In the last chapter, we talked about Noah, and Nimrod, and how the people got together to disobey God and build a centralized empire around their Tower of Babel<\/a>. <\/p> Soon afterwards, God thwarted their ambitions and scattered the tribes, with the children of Japheth heading off toward the North, the children of Ham heading toward the South, and the children of Shem spreading out through the Middle East. Some people have even gone so far as to say that Noah himself\u2013even before the Tower of Babel incident\u2013headed East and founded ancient China<\/a>.<\/p> The Book of Job\u2013considered by many to be the oldest book of the Old Testament<\/a>\u2013seems to recall what had happened to Nimrod\u2019s ancient empire:<\/p> \u201cHe (God) leads princes away plundered, and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, and takes away the discernment of the elders\u2026 He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken\u00a0man.\u201d<\/p>Job 12:19-20, 24-25<\/cite><\/blockquote> The point here is that man\u2013us, we\u2013no matter how smart we get, no matter how advanced we become\u2013can never be smarter, or more powerful than God, and thankfully, He is good, and kind, and wants the best for us.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> A case in point may be observed in the Book of Jonah.<\/p> The people of Nineveh (in the Neo-Assyrian Empire<\/a>) had become cruel and ruthless<\/a>, and were threatening the nation of Israel. So, God was not happy with them. So what did He do<\/em>? Did He send down<\/em> fire from heaven to consume them<\/a><\/em>? No, instead, He sent a prophet\u2013Jonah\u2013to warn them. And this is what God said to Jonah about the city of Nineveh\u2013which (coincidentally) had been part of Nimrod\u2019s ancient empire:<\/p> \u201c\u2026Should I not pity<\/span> Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left\u2014and much livestock?\u201d<\/p>Jonah 4:11<\/cite><\/blockquote> Benjamin Franklin once said:<\/p> \u201cI have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth \u2014 that\u00a0God<\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>governs in the affairs of men.\u00a0<\/em>And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that \u2018except the Lord build, they labor in vain that build it.\u2019 I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel\u2026\u201d<\/p>Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention, 1787<\/cite><\/blockquote> But some people today are no longer impressed with the ideas of Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson, or Plato and Aristotle:<\/p> \u201cIn a certain sense, then, today\u2019s preschoolers are smarter than the greatest thinkers of the ancient world.\u201d<\/p>Steve Stewart-Williams Ph.D., evolutionary\u00a0psychologist<\/em> and cultural evolutionist<\/cite><\/blockquote> This is the kind of thinking that leads people to say things like this:<\/p> \u201c<\/em>We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>Barack Obama, campaign visit to Columbia, MO<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote> Back in ancient times, God chose Noah to build the ark and save the human race, but only a couple of generations later<\/a>, it is Noah\u2019s grandson Nimrod<\/em>\u2013not Noah\u2013who built the first empire and set himself up to lead it. Benjamin Franklin would have called that laboring in vain\u2013in vanity<\/em>\u2013in the idea that Nimrod was smarter-better\u2013 than the people around him.<\/p> Elitism is defined as \u201cthe attitude or behavior of a person or group who regard themselves<\/span> as belonging to an elite.\u201d (Bing<\/em>)<\/p> Why is elitism so prevalent<\/strong><\/em>? One source says:<\/p> \u201cAbraham Lincoln\u2019s dream of governance \u2018by, of, and for the people\u2019 has mutated into a deathless trope, emanating from megaphones in the hands of charlatans, philistines and fools.\u201d<\/p>DAVID MASCIOTRA, SALON, OCTOBER 25, 2015<\/cite><\/blockquote> So how do these \u201celite\u201d come to power<\/strong><\/em>?<\/p> We put them there.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> My favorite president was James A. Garfield. And he once said:<\/p> \u201cNow more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate<\/span> ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand<\/span> these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . . If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.\u201d<\/p>James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States, 1877<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote> If the people who are running any particular area of our culture\u2013<\/strong><\/em>whether it\u2019s government, or media, or higher education, or whatever<\/span><\/strong>\u2014 have values that are different than ours, we have a responsibility\u2013a duty\u2013to do something to rectify the situation. If we don\u2019t, we are accepting<\/span> it. We are, in fact, saying \u201cThis is the type of culture I deserve<\/span>.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p> Is it?<\/strong><\/em><\/p> We are very fortunate to live in the greatest republic\u2013the freest<\/span><\/em> democracy\u2013that has ever existed throughout the history of the world. And we do not have<\/span><\/em> to see it fall into ruin.<\/p> Let me leave you with this quote from Richard Maybury (the writer of the wonderful \u201cUncle Eric\u201d series of books):<\/p> \u201cPerhaps more than anything else, (we<\/em>) should assume humans have the ability to overcome their problems and move forward\u2026 One of the most noteworthy characteristics of America\u2019s founders is that they were aware of their own world, and indeed (that<\/em>) their own characters and personalities, were not the best that humans could do. They worried about slavery, poverty, and war, and wanted something better. More importantly, they knew enough law and economics to believe something better was possible and they were working toward this goal.<\/span><\/p> \u201cThey were not utopians. They realized a perfect society is not possible. But they knew we could do much better and they were trying to create the legal environment that would enable this to happen\u2026<\/p> \u201cThe belief that a better tomorrow is possible is absolutely essential not only for the rescue of our country but for the mental well-being of the individual. Young people need it desperately. However, we need to visualize this better future\u2026\u201d<\/p>Richard J. Maybury, from \u201cWhat Would Thomas Jefferson Think About This?\u201d 1994<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote> Available on\u00a0podcast\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0YouTube<\/a><\/em>:<\/strong><\/p> Also, see our book on Worldviews<\/a><\/em>:<\/strong><\/p><\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chapter 4: God\u2019s Plan for Self-Government, Then and Now \u201cI have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth \u2014 that\u00a0God\u00a0governs in the affairs of men.\u00a0And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can … Continue reading “The Bible, Christianity & American Government”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,42,71,57,70,77,24,90,74,56,65,109,40,31],"tags":[119,120,102,114,116,117,118,115],"class_list":["post-13203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-christianity","category-constitution","category-current-events","category-declaration-of-independence","category-democracy","category-education","category-election","category-government","category-liberty","category-slavery","category-thomas-jefferson","category-truth","category-worldview","tag-babel","tag-elite","tag-evolution","tag-franklin","tag-job","tag-jonah","tag-noah","tag-utopia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13203"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13265,"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203\/revisions\/13265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thinkingaccuratelyeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fuxi-nuwa.jpg?resize=323%2C665&ssl=1\")
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