What does Christianity and the Bible have to do with the 4^th of July and the Declaration of Independence? Before we go there, let’s take a look at why we are here on this continent.

A few months back, Mike Stanford gave us a lesson on the Pilgrims. Were you paying attention?

We learned in school that the Pilgrims came here in 1620 for religious freedom. They had already found this freedom in Holland in 1618, but they also found something else. They found out that the people in Holland also had a very liberal view of the Bible. In 1620 the Pilgrims went back to England because they were afraid their children would learn this liberal view. They gathered supplies and sailed for America. I believe they were some of the first evangelist here.

On the first Thanksgiving there were about 100 Indians and 55 Pilgrims. Don’t you think those Pilgrims explained why they were giving thanks and who they were thanking? The things we say and do and the way we react to different situations are led by our beliefs. As Christians, our belief in God and Jesus Christ has an effect on our lives and the way we deal with the world around us.

This was the same for the Pilgrims and for our founding fathers. We can see this in the wording of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1946 a 29-year-old Kennedy said in a speech: “The informing spirit of the American character has always been a deep religious sense. Throughout the years down to the present, a devotion to fundamental religious principles has characterized American thought and action.”

To explain this, he said “Our government was founded on the essential religious idea of integrity of the individual. It was the religious sense which inspired the authors of the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”

In 1960 at his inaugural address he said: “The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forefathers fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.”

He was right. The Declaration of Independence has four separate references to God. Endowed by their Creator, the laws of natures God, an appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world, and firm reliance on the protection of divine province. These references to God aren’t a fluke, this shows who these men were.

They had a strong belief in God and they studied the Bible. Not just read it, studied it.