Vol. 3, No. 2
God and The First Amendment
Written by
Christopher Mentzer
As
the highest law of the land, the Bill of Rights must be enforced. Any
official, appointed or elected at any level of government and guilty of any
violation of an individual's rights under the first ten Amendments, must be
arrested, tried, and punished. The highest -- the only -- priority of public
officials must be to enforce the Bill of Rights, and that's the only criterion
by which they should be judged. The same "Bill of Rights Enforcement"
policy would shut down all government activity, and nullify all laws and
regulations, not specifically authorized under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments
to the Constitution.
My comment:I'll agree with what you've said in conjunction with the Bill of Rights, but there is a law higher than that of the Constitution, and that is the Law of Christ. A universal law for everyone on this planet, not just this country. Not only that, but people abuse God's
Law much more than they do the Bill of Rights.
My
Response inserted in his comments:
You are certainly entitled to entertain this belief,
Chris, but be aware that others are not obliged to do so, and that's exactly
what the Founding Fathers were thinking of when the First Amendment was
written.
The notion of an overarching, purely secular society is a good and powerful
one. It means that you can exercise your beliefs in your home, your church,
your community, yet work together productively at other times, in other places,
with those who hold different religious beliefs -- or even none at all.
Neil, I'm surprised at your
comment. You said I have the right to these beliefs and yet you restrict
me to my own area. Have you forgotten that "Freedom of Speech"
is part of the 1st Amendment? Are you saying I have no right to come to
your community, your church, and your home and preach the gospel? By the
way, I don't have a church it belongs to Jesus (Acts 20: 28; Eph. 1: 22-23;
Col. 1: 18)
This desire of "You believe what you
want and I'll believe what I want" is one of the reasons this country is
falling apart. Jesus prayed for unity in John 17: 20-21. Even the
Apostle Paul affirmed this in 1 Cor. 1: 10 in which he writes, "Now I beseech
you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the
same thing and `that' there be no divisions among you; but `that' ye be
perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment."
Your statement of everyone believe what
they want and just get along is what is known as "Unity in
Diversity". Both Jesus and Paul stood against such a belief.
A principal trouble with our culture at this minute
is that so many individuals think they have a right to impose their beliefs on
others by force. Moslems often believe it, but so do creatures like George
Bush.
I'll agree the use of force is not a positive effort
but what of your website? It says enforcement of the Bill of
Rights? Isn't that the same thing? I've noticed you chose the
Moslems with all the terrorist activity happening in the last few years but
what of the Catholic Church who force people to confess their sins to a priest?
Or the Mormon Church who go door to door demanding people that it's their way
or Hell? There are dozens of other churches who force their beliefs on
others. I don't force my beliefs on others because my beliefs aren't
important. It's God's Word that's important. I hope you consider
what I've said and even look up the verses I've provided you with.
It is my sincere hope that people will learn to keep
their religion in their pants and relate to one another in benevolant and
amiable ways.
Once again Neil, you squash my right to Freedom of
Speech. The idea to preach the gospel in public is to show there is no
secret agenda and that it's for all individuals who choose to hear it. (Acts
26: 26: 17:11) View my website and you might learn some things you didn't
before. Chris