Glenn Beck's Restoring America rally was a pleasant surprise. All great leaders have something in common: their belief in a transcendent being called God. This belief in God is the answer to restoring America because we are not fighting a physical battle; we are first and foremost fighting a spiritual one. Without recognizing this we will lose the culture and end up with a society that trades freedom for comfort, with pleasure as the good, choosing leaders that promise that Utopian delusion.
In discovering God we discover who Progressives are trying to replace through the use of an ever expanding government. I'll explain why the Restoring America rally was so remarkable and how intelligent Glenn Beck’s plea for the American soul was, whether you believe he realized it or not.
There is nothing more fundamental to any discipline than a belief in God. What is more basic than belief about simple, unqualified, eternal being - the being that gives life to all that exists? Nothing! That is why Glenn Beck decided to make this rally about America coming back to a proper understanding and relationship with God instead of voter registration or the recruitment of political activists. On that day, Mr. Beck not only got back to the most basic of all ideas, showing that natural religion is connected to freedom and freedom to liberty, but he also demonstrated that God is more basic than politics and philosophy is more basic than political science.
The predominant concern of philosophy is the most basic questions, applicable to all human beings, while the task of theology is to flesh out the implications of our belief in the eternal God. What Glenn Beck did was genius. Mr. Beck, a self-ascribed alcoholic, national radio show host, and Fox News commentator took a serious risk by making himself vulnerable and easy to attack. His critics are fools because whether he knows it or not Mr. Beck went back to the ground floor of the ideological battle for the American soul and won. Truths stated on the Lincoln Memorial that day encouraged America to return to God and these truths are at the core of the very reason that this country declared its existence. Mr. Beck reminded us that these truths are universal and that all political parties can share them. The cause of our countries decline is not Democrats or Republicans, but the belief that government can replace God as well as personal responsibility.
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Government replacing God is why the culture has been decaying and our understanding of the proper role of government has become twisted and blurred. Far from government replacing God, God uses proper government to show his glory in the thoughts, actions, and ideas of men. We need both God and government, each in its proper role and function.
The “culture war” and “social issues” have been put aside during this time of economic upheaval, but let me make a controversial statement: All political issues are moral issues because they deal with what is “good” for mankind. The fight for greater economic liberty, lower taxes, affordable health care and other such things are just as much grounded in morality and a religious view as topics such as fighting against stem-cell research, abortion, and the redefining of marriage. While I would rather save the lives of the unborn than lower taxes, this preference does not mean taxation is not also a moral issue or that higher taxes are not tyrannical. Every political battle is fundamentally a part of the culture war. Understanding that culture is an expression of shared values and beliefs is not only important, but more basic than economics; it is a culture’s moral values that inform its economic policies.
Please do not misunderstand; I am not saying that this country should become a theocracy; there are truths which are clear to all men apart from Scripture and it is those universal truths to which all men are accountable and which provide a common ground for each citizen and political party. This accusation of theocracy has become an old and stale straw-man, much like the race card. God holds us responsible for what we can know through the light of nature, and so we educate ourselves and our children in order to have and keep the blessings of self-governance in light of what is clear about God.
Glenn Beck’s rally reminded me that restoring America will come through a return to a right understanding of God and man. It will not come first and foremost come through winning elections, changing political parties, drawing road maps or proclaiming Republican revolutions. It will come through fighting this spiritual/ideological battle within the culture, which will restore the moral basis for our economic arguments, our personal aspirations, and our ability to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
Thank you Glenn Beck for following your heart and showing us all how to be strong, no matter who is elected or how laws change, I promise to never forget this more basic point for which you assembled.
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