Latest / Reflections On The Word With Richard Kay / An Independence Day Message | Episode #392 | Encore Episode #063

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An Independence Day Message | Episode #392 | Encore Episode #063 · Reflections On The Word With Richard Kay

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to today's edition of Reflection on the Word with
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  Speaker 1: Richard K. I'm Chuck Christie, and today we are asking
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  Speaker 1: you to spend a few moments of your time with
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  Speaker 1: us each day as Richard shares from God's work with notes, quotes,
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  Speaker 1: and story along with some of his own personal experiences,
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  Speaker 1: to confirm for you God's great love for us, that
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  Speaker 1: his compassion for us never fails, and that He has
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  Speaker 1: a great faithfulness toward us in every regard. Now, if
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  Speaker 1: you miss a portion of today's broadcast or would like
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  Speaker 1: to recommend it to a friend, you can hear this
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  Speaker 1: program anytime online at Talknetwork Radio dot com. Well, now,
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  Speaker 1: here's Richard with today's reflection.
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  Speaker 2: Today is July fourth, two thousand and eighteen, two hundred
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  Speaker 2: and forty Two years ago, a multitude of great men
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  Speaker 2: gathered together to declare that they were free and no
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  Speaker 2: longer subjects of the European tyrannies of old. When these men,
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  Speaker 2: our forefathers, signed their names to the Declaration of Independence,
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  Speaker 2: liberty triumphed over slavery, good over evil. However, that day
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  Speaker 2: was just the beginning of a long battle that would
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  Speaker 2: be fought so that you and I may live in
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  Speaker 2: a world where liberty reigns and subjugation is no more.
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  Speaker 2: Since the dawn of time, men have been subjugated by
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  Speaker 2: other men. There's been an ebb and flow of the
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  Speaker 2: battle of good and evil, where mostly evil has prevailed.
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  Speaker 2: Every once in a while, the people would rise up
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  Speaker 2: to claim their independence, only to find that those that
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  Speaker 2: replaced the previous aristocracy were themselves aspiring aristocrats. It took
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  Speaker 2: many ships to a far off land and enlightenment in
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  Speaker 2: the early eighteenth century, and a lot of divine providence
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  Speaker 2: for there to be such a large collaboration of so
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  Speaker 2: many great minds in one place for liberty to drive
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  Speaker 2: deep its banner at the top of the mountain of victory.
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  Speaker 2: Please join me in paying true you to some of
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  Speaker 2: the greatest men that have ever lived that allowed us
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  Speaker 2: to live in the greatest country that has ever existed,
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  Speaker 2: For without them we would likely be living in abject
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  Speaker 2: poverty with a king as our ruler. It has become
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  Speaker 2: necessary for the Thirteen Colonies to separate from Great Britain.
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  Speaker 2: These thirteen colonies have the right to become a nation
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  Speaker 2: as legitimate as any other nation. Additionally, it is important
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  Speaker 2: to explain to the public, including those in other nations.
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  Speaker 2: Why this Declaration of Independence is being made. This declaration
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  Speaker 2: is based on certain truths. All men are meant to
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  Speaker 2: be equal and to have certain rights, unalienable rights that
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  Speaker 2: the government should never take away. These rights include life, liberty,
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  Speaker 2: and the pursuit of happiness. Governments exist to support the
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  Speaker 2: rights of men. Governments exist only through the power of
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  Speaker 2: the people that they represent. When a government fails to
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  Speaker 2: grant rights to the people and removes the involvement of
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  Speaker 2: the people, the people have the right to change their
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  Speaker 2: government in a way that will allow for their uninalienable
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  Speaker 2: rights to be protected. Governments should not be overphoned for
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  Speaker 2: trivial reasons. It is not typical for people to change
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  Speaker 2: a system that they are accustomed to. However, when the
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  Speaker 2: people have suffered many abuses under the control of a
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  Speaker 2: totalitarian leader, they not only have the right, but the
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  Speaker 2: duty to overthrow that government. The Declaration of Independence is
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  Speaker 2: important because it inspired many revolutionary efforts throughout the world
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  Speaker 2: and contributed to Americans understanding of their values as a
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  Speaker 2: new nation. The introduction, called the Preamble to the Declaration
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  Speaker 2: of Independence, is especially important because it builds connections between
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  Speaker 2: philosophical theory and practical politics, expresses the fundamental values of
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  Speaker 2: the new American government and also appeals to other nations
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  Speaker 2: to accept the new nation. The introduction relies heavily on
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  Speaker 2: the philosophical and political ideas of the Enlightenment period of
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  Speaker 2: eighteenth century Europe, including the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, John
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  Speaker 2: Jacques Rousseau, and most particularly John Locke, that humans, by
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  Speaker 2: nature had the right to protection of life, health, liberty,
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  Speaker 2: and possessions. Jefferson altered this slightly when he claimed the
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  Speaker 2: uninaliable rights include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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  Speaker 2: Locke also strongly opposed the divine right of kings, which
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  Speaker 2: held that kings held absolute power because they were placed
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  Speaker 2: on their throne by God, and insisted that the people
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  Speaker 2: had the right to consent to their government and that
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  Speaker 2: the power of law making resides with the people. Jefferson
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  Speaker 2: included this theory when he writes, to secure these rights,
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  Speaker 2: governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
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  Speaker 2: the consent of the government. Jefferson's declaration helped to put
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  Speaker 2: Locke's philosophy into the realm of real world politics. Many
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  Speaker 2: revolutions that occurred after the American Revolution cited Jefferson's Declaration
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  Speaker 2: of Independence as justification in overthrowing a corrupt and dictatorial power.
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  Speaker 2: The introduction to the Declaration of Independence also is important
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  Speaker 2: for the ways it contributed to Americans understanding of their
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  Speaker 2: rights as citizens. Americans continued to believe that the phrase
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  Speaker 2: all men are created equal is a fundamental law in
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  Speaker 2: the country. While this phrase was included in the introduction
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  Speaker 2: to the Declaration, it does not appear anywhere else in
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  Speaker 2: the official documents defining rights under the US government. The
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  Speaker 2: Declaration of Independence holds no legal authority in our country,
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  Speaker 2: yet it continues to be as the foundation for American equality.
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  Speaker 2: Various groups throughout history have criticized American equality, referring to
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  Speaker 2: the introduction of the Declaration for support. Critics point to
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  Speaker 2: Jefferson's contradictory message regarding equality in reference to slavery. Although
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  Speaker 2: Jefferson stated that all men are created equal and have
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  Speaker 2: the right to liberty, he ran a large plantation and
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  Speaker 2: was a slaveholder. Other critics point to the use of
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  Speaker 2: the word men as excluding women citizens. The eighteen forty
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  Speaker 2: eight Seneca Falls Convention used jefferson format and style to
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  Speaker 2: draft the Declaration of Sentiments, a document declaring women's unfair
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  Speaker 2: treatment by the US government and by society. Both as
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  Speaker 2: a source for debate about equality and as a definition
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  Speaker 2: of the ideological foundation of the new nation, the introduction
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  Speaker 2: to the Declaration played a crucial role in defining American
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  Speaker 2: values and laws. The introduction is also significant because Jefferson
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  Speaker 2: insisted on the importance of explaining the rebellious actions of
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  Speaker 2: the Thirteen Colonies to the nations and statesmen of the world.
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  Speaker 2: The most powerful nations of the world in the eighteenth
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  Speaker 2: century were monarchies. The ideas of Jefferson could serve not
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  Speaker 2: only to threaten Great Britain's colonial empire, but the colonial
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  Speaker 2: empires of other nations in Europe. Recognizing the importance of
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  Speaker 2: maintaining good diplomatic relations with European nations, Jefferson sought to
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  Speaker 2: explain the actions of the Thirteen College on these in
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  Speaker 2: rational terms, anticipating that this document would influence rebellions elsewhere.
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  Speaker 2: Jefferson also clarified that governments should not be overthrown for
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  Speaker 2: trivial causes. Instead, Jefferson explained that only despotic or totalitarian
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  Speaker 2: governments should be overthrown. Following is an excerpt of the
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  Speaker 2: Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America. When
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  Speaker 2: in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for
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  Speaker 2: one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected
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  Speaker 2: them with another, and to assume among the powers of
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  Speaker 2: the earth the separate and equal station to which the
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  Speaker 2: laws of nature and of Nature's God titled them. A
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  Speaker 2: decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they
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  Speaker 2: should declare the causes which impelled them to the separation.
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  Speaker 2: We hold these truths to be self evident, that all
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  Speaker 2: men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
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  Speaker 2: creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty,
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  Speaker 2: and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights,
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  Speaker 2: governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
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  Speaker 2: the consent of the government. That whenever any form of
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  Speaker 2: government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right
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  Speaker 2: of the people to alter or to abolish it, and
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  Speaker 2: to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles,
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  Speaker 2: and organizing its powers in such form as to them
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  Speaker 2: shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.
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  Speaker 2: This is an excerpt, but it also addresses all of
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  Speaker 2: the reasons that the Thirteen colonies separated themselves from the
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  Speaker 2: King of England. In every stage of these oppressions, we
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  Speaker 2: have petition for redress in the most humble terms. Our
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  Speaker 2: repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A
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  Speaker 2: prince whose character is thus marked by every act which
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  Speaker 2: may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler
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  Speaker 2: of a free people. Nor have we been wanting in
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  Speaker 2: attentions to our British brethren. But we have warned them
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  Speaker 2: from time to time of attempts by their legislature to
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  Speaker 2: extend an unwarmable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them
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  Speaker 2: of the circumstances of our immigration and settlement here. We
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  Speaker 2: have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we
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  Speaker 2: have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred
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  Speaker 2: to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections
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  Speaker 2: and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice
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  Speaker 2: of justice and of considuity. When we must therefore acquiesce
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  Speaker 2: in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them
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  Speaker 2: as we hold the rest of mankind enemies in war
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  Speaker 2: in peace. Friends, We, therefore, the representatives of the United
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  Speaker 2: States of America in General Congress Assembled, appealing to the
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  Speaker 2: Supreme Judge of the World, for the rectitude of our intentions, do,
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  Speaker 2: in the name and by the authority of the good
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  Speaker 2: people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these
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  Speaker 2: United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free
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  Speaker 2: and independent states. That they are absolved from all allegiance
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  Speaker 2: to the British Crown, and that all political connection between
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  Speaker 2: them and the State of Great Britain is and ought
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  Speaker 2: to be totally dissolved. And that is free and independent states.
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  Speaker 2: They have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances,
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  Speaker 2: establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things
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  Speaker 2: which independent states may of right do. And for the
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  Speaker 2: support of this declaration, with firm reliance on their protection
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  Speaker 2: of divine providence, we mutually prede to each other our lives,
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  Speaker 2: our fortunes, and our sacred honor. The Declaration of Independence
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  Speaker 2: was signed two hundred and forty two years ago. There
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  Speaker 2: were fifty six signers of the declaration. We will not
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  Speaker 2: take the time to read their names, but they are
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  Speaker 2: indelibly marked in our history. We need to understand that
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  Speaker 2: freedom costs a tremendous price, and because of that, our
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  Speaker 2: country serves as a beacon of freedom to countries throughout
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  Speaker 2: the entire world.
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  Speaker 1: Richard will be right back in a moment to wrap up.
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  Speaker 1: But if you've just joined us, you've been listening to
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  Speaker 1: Reflections on the Word with Richard K. You can hear
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  Speaker 1: this message in its entirety again online as well as
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  Speaker 1: Richard's entire archive at Talknetwork Radio dot com. We would
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  Speaker 1: like to acknowledge our theme song, how Great Is Thy
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  Speaker 1: Faithfulness from the America's twenty five Favorite Hymns Album, unless otherwise.
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  Speaker 1: Express scriptures are read from the Holman Christian Standard Bible,
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  Speaker 1: which is published by Homan Bible Publishers in Nashville, Tennessee.
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  Speaker 1: Additional resources used for Reflections on the Word with Richard
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: K include Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Our Daily Bread
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  Speaker 1: and printed by Discovery House Publishers. Again here is Richard
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  Speaker 1: to wrap up today's message.
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  Speaker 2: Never forget that this country was founded on principles that
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  Speaker 2: were designed by God for man, for man is created
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  Speaker 2: with certain unalienable rights, and by serving the God who
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  Speaker 2: gives those rights, we should be a nation truly under God,
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  Speaker 2: and that is today's reflection on the word.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Richard. Join us again tomorrow when we continue
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  Speaker 1: with the next edition of Reflections on the Work with
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  Speaker 1: Richard K or Richard on the entirety. This is Chuck
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  Speaker 1: Christi saying thanks for listening to this edition of Reflections
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  Speaker 1: on the World.