An Open Letter to the “Oppressed”
The Sands of a Faulty Premise
Yesterday was the 4th of July, and America was full of people correcting the “corrected” record. This effort directs us to Reread History (and we should) to find the essential truth of America’s founding and the nearly 250 years that has brought us here. The problem with this “solution” is that it relies on the same faulty premise used by those who would destroy us. “We are what our fathers were.” From the side of the rewriters, we hear our fathers were evil and, therefore, we are inherently evil. From the side of the preservers, we hear that is not true; our fathers were good, therefore, we are inherently good. The Truth Is that the solution is not in a corrected history but in a Corrected Present.
Ever since Satan first told Eve, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4,5), it has been the chief tactic of the Adversary of good and his minions to attack the Truth of our Fathers. If God the Father, our Creator, was and is not immune to this effective attack, then why would we be? They lied about Christ, the Son of Man, to the point of killing Him. “Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they did not find any. For many bore false witness against Jesus, but their testimony was inconsistent. Then some men stood up and testified falsely against Him.” (Mark 14:56-57) Christ’s life here would “father” a movement that would become “Christianity,” and the lies about Him continue to this day.
We are not good or bad because our fathers were so. In fact, I am sure everyone can think of an example of how some man struggled, worked hard, held a “moral” standard, and produced something that would become great. That man would become a father and hand that great thing over to his children who were… let’s just say “less than” their father. Disney is one that comes to mind.
“…in our troubled time, the right of men to think and worship as their conscience dictates is being sorely pressed. We can retain these privileges only by being constantly on guard and fighting off any encroachment on these precepts. To retreat from any of the principles handed down by our forefathers, who shed their blood for the ideals we still embrace, would be a complete victory for those who would destroy liberty and justice for the individual.” (Walt Disney)
Disney’s message speaks for itself. However, we can also take away the fact that it also states that the good or bad of our fathers must either be embraced or “retreated” from, and to do either is our choice.
What is the important part of American history to remember? Our Founding Fathers became such by rejecting the choices of their fathers and building something that would not only be rejected by their fathers but actively and physically attacked by them to try and stop it. Many of the greatest people in the Christian movement were “Dissenters” against their fathers’ beliefs. “The Reformation” and “The Great Awakening” are a couple examples.
Yes, it is important that we and our children know the Truth of our forefathers, but it is indispensable to know that our Character, good or bad, is not inherited. Each person must choose, in spite of what their fathers chose, and everyone who claims the parentage of God and Christ must choose to be who their Word instructs us to be!
© Scott A Caughel 7/5/2021