W.O.R.D. What is Ethics

What about this Standard the Bible?

ONE nation under GOD?

Just how is it One Nation Under Who?

There seems to be a rather fashionable idea floating around at the moment that we are not a nation founded "under God," and that the Pledge of Allegiance is therefore unconstitutional because it has those two words in it. Throughout the Revolutionary War, under the Articles of Confederation, during the Constitutional Convention, and as the First Congress met--the same Congress that passed the First Amendment--our government collectively and as individuals used language that shows what the Framers of our government considered appropriate as part of official duties and documents.

Some of this language, one might argue, is an expression of a lowest common denominator form of Christianity, and was so broadly encompassing as to mean almost nothing. Very true--much like the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance today.

Is having those words in the Pledge of Allegiance today still a good idea? Should teachers be required to lead their students in the Pledge of Allegiance, as Calfornia law requires? Those are both legitimate questions of policy. The claim that these two words in the Pledge are unconstitutional requires us to assume that the Framers of our Constitution intended the First Amendment to make some sweeping change from everything that they had stood for, during the Revolution, under the Articles of Confederation government, during the Constitutional Convention, and in the First Congress.

Delaware's Constitutional Convention's on September 6, 1776, modified a statement required of all members of the House:

The Convention met.
On Motion of Mr. McKean,
Resolved unanimously,
That the following Words be added to the Profession of Faith made by the Members of this House respectively, to wit, "And I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine Inspiration." [Claudia L. Bushman, Harold B. Hancock, and Elizabeth Moyne Homsey, ed., Proceedings of the Assembly of the Lower Counties on Delaware 1770-1776, of the Constitutional Convention of 1776, and of the House of Assembly of the Delaware State 1776-1781 (Newark, Del.: University of Delaware Press, 1986), 209.]

From the dark days of the Revolution, the Continental Congress wrote these words:

Mr. W[illiam] Livingston, pursuant to leave granted, brought in a resolution for appointing a fast, which (being taken into consideration) was agreed to as follows:
In times of impending calamity and distress; when the liberties of America are imminently endangered by the secret machinations and open assaults of an insidious and vindictive administration, it becomes the indispensable duty of these hitherto free and happy colonies, with true penitence of heart, and the most reverent devotion, publickly to acknowledge the over ruling providence of God; to confess and deplore our offences against him; and to supplicate his interposition for averting the threatened danger, and prospering our strenuous efforts in the cause of freedom, virtue, and posterity.

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.... If they persecuted Me they will persecute you... for they do not know the One who sent Me." John 15:19-21

"...the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one." 1 John 5:19

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake." Matthew 24:9

A 75-year-old grandmother was jailed for testifying about the Bible, in the United States.

Four Christian protesters who demonstrated at a Philadelphia homosexual event face a possible 47 years in prison if convicted of felony charges filed against them, while a prosecutor referred to Scripture verses they read as "fighting words."

The four are part of 11 demonstrators who went before the Philadelphia Municipal Court in a preliminary hearing this week. Judge William Austin Meehan Tuesday ordered four of the Christians to stand trial on three felony and five misdemeanor charges. If convicted, they could get a maximum of 47 years in prison.

Two Christians in Australia have been indicted for criticizing Islam, and another for criticizing Zionism. A filmmaker has been threatened with arrest for using the word "homosexual" rather than "gay." Now a German priest faces jail time for publicly criticizing abortionists, and in Holland, "fornicators" and "adulterers" are protected classes and cannot be criticized.

Philly 5" � the Philadelphia Christians facing possible 47 year jail terms for evangelizing at a homosexual event � a federal judge has refused a request to stop the local prosecution of the group.

You have to ask yourself why Christians are the most persecuted people group on earth? Because satan is busy trying to silence the truth.

ANYTHING GOES?

Hate Crimes? We even have compromised in what we deem is a crime? It seems as a Christian what happened to our FREEDOMS? If a person has a right to choose and practice their lifestyle then why are not Christians allowed to practice their faith through what the Word of God says is a sin in God's eyes? This is not a 'hate' crime? Simply not equal. It seems as Jesus spoke about being

ELMIRA, NY, July 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Police arrested seven Christians who were praying prostrate and holding Bibles in a public park where a gay festival was just beginning, WorldNetDaily (WND) reports.

Another example of the growing public restrictions on free speech was the case of Pastor Holick in Wichita, Kansas. Holick was arrested only minutes after he and his church team arrived to hand out pamphlets on a sidewalk near the park where a gay fest was being held. Similarly, this June five members of the Faith Baptist Church were arrested in Petersburg, Florida, after carrying gay pride protesting signs that violated city regulations by being "wider than their torsos."

These are a few examples of "hate crimes." Organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center report that hate-motivated vandalism, cross burnings, bombings, beatings, and murders have been increasing at an alarming rate in the United States. In 1996 alone, 8,759 hate crime incidents were reported to the FBI.

Even more disturbing is that people under 21 commit half of all hate crimes in this country. Between May 1990 and May 1992, over 200 serious hate-crime incidents occurred in the nation's high schools alone. Although few youths who commit these crimes belong to hate organizations, some are attracted to neo-Nazi skinhead gangs. These groups believe that a race war against the Jews and "mud races" is the "only ultimate solution."

America was born in a climate of mutual respect. There were great differences, economic, cultural, racial and theological, among the States that founded the American Union. But the Fathers sat down and hammered out compromises in our Federal Constitution that men of good will could live with. And the United States, as we know them, took their place among the Nations of the earth.

The war produced about 1,030,000 casualties (3% of the population), including about 620,000 soldier deaths to which two-thirds were by disease. The war accounted for more casualties than all other U.S. wars combined. The causes of the war, the reasons for its outcome, and even the name of the war itself are subjects of lingering controversy today. About 4 million black slaves were freed in 1865 Throughout time people have always faught for what they believe is right. This will never change. Brother against brother as we seen in the Civil War of the United States in the 1860's. In today's society we label it a "hate" crime if one speaks out about a lifestyle of a persons choice. That is it simply...choice. This site also has that choice, and we Stand by the Bible and what God's Word says. So again if anything we say within this site upsets you it is your choice to simply click away. We have no hate within our heart for any person, or group, organization or practices. We simply hold to our Christian Values, principles and morals.

No hate toward the person

1. hate

a. To feel hostility or animosity toward.

Hate is taught just as love is taught. But when a person gets up in the morning, it is also a choice to love or hate.

There is a difference between 'hate' and dislike, or opinion. This web site ministry stands upon the Word of GOD he Bible as a guideline and standard of our programs. The matters we address including wicca, witchcraft, lifestyles and organizations, web sites, that so support these issues are by no means done with hostility. God Loves us all but will note approve of the sin. Please understand that all comments and research are by no means directed at any one person or group, we have not targeted anyone or any organization with "hate". We have tried to show proof according to the Bible dealing with all subject matter's including Christians. It is still ones own CHOICE, for that is their freedom as a person, or group. Even the Christian churches according to the Bible and denominations we have tried to show according to the Bible the choices which they have made do not go according to God's Word. If anyone can show us in the Word of God the Bible that our comments or research is not correct please forward this information to us and we will address it and make any corrections that are proven such in the Bible. We mention many denominations in our research but that does not mean we 'hate them' and they are not Christian. Every one claims to have the 'RIGHT" way. There is only one way! By the fruit you will know the tree. If the fruit is to make a name for oneself, to make money for oneself, or to attempt to erode the faith of a group of people by being hostile to the Catholic Church as a sacred institution, you really have to question how rotten might be that tree, despite their using the sweet name of Jesus. One of the most classic summaries of the Christian belief and ethos is to "hate the sin, (but) love the sinner." It is this belief that most expresses that it is the sin itself that is hateful, not the individual human being, and that therefore all have a chance to repent and experience conversion.

Now, this is true and it is a good belief. However, I need to caution people about a common error that I detect. You need to ask yourself, "While good Christians hate the sin, but love the sinner, does God hate the sin but love the sinner?" The answer is "Yes, until it becomes no."

God's persistent stance is to love every human being as his own child, through good times and bad times, when they are noble and when they are not so admirable. God also continues to love people and offer them chances even when they are sinning. God knows the human condition more than humans understand themselves. And so God continues to love even when people sin, and so God "hates the sin, but loves the sinner."

The Bible teaches very clearly, however, that there are limits to God's patience. This is what the Bible calls "the hardening of heart." What you need to understand is that it's not when the sins become "really bad" or "very frequent" that the human is in the most danger of losing God's love completely. It is when the sinner starts to identify with his sin.This society today is in deep crisis; I have pointed this out repeatedly and urgently to anyone who will read or listen. One crisis that you must become aware of is that humans, like no time ever in their past, in growing numbers lose their personalities into their sins, actually merging them. Sinners have started to identify with their sins. This is not a backhanded poke at being gay, by the way.

What is meant is that people increasingly make up their own God replacing reality and identify with it. It's not a matter of "freedom of religion." It's a matter of sinning (lying to people, taking their money, being cruel to them, sexually harming them) in the name of bizarre beliefs. Increasingly people match their "belief system" to the type of sinning that they desire to do. They sin, whether it be in a moral or a financial area, and then modify their "belief system" in order to accommodate the sin as being "necessary" or even "noble" and "humanity saving." That is when people start to identify with the sin and God, who hates sin, must now also hate the person. I know many people in the most dire danger of doing this exact thing. Of their own choices they ignore the Christian demarcation between human and his or her deed (the sin), and deliberately identify with the sin, making the sin part of their self-perceived human condition and even self justification. It is all around us, compromise?

The Bible has stood the test of time

Bible Origin - Divine Inspiration
When examining Bible origin, many of today's liberal scholars look everywhere but the Bible. However, the Bible tells us that the origin of the Bible is God Himself. In 2 Timothy 3:16, we read that all scripture is inspired by God. The Greek word used for inspiration is theopneustos, which means "God-breathed." In 2 Peter 1:21, we understand that each writer was "carried along" by God. Therefore, God used each of the Bible's 40 authors, including their diverse cultural backgrounds, personalities and positions, to deliver His divine Word to all mankind.

Bible Origin - The Word of God
It seems that the question of Bible origin turns on the truth of its divine inspiration. In Luke 24:27,44; John 5:39; and Hebrews 10:7, Jesus says that what was written about him in the Old Testament would come to pass. Romans 3:2 and Hebrews 5:12 refer to the Old Testament as the Word of God. We read in 1 Corinthians 2:13, "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit." This is confirmed in 2 Timothy 3:16. In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul when referring to that which he had written says, "...you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God..." Peter speaks of the inspiration of Paul's writings in 2 Peter 3:15-16, where he maintains that, "...Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters..." Earlier, in 2 Peter 1:21 Peter writes, "For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along [moved] by the Holy Spirit." And then finally in Revelation 22:18,19 the writer John, referring to the book of Revelation states, "...if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life..."

"The Bible must be the invention either of good men or angels, bad men or devils, or of God. However, it was not written by good men, because good men would not tell lies by saying 'Thus saith the Lord;' it was not written by bad men because they would not write about doing good duty, while condemning sin, and themselves to hell; thus, it must be written by divine inspiration" (Charles Wesley, McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, 1990:178).

Bible Origin - Authenticity of New Testament Scripture
A primary attack against divine Bible origin is that the books of the New Testament were agreed upon (canonized) by men hundreds of years after the books were written. Actually, the fathers of the early Christian church reveal that most of the New Testament books were accepted as scripture almost immediately. For instance, in 2 Peter 3:16, the writer takes for granted that Paul's letters were already considered inspired scripture on the same level as the Old Testament. In 1Timothy 5:18, Paul joins an Old Testament reference and a New Testament reference and calls them both Scripture. The need for official canonization of the New Testament scriptures only came about because of certain heresies that were being spread throughout the church starting in the mid to late second century. For instance, Marcion created his own religion by only teaching from ten of Paul's letters and certain portions of Luke. In addition, the Gnostics, especially in Alexandria, were introducing new "secrets" to the standard Christian doctrine, including new gospel accounts altogether.

For the church leaders in the mid second century, the four Gospels were baseline authority in their teachings. In about 170 AD, Irenaeus cited 23 of the 27 New Testament books, omitting only Philemon, James, 2 Peter and 3 John. The Muratorian fragment, written about the same time, attests to the widespread use of all the New Testament books except Hebrews, James, 1 Peter and 2 Peter. However, other church fathers had already cited those omitted books in various writings defending against Gnostic doctrines. The Codex Barococcio from 206 AD includes 64 of the 66 books of today's Bible. Esther and Revelation were omitted, but they had already been declared as inspired scripture by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement, Tertullian and the Muratorian Canon. In 230 AD, Origen declared that all Christians acknowledged as scripture the four Gospels, Acts, the epistles of Paul, 1 Peter, 1 John and Revelation.

By the early 300's, all of the New Testament books were being used in the mainstream church body. In 367 AD, Athanasius formally circulated the Easter Letter that listed all 27 books as canonical. The Synod of Hippo (393 AD) and the third Synod of Carthage (397 AD) also recognized these 27 books as canonical. In addition, during this time, the highly influential church fathers, Jerome (340-420 AD) and Augustine (354-430 AD) published their lists of 27 books completing the New Testament.

Where do Ethics come from anyway?

Moral Ethics - How Do We Make Our Decisions?
Moral ethics were at the heart of a 2001 national study conducted by Barna Research Group. That study revealed that only one out of four adults "lean primarily on religious principles and teaching or Bible content when making moral decisions." In addition, almost 50% of the surveyed adults said they base their moral decisions on "whatever will bring them the most pleasing or satisfying results." George Barna, who headed the research project, concluded, "Most people do not believe that there is any source of absolute moral truth � busy people, regardless of their faith affiliation, wing it when it comes to moral decisions."

Moral Ethics - Our Current State of Relativity
Moral ethics are now considered relative. Relative to culture, relative to circumstance, and relative to the specific needs of the individual. "It seems today in our world that right is wrong and wrong is right. The result is, the very foundation of our society and culture is crumbling beneath our feet. That is because we, as a nation, have lost our way. We are no longer built on a solid foundation of knowing the difference between right and wrong. That moral foundation in our country came from our faith in God.

Lets take a stand

Moral Ethics - Our Former Foundation
Moral ethics was a primary foundation of the United States of America. Although recent twisting of history declares that America was founded on a basic principle of "freedom from religion," historic reality is that America was founded on the right of religious expression known as "freedom of religion." A quick history lesson will reveal that there is no concept of "freedom FROM religion" in our Constitution, nor is there one implied. Our Founding Fathers quoted thousands of Bible scriptures, opened and closed sessions with prayer to God, and openly stated that they used the Ten Commandments in writing the laws of this great nation. Actually, they were standing on government lands while they read directly from , while they quoted scripture in speeches, and while they stood praying together.

If our country was founded on a principle of "freedom from religion", our Founding Fathers would not have practiced their religion so openly on government lands. There are more than 4,500 recorded public quotes by our Founding Fathers about the Bible, God, and yes, the importance of moral ethics based on Christian principles. All of these statements were delivered while government leaders stood on government properties.

There is absolute historic proof that the founders of this nation and the writers of the Constitution never believed in a "freedom from religion", nor a silencing of free speech concerning things of a religious nature while on government lands. This is a recent concept. A recent twisting of history that we believe corresponds with a broad decline in moral ethics.

Moral Ethics - What Is Our Authority?
Moral Ethics are a foundation of this great nation. However, morality is not relative - it is based on the absolute authority of biblical truth. As hard as it is for us to accept in this 21st century techno-culture, this country and its moral backbone were founded on Christian principles. "Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary." (Daniel Webster)

translate this page