Transcript

Stephen McDowell: Ideas determine what a culture or nation will be

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Stephen McDowell. Hello. I'm M glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Today we will begin a series dealing with seven ideas that have transformed the world and made America a success. These ideas are the reason America became the most free and prosperous nation in history. These ideas are the foundational ideas upon which great flourishing has come to our nation and has impacted the world at large. You know, the Bible teaches many, many times the idea of the seed principle we know from scripture and from just observing God's creation that the seed determines the fruit. The seed the farmer plants is going to determine what kind of crop is going to grow. Seeds, though, are not, only physical seeds that produce physical fruit. But ideas are like seeds. Ideas determine what a culture or nation will be. Now, all ideas are not the same. Some ideas work, some ideas don't. The Scripture teaches us, truth and how these ideas in the Bible, which have been confirmed by history work. And then we see many ideas that don't work. And so since all ideas are not the same, all nations are not the same because the foundational ideas of each nation, of each culture have different. Some nations have much more liberty, prosperity, justice and virtue than others. And you can trace, that flourishing within a nation to the ideas embraced by those who gave birth to the nation that make up the laws of the nation, that make up the institutions, of the nation. The Bible teaches, and history confirms that the most free and prosperous nations are those that have most embraced these following seven ideas that we will begin to look at today and finish in future podcasts.

America has been the most free and prosperous nation in history

See, in modern history, Western civilization is advanced in liberty, justice, virtue and prosperity, more than the rest of the world. And, the United States of America, as we've looked at in the past year of podcast, has been the culmination of this advancement. It has been the most free and prosperous nation in history. Now, the roots, as we've examined, the roots of America came out of, Western Europe, out of what we call Western civilization. In future podcasts, we may look in much more detail of the beginning of the seed of America, how it took root and grew, in Europe. We've touched on that a little bit, in this past year in different podcasts. We will examine that in more detail in future ones. But the, that But America, though, has been the culmination of a set of Ideas as we've examined that have their root in biblical Christianity. And it has made us free, made us prosper, because these ideas are true. And when you plant truth, when you plant good seed in good soil with God's blessings, then it's going to produce good fruit. And so in the United States of America, we have seen an immense amount of freedom, freedom unlike the world has really ever experienced, to the extent that we have this Christian freedom, that is the fruit of Christian truth. Christian ideas that came out of the Bible produced freedom of worship, freedom of assembly, freedom to labor and benefit from the fruit of your labor, freedom to elect representatives and have a voice in government, freedom of thought and expression of ideas, freedom to own property, freedom to get ideas, to start businesses, to create wealth, freedom from governmental tyranny, freedom from unequal status before the law, freedom from class distinctions. These unique freedoms that the United States first express in the fullest form, at least that we had seen up to that point in history. And this freedom was these great freedoms were, the fruit of good seed. Good seed was planted, and that good seed produced good fruit. And so what was the source of the transformational ideas that came forth in abundant fruit in the United States? Well, as we've touched on in previous podcasts, Christianity is the source of the success of America, but of Western civilization. America's exceptional success resulted from the fruit of God's word being made available to the common man through the Protestant Reformation. America, as we examined in many, many of these previous podcasts, was begun by a people of the book who were providentially prepared and directed by God to fulfill his purpose. America's founding ideas came from the Bible. The Bible contains truth, good seed. And when planted with sincerity and with God's blessing and good soil, it has produced good fruit. You know, if we were to, consider all the nations of the world, and there are maps that you can go and find that depict this. Ah, and easy to understand way or see way. If we were to look at the nations of the world and say, what are the most free nations that exist in the world today? And the most free nations, are also those that have the most advanced economies. We've touched on this before. In future podcasts, I'm going to cover a lot about biblical economics. And one thing that we're going to learn is probably the most important factor of why nations prosper or not is how much liberty they possess. Total liberty, that means personal internal liberty, economic liberty, political liberty, educational liberty, freedom to educate your children. And so the most advanced economies Are m those that are most free. The nations have the greatest amount of freedom, have the greatest amount of economic advancement. Those with the least economic development have the least amount of freedom. And this is generally true. Think of the nations of the world today that you know. Of course, Venezuela was a marvelous example of how when they had a degree of freedom, they became the most prosperous nation in Latin America. But with the takeover by the socialist Chavez in 19, 80, that they lost their freedom and they lost their prosperity, became the second poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, next to Haiti. And so, many examples throughout history that we see today and in times past that affirm the most free nations are the most advanced nations. But then also consider when we think about these nations, those nations that are most free and most advanced have most embraced the biblical Christianity. Because biblical Christianity produces freedom and liberty and truth. And when applied, it produces good fruit in every area of life, including economic affairs and economic advancements. Of course, the Christian faith is manifested in many different forms in many nations. and there's, some concepts of Christianity or streams or sects or denominations of Christianity embrace biblical truth much more than others. And it's those that most adhere to the Bible. And of course, the Protestant faith, the focal point of that coming out of the Protestant Reformation, was the Bible, made available to the common man. It was biblically centered, where there's the encouragement for everybody to read and study and learn the truth themselves. There's other aspects of the Christian faith historically that have, kept the Bible from the people and haven't emphasized the Bible. There are some truths they do emphasize and that has produced some degree of liberty, hence some degree of prosperity. But those nations that have most embraced biblical Christianity have been the most free and the most prosperous. And so I say that because these seven ideas that have transformed the world and made America successful and prosperous and powerful in the broad sense of the word, these ideas come from biblical Christianity. So we want to, Those cultures, those nations that have most adhered to biblical truth, to these Christian ideas, have been the ones that have been most free and prospered the most.

Christian idea of God and theology are the source of great flourishing in history

Let's begin to look then at 7 Important Foundational Ideas that are the source of great flourishing in history in America and other nations as well. The first idea is the Christian idea of God and theology. Theology is just the study of God, the Christian idea of God, number one idea. See, your view of God is the most important thing about you. Why is that? That is the reason is, is that you become like whom or what you worship. See, we're always moving toward our image of God, who we see as the ultimate, who we look to as the ultimate source of authority and morality and truth. as we look to our God, we'll move toward our image, of God. Now the Christian view of God is true, because it's what's presented in scripture and it is unique. man has made up many religions on his own that man naturally wants to worship something or someone. It's our nature to recognize there is an ultimate authority, a supreme being, an almighty one. Everyone has this knowledge. Psalm 19:1. The heavens declare the glory of God and showeth forth his handiwork. Paul writes in Romans 1 how, the non believer either knows there is a God from looking at his creation. It is a revelation of him. And also the very fact that we have a conscience, the conscience of man reveals to him there's something way far beyond us. No one's without excuse. As the psalmist tells us, God made a testimony of himself in his creation. That's the law of nature that is crying out of the true God, of the creator God, the almighty God. But God in his mercy also revealed, the specifics of who he is and how he wants us to live and our relationship to him in the Holy Scriptures, the law of nature's God. And so the Christian view of God which is obtained from the Bible, the word of God, the inspired and word of God that is perfect and true and right and all that it speaks to, and it speaks to everything we need to know how to fulfill our mission here on the earth. It reveals to us things about God that are unique to man. Man made religions, it's kind of like the Greek and Romans, a lot of them are like that, that their view of God, he's just like man, but maybe he's bigger, more powerful, superpower. But he has faults as well. That's the Christian and Greek view of the gods. And that's typical of man made gods. But the Christian view of God, is unique in that uniqueness has implications not only for our life but for society, for culture. Consider the Bible teaches us the idea of the Trinity, the triune nature of God. Scripture says that the Father's God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit, God, that he's three in one. This is what is known as the Trinity, the triune nature of God. And it's been this way from the beginning, from all of eternity. Now this has implications, for many things. We can't, I don't have time to examine all of that. But one thing to consider is that because of the triune nature of God, there's been love and service among the Godhead from all eternity. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, the Spirit loves the Son and the Father and serves the Son and the Father and on and on. So there's love and service among, the Godhead. That's why peoples, nations, cultures that have embraced the Christian faith, they emulate their God and that they naturally want to love and serve their fellow man. Since they see their God serving one another within the Godhead, then they, following imitating God, say, we're going to love and serve our fellow man. Love and serve, others. That's why it's been Christians who, when man has needs that they are on the forefront of, let's help, let's serve, let's meet these needs because we see our Father doing that. And then their example of how they live their life, as they grow and mature is not to live selfishly just looking after me and wanting to meet my own selfish desires and stamp walk all over everybody to, provide my needs for me. No, as we become Christians and grow in our maturity, we learn how to lay down our life for the brethren. Because we see Jesus laid down his life for us. And he did it because he was following, loving, and serving his Father in heaven. Not my will, but thy will be done, he declared unto us. And so he was laying down his life to serve the desire of the Father. And so when a culture, when individuals imitate that, then there's flourishing in our relationships. There's blessing, there's goodwill that's extended among individuals. But this is also true of nations. That America has been the most giving nation that there is in history. That we've sent out missionaries and started schools and hospitals. When there's, calamities that, we are in the very front line of helping and assisting. This is the private sector, private churches and private organizations. But even the government at large is out. We're helping, we're serving, we're giving. Because we, we understand. Some consciously may understand it, some not. But this is how God wants us to live. Now, this is much different than, views of God that are made up by man. Take, for example, Islam, their God. Allah is not a trinity. He's, one God. And he's not a God that serves. He's an autocrat that demands service. And that if you don't serve and do what he says, then punishment is administered. He's Throwing it out like lightning bolts. And so that's why Muslim nations are not on. You know, when a great need happens in the world today, it's not Muslim nations that are out front. Let's help, let's serve, let's give what we can do. They won't even take in their own when there's a great calamity. And, even their Muslim brothers, if they need a place, they're reticent to even help, them because they're only acting as their God because we come like the One whom we worship and whom we serve. And so the Christian view of God, an understanding of the triune nature of God, determines, the love and service, the help and assistance, sending out and being a blessing to others that have come forth from Christian nations, from America and other nations that have embraced the Christian faith to varying degrees. like Great Britain has sent out many missionaries and others, as well. Now another, you know, because of the Godhead too, not only is there love and service, but among the Godhead and hence cultures follow that example. But the Trinity teaches us this principle of unity with diversity. We covered that in a podcast, in the year past. There's a unity with a diversity within the Godhead. The Lord our God is one, yet he's three in one. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. And we see aspects of that within all creation. We looked at the example of snowflakes, for example, in a previous podcast that I would point you to, when we looked at seven principles, of liberty. And so this, then this concept of unity with diversity, leads to having the value of the individual. Every individual is valuable because he's creating the image of God. And each individual is unique as well. All men are alike in many ways. We're made in the image of our Creator. But we're all unique and special because God himself is unique. He is special. The members of the Trinity are unique and special. And he created man in his image. And so we all have a unique calling, a unique purpose. And that leads economically, for example, to the concept of division and specialization of labor, since every person has a unique calling in God. And our calling in this life is carried out not just in spiritual matters, but in everyday work. we'll cover the biblical doctrine of work in future podcasts.

When everybody is operating to their maximum productivity, that leads to economic prosperity

But we're called to. We have unique skills and interest. And that if we, it's important for us to find out what we do better than most other people and that we enjoy doing, learn the skills necessary to Be productive to get an idea, to create wealth, to provide needed goods and services to our fellow man. This is the work of the kingdom. And that this flows from the biblical view of God, from the Trinity. Because each individual is unique, has a different ability to be productive in different areas. And so when your economic system, when everybody is operating to their maximum productivity, using their unique skills and specialize in certain areas, that leads to economic prosperity. It leads to more production, better goods and services at a cheaper price. And so our view of God impacts not just us, but it impacts the culture and the economics and, other things.

The Bible teaches that we're justified by faith, not by works

Now another unique thing that the biblical view of God teaches us is the idea of justification by faith. This is a central theological concept that is taught many places in the Scripture. Of course, the Apostle Paul deals with that thoroughly in some of his writings, Romans and other books. See, we are not justified, made right in our standing with God through what we do. It's not by works. Nothing I can do can help restore my relationship to God. It's only my belief in the, atoning work of Christ, his death and resurrection. That, when I believe and respond to God opening my eyes to see, that he's made a way for me to be regenerated and justified and be able to come into relationship with Him. It's a gift of God. It's nothing I can do. I can't do it. I can't work my way, toward that at all. So the Bible teaches that we're justified by faith, not by works. Therefore, we recognize that I cannot save myself through my own work. I cannot through my obedience to the law of God. In other words, doing what's right. if we could live a perfect life and obey everything God required of us, then we might be able to stand righteous and holy before him. But we can't do it because we're in a fallen state. Jesus did it, and that's why he could be our sacrifice. Because he lived in perfect obedience to God and God's law. Because, see, law is just the revelation of the state of reality. Law is not something God just made up in his head and said, you know, with the children of Israel, I'm going to take them into the promised land. They need a set of do's and don'ts. So I'll think up a few to let them know who's in charge. No, when he gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, he was revealing to Moses the state of moral reality of how his universe functions. We adhere to that which is right. And true of how his creation functions, then it's going to go well with us. But if we disobey those laws, it's, we're going to have trouble. Just like if you disobey the law of gravity and jump off a big tall building, you're going to fall to ground and squash. But if we disobey his moral law, don't steal, don't murder, honor your parents, love God, all those laws, if we violate them, there are consequences. Maybe not as rapidly as falling off a building, but nonetheless, there are consequences that we will suffer. And so, because we understand we're justified by faith, I can recognize not my keeping the law is going to bring about my salvation or, bring about blessing in my life. That's not the function of the law. We're justified by faith. Now the law does have a very important function. In future podcasts, I'm going to cover the Ten Commandments, and we'll look at that in much more detail. So see, we're not justified by keeping the law, but we are sanctified by adherence to God's word, His law word. That is, once we're justified and born again and regenerated, then God gives us a new desire, a new nature. Now we want to obey him. He writes his law in our heart. The scripture tells us, fills with the Holy Spirit to empower us to obey the law. And so now I want to, to follow him and do what's right. I want my desires in my heart, are his desires. He gives us new desires. And so as we adhere to truth, how the moral universe functions, we're blessed, it goes well with us, as scripture teaches us. And so the law is a mirror, it is a guardrail, it is a blueprint of how to build, but it's not the instrument for bringing salvation. This is what Christians believe. But the non Christian has no concept of justification by faith. Every man made religion, whether that be Islam or Buddhism or even secularism or it's a religion. Atheism is a religion. statism is a religion that, most all other religions are man centered. Man looks to himself or a few men as the source of salvation, the source of law. But none of those teach the concept of justification by faith. And so the non Christian looks at law as a tool and he tries to use the force of law to bring about salvation or utopia. He looks around at society and says, man, it's a mess. Things are not like, like I think they ought to be. Secular man has a distorted, image of how things Ought to be. God reveals how things ought to be. So he looks around at that and says, I want to bring change. He might even be well meaning. I want to establish goodness here on the earth. So I'm going to take charge of government. I'm going to use law and use the force, the sword. As Paul writes, government yields the sword, to administer justice. It's supposed to, but fallen man uses the sword to administer his, unjustice most often. And he'll try to use the law to bring about utopia. They say if everyone only acts this way, then we'll solve all our problems, empty all our jails, everybody will flourish. But it doesn't work that way because law is not a tool. Government is not a tool to bring about salvation or to bring about utopia, meet all our needs. That's not its function. Its function is to, is to reveal to mankind this is evil behavior and to appropriately punish evil behavior. but it can't bring about utopia. So nations that have understood we're justified by faith will not seek to use the force of law or government to bring about flourishing. Or because they recognize it can't do that, it will preach truth of the gospel and allow the Holy Spirit to, invade men's lives and transform his heart and his way of thinking. And as Christians mature and begin to walk and follow God, then things are going to be great. That's what produces flourishing within a society. But it can't come through the instrument of man. Ah, instrument of the law.

An important biblical theological concept that the Bible teaches has implications in society

So again, here we see an important biblical theological concept that the Bible teaches that were justified by faith has implications personally in society at large. And then consider another important theological idea, from the Bible. It teaches the priesthood of the believer. That we know that there's no body that needs to stand between us and God. We can come to God ourselves. Once we repent of our sin and are regenerated, we have a relationship to God. We can boldly come before him. We don't need, any mediator but Christ who died for our sins to make a way for us to have a relationship to God. But there's no man, there's no priest who's going to be able to stand in our place for us. But we all will give an account to God one day. We all can have a relationship to the living God ourselves. The Bible teaches us we are priests unto, the Lord ourselves. Many places the, scripture teaches. So this idea of the priesthood of the believer, it leads to many things. Society 1. It leads to the idea of education for all, since we all will give an account to God, since we all can know God and should know God and should follow him, then we must gain a knowledge of truth. All of us are to have access to the word of God, to truth. We're all to meditate and learn and study and hide his word in our heart. We're all to take that truth ourselves. We can't depend upon, upon someone else. We can't say when we stand before God, give an account of our life. Well, you know that pastor didn't teach me that, or I never learned that, or those schools that I went to certainly didn't teach that. we're going to all give an account. So as we've examined in past podcasts, this is why the early colonizers of America started schools and colleges so that everybody might be able to read the Bible for themselves so that they can learn the truth for themselves. So the concept of education for all, which is a biblical idea, came from the Christian faith. Every other ideology, religion says, well, only really a select few can be educated because your common man's too ignorant to know what is right or not. So we'll learn what's right and then we'll tell you what you're supposed to to do. And then this concept also leads not just to the idea of education for all, which flourished where biblical Christianity went. It also led to representative democratic government where every person has a voice in choosing who's going to govern them. because one governments protect each of our God given rights and liberties. But we all are to stand before God. We all are to be self governed. We're all to manage our own affairs and direct our own affairs. Government is not to be left to a select group who went to some college or studied law or something like this. No, as we all gain knowledge and access to truth, as we all learn to govern ourselves, then that will be manifested in the type of civil government that exists in our nation. These are just three unique theological ideas that the Christian faith teaches. The Trinity of God, justification by faith, the priesthood of the believers. Of course there's many other truths that you can learn in a systematic study of theology, which is important by the way, for all of us to understand thoroughly what the Bible teaches about God and man and life, creation and existence. But we need to recognize that these theological ideas, this view of the true and living God and how he works and how he operates and his character and his will and plan and purpose that have implication for all of Life, not just us personally and getting us to heaven, but for bringing heaven to earth, which is Christ's mission and what he told us, to do. And so when you have the right view of God, then you're going to act in such a way it brings flourishing to society. Now, Noah Webster, we've, talked about him in past podcasts. He understood, as the founding fathers of America did, that Christianity produces liberty because Christianity presents the proper view of God, and when we act upon that view, it produces flourishing liberty in every area. He said this Noah Webster, the Christian religion in its purity is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government. I am persuaded that no civil government of republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence. He was expressing what our founders clearly understood, that civil freedom, freedom in government, political freedom is the product of the Christian faith. As he said, I am persuaded no civil government of republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence because those principles of the Christian faith are good seed. And that good seed produces the good fruit of liberty. Benjamin Rush, the third most famous founding father, most Americans never heard of him. Today, a signer of the Declaration, father of medicine in America, very devout believer said Christianity is the only true and perfect religion and that in perfect proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obeys its precepts, they will be wise and happy. So reflecting the view, the founders of America, they understood that Christianity, it's true, it's perfect, it's not a man made religion, it's a revelation of the creator God. It has truth, it has good seed. Therefore, in proportion does mankind adopt its principles. Of course, to adopt the principles, you got to understand the principles. That's why education for all. Study the Scripture, study deeply. Uh-huh. Learn about God and his truth and how the Bible speaks to all areas of life. And that's why the founding generations, for generations, early few centuries of American colonization, first years of the American republic, they understood the great value of knowing truth, knowing God. That's what, that's why they started schools. That's why they started colleges. That's why every American just about had the Bible studied. The Bible heard sermons for hours a, week deep that spoke to all areas of life. Because in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obeys its precepts, of course, it's not enough just to know truth, you've got to apply truth, obey truth. you don't just have a seed. That's Good. You have to plant the seed, water the seed, cultivate the seed. God will bring the increase in proportion as mankind adopts its principles and obeys its precepts. They will be wise and happy. This is what produced flourishing in America and other nations as well. Other nations that have embraced and adopted various aspects of the Christian faith have seen corresponding fruit. The more a nation, a culture, embraces biblical Christianity, the more the fruit, the better the fruit, the better the outcome. Jedediah Morris, the father of geography in America. He is a minister, Reverend Jedediah Morris. He's also the father of Samuel F.B. morse, if you remember him. We touched on him in a previous book podcast. But he said, to the kindly influence of Christianity, we owe that degree of civil freedom and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. The founders of America understood that Christianity presents the true God to us and what truth is. They had a Christian view of God, a Christian view of theology. They understood the great implications that the truth had to the influence of Christianity. We, owe that degree of civil freedom and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. And so where people have a degree of civil freedom, political freedom, economic freedom, flourishing, enjoyment of life, it's come due to the influence of the Christian faith. Biblical Christianity contains the seeds, good seed that's necessary to plant to produce flourishing. And so this first idea of seven ideas that have transformed the world and made America a success, the first one, the Christian idea of God, the Christian idea of theology is foundational. Its utmost importance to understand who God is, what God requires, of us in order for us to build a flourishing society. Well thanks for joining us on this podcast and future podcast. We're going to complete these seven ideas that have transformed the world. So I hope you can join us next week. Now we'll put point you to our website providencefoundation.com one of the books you'll find there is Jamestown and the Planting of American Christian Republic. But in there I, write and present these seven ideas because these are seven ideas that comprise American exceptionalism. They are what made us unique and special and flourishing nation. And so if you want to get this in written form, you can get a copy of the American Dream, Jamestown and the Planting of the American Christian Republic at our website providencefoundation.com you can read many articles and see videos and other things as well. So I invite you to visit there. And by the way, if there's specific subjects that you would like me to cover on this podcast in the future, even email me at info providence foundation.com info providencefoundation.com and make a suggestion, because, we'd certainly like to cover any of those, things that, that you have an interest in and.

Sa. Glad you joined us. Look forward to you joining us again next week

And, so send that along. Well, God bless you. Glad you joined us. Look forward to you joining us again next week. Sa.