Reformation

You've heard the phrase. "The wrong side of history." It seems to be used solely to refer to "the side we're on now as opposed to earlier times." It seems to come from a premise that "progress" is always good, that time always makes things better. It leans into the "new and improved" as if that's a certainty. Little hint: it's not.

From the Wycliffes and the Huses on, a movement started that came to full light with Martin Luther's 95 Theses and rolled across Europe in full regalia. The Reformation was a movement within the existing Roman Catholic church (and beyond) that looked at the Scriptures and determined, "We're not doing this right." So they sought to "reform" the Church. Mind you, it wasn't in the sense of chastising a bad child. It was in the sense of "form again" -- to return to the original form. "What was Christianity at its core? Let's do that." The Reformers believed they were on the "wrong side of history" because they had progressed ... progressed away from biblical Christianity.

I would argue that America needs to reform. No, not be punished (although I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibilities from God's mind), but to turn back again to roots. Pilgrims came to America to pursue Christian living without fear and to bring Christ to the natives. The Union was formed on the basis of Christian beliefs and values. America became great because it was morally upright. John Adams wrote, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Patrick Henry wrote, "It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains." When this nation began as a nation, the federal government was not allowed to have a religious test for office (Article VI, First Amendment), but the states were. Eight states had religious qualifications for public office originally written in their constitutions. Religion was not the enemy of the people or its government. In the beginning, it was essential.

We're long past that now. It has moved from essential to banned. We have ignored the Founding Fathers and history itself and jettisoned Christianity as mainstream, affording it a meager existence as long as it sits quietly in its corner. I think we need a reformation. No, not a return to requiring religion as a test of office. Not institutionalizing the faith. We need to return to a people whose hearts were open to God and His Word. I think we are on the wrong side of history now, and it can't go well for us. Clearly the Founding Fathers didn't think so. "If America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." I suspect that is becoming our legacy.