Faith of our Fathers Benjamin Franklin

The faith of our fathers segment of this blog has been lacking please accept apologies many times over. The purpose here was to look at our founding fathers. Today we will take a few minuets and visit Benjamin Franklin. His parents wanted him to be a Minster; raised as an Episcopalian (identified by the Library of Congress) he preferred to contemplate his own relationship with God in the privacy of his own home. A native of Boston Massachusetts his father was a Puritan who emigrated from England, soon afterward married Miss Folger, a native of Boston.

The families’ intention for Mr. Franklin to become a minister did not work out as planned and at the age of seventeen, he boarded a ship for New York and finally ending up in Philadelphia. Later as a delegate to the constitutional convention, he was known for what was considered “God” talk. When the deliberations were going Franklin suggested calling on the clergy to pray for their deliberations. In the midst of chaos, Franklin recognized the existence of Holy God.

“In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when present to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?… I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men.”

While it is well documented that Franklin became a Deist later in life (adult years) it should also be recognized that the God of the Holy Bible had an influence in his life. In a letter to the President of Yale in 1790 Franklin mad it clear about his personal doubts:

“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his divinity; tho’ it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble….”

Just as Benjamin Franklin had a crisis of belief in before his death in 1790 at the age of 84. Many of us have the same crisis of belief in 2008. As Franklin stated Jesus divinity is no to be dogmatized. Rather one to study before your time runs out.

The choice is yours to make…United we stand and divided we fall

Domestic Tranquility

In the preamble to our constitution, our elected officials are to insure domestic tranquility. What does this really mean? There is no one who can guarantee against loss or harm or damage or death. Our elected officials are not an individual’s guarantee of success. There is no question our elected officials are not our insurance policy. So what do they actually insure? They are supposed to insure domestic tranquility.

The word domestic indicates home our elected officials are charged with insuring our nation has its affairs in order. Therefore, what is the guideline? The guideline is our constitution. It is the rule of law under which the management of America properly functions. The result of taking America down an alternative path provides our current situation and dilemma. American is anything but tranquil peace, serenity and calmness are fleeting in our nation. Why, in order to have domestic tranquility in America there must be tranquility in the American home.

America is like the poor little lamb that has lost its way… In the past forty years, we have focused so much on individual freedoms as a nation we have forgotten just as freedom is not free, neither is domestic tranquility. Rather than doing for ourselves, working through the good and bad situations then facing the consequences of both. We have asked the politicians to provide rather than insure our domestic tranquility. The request to provide rather than insure is the cause for the loss of many of our freedoms.

Growing up as an only child in the sixties was not an easy thing to do. There were homes lost to foreclosure, lost jobs, divorces in addition to a variety of the negative happened all was not wine and roses. However, there was domestic tranquility in the freedom of choice that existed. The American Dream if you fall down you get up and try again (without political assistance) and when you find success, the success was yours to keep. A persons word was there bond, when not kept the individual was considered untrustworthy and their personal integrity was questioned. Not all things were perfect by far but individuals were considerably more responsible and raised their children that way.

The point here is domestic tranquility starts in the individual home not at the national level. Indeed, if you live in a home where tranquility does not exist you the individual need to examine what the problem is and fix it. If the problem is financial the answer is not necessarily more but the proper use of , your children having more is not necessarily better, your relationship with your spouse work your problems as a team, your job, what ever pick a problem area only you know what it is and only you know truly how to fix your problem. The problem is yours to fix, the politicians do not have the answers they throw good money after bad in an effort to appease the masses.

America is on the verge of becoming a socialist country because we as American citizens are failing in our responsibility to our nation, the responsibility of insuring our own domestic tranquility. We should be asking our elected officials to do their jobs and take responsible as outlined in our constitution.

United we stand and divided we fall the choice is yours make…

Welfare?

In the preamble to our Constitution our Government is to promote the general welfare. This does not mean to create a welfare nation. What does it mean to promote? Our Government is to encourage citizens to flourish, to have dignity and better themselves where they live and work in America. Our Government is to insure a proper education for all citizens of this country. Government has a responsibility to maintain the proper infrastructure so that America can be a prosperous and competitive nation in the world.

Government is required to do this in a non restrictive general fashion, for all legal citizens of the United States of America. Promoting what is common to most in main stream America without regard to a citizen’s race or ethnic back round. Government is to aid in the organization of our nation’s infrastructure in such a way as to be non-specific or definite. Rather to provide ideas regarding products and services allowing American citizens to be competitive in the worlds economy.

Government is required by our Constitution to generally promote, with less Government, the welfare of the citizens of America. A citizen of our nation, when Government acts responsibly, can look forward to good fortune, health, happiness, and prosperity. Our elected representatives have a physical and moral responsibility for the welfare of our nation.

Our Constitution provides the frame work and the foundation for a moral, healthy, happy and prosperous society. A society where citizens have more control of their lives and the Government has less control. A Government designed for the people, by the people and of the people.

The choice is yours to make … United we stand and divided we fall