Happy Independence Day!! I hope you all had a great 4th of July and were able to spend time with family and friends this weekend. We had family over and once again had a beautiful day. Our Sunday worship service included many patriotic songs that spoke of our country’s first 100 years and the idea that this nation was created and sustained as a nation founded on Christian principles. That will be the subject of the 2014 Awaken class curriculum that I am working on now.

For today’s blog, though, I want to turn attention to Oz Guinness and his latest book–“A Free People’s Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future”. In this book, Guinness–much like Alexis de Tocqueville did in the early 1800’s–provides an outsider’s view (Guinness is British) on what is taking place in America today. I think his commentary is very astute and worth a look as we celebrate our 237th birthday.

Guinness says the United States was founded upon what he calls the “Triangle of Freedom”. In his words, “America’s founders stressed three interlinked ideals intended to cycle through each other ad infinitum. Their sustainable model looked like this: Freedom requires virtue; virtue requires faith; and faith requires freedom.”

So, how are we doing right now in terms of nurturing freedom, virtue, and faith? Again, in Guinness’s words, “Today, all three themes of the triangle are under assault. The American view of freedom has shifted from positive (freedom for [or freedom of] to negative (freedom from).”

So, how are we to live? I would say it goes back to last week’s blog. We need to realize that we live in a fallen land that is in need of being redeemed to Christ. We also need to remember that America was founded on the principles of natural law which takes it shape from a Judeo-Christian worldview. We have a charge from God to go and make disciples. We need to be about the work of redemption and we need to do that in the culture at-large and not just in our Christian circles.

This week’s challenge is to think on the “Triangle of Freedom”. What are your thoughts? Is Guinness right that America was founded on these principles? Are those principles under attack now? If so, how?

More to come…
Jeremy