Pastor Paul's July Newsletter Article

My sister has recently noted that I don't post much stuff here. She's right. It's not like I'm putting long-form content anyplace else, it's just that either I haven't had much to say recently or I've had so much to say it's all garbled and not making it past my fingertips.  Well, this much has gotten past. Here is my Newsletter Article from July. God bless and enjoy!

Dear Friends in Christ,

We are coming up on Independence Day, the day we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is a joyful day. It is a day that should be celebrated joyfully.  The declaration beings:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Reading this, from the perspective of a protestant minister, something very important pops up; The Laws of Nature have a place of precedence over Nature’s God. Natural law is a view that certain rights or values are inherent in or universally recognizable. In the battle for American Independence, one of the natural laws, the inherent values the Colonists held is that being taxed without having a say about how they are taxed is wrong. “Taxation without representation is unfair.”

I gotta admit, putting natural law before the one who creates natural law bugs me, but let’s not stop there, it gets better. The declaration continues:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

This part tells the world that our national forefathers believed that our Creator has first given us certain rights that cannot be denied and that the role of Government is to ensure that these rights are not denied. God gives us rights and Government helps secure these rights.

Romans 13 tells us that government is ordained by God so we must be obedient lest we rebel against what God has instituted:

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

This applies to taxes too…

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

So friends, let us obey God. Let us give thanks to God for our leaders of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Let us give thanks for our leaders local and national. Let us even give thanks for our church leaders from the Session to the General Assembly, for they too are a government body, the leaders of our denomination.

God bless you all. God bless the PC(USA). God bless the United States of America.

See you in church,

Pastor Paul