Can A 'Thoroughly Corrupted' Nation Be Restored?
By J. Phillips The Covenant News ~ August 09, 2008
Seeing the following three quotes together the other day was an occasion used by the Lord to open my eyes in a new way to the depth of the challenge that faces America today.
"Our Constitution is made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Attributed to John Adams
"A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom."
Attributed to Patrick Henry
"Have you ever found in history, one single example of a nation thoroughly corrupted that was afterwards restored to virtue?"
John Adams, writing to Jefferson, asked this question
As no one necessarily argues that the founders were American prophets, their statements could well be wrong. But what if they were not wrong?
When I saw these used recently it struck me that if they are not wrong then their Constitution will not work for those who exist today, because their moral and religious standard (i.e. God exists, we were created by God, the Bible is his word and therefore it should be printed and promoted with government funds and contrary positions are not in accord with the truth) is not our moral and religious standard.
"Their" and "our" does not refer to every single person in the population, but it certainly does speak to those in positions of authority who will either respect what the Constitution says or not. People will conduct themselves in line with the moral and religious standard they hold to. And if a people's moral and religious standard is not such that it causes them to act as the men who wrote these words did (i.e. their public speech and actions seek to glorify God and cause others to respect His authority), then the Constitution is "wholly inadequate" to restrain them or those who vote them into the seats of power.
If a "corrupted public conscience" is "incompatible with freedom," then given our government approval for (and often funding to promote) abortion, perverted sexual behavior and teaching that creation by God is a lie, it would seem that our "corrupted public conscience" must first be corrected or any fight to retain "freedom" will be futile – again, that is IF Patrick Henry was correct and the two are incompatible.
We also need to consider what the future holds if this was a rhetorical question: "Have you ever found in history, one single example of a nation thoroughly corrupted that was afterwards restored to virtue?" If it is the case that no nation in history that was "thoroughly corrupted" "was afterwards restored to virtue," that of course does not mean that such a restoration could never happen – because certainly with God's blessing even this seemingly impossible thing is possible.
But on the other hand, it seems out of line with the truths found in God's word to expect that God would bless a nation that was "thoroughly corrupted" without that nation first exhibiting a public repentance (the equivalent of this being when an Old Testament king would tear down the idols, groves, high places and publicly call for the nation to seek the forgiveness of "the God who made heaven and earth").
Certainly, one may want to argue that our nation is not "thoroughly corrupted" – at least not yet. But as there are likely few who read the Bible and believe that it is God's word who would argue that this nation is not "corrupted," the issue then is how one defines "thoroughly." However, we should honestly ask if the moral and religious standards of the men who were discussing this question would consider modern-day America (the God-did-not-create-heaven-and-earth-because-the-universe-created-itself America with its subsequent legalizing of pornography, infant extinction and perverted behavior) "thoroughly corrupted" or merely "corrupted."
In the face of an honest answer, IF the three foregoing quotes indicate truths that can be applied to this nation today, only a fool would argue that the proper response to the state of our national corruption is to pursue a lesser of evils strategy as concerns an American Christian's stewardship of his vote. For our nation's corruption cannot be reversed by elevating those who are less evil to the seats of power. Such behavior can in fact only continue to increase the depth of that corruption and bring false hope that slowing the speed of America's moral decline is a positive good. Nevertheless those who think that "the God who created heaven and earth" will bless a nation for slowing its rate of corruption are fooling themselves.
The only way our nation's corruption can be reversed is to reverse it. We see the model of this numerous times in Scripture. If our nation continues to call evil good by enacting laws that do exactly this, then those who consciously vote to continue the corruption at a slower rate (the lesser-of-evils calculation) will bear responsibility for contributing to the decline of this nation.
To reverse our national corruption, those who fear God must vote ONLY for those who indicate that they will seek to honor God's will by publicly committing to using a) their position to speak out against laws and practices that would further contribute to America's moral and religious decline, and b) the power of their office to seek to overturn laws and government practices that contribute to that decline. Surely, to do anything less can hardly be called "stewardship" in good conscience.
"Refuse the evil and choose the good."
J. Phillips the author of "The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved," a book that aims to encourage Bible students to pay more attention to the evidence that has been preserved in the biblical record. The eBook is available for free online at www.TheDiscipleWhomJesusLoved.com.