There are six prevalent myths taught about American history over pivotal matters of importance. Call them humanist tall tales, if you wish. They’re as fictional and sensational as the wild stories of Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan with his big, blue ox, but unlike those American myths, these have long been presented as historical fact by the academic institutions of our fair land.
These myths have duped far too many Christians in our day, leading them to devote their efforts to combat the wrong things, or to give up the fight altogether. The purpose of this article is not to document, detail, and defend the historicity of these six myths, but rather to introduce and summarize them, and to point you to other resources that flesh out these myths more thoroughly and biblically answer them.
Myth 1: The Founding Fathers were deists
A deist is a person who believes in an absentee God. A deists believes that God created the world and then abandoned it for man to shape into whatever he liked (provided he didn’t violate certain “natural laws). While many schools and universities have taught for decades now that many or most of the founding fathers were deists, we are hard-pressed to find any clear example of a founding father who was a genuine deist. For quite a while Franklin and Jefferson were given this designation especially, but each of these men have been quoted in ways that clearly contradict the tenants of deism.
For example, Benjamin Franklin gave this famous quote at the constitutional convention which expressly contradictions the notion of an absentee God: “In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.- Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor.
“To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? 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. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel.”
Likewise, Jefferson made this statement concerning the continuance of slavery in America:
“Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever…”
These are not the professions of men who believed God is absent from the scene, does not have a revealed standard of morality, and that He will not take action to judge men by that standard. Thus, the two most popular candidates for deists among the founding fathers cannot accurately be considered deists.
Read the rest of this great story and the other myths at American Vision.
Sorry. So sorry.
You would only believe these myths if you did not check the facts.
Especially as regards deism: it is unwise to take quotes out of context, as has usually been done.
As to the civil war: yes, it was about centralization, but just as surely it was about trade, and taxes, and tariffs, and all that good stuff. Who was going to get the benefits of trade?
And as for evolution: it was a radical attempt to apply the Enlightenment to religion, and escape from the clutches of a Creator God. Darwin and his buds DID NOT want some God telling them what to do.
The objection to a Creator God continues to this day.
Myth #7
The USA is a democracy. The propaganda media calls it this to make us think of democrats.
I suggest that each of you ask your politicians and local news media that call the USA a democracy, why do they? I have asked most of the major propaganda media that question, and haven’t gotten an answer from ANY of them. I also suggest you ask your liberal friends the same question. If they don’t know the answer, have them recite the Pledge Of Allegiance, then ask them what type of government they pledged allegiance to. Also ask them what type of government their school teaches we are. I sent those questions out to almost everybody in my contacts.
Myth #6
@ Tom
I would say I told you so, but that is just petty. 🙂
The author American Vision’s stated mission is to “restore America to it’s Biblical foundation —from Genesis to Revelations”—-nuf said.
Who here,other than C.J., has read The Book Of Mormon? A very interesting read.
Franklin may well have changed his mind during the course of his life. He described himself as a deist in his autobiography, but that was written in 1771 – well before the Revolutionary war. The events of the next fifteen years, including America’s improbable victory, might well have restored the faith of his youth; the quote you give was delivered when he was an old man, a few years before his death.
As for Jefferson, I no longer care what he thought. The more one studies his life in depth the more it becomes clear that he was a dilettante with a genius for aphorism, and not much more.
The older I get, the more logical this appears to me. It does explain why so much evil happens in the world and nothing appears to be done about it. Evil rarely gets punished is how I see it.
I mean didn’t many a god-fearing Jew or Christian die in a Concentration camp despite all their prayers not to be killed? Why didn’t God answer their prayers? It means he doesn’t care or has, in fact, abandoned the world to it’s own devices.
Yeah, if they were deists that implies they were smart.
@bbartlog:
Improbable? You can’t be serious. England didn’t have the manpower to hold the American continent. Way too big. That war was a no-brainer as to who was going to win.
If you mean that in the long run, the colonies would surely become independent, I agree. But Britain was still strong enough that a lot of events had to break in favor of the American patriots in order for them to win at that point in time, and not all end up on the gallows. European politics allowed for our independence to come early, more or less.
It’s the long-run that counts, not the short run. The history of wars which go on long tend to favor the defender/insurgent.
Witness Afghanistan.