Providential Declaration

(Updated 07/10/09 from a previous article, most recently published 03/02/08 )

Political and social secularists have used the absence of certain Christian terms in our nation’s Founding Documents to support their agenda. These humanists suggest regardless of the Founders’ personal beliefs, they sought to form a government founded on more “enlightened,” secular principals, which reject religion as superstition. (For more information on secularism, see www.secularhumanism.org.)

The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, progressives note, do not contain terms such as: Jesus Christ, the Ten Commandments, the Bible, or a Christian Republic. This, they postulate, is evidence the original intent of the Founders was to form a secular society and government, rather than one founded on Christian doctrine and principles. They concede there are references to a supreme being, such as Creator, and Providence, but claim these terms are general terms, non-specific to a particular religion.

Well…not so fast!

It has traditionally been common throughout Christianity to refer to God and to Jesus Christ, rather than by name, by describing the way He is affecting one’s life at the moment. There are many different names for Jesus, such as Savior, Shepherd, The Word, and Divine Providence. John Wesley, a Christian minister very influential in both England and America, and the founder of modern-day Methodism, routinely referred to Christ as Divine Providence relative to man’s need to exercise faith and obedience to God’s Will. This term was common among Christians in the 17th and 18th centuries, and was used by the Founders in the Declaration of Independence:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Was this a general term for a supreme being, non-specific to any particular religion? Let’s pause and go back – way back. Back before the Puritans sailed to North America to escape the Age of Enlightenment, before the Protestants protested, and before there was a Church to be kept separate from the state…even back about 4,000 years before Jesus was born. Around 6,000 years ago, the birth of Jesus Christ was the manifestation of God to man, was prophesied to Abraham in a very dramatic illustration of sacrifice and atonement. Because of Abraham’s unquestioning faith and obedience to God, it was prophesied the Messiah of the world would be his descendant. In gratitude for God’s provision of both an immediate sacrifice for his own sins, and God’s eventual sacrifice for the sins of the human race, Abraham referred to God as Jehova Jireh, (Genesis 22:1-14) which roughly translates into modern English, as The Lord will Provide or Divine Providence.

The Founders chose the name Divine Providence for a reason. They believed they were fulfilling the Will of God in forming this new government. This name expressed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and gratitude for His guidance, direction, and protection in the formation of this new government.