© 2023 Don Pinson | [Download]
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Many people wonder why America is going downhill morally. Why is there so much drug use? Why are the gangs with all their violence growing so rapidly? Why is homosexuality capturing so many of our young people? Why do so many people refuse to marry, and instead just “live” with someone? Wrong living comes from wrong thinking; and wrong thinking comes from wrong listening!

The reason for these wrong ideas was pointed out in a Barna Research Group survey taken some years ago in Kentucky. The survey revealed that, while 82% of Kentuckians said they were Christians, over a third of those surveyed said they only attended church once every six months. This poor church attendance mocks the Scriptural command to,

“Not [forsake] the assembling of ourselves together…” (Hebrews 10:25)

But perhaps you’re thinking, “What difference does it make how often someone goes to church?” It makes a lot of difference! It makes a lot of difference to an individual, a family, and a community. It makes a lot of difference to a nation! When you hear the Bible taught in its truth, your mind is challenged to think as God thinks. And since actions come out of thoughts, the way we think is going to determine the way we live.

America, in its early history, was committed to the Bible as being the only trustworthy teachings about life on this planet. The average person in Colonial America listened to about 15,000 hours of Biblical teaching in the span of their lifetime (America’s Providential History, p.122). This produced a population which was generally Godly and loving toward their neighbors.

Even foreigners noticed this. In the 1830s, Alexis De Tocqueville, a noted French historian and statesman, visited America and for two years sought the secret of her greatness. He drew the following conclusion from his observation of Americans:

“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there. Not until I went to the churches of America and heard pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

(America’s Providential History, p.116)

Jedediah Morse, the Father of American Geography, wrote in 1799:

“To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political…happiness which mankind now enjoys. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation…in the same proportion will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom…”

(Ibid, p.248)

Now do you see why the slackness of Kentuckians’ religious commitment is so revealing? Why our apathy is so dangerous? Political freedom and indifference toward God cannot long dwell together. Slavery will come to the people who do not study the Bible and implement its teachings into their culture.

Do you care about the future liberty of your children? Do you want to prevent their enslavement? Then go to a church which teaches the Bible to be completely true—make sure you church is that kind of church! Read the Bible through. Read it to your children. Take your children to that church with you. Reason through the issues of our day from the truths found in the Bible: And both you and your children will live a freer and more useful life.

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you. I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.