for mother and child alike.
A truly prophetic Christian witness will insistently call on those who have been entrusted with temporal power to fulfill the first responsibility of government: to protect the weak and vulnerable against violent attack, and to do so with no favoritism, partiality, or discrimination. The Bible enjoins us to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to speak for those who cannot themselves speak. And so we defend and speak for the unborn, the disabled, and the dependent. What the Bible and the light of reason make clear, we must make clear. We must be willing to defend, even at risk and cost to ourselves and our institutions, the lives of our brothers and sisters at every stage of development and in every condition. Our concern is not confined to our own nation. Around the globe, we are witnessing cases of genocide and “ethnic cleansing,” the failure to assist those who are suffering as innocent victims of war, the neglect and abuse of children, the exploitation of vulnerable laborers, the sexual trafficking of girls and young women, the abandonment of the aged, racial oppression and discrimination, the persecution of believers of all faiths, and the failure to take steps necessary to halt the spread of preventable diseases like AIDS. We see these travesties as flowing from the same loss of the sense of the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life that drives the abortion industry and the movements for assisted suicide, euthanasia, and human cloning for biomedical research. And so ours is, as it must be, a truly consistent ethic of love and life for all humans in all circumstances.
MARRIAGE
The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:23-24
This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:32-33
In Scripture, the creation of man and woman, and their one flesh union as husband and wife, is the crowning achievement of God’s creation. In the transmission of life and the nurturing of children, men and women joined as spouses are given the great honor of being partners with God Himself. Marriage then, is the first institution of human society—indeed it is the institution on which all other human institutions have their foundation. In the Christian tradition we refer to marriage as “holy matrimony” to signal the fact that it is an institution ordained by God, and blessed by Christ in his participation at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. In the Bible, God Himself blesses and holds marriage in the highest esteem.
Vast human experience confirms that marriage is the original and most important institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all persons in a society. Where marriage is honored, and where there is a flourishing marriage culture, everyone benefits—the spouses themselves, their children, the communities and societies in which they live. Where the marriage culture begins to erode, social pathologies of every sort quickly manifest themselves. Unfortunately, we have witnessed over the course of the past several decades a serious erosion of the marriage culture in our own country. Perhaps the most telling—and alarming—indicator is the outofwedlock birth rate. Less than fifty years ago, it was under 5 percent. Today it is over 40 percent. Our society—and particularly its poorest and most vulnerable sectors, where the outofwedlock birth rate is much higher even than the national average—is paying a huge price in delinquency, drug abuse, crime, incarceration, hopelessness, and despair. Other indicators are widespread nonmarital sexual cohabitation and a devastatingly high rate of divorce.
We confess with sadness that Christians and our institutions have too often scandalously failed to uphold the institution of marriage and to model for the world the true meaning of marriage. Insofar as we have too easily embraced the culture of divorce and remained silent about social practices that undermine the dignity of marriage we repent, and call upon all Christians to do the same. To strengthen families, we must stop glamorizing promiscuity and infidelity and restore among our people a sense of the profound beauty, mystery, and holiness of faithful marital love. We must reform illadvised policies that contribute to the weakening of the institution of marriage, including the discredited idea of unilateral divorce. We must work in the legal, cultural, and religious domains to instill in young people a sound understanding of what marriage is, what it requires, and why it is worth the commitment and sacrifices that faithful spouses make.
The impulse to redefine marriage in order to recognize same sex and multiple partner relationships is a symptom, rather than the cause, of the erosion of the marriage culture. It reflects a loss of understanding of the meaning of marriage as embodied in our civil and religious law and in the philosophical tradition that contributed to shaping the law. Yet it is critical that the impulse be resisted, for yielding to it would mean abandoning the possibility of restoring a sound understanding of marriage and, with it, the hope of rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. It would lock into place the false and destructive belief that marriage is all about romance and other adult satisfactions, and not, in any intrinsic way, about procreation and the unique character and value of acts and relationships whose meaning is shaped by their aptness for the generation, promotion and protection of life. In spousal communion and the rearing of children (who, as gifts of God, are the fruit of their parents’ marital love), we discover the profound reasons for and benefits of the marriage covenant.
We acknowledge that there are those who are disposed towards homosexual and polyamorous conduct and relationships, just as there are those who are disposed towards other forms of immoral conduct. We have compassion for those so disposed; we respect them as human beings possessing profound, inherent, and equal dignity; and we pay tribute to the men and women who strive, often with little assistance, to resist the temptation to yield to desires that they, no less than we, regard as wayward. We stand with them, even when they falter. We, no less than they, are sinners who have fallen short of God’s intention for our lives. We, no less than they, are in constant need of God’s patience, love and forgiveness. We call on the entire Christian community to resist sexual immorality, and at the same time refrain from disdainful condemnation of those who yield to it. Our rejection of sin, though resolute, must never become the rejection of sinners. For every sinner, regardless of the sin, is loved by God, who seeks not our destruction but rather the conversion of our hearts. Jesus calls all who wander from the path of virtue to “a more excellent way.” As his disciples we will reach out in love to assist all who hear the call and wish to answer it.
We further acknowledge that there are sincere people who disagree with us, and with the teaching of the Bible and Christian tradition, on questions of sexual morality and the nature of marriage. Some who enter into same sex and polyamorous relationships no doubt regard their unions as truly marital. They fail to understand, however, that marriage is made possible by the sexual complementarity of man and woman, and that the comprehensive, multilevel sharing of life that marriage is includes bodily unity of the sort that unites husband and wife biologically as a reproductive unit. This is because the body is no mere extrinsic instrument of the human person, but truly part of the personal reality of the human being. Human beings are not merely centers of consciousness or emotion, or minds, or spirits, inhabiting nonpersonal bodies. The human person is a dynamic unity of body, mind, and spirit. Marriage is what one man and one woman establish when, forsaking all others and pledging lifelong commitment, they found a sharing of life at every level of being—the biological, the emotional, the dispositional, the rational, the spiritual—on a commitment that is sealed, completed and actualized by loving sexual intercourse in which the spouses become one flesh, not in some merely metaphorical sense, but by fulfilling together the behavioral conditions of procreation. That is why in the Christian tradition, and historically in Western law, consummated marriages are not dissoluble or annullable on the ground of infertility, even though the nature of the marital relationship is shaped and structured by its intrinsic orientation to the great good of procreation.
We understand that many of our fellow citizens, including some Christians, believe that the historic definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is a denial of equality or civil rights. They wonder what to say in reply to the argument that asserts that no harm would be done to them or to anyone if the law of the community were to confer upon two men or two women who are living together in a sexual partnership the status of being “married.” It would not, after all, affect their own marriages, would it? On inspection, however, the argument that laws governing one kind of marriage will not affect another cannot stand. Were it to prove anything, it would prove far too much: the assumption that the legal status of one set of marriage relationships affects no other would not only argue for same sex partnerships; it could be asserted with equal validity for polyamorous partnerships, polygamous households, even adult brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters living in incestuous relationships. Should these, as a matter of equality or civil rights, be recognized as lawful marriages, and would they have no effects on other relationships? No. The truth is that marriage is not something abstract or neutral that the law may legitimately define and redefine to please those who are powerful and influential.
No one has a civil right to have a nonmarital relationship treated as a marriage. Marriage is an objective reality—a covenantal union of husband and wife—that it is the duty of the law to recognize and support for the sake of justice and the common good. If it fails to do so, genuine social harms follow. First, the religious liberty of those for whom this is a matter of conscience is jeopardized. Second, the rights of parents are abused as family life and sex education programs in schools are used to teach children that an enlightened understanding recognizes as “marriages” sexual partnerships that many parents believe are intrinsically nonmarital and immoral. Third, the common good of civil society is damaged when the law itself, in its critical pedagogical function, becomes a tool for eroding a sound understanding of marriage on which the flourishing of the marriage culture in any society vitally depends. Sadly, we are today far from having a thriving marriage culture. But if we are to begin the critically important process of reforming our laws and mores to rebuild such a culture, the last thing we can afford to do is to redefine marriage in such a way as to embody in our laws a false proclamation about what marriage is. And so it is out of love (not “animus”) and prudent concern for the common good (not “prejudice”), that we pledge to labor ceaselessly to preserve the legal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and to rebuild the marriage culture. How could we, as Christians, do otherwise? The Bible teaches us that marriage is a central part of God’s creation covenant. Indeed, the union of husband and wife mirrors the bond between Christ and his church. And so just as Christ was willing, out of love, to give Himself up for the church in a complete sacrifice, we are willing, lovingly, to make whatever sacrifices are required of us for the sake of the inestimable treasure that is marriage.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1
Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. Matthew 22:21
The struggle for religious liberty across the centuries has been long and arduous, but it is not a novel idea or recent development. The nature of religious liberty is grounded in the character of God Himself, the God who is most fully known in the life and work of Jesus Christ. Determined to follow Jesus faithfully in life and death, the early Christians appealed to the manner in which the Incarnation had taken place: “Did God send Christ, as some suppose, as a tyrant brandishing fear and terror? Not so, but in gentleness and meekness..., for compulsion is no attribute of God” (Epistle to Diognetus 7.34).
Thus the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the example of Christ Himself and in the very dignity of the human person created in the image of God—a dignity, as our founders proclaimed, inherent in every human, and knowable by all in the exercise of right reason. Christians confess that God alone is Lord of the conscience. Immunity from religious coercion is the cornerstone of an unconstrained conscience. No one should be compelled to embrace any religion against his will, nor should persons of faith be forbidden to worship God according to the dictates of conscience or to express freely and publicly their deeply held religious convictions. What is true for individuals applies to religious communities as well. It is ironic that those who today assert a right to kill the unborn, aged and disabled and also a right to engage in immoral sexual practices, and even a right to have relationships integrated around these practices be recognized and blessed by law—such persons claiming these “rights” are very often in the vanguard of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife.
We see this, for example, in the effort to weaken or eliminate conscience clauses, and therefore to compel prolife institutions (including religiously affiliated hospitals and clinics), and prolife physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other health care professionals, to refer for abortions and, in certain cases, even to perform or participate in abortions. We see it in the use of antidiscrimination statutes to force religious institutions, businesses, and service providers of various sorts to comply with activities they judge to be deeply immoral or go out of business. After the judicial imposition of “same sex marriage” in Massachusetts, for example, Catholic Charities chose with great reluctance to end its century long work of helping to place orphaned children in good homes rather than comply with a legal mandate that it place children in same sex households in violation of Catholic moral teaching. In New Jersey, after the establishment of a quasimarital “civil unions” scheme, a Methodist institution was stripped of its tax exempt status when it declined, as a matter of religious conscience, to permit a facility it owned and operated to be used for ceremonies blessing homosexual unions. In Canada and some European nations, Christian clergy have been prosecuted for preaching Biblical norms against the practice of homosexuality.
New hate crime laws in America raise the specter of the same practice here. In recent decades a growing body of case law has paralleled the decline in respect for religious values in the media, the academy and political leadership, resulting in restrictions on the free exercise of religion. We view this as an ominous development, not only because of its threat to the individual liberty guaranteed to every person, regardless of his or her faith, but because the trend also threatens the common welfare and the culture of freedom on which our system of republican government is founded. Restrictions on the freedom of conscience or the ability to hire people of one’s own faith or conscientious moral convictions for religious institutions, for example, undermines the viability of the intermediate structures of society, the essential buffer against the overweening authority of the state, resulting in the soft despotism Tocqueville so prophetically warned of.
Disintegration of civil society is a prelude to tyranny. As Christians, we take seriously the Biblical admonition to respect and obey those in authority. We believe in law and in the rule of law. We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral. The biblical purpose of law is to preserve order and serve justice and the common good; yet laws that are unjust—and especially laws that purport to compel citizens to do what is unjust—undermine the common good, rather than serve it. Going back to the earliest days of the church, Christians have refused to compromise their proclamation of the gospel. In Acts 4, Peter and John were ordered to stop preaching. Their answer was, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Through the centuries, Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required. There is no more eloquent defense of the rights and duties of religious conscience than the one offered by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Writing from an explicitly Christian perspective, and citing Christian writers such as Augustine and Aquinas, King taught that just laws elevate and ennoble human beings because they are rooted in the moral law whose ultimate source is God Himself. Unjust laws degrade human beings. Inasmuch as they can claim no authority beyond sheer human will, they lack any power to bind in conscience. King’s willingness to go to jail, rather than comply with legal injustice, was exemplary and inspiring.
Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryodestructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other antilife act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances
will we render to Caesar what is God’s."
Original List of Signers:
Drafting Committee
* Robert George
Professor, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
* Timothy George
Professor, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University
* Chuck Colson
Founder, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview (Lansdowne, Va.)
Signers (as of November 19, 2009)
1. Dr. Daniel Akin
President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, N.C.)
2. Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola
Primate, Anglican Church of Nigeria (Abika, Nigeria)
3. Randy Alcorn
Founder and Director, Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM) (Sandy, Ore.)
4. Rt. Rev. David Anderson
President and CEO, American Anglican Council (Atlanta)
5. Leith Anderson
President of National Association of Evangelicals (Washington, D.C.)
6. Charlotte K. Ardizzone
TV Show Host and Speaker, INSP Television (Charlotte, N.C.)
7. Kay Arthur
CEO and Co-founder, Precept Ministries International (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
8. Dr. Mark L. Bailey
President, Dallas Theological Seminary (Dallas)
9. Most Rev. Craig W. Bates
Archbishop, International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church (Malverne, N.Y.)
10. Gary Bauer
President, American Values; Chairman, Campaign for Working Families
11. His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Basil Essey
The Right Reverend Bishop of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America (Wichita, Kan.)
12. Joel Belz
Founder, World Magazine (Asheville, N.C.)
13. Rev. Michael L. Beresford
Managing Director of Church Relations, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (Charlotte, N.C.)
14. Ken Boa
President, Reflections Ministries (Atlanta)
15. Joseph Bottum
Editor of First Things (New York)
16. Pastor Randy & Sarah Brannon
Senior Pastor, Grace Community Church (Madera, Calif.)
17. Steve Brown
National Radio Broadcaster, Key Life (Maitland, Fla.)
18. Dr. Robert C. Cannada, Jr.
Chancellor and CEO, Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando, Fla.)
19. Galen Carey
Director of Government Affairs, National Association of Evangelicals (Washington, D.C.)
20. Dr. Bryan Chapell
President, Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis)
21. Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver
22. Timothy Clinton
President, American Association of Christian Counselors (Forest, Va.)
23. Chuck Colson
Founder, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview (Lansdowne, Va.)
24. Most Rev. Salvatore Joseph Cordileone
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, Calif.
25. Dr. Gary Culpepper
Associate Professor, Providence College (Providence, R.I.)
26. Jim Daly
President and CEO, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
27. Marjorie Dannenfelser
President, Susan B. Anthony List (Arlington, Va.)
28. Rev. Daniel Delgado
Board of Directors, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Pastor,
Third Day Missions Church (Staten Island, N.Y.)
29. Patrick J. Deneen
Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Associate Professor and Director, The Tocqueville Forum
on the Roots of American Democracy, Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
30. Dr. James Dobson
Founder, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
31. Dr. David Dockery
President, Union University (Jackson, Tenn.)
32. Most Rev. Timothy Dolan
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of New York, N.Y.
33. Dr. William Donohue
President, Catholic League (New York)
34. Dr. James T. Draper, Jr.
President Emeritus, LifeWay (Nashville, Tenn.)
35. Dinesh D'Souza
Writer and Speaker (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.)
36. Most Rev. Robert Wm. Duncan
Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America (Ambridge, Pa. )
37. Dr. Michael Easley
President Emeritus, Moody Bible Institute (Chicago)
38. Dr. William Edgar
Professor, Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia)
39. Brett Elder
Executive Director, Stewardship Council (Grand Rapids, Mich.
40. Rev. Joel Elowsky
Drew University (Madison, N.J.)
41. Stuart Epperson
Co-Founder and Chariman of the Board, Salem Communications Corporation (Camarillo, Calif.)
42. Rev. Jonathan Falwell
Senior Pastor, Thomas Road Baptist Church (Lynchburg, Va.)
43. William J. Federer
President, Amerisearch, Inc. (St. Louis)
44. Fr. Joseph D. Fessio
Founder and Editor, Ignatius Press (Ft. Collins, Colo.)
45. Carmen Fowler
President and Executive Editor, Presbyterian Lay Committee (Lenoir, N.C.)
46. Maggie Gallagher
President, National Organization for Marriage (Manassas, Va.)
47. Dr. Jim Garlow
Senior Pastor, Skyline Church (La Mesa, Calif.)
48. Steven Garofalo
Senior Consultant, Search and Assessment Services (Charlotte, N.C.)
49. Dr. Robert P. George
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.)
50. Dr. Timothy George
Dean and Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School at Samford University (Birmingham, Ala.)
51. Thomas Gilson
Director of Strategic Processes, Campus Crusade for Christ International (Norfolk, Va.)
52. Dr. Jack Graham
Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church (Plano, Texas)
53. Dr. Wayne Grudem
Research Professor of Theological and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary (Phoenix)
54. Dr. Cornell "Corkie" Haan
National Facilitator of Spiritual Unity, The Mission America Coalition (Palm Desert, Calif.)
55. Fr. Chad Hatfield
Chancellor, CEO and Archpriest, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Yonkers, N.Y.)
56. Dr. Dennis Hollinger
President and Professor of Christian Ethics, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, Mass.)
57. Dr. Jeanette Hsieh
Executive Vice President and Provost, Trinity International University (Deerfield, Ill.)
58. Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr.
Senior Pastor, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church (Newport Beach, Calif.); Chairman of the Board, Christianity Today International (Carol Stream, Ill.)
59. Rev. Ken Hutcherson
Pastor, Antioch Bible Church (Kirkland, Wash.)
60. Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church (Beltsville, Md.)
61. Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse
President, American Orthodox Institute; Editor, OrthodoxyToday.org (Naples, Fla.)
62. Jerry Jenkins
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Moody Bible Institute (Black Forest, Colo.)
63. Camille Kampouris
Editorial Board, Kairos Journal
64. Emmanuel A. Kampouris
Publisher, Kairos Journal
65. Rev. Tim Keller
Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York)
66. Dr. Peter Kreeft
Professor of Philosophy, Boston College (Mass.) and at the Kings College (N.Y.)
67. Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky.
68. Jim Kushiner
Editor, Touchstone (Chicago)
69. Dr. Richard Land
President, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC (Washington, D.C.)
70. Jim Law
Senior Associate Pastor, First Baptist Church (Woodstock, Ga.)
71. Dr. Matthew Levering
Associate Professor of Theology, Ave Maria University (Naples, Fla.)
72. Dr. Peter Lillback
President, The Providence Forum (West Conshohocken, Pa.)
73. Dr. Duane Litfin
President, Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.)
74. Rev. Herb Lusk
Pastor, Greater Exodus Baptist Church (Philadelphia)
75. His Eminence Adam Cardinal Maida
Archbishop Emeritus, Roman Catholic Diocese of Detroit
76. Most Rev. Richard J. Malone
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine
77. Rev. Francis Martin
Professor of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Heart Major Seminary (Detroit)
78. Dr. Joseph Mattera
Bishop and Senior Pastor, Resurrection Church (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
79. Phil Maxwell
Pastor, Gateway Church (Bridgewater, N.J.)
80. Josh McDowell
Founder, Josh McDowell Ministries (Plano, Texas)
81. Alex McFarland
President, Southern Evangelical Seminary (Charlotte, N.C.)
82. Most Rev. George Dallas McKinney
Bishop, Founder and Pastor, St. Stephen's Church of God in Christ (San Diego)
83. Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns
Missionary Bishop, Convocation of Anglicans of North America (Herndon, Va.)
84. Dr. C. Ben Mitchell
Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy, Union University (Jackson, Tenn.)
85. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, Ky.)
86. Dr. Russell D. Moore
Senior Vice President for Academic Administration and Dean of the School of Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, Ky.)
87. Most Rev. John J. Myers
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, N.J.
88. Most Rev. Joseph F. Naumann
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City, Kan.
89. David Neff
Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today (Carol Stream, Ill.)
90. Tom Nelson
Senior Pastor, Christ Community Evangelical Free Church (Leawood, Kan.)
91. Niel Nielson
President, Covenant College (Lookout Mt., Ga.)
92. Most Rev. John Nienstedt
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
93. Dr. Tom Oden
Theologian, United Methodist Minister; Professor, Drew University (Madison, N.J.)
94. Marvin Olasky
Editor-in-Chief, World Magazine; Provost, The Kings College (New York)
95. Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix
96. Rev. William Owens
Chairman, Coalition of African-American Pastors (Memphis, Tenn.)
97. Dr. J.I. Packer
Board of Governors' Professor of Theology, Regent College (Canada)
98. Metr. Jonah Paffhausen
Primate, Orthodox Church in America (Syosset, N.Y.)
99. Tony Perkins
President, Family Research Council (Washington, D.C.)
100. Eric M. Pillmore
CEO, Pillmore Consulting LLC (Doylestown, Pa.)
101. Dr. Everett Piper
President, Oklahoma Wesleyan University (Bartlesville, Okla.)
102. Todd Pitner
President, Rev Increase
103. Dr. Cornelius Plantinga
President, Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
104. Dr. David Platt
Pastor, Church at Brook Hills (Birmingham, Ala.)
105. Rev. Jim Pocock
Pastor, Trinitarian Congregational Church (Wayland, Mass.)
106. Fred Potter
Executive Director and CEO, Christian Legal Society (Springfield, Va.)
107. Dennis Rainey
President, CEO, and Co-Founder, FamilyLife (Little Rock, Ark.)
108. Fr. Patrick Reardon
Pastor, All Saints' Antiochian Orthodox Church (Chicago)
109. Bob Reccord
Founder, Total Life Impact, Inc. (Suwanee, Ga.)
110. His Eminence Justin Cardinal Rigali
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia
111. Frank Schubert
President, Schubert Flint Public Affairs (Sacramento, Calif.)
112. David Schuringa
President, Crossroads Bible Institute (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
113. Tricia Scribner
Author (Harrisburg, N.C.)
114. Dr. Dave Seaford
Senior Pastor, Community Fellowship Church (Matthews, N.C.)
115. Alan Sears
President, CEO, and General Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
116. Randy Setzer
Senior Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church (Lincolnton, N.C.)
117. Most Rev. Michael J. Sheridan
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs, Colo.
118. Dr. Ron Sider
Director, Evangelicals for Social Action (Wynnewood, Pa.)
119. Fr. Robert Sirico
Founder, Acton Institute (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
120. Dr. Robert Sloan
President, Houston Baptist University (Houston)
121. Charles Stetson
Chairman of the Board, Bible Literacy Project (New York)
122. Dr. David Stevens
CEO, Christian Medical and Dental Association (Bristol, Tenn.)
123. John Stonestreet
Executive Director, Summit Ministries (Manitou Springs, Colo.)
124. Dr. Joseph Stowell
President, Cornerstone University (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
125. Dr. Sarah Sumner
Professor of Theology and Ministry, Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, Calif.)
126. Dr. Glenn Sunshine
Chairman of the History Department, Central Connecticut State University (New
Britain, Conn.)
127. Joni Eareckson Tada
Founder and CEO, Joni and Friends International Disability Center (Agoura
Hills, Calif.)
128. Luiz Tellez
President, The Witherspoon Institute (Princeton, N.J.)
129. Dr. Timothy C. Tennent
President, Asbury Theological Seminary (Wilmore, Ky.)
130. Michael Timmis
Chairman, Prison Fellowship and Prison Fellowship International (Naples, Fla.)
131. Mark Tooley
President, Institute for Religion and Democracy (Washington, D.C.)
132. H. James Towey
President, St. Vincent College (Latrobe, Pa.)
133. Juan Valdes
Middle and High School Chaplain, Florida Christian School (Miami, Fla.)
134. Todd Wagner
Pastor, WaterMark Community Church (Dallas)
135. Dr. Graham Walker
President, Patrick Henry College (Purcellville, Va.)
136. Fr. Alexander F. C. Webster, Ph.D.
Archpriest, Orthodox Church in America; Professorial Lecturer, The George
Washington University (Ashburn, Va.)
137. George Weigel
Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center (Washington, D.C.)
138. David Welch
Houston Area Pastor Council Executive Director, US Pastors Council (Houston)
139. Dr. James Emery White
Founding and Senior Pastor, Mecklenburg Community Church (Charlotte, N.C.)
140. Dr. Hayes Wicker
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church (Naples, Fla.)
141. Mark Williamson
Founder and President, Foundation Restoration Ministries/Federal Intercessors (Katy, Texas)
142. Parker T. Williamson
Editor Emeritus and Senior Correspondent, Presbyterian Lay Committee
143. Dr. Craig Williford
President, Trinity International University (Deerfield, Ill.)
144. Dr. John Woodbridge
Research Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought,
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, Ill.)
145. Don M. Woodside
Performance Matters Associates (Matthews, N.C.)
146. Dr. Frank Wright
President, National Religious Broadcasters (Manassas, Va.)
147. Most Rev. Donald W. Wuerl
Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
148. Paul Young
COO and Executive Vice President, Christian Research Institute (Charlotte, N.C.)
149. Dr. Michael Youssef
President, Leading the Way (Atlanta)
150. Ravi Zacharias
Founder and Chairman of the Board, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (Norcross, Ga.)
151. Most Rev. David A. Zubik
Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
152. James R. Thobaben, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Bioethics and Social Ethics, Asbury Theological Seminary (Wilmore, Ky.)
153. Rev. J.A. Matteson, M.Div.
Immutable Word Ministries (Redmond, OR; self-added and not included in the original signers)
For more information visit www.manhattandeclaration.org
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Divine Connection
11.10.09
J.A. Matteson
"Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately." Numbers 31:17
Instinctive to the fallen Adamic nature is the tendency to extend leniency towards wickedness that is reprehensible to the holiness of God. If the pilgrim grimaces at the wisdom of the Lord he must catch himself before his heart is lead astray into entertaining the possibility that that there may be injustice with God, for to entertain the possibility of such is contrary to Scripture and, therefore, sin, "The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deut. 32:4). The wisdom from above confesses that God’s ways are higher than mans, and that the divine prerogative and holiness of God preserves His right to dispose of His creatures as is right and pleasing in His sight. Taking into account the fallen human condition of man the apostle thus speaks, “…for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”, and “…the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 3:23, 6:23).
The passage under consideration is difficult to the human mind; we can apprehend it as Scripture is plain, but the comprehending of it is more challenging. At stake in the case of the extermination of the Midianite women and male children is the righteousness of God. That God is holy and “…dwells in inapproachable light….” (1 Tim. 6:16) is clearly established in Scripture. In the text we witness the divine connection between actual sin and latent sin; actual sin referring to a state of being. In this regard king David while under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit reflected upon his own sin nature, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5).
Actual sin pertains to the radical fallen state of human existence in mind, soul, and body; people sin in thought, word, and deed because it is their nature to do so and they can do no other; they sin out of necessity in accordance to their nature, and to this end the apostle reminds his brethren that through regeneration the Lord in the new covenant has given them a new nature with the Law of God written on their hearts, “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph. 2:3). Latent sin is the fruit of an actual sin nature, it is observed through deeds of unrighteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke of the connection between actual and latent sin when He said, "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit” (Matt. 7:18), for both produce fruit, sweet or bitter, in accordance to their natures.
In the text the women brought forth the latent fruit of sexual immorality and idolatry from the fertile soil of actual sin, leading the children of Israel astray. The male children, while not responsible for the sins of their fathers (Deut. 24:16), were nonetheless the offspring of Adam and as such carried within them an actual sin nature, one that in due season would most certainly produce latent sin in the form of wicked thoughts, words, and deeds, latent sin that would perpetuate the evil of their fathers in leading Israel into idolatry.
To conclude that the male children were innocent is to overlook their actual sin worthy of death (Rom. 3:23). To the events in the text pilgrims will do well to honor the name of the Lord and in humility confess their ignorance of His wisdom which is infinite. With Daniel let us humbly declare, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him” (Dan. 2:20). And while in our finite understanding our hearts and minds may be left perplexed when attempting to understand the wisdom of the Lord, we are at the same time filled with joy in the knowledge that His loving kindness, righteousness, praise, and dominion endure forever (Ps. 21:1; 113:3, 10; 145:13).
Let us offer praise to the name of the Lord our God Who is able to keep from stumbling all who love Him and long for His appearing on that Day.
Copyright (c) Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
J.A. Matteson
"Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately." Numbers 31:17
Instinctive to the fallen Adamic nature is the tendency to extend leniency towards wickedness that is reprehensible to the holiness of God. If the pilgrim grimaces at the wisdom of the Lord he must catch himself before his heart is lead astray into entertaining the possibility that that there may be injustice with God, for to entertain the possibility of such is contrary to Scripture and, therefore, sin, "The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deut. 32:4). The wisdom from above confesses that God’s ways are higher than mans, and that the divine prerogative and holiness of God preserves His right to dispose of His creatures as is right and pleasing in His sight. Taking into account the fallen human condition of man the apostle thus speaks, “…for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”, and “…the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 3:23, 6:23).
The passage under consideration is difficult to the human mind; we can apprehend it as Scripture is plain, but the comprehending of it is more challenging. At stake in the case of the extermination of the Midianite women and male children is the righteousness of God. That God is holy and “…dwells in inapproachable light….” (1 Tim. 6:16) is clearly established in Scripture. In the text we witness the divine connection between actual sin and latent sin; actual sin referring to a state of being. In this regard king David while under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit reflected upon his own sin nature, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5).
Actual sin pertains to the radical fallen state of human existence in mind, soul, and body; people sin in thought, word, and deed because it is their nature to do so and they can do no other; they sin out of necessity in accordance to their nature, and to this end the apostle reminds his brethren that through regeneration the Lord in the new covenant has given them a new nature with the Law of God written on their hearts, “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph. 2:3). Latent sin is the fruit of an actual sin nature, it is observed through deeds of unrighteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke of the connection between actual and latent sin when He said, "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit” (Matt. 7:18), for both produce fruit, sweet or bitter, in accordance to their natures.
In the text the women brought forth the latent fruit of sexual immorality and idolatry from the fertile soil of actual sin, leading the children of Israel astray. The male children, while not responsible for the sins of their fathers (Deut. 24:16), were nonetheless the offspring of Adam and as such carried within them an actual sin nature, one that in due season would most certainly produce latent sin in the form of wicked thoughts, words, and deeds, latent sin that would perpetuate the evil of their fathers in leading Israel into idolatry.
To conclude that the male children were innocent is to overlook their actual sin worthy of death (Rom. 3:23). To the events in the text pilgrims will do well to honor the name of the Lord and in humility confess their ignorance of His wisdom which is infinite. With Daniel let us humbly declare, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him” (Dan. 2:20). And while in our finite understanding our hearts and minds may be left perplexed when attempting to understand the wisdom of the Lord, we are at the same time filled with joy in the knowledge that His loving kindness, righteousness, praise, and dominion endure forever (Ps. 21:1; 113:3, 10; 145:13).
Let us offer praise to the name of the Lord our God Who is able to keep from stumbling all who love Him and long for His appearing on that Day.
Copyright (c) Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The Peril of Presumption
11.04.09
J.A. Matteson
"...but they presumed to go up to the mountaintop." Numbers 14:44
He who promised Israel would be given a good land, one flowing with milk and honey, demonstrated His faithfulness by previous miracles. While in Egyptian bondage the children of Israel witnessed no less than ten occasions where the Lord spoke judgment upon the Egyptians and carried it out. Hemmed in between the sea and Pharaoh’s army without a natural escape route the children of Israel witnessed the salvation of the Lord, the waters parted and they crossed on dry ground and once on the other side watched in amazement as their enemies drown in the midst of the sea. Arriving at Marah in the wilderness of Sinai the waters were bitter, then Moses called upon the name of the Lord and they were made sweet. Not withstanding the Lord’s subsequent supernatural provision of manna and quail the children of Israel continued in unbelief.
The tragic pattern was cyclical: the Lord would speak to the congregation who quickly responded positively only a short time later under divine testing to refute their earlier profession. And so the spies came back from Cannan, two brought a good report rooted in faith; ten brought a bad report manifesting unbelief. Two examined the land promised with eyes of faith based upon the previous word of the Lord; ten shook in fear in response to beholding the formidable size and fortification of their adversaries. That the inhabitants of the land were a powerful people was reality and to deny it would have been to entertain a delusion. Where the ten failed was in not accounting for the presence of the Lord with them, by questioning His promise to them that He would give them the land, by assessing their relative probability of victory over their adversaries by natural means rather than taking into account the supernatural presence of the Lord their God.
Unbelief in the promise of God, that He would give them the land, that He would go with them and fight for them to assure their victory, was their first sin in this setting. In response to their sin the Lord pronounces judgment and rather than being repentant and sorrowful for their sin, humbling themselves, they now sin a second time by disbelieving the judgment of God and brashly charge the mountain, presuming upon their own strength, only to be roundly defeated, unable to rescind the decree of the Lord spoken against them.
Pilgrim, if you are to take hold of that which the Lord has promised, let not unbelief fill your heart, for that which He has promised can only be secured by Him. Soberly consider and bring to remembrance the word of His promise in light of the pressings dangers that surround you; the dangers are real and not to be trifled with in the natural, but, thanks be to God, His presence is supernatural and exceptional to their hellish taunts, well able to vindicate your faith in due season—only trust Him. Remember too that the Lord tests the hearts of His servants to determine whether they will believe Him or not, so be prepared for the crucible of testing. It is in the chamber of temptation to doubt the word of the Lord that your faith is refined, learn therefore to embrace the providences of God that appear contrary human reasoning, as they are designed for your sanctification and as such are good. There are only two options available to the pilgrim in response to the word of the Lord: proceed forward confidently in faith, or hastily retreat in fear.
In the final analysis the testing of the Lord is not for His benefit, as though He lacked knowledge of the true state of your heart, for He is omniscient, but rather it is ultimately intended for your benefit, dear pilgrim, so that you might know by your perseverance that you are an heir of the King in the likeness of Abraham and not an illegitimate child, for this is “the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus” (Rev. 14:12). But in like manor let us also not presume upon the mercy of Lord should we falter at the promise of His word, ascending the mountain of promise in our own strength, for to do so is sin and will result in our ruin as it did Israel. But rather, let us learn from their error the sacrifice of a broken spirit and contrite heart, thus being restored in fellowship with the Lord; for, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).
Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
J.A. Matteson
"...but they presumed to go up to the mountaintop." Numbers 14:44
He who promised Israel would be given a good land, one flowing with milk and honey, demonstrated His faithfulness by previous miracles. While in Egyptian bondage the children of Israel witnessed no less than ten occasions where the Lord spoke judgment upon the Egyptians and carried it out. Hemmed in between the sea and Pharaoh’s army without a natural escape route the children of Israel witnessed the salvation of the Lord, the waters parted and they crossed on dry ground and once on the other side watched in amazement as their enemies drown in the midst of the sea. Arriving at Marah in the wilderness of Sinai the waters were bitter, then Moses called upon the name of the Lord and they were made sweet. Not withstanding the Lord’s subsequent supernatural provision of manna and quail the children of Israel continued in unbelief.
The tragic pattern was cyclical: the Lord would speak to the congregation who quickly responded positively only a short time later under divine testing to refute their earlier profession. And so the spies came back from Cannan, two brought a good report rooted in faith; ten brought a bad report manifesting unbelief. Two examined the land promised with eyes of faith based upon the previous word of the Lord; ten shook in fear in response to beholding the formidable size and fortification of their adversaries. That the inhabitants of the land were a powerful people was reality and to deny it would have been to entertain a delusion. Where the ten failed was in not accounting for the presence of the Lord with them, by questioning His promise to them that He would give them the land, by assessing their relative probability of victory over their adversaries by natural means rather than taking into account the supernatural presence of the Lord their God.
Unbelief in the promise of God, that He would give them the land, that He would go with them and fight for them to assure their victory, was their first sin in this setting. In response to their sin the Lord pronounces judgment and rather than being repentant and sorrowful for their sin, humbling themselves, they now sin a second time by disbelieving the judgment of God and brashly charge the mountain, presuming upon their own strength, only to be roundly defeated, unable to rescind the decree of the Lord spoken against them.
Pilgrim, if you are to take hold of that which the Lord has promised, let not unbelief fill your heart, for that which He has promised can only be secured by Him. Soberly consider and bring to remembrance the word of His promise in light of the pressings dangers that surround you; the dangers are real and not to be trifled with in the natural, but, thanks be to God, His presence is supernatural and exceptional to their hellish taunts, well able to vindicate your faith in due season—only trust Him. Remember too that the Lord tests the hearts of His servants to determine whether they will believe Him or not, so be prepared for the crucible of testing. It is in the chamber of temptation to doubt the word of the Lord that your faith is refined, learn therefore to embrace the providences of God that appear contrary human reasoning, as they are designed for your sanctification and as such are good. There are only two options available to the pilgrim in response to the word of the Lord: proceed forward confidently in faith, or hastily retreat in fear.
In the final analysis the testing of the Lord is not for His benefit, as though He lacked knowledge of the true state of your heart, for He is omniscient, but rather it is ultimately intended for your benefit, dear pilgrim, so that you might know by your perseverance that you are an heir of the King in the likeness of Abraham and not an illegitimate child, for this is “the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus” (Rev. 14:12). But in like manor let us also not presume upon the mercy of Lord should we falter at the promise of His word, ascending the mountain of promise in our own strength, for to do so is sin and will result in our ruin as it did Israel. But rather, let us learn from their error the sacrifice of a broken spirit and contrite heart, thus being restored in fellowship with the Lord; for, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).
Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).
Monday, November 2, 2009
Why Salvation Must Be Supernatural
by Stephen Charnock (1628 - 1680)
[An extract from The Chief of Sinners Saved]
The insufficiency of nature to such a work as conversion is, shows that men may not fall down and idolize their own wit and power. A change from acts of sin to moral duties may be done by a natural strength and the power of natural conscience: for the very same motives which led to sin, as education, interest, profit, may, upon a change of circumstances, guide men to an outward morality; but a change to the contrary grace is supernatural.
Two things are certain in nature.
1.) Natural inclinations never change, but by some superior virtue. A loadstone will not cease to draw iron, while that attractive quality remains in it. The wolf can never love the lamb, nor the lamb the wolf; nothing but must act suitably to its nature. Water cannot but moisten, fire cannot but burn. So likewise the corrupt nature of man being possessed with an invincible contrariety and enmity to God, will never suffer him to comply with God. And the inclinations of a sinner to sin being more strengthened by the frequency of sinful acts, have as great a power over him, and as natural to him, as any qualities are to natural agents: and being stronger than any sympathies in the world, cannot by a man's own power, or the power of any other nature equal to it, be turned into a contrary channel.
2.) Nothing can act beyond its own principle and nature. Nothing in the world can raise itself to a higher rank of being than that which nature has placed it in; a spark cannot make itself a star, though it mount a little up to heaven; nor a plant endue itself with sense, nor a beast adorn itself with reason; nor a man make himself an angel. Thorns cannot bring forth grapes, nor thistles produce figs because such fruits are above the nature of those plants. So neither can our corrupt nature bring forth grace, which is a fruit above it. Effectus non excedit virtutem suae causae [the effect cannot exceed the power of its cause]: grace is more excellent than nature, therefore cannot be the fruit of nature. It is Christ's conclusion, "How can you, being evil, speak good things?" Matt. 12:33, 34. Not so much as the buds and blossoms of words, much less the fruit of actions. They can no more change their natures, than a viper can do away with his poison. Now though this I have said be true, yet there is nothing man does more affect in the world than a self-sufficiency, and an independence from any other power but his own. This attitude is as much riveted in his nature, as any other false principle whatsoever. For man does derive it from his first parents, as the prime legacy bequeathed to his nature: for it was the first thing uncovered in man at his fall; he would be as God, independent from him. Now God, to cross this principle, allows his elect, like Lazarus, to lie in the grave till they stink, that there may be no excuse to ascribe their resurrection to their own power. If a putrefied rotten carcass should be brought to life, it could never be thought that it inspired itself with that active principle. God lets men run on so far in sin, that they do unman themselves, that he may proclaim to all the world, that we are unable to do anything of ourselves towards our recovery, without a superior principle. The evidence of which will appear if we consider,
1. Man's subjection under sin. He is "sold under sin," Rom. 7:14, and brought "into captivity to the law of sin," ver. 23. "Law of sin:" that sin seems to have a legal authority over him; and man is not only a slave to one sin, but many, Tit. 3:3, "serving divers lusts." Now when a man is sold under the power of a thousand lusts, every one of which has an absolute tyranny over him, and rules him as a sovereign by a law; when a man is thus bound by a thousand laws, a thousand cords and fetters, and carried whither his lords please, against the dictates of his own conscience and force of natural light; can any man imagine that his own power can rescue him from the strength of these masters that claim such a right to him, and keep such a force upon him, and have so often baffled his own strength, when he attempted to turn against them?
2. Man's affection to them. He does not only serve them, but he serves them, and every one of them, with delight and pleasure; Tit. 3:3. They were all pleasures, as well as lusts; friends as well as lords. Will any man leave his sensual delights and such sins that please and flatter his flesh? Will a man ever endeavour to run away from those lords which he serves with affection? having as much delight in being bound a slave to these lusts, as the devil has in binding him. Therefore when you see a man cast away his pleasures, deprive himself of those comfortable things to which his soul was once knit, and walk in paths contrary to corrupt nature, you may search for the cause anywhere, rather than in nature itself. No piece of dirty, muddy clay can form itself into a neat and handsome vessel; no plain piece of timber can fit itself for the building, much less a crooked one. Nor a man that is born blind, give himself sight.
God deals with men in this case as he did with Abraham. He would not give Isaac while Sarah's womb, in a natural probability, might have borne him; but when her womb was dead, and age had taken away all natural strength of conception, then God gives him; that it might appear that he was not a child of nature, but a child of promise.
[An extract from The Chief of Sinners Saved]
The insufficiency of nature to such a work as conversion is, shows that men may not fall down and idolize their own wit and power. A change from acts of sin to moral duties may be done by a natural strength and the power of natural conscience: for the very same motives which led to sin, as education, interest, profit, may, upon a change of circumstances, guide men to an outward morality; but a change to the contrary grace is supernatural.
Two things are certain in nature.
1.) Natural inclinations never change, but by some superior virtue. A loadstone will not cease to draw iron, while that attractive quality remains in it. The wolf can never love the lamb, nor the lamb the wolf; nothing but must act suitably to its nature. Water cannot but moisten, fire cannot but burn. So likewise the corrupt nature of man being possessed with an invincible contrariety and enmity to God, will never suffer him to comply with God. And the inclinations of a sinner to sin being more strengthened by the frequency of sinful acts, have as great a power over him, and as natural to him, as any qualities are to natural agents: and being stronger than any sympathies in the world, cannot by a man's own power, or the power of any other nature equal to it, be turned into a contrary channel.
2.) Nothing can act beyond its own principle and nature. Nothing in the world can raise itself to a higher rank of being than that which nature has placed it in; a spark cannot make itself a star, though it mount a little up to heaven; nor a plant endue itself with sense, nor a beast adorn itself with reason; nor a man make himself an angel. Thorns cannot bring forth grapes, nor thistles produce figs because such fruits are above the nature of those plants. So neither can our corrupt nature bring forth grace, which is a fruit above it. Effectus non excedit virtutem suae causae [the effect cannot exceed the power of its cause]: grace is more excellent than nature, therefore cannot be the fruit of nature. It is Christ's conclusion, "How can you, being evil, speak good things?" Matt. 12:33, 34. Not so much as the buds and blossoms of words, much less the fruit of actions. They can no more change their natures, than a viper can do away with his poison. Now though this I have said be true, yet there is nothing man does more affect in the world than a self-sufficiency, and an independence from any other power but his own. This attitude is as much riveted in his nature, as any other false principle whatsoever. For man does derive it from his first parents, as the prime legacy bequeathed to his nature: for it was the first thing uncovered in man at his fall; he would be as God, independent from him. Now God, to cross this principle, allows his elect, like Lazarus, to lie in the grave till they stink, that there may be no excuse to ascribe their resurrection to their own power. If a putrefied rotten carcass should be brought to life, it could never be thought that it inspired itself with that active principle. God lets men run on so far in sin, that they do unman themselves, that he may proclaim to all the world, that we are unable to do anything of ourselves towards our recovery, without a superior principle. The evidence of which will appear if we consider,
1. Man's subjection under sin. He is "sold under sin," Rom. 7:14, and brought "into captivity to the law of sin," ver. 23. "Law of sin:" that sin seems to have a legal authority over him; and man is not only a slave to one sin, but many, Tit. 3:3, "serving divers lusts." Now when a man is sold under the power of a thousand lusts, every one of which has an absolute tyranny over him, and rules him as a sovereign by a law; when a man is thus bound by a thousand laws, a thousand cords and fetters, and carried whither his lords please, against the dictates of his own conscience and force of natural light; can any man imagine that his own power can rescue him from the strength of these masters that claim such a right to him, and keep such a force upon him, and have so often baffled his own strength, when he attempted to turn against them?
2. Man's affection to them. He does not only serve them, but he serves them, and every one of them, with delight and pleasure; Tit. 3:3. They were all pleasures, as well as lusts; friends as well as lords. Will any man leave his sensual delights and such sins that please and flatter his flesh? Will a man ever endeavour to run away from those lords which he serves with affection? having as much delight in being bound a slave to these lusts, as the devil has in binding him. Therefore when you see a man cast away his pleasures, deprive himself of those comfortable things to which his soul was once knit, and walk in paths contrary to corrupt nature, you may search for the cause anywhere, rather than in nature itself. No piece of dirty, muddy clay can form itself into a neat and handsome vessel; no plain piece of timber can fit itself for the building, much less a crooked one. Nor a man that is born blind, give himself sight.
God deals with men in this case as he did with Abraham. He would not give Isaac while Sarah's womb, in a natural probability, might have borne him; but when her womb was dead, and age had taken away all natural strength of conception, then God gives him; that it might appear that he was not a child of nature, but a child of promise.
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