Saturday, September 19, 2009

Thoughts on Government

I decided to start my Government for this year, even though I am not finished with Economics. It is definitely feeding my interest that I have in Government/American history (though present politics can stress me if I let it. ;-) ) I am always intrigued when I read about the Christian foundations of America, and my heart goes out to those people who have suffered under the governments that have forsaken God. How terrible it is that our nation is heading in the same direction as many of those other nations which were so swiftly, so suddenly overtaken by the monsters of Socialism and Communism. Allow me to share a couple random thoughts from my Government (American Government in Christian Perspective, Second Edition; A Beka Book).


"Victor Hugo has left to us a bit of interesting history concerning Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo. On the morning of the battle, the little dictator stood gazing upon the field of battle as he described to his commanding officer his strategy for that day's campaign:
'We will put the infantry here, the cavalry there, the artillery there. At the end of the day, England will be at the feet of France and Wellington
will be prisoner of Napoleon.'
After a pause, the commanding officer said, 'But we must not forget that man propose
s but God disposes.'
With arrogant pride the little dictator stretched his body to full height and replied, 'I want you to understand, sir, that Napoleon proposes and Napoleon disposes.'
Hugo went on to write,
'From that moment Waterloo was lost, for God sent rain and hail so that th
e troops of Napoleon could not maneuver as he had planned, and on the night of battle it was Napoleon who was prisoner of Wellington, and France was at the feet of England.'" (-Lehman Strauss, page 16)



"The appeal of socialism is to human weakness-- the desire to avoid responsibility and the craving for material gain. It offers security as a substitute for opportunity, and the price is freedom." (-Charles B. Shuman, page 22)



"Is there hope for the future? Because of the satanic character of Communism, there is ultimately no help or hope in merely human resources. Communism is an ideology, a religion, a philosophy of life. It is useless to oppose Communism with something as nebulous as 'Americanism' or 'the free enterprise system'. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn has eloquently a
nd forcefully said, Communism arose because 'men have forgotten God.' The battle against Communism is basically spiritual and will be won only by spiritual resources-- belief in the reality of God and the Christian perspective of life. The antidote for world Communism is world evangelism. It is to take our Lord's words seriously when He commissioned His followers to disciple the nations. Only a life of vigorous, vital, vibrant Christianity in the life of a nation can overcome Communism from within and without." (page 33)

1 comment:

Amanda said...

I'd forgotten those quotes! They're really good!

WV: Glicro