June 2010 –How important is America’s past to her future?

All together now, everyone say, “Very important.” Agreed?

Then take a few minutes and test your readiness to pass along our nation’s heritage to your progeny using the following10 questions. Answers are below.

1.In the Declaration of Independence, the source of our “inalienable rights” is:

a) the government
b) the church
c) the Creator 
d) the courts

2. The First Amendment imposes limitations on:

a) the President
b) the states
c) the Supreme Court
d) the Congress

3. Separation of church and state is a doctrine found in:

a) the Declaration of Independence
b) the Constitution
c) the Bill of Rights
d) all of the above
e) none of the above

4. Examining the writing of our nation’s founders, researchers found that one-third of their quotations came from:

a) French Enlightenment writers
b) the Bible
c) political speeches
d) European philosophers

5. The movement in Europe that set the stage for the formation of an American republic was:

a) the Protestant Reformation
b) the French Enlightenment
c) the Great Awakening

6. Colleges that have their origins in Christianity include:

a) Harvard
b) Yale
c) Princeton
d) William and Mary
e) all of these
f) none of these

7. Whose likeness is seen on both the Supreme Court Building and in the Library of Congress?

a) George Washington
b) Thomas Jefferson
c) Moses
d) The Apostle Paul

8.The national anthem is:

a) America, the Beautiful
b) Star-Spangled Banner
c) God, Bless America
d) My Country ’Tis of Thee

9. The first act of the Continental Congress was to:

a) write the Declaration of Independence
b) pray
c) elect a president
d) levy taxes

10. The colors of our flag signify:

a) the virtues of purity, valor and vigilance
b) blood, sweat and tears
c) Washington, Jefferson and Franklin

OK, how did you do? Do you need to brush up on your early American history? It’s not that difficult if you are willing to invest a few minutes a week to nurture a love of America that will motivate your children or grandchildren to take our unique Christian heritage into the future.

Steve Brezenski thinks you should make that sacrifice because at stake are the central freedoms that have made America a beacon of liberty among the nations of the world. Brezenski is the author of Little People Little Patriots: Saving America One Child at a Time (Author-house, 2009). His book helps parents instruct their children in the concepts of liberty and freedom unique to America. He compiled the book from lessons developed for his six children.

“If we don’t know what our freedoms are and where they came from,” he said, “then we will set them aside and assume the government will take care of us.”

As a great experiment in self-government, Brezenski believes Americans share a responsibility to maintain the Republic. Much of that task involves instructing our children in the basics of American history, as well as the principles and philosophies that inspired her founding documents.

He is also convinced that parents cannot count on public schools to do the job, particularly when it comes to imparting an appreciation for the pre-eminent contribution of Christianity to the founding of the nation. Therefore the responsibility rightly falls to families.

“Besides, for better or worse, we as parents are our children’s first and most effective teachers,” he wrote in his book. “What better place for a child to learn to love her country than on her daddy’s knee?”

Little People Little Patriots is aimed at helping parents fulfill that responsibility. It is divided into 52 short chapters, each discussing a principle that citizens need to understand, and it features quotations from the Founding Fathers. Chapter titles include: “We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident,” “Government Gets Its Power from The People,” “Gratitude,” “Remember,” and “Federal Power is Limited.”

With a similar commitment to help families pass on the truth of America’s godly heritage to future generations, Peter Lillback, Ph.D., offers Lessons on Liberty: A Primer for Young Patriots.

He contends that a nation that embraces Christian teaching makes for a public square that is more charitable and kind, which leads to a society where liberty thrives for Christians and non-Christians alike. Conversely, a culture influenced by Muslim jihad terrorism or hostile atheism, for example, leads to antagonism toward those who have differing beliefs.

Lillback is the president of both the Providence Forum and Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and senior pastor at Proclamation Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

“Christians are foolish to give away their heritage and in the process lose the benefits of the cultural impact of Christianity,” he said.

His Lessons on Liberty uses a simple alphabet poem to summarize the fundamental principles of American liberty. Each two-page spread contains three elements: 1) the definition of a key term taken from Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language; 2) selections from early American educational tools such as the Bible (particularly the book of Proverbs) or Poor Richard’s Almanack; and 3) quotations and surprising facts about the nation’s founding.

In addition, the 80-page large-format book contains activity pages and cutouts for young students.

Rightly rendering allegiance
How do Christian parents teach their children to love their country and at the same time not compromise their ultimate allegiance to Christ and His Gospel?

Lillback sees no conflict. He asserts that when Christians proclaim their love for America – a nation with distinctively Christian roots – and work to promote biblical principles in society, they are fulfilling scriptural mandates.

“Jesus taught us to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s,” he explained. “So we have a duty to both the civil society and the kingdom of God. And we don’t choose one over the other.”

The idea of rejecting this world for heaven leads to pietism, Lillback said. On the other hand, rejecting heaven for the world leads to secularism.

“True Christianity, following the example of Augustine and Calvin and the Reformers, says we are not called to choose one or the other; Christians are called to do both because God has made both. God is both Creator and Redeemer,” he said.

In addition, Lillback sees patriotism as an expression of the two great commandments (Matthew 22:36-44). “If we truly love God, we are going to care about eternity. And if we truly love our neighbor, we are going to care about the civil society our neighbors live in,” he said. “Particularly, we are going to care about the person who is being dealt with unjustly, the person who is being over-controlled by the government or singled out in some way for abuse.”

Making history live
In addition to teaching children from written resources, both Brezenski and Lillback promote family experiences that help move history off the pages of textbooks and into real life.

Brezenski, who lives in Montana, said his family recently traveled east to visit Revolutionary War sites including York-town, Virginia, where his wife’s forefathers had battled for the nation’s independence.

“At night, we would read the stories about our children’s ancestors who fought right there where they were sitting,” he said. “History is a story and it can come alive for your children in an experience like that.”

With that same goal in mind, the Providence Forum offers historical tours of Philadelphia that highlight the true account of how America was founded in prayer and devotion to God.

The tour recounts the “rich, compelling, and proud history of the men and women who applied their Judeo-Christian worldview to laying the foundation for the longest surviving republican democracy in the world,” according to the Web site. (See resources below.)

But nurturing a deeper appreciation for the nation’s history, as essential as that may be, is not the ultimate goal of patriotism, at least for Christians, according to Lillback.

He said for Christians who understand America’s biblical foundations, patriotism must find its anchor in the love of God turned outward in self denial and concern for a greater good than ourselves.

“Patriotism is the affection of love turned altruistically for the good of one’s neighbor and ultimately for the glory of God,” he said. “This is something we need to teach. But more importantly, we need to live it.”   

Answers
1. c      2. d  
3. e      4. b
5. a      6. e
7. c      8. b
9.b      10. a

____________________
RESOURCES
✪ Little Patriots Little People: Saving America One Child at a Time by Steve Brezenski. Order at www.authorhouse.com.
✪ Lessons on Liberty: A Primer for Young Patriots by Peter Lillback and Judy Mitchell. Order at www.providenceforum.org/lessonsonliberty.
✪ Philadelphia Faith and Freedom – a walking and riding tour of important historical sites guided by Peter Lillback. www.philadelphiafaithandfreedom/historicaltour.
✪ American Heritage Series 10 DVD collection by David Barton. Order at afastore.net. For a review of this series, see AFA Journal Nov/Dec, 2008.
✪ Spiritual Heritage Tour of Washington, D.C. See spiritualheritagetours.com.
✪ The Rebirth of America, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, editor. Out-of-print but available in limited quantities at Amazon.com and other used book stores.