50 States

A big deal is made about how the Constitution doesn't mention "God" - and a made-up idea of this supposed "Separation of Church and State" is insinuated from it as well. The truth of the matter is that the Federal Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

So, yesterday, I came across this on the Internet and checked out a few of them and found them all to be true (at least the random ones I checked). See what the 50 individual states have to say in their constitutions. Enjoy:

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Alabama 1901, Preamble - We the people of the State of Alabama, invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God , do ordain and establish the following Constitution.

Alaska 1956, Preamble - We, the people of Alaska, grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land.

Arizona 1911, Preamble - We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution.

Arkansas 1874, Preamble - We, the people of the State of Arkansas, grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of choosing our own form of government...

California 1879, Preamble - We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom.

Colorado 1876, Preamble - We, the people of Colorado, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of Universe.

Connecticut 1818, Preamble - The People of Connecticut, acknowledging with gratitude the good Providence of God in permitting them to enjoy.

Delaware 1897, Preamble - Through Divine Goodness all men have, by nature, the rights of worshipping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences.

Florida 1885, Preamble - We, the people of the State of Florida, grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, establish this Constitution.

Georgia 1777, Preamble - We, the people of Georgia, relying upon protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution...

Hawaii 1959, Preamble - We, the people of Hawaii, Grateful for Divine Guidance .. establish this Constitution.

Idaho 1889, Preamble - We, the people of the State of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings.

Illinois 1870, Preamble - We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.

Indiana 1851, Preamble - We, the People of the State of Indiana, grateful to Almighty God for the free exercise of the right to chose our form of government.

Iowa 1857, Preamble - We, the People of the State of Iowa, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of these blessings establish this Constitution.

Kansas 1859, Preamble - We, the people of Kansas, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious privileges establish this Constitution.

Kentucky 1891, Preamble - We, the people of the Commonwealth are grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties...

Louisiana 1921, Preamble - We, the people of the State of Louisiana, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy.

Maine 1820, Preamble - We the People of Maine acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity ... and imploring His aid and direction.

Maryland 1776, Preamble - We, the people of the state of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty...

Massachusetts 1780, Preamble - We...the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe...in the course of His Providence, an opportunity and devoutly imploring His direction

Michigan 1908, Preamble - We, the people of the State of Michigan, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of freedom establish this Constitution.

Minnesota, 1857, Preamble - We, the people of the S tate of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty, and desiring to perpetuate its blessings:

Mississippi 1890, Preamble - We, the people of Mississippi in convention assembled, grateful to Almighty God, and invoking His blessing on our work.

Missouri 1845, Preamble - We, the people of Missouri, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and grateful for His goodness . establish this Constitution ...

Montana 1889, Preamble - We, the people of Montana, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty establish this Constitution ...

Nebraska 1875, Preamble - We, the people, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom .. establish this Constitution.

Nevada 1864, Preamble - We the people of the State of Nevada, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom establish this Constitution ...

New Hampshire 1792, Part I. Art. I. Sec. V. - Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.

New Jersey 1844, Preamble - We, the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.

New Mexico 1911, Preamble - We, the People of New Mexico, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty

New York 1846, Preamble - We, the people of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings.

North Carolina 1868, Preamble - We the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for our civil, political, and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those .

North Dakota 1889, Preamble - We, the people of North Dakota, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, do ordain...

Ohio 1852, Preamble - We the people of the state of Ohio, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and to promote our common

Oklahoma 1907, Preamble - Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessings of liberty ... establish this ..

Oregon 1857, Bill of Rights, Article I. Section 2 - All men shall be secure in the Natural right, to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences..

Pennsylvania 1776, Preamble - We, the people of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance

Rhode Island 1842, Preamble - We the People of the State of Rhode Island grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing

South Carolina, 1778, Preamble - We, the people of he State of South Carolina grateful to God for our liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

South Dakota 1889, Preamble - We, the people of South Dakota, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberties ...

Tennessee 1796, Art. XI.III. - That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their conscience...

Texas 1845, Preamble - We the People of the Republic of Texas, acknowledging, with gratitude, the grace and beneficence of God.

Utah 1896, Preamble - Grateful to Almighty God for life and liberty, we establish this Constitution.

Vermont 1777, Preamble - Whereas all government ought to ... enable the individuals who compose it to enjoy their natural rights, and other blessings which the Author of Existence has bestowed on man ..

Virginia 1776, Bill of Rights, XVI. - Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator .. can be directed only by Reason ... and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love and Charity towards each other .

Washington 1889, Preamble - We the People of the State of Washington, grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution.

West Virginia 1872, Preamble - Since through Divine Providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, we, the people of West Virginia reaffirm our faith in and constant reliance upon God ...

Wisconsin 1848, Preamble - We, the people of Wisconsin, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, domestic tranquility

Wyoming 1890, Preamble - We, the people of the State of Wyoming, grateful to God for our civil, political, and religious liberties .. establish this Constitution.

- lapsarian

Ok, this is going to be fun... From what I have read, there are 2 different views of Calvinism: "Supralapsarian" and "Infralapsarian or Sublapsarian." Raise your hand if you had ever heard this before...

I am going to be speaking without citing actual sources. I'm going based on my ignorant understanding. That means, I could be wrong :) This is just me keeping up to date in the book I'm reading as the chapter on Unconditional Election is 165 pages long or so - a book in itself. Anyway,

Supralapsarian is the belief that God ordained that He would be merciful to some of the world, those that He elected, by sending Jesus Christ to save them. After He ordained that, He ordained the Fall of Adam in order to bring about the need for the mercy... Essentially, the Decree of the cross made God have to decree the Fall of man. I understand that A.W. Pink called himself Supralapsarian.

(By the way, I mentioned a few posts ago, that if you double-click on any of the words on my blog, you can get a dictionary definition for those words. Perhaps this would come in handy for this post!)

Infralapsarianism or Sublapsarianism is the belief that God, as a result of the Fall, decreed that He would be save some of the world, those whom He elected, by the mercy of the cross.

So, the Supras would say that God determined who was going to go to Heaven and who was going to go to Hell based on His good pleasure - and then caused Adam to eat the fruit in order to show His goodness on some and His severity on others. The Infras would say Adam sinned, and put man into condemnation, God then determined who He was going to save and left the rest to their own sins...

I'm writing this down more for my own sake - it's easier to understand something if you have to explain it to someone else! I may not even post this, but if you're reading it, then I probably did!

Independence Day

I am thankful that a group of men were willing to stand up to the Britain army and give their lives for the liberation of these united states. They were willing to give their lives for this new nation, for their home. Soldiers in this country today are still willing to give up their lives to protect the liberty of their home land. They have literally given up their lives in order to defend their country, and they have been willing to die for it as well.

Our citizenship is in Heaven. Soldiers in this spiritual battle have died for their home country for which they are ambassadors. Let's be sure to live for our King. Thank God for America. I am proud to be an American... unfortunately. (I say unfortunately because pride really is never a good thing - ask God.) But to whom much is given, much shall be required.

Happy Independence Day!!!

Pierced

I was reading the last three chapters of John to my kids last night. It is obviously the account of the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two things caught my attention that were kind of related... Forgive the length of this post, but I am dispatching today, so I have more time to write!

The first thing: when they wanted Pilate to take the bodies down, Pilate had to make sure that they were dead first. He dispatched his soldiers to do the task. From what I understand, usually they would break the legs which would cause the crucified person not to be able to lift himself up anymore and would then suffocate to death. However, for Scripture to be fulfilled, they saw that Jesus was dead already. There was this completely dead body on this cross, just hanging there. Some people would like to make the claim that Jesus was not really dead all the way, but was just in an unconscious state and was revived later in the tomb. But this Roman soldier that was given the task of making sure Jesus was dead, recognized that this was a dead body on the tree.

As I was picturing this scene, I just see this man coming up to the cross. He sees the body just hanging there. There's no more efforts by this One in the middle to lift His body up to support His weight any more, like the thieves on His sides are struggling. They are probably both looking at this soldier coming over to them - knowing that what he is going to do will put an end to their lives. I doubt they had much hope of escape at that point, but this man approaching them would have put an end to any glimmer of hope they did have left. What was going through the mind of the thief that had rejected Christ just a little while earlier? Was he begging this soldier to spare him? Did he still have the strength to scream for terror? What was going through the mind of the thief that had been mocking Christ, but then later repented and was given a promise to be with Christ in paradise? Did he welcome the soldier? Did it put a smile on his face to see him? I wonder...

But the soldier approaches Christ and sees the body is dead. He walks up to It with his spear and with complete disrespect for Who it was, he jabs the spear into the side of this corpse. The body doesn't move, but blood and water come out. If only this soldier knew that that blood was shed for the remission of his very sins. I started contemplating once again about the cross, and how Jesus blood was shed for me and for my sin. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I am just as vile as the thief that rejected Christ. I am just as vile as the thief that for nothing good that he had done was promised to be with Christ in paradise!

Hallelujah though that after that, we know that three days later, the tomb was empty! Three days later the question was asked, Why do you seek the Living among the dead? Three days later, God manifested Himself in glorified flesh! We are told that He appeared then to 10 disciples (Judas having died and Thomas being absent).

The second thing that stuck out to me was Thomas. When he was told about Christ appearing to the 10, his response was, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." Those wounds, including the same wound in His side that the soldier put there, are the same wounds that were put there for Thomas's sin too.

I think we can look at Thomas in light of salvation: Until a man sees the wounds in Jesus that were caused by his own sins, he will not believe. It's like the man that talked to Shannon Young after having seen the movie, The Passion of the Christ, and Shannon asked him if he understood the movie. His answer was, I don't get why they were beating this guy just because of His preaching... Shannon had the great opportunity to explain that the wounds were for us, not just because of His preaching.

In our lives though too, we need to look at the wounds that we put into Christ. Like the Roman soldier who with complete disregard, thrust his spear into the side of the Creator of the universe, we also, with complete disregard to the Creator have rebelled against Him. We need to see the wounds; we need to know the resurrected Savior.

"Man of sorrows" - What a name for the Son of God, who came to reclaim ruined sinners! Hallelujah! What a Savior!

KJV-Only Reason # 4

Ok, the fourth reason that I am KJV-Only, is to me, the most important topic in this discussion. (http://hindsey.blogspot.com/2007/06/kjv-only-reason-1.html for more details)

Reason # 4: Because the KJV was translated from the Most and Best manuscripts

If anyone has been following these reasons, you should have picked up on it by now, that the other translation is not just an "updated language" version of the Bible, but rather it is translated from a different set of texts.

The two Primary manuscripts (a Manuscript is a Hand-Written document) that are used in support for the other translation are the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus. They have the privilege of being two of the oldest manuscripts and two of the most complete ancient manuscripts that are in known existence today. In 1881, the first edition of the other translation came out in New Testament form: the Revised Version. This was supposed to be an update to the language, but instead had a new Greek text introduced that was based on readings from these two manuscripts - mind you, these two manuscripts very often did not agree with themselves, yet were still given the weight in deciding which reading to go with.

These two manuscripts left out whole passages like the last 12 verses of the Gospel of Mark, and 12 verses from John 7:53 to 8:11. Dean Burgon back in the late 1900s wrote an entire book demonstrating the certainty that the last 12 verses of Mark were original and needed to be included in the Gospel. He essentially showed that these two ancient manuscripts were flawed in a major way when it came to that point. However, they are still being accepted and used for the other translation.

It is true that there are some more manuscripts that support the readings found in those other two corrupted manuscripts, but when you compare it to more than 5,000 manuscripts that disagree with them, I wonder why this is still even an issue.

This change of texts behind the translations explains why the other translation leaves out those sections of Scripture mentioned before. That's why some 17 verses throughout the New Testament are not found in the other translation. That's why important phrases are not found, talking about the Blood of Christ and some on Fasting. Along with changing phrases that would support the Deity of Jesus Christ (see 1 Timothy 3:16, 1 John 5:7).