大使命47
瞭解美國例外論2
上週我們開始提到『美國例外論』的概念，或是什麼讓美國不同於其他國家，直到最近。在過去幾十年，美國遠離使它例外的因素，別的國家卻開始擁抱使美國例外的事物。可以理解的是，當我們衰弱時他們卻興旺。
美國例外論的首要原因，是尊榮神的根基深植在我們的政府和文化裡。人受造裡的神基本形象正是神創造力的表現，人越親近神就越有創造力。不管修訂歷史的專家如何改變我們的歷史，這就是美國的根基。真正的創造力需要自由，這即是何以聖經告訴我們：『主的靈在哪裡，那裡就得以自由』（參考哥林多後書3:17）。
許多國家提倡宗教自由，但那和真實尊榮並歡迎神是不同的，正如我們在啟示錄三章20節看見，在這世代主若不被歡迎，祂是不會進到祂自己的家─教會。美國大部分的歷史是歡迎神、愛神、尊榮祂並在我們所做的每件事上邀請祂。當我們從六零年代初期告訴祂，我們不再歡迎祂了，祂就開始離開。你可以留意美國從那時開始走下坡。
另一個美國例外論的基本方式，在於我們是第一個鼓吹『民有，民治，民享』的現代政府。美國是地上第一個政府為人民而存在的國家，而不是倒過來。它是第一個致力於個人價值並保護個人權利的政府，此釋放一個前所未有的豐盛和進步，因為它釋放人民成為他們被造的樣式。
此個人價值的基本原則在於個人擁有私有產業的權利並且受到保護，倘若某人建造某樣東西，政府就會保護他們首創精神和/或創新的果子。這樣做被視為對的事情和公平的事情，正如詩篇八十九篇14節告訴我們，公義和公平是祂寶座的根基，這些都是神國度的根基，這即是何以神的國真的會有私人產業。在神的經濟裡『義人必享福樂，因為要吃自己行為所結的果子』（參考以賽亞書3:10）。
這是應許之地的基本原則，在那裡以色列的每個家庭都擁有自己的土地，他們可以吃自己勞力所結的果子。要擁有此祝福，他們也被要求顧念窮人，與他們一起分享祝福。然而，他們這麼做是出於自己的主動，以致於他們的善行也出於個人，施受二方同得激勵。
正如我們先前所談論的，美國第一代的英國殖民者曾有一個共享的園子，在頭兩年裡，有半數的殖民者幾乎要餓死。到了第三年，每一個殖民者都有一小塊地耕種，並要吃自己耕種的果子，從此之後再也沒有人餓肚子。生產力與個人的主動性息息相關；我們應該單為共同利益效力，這聽起來非常有理想，卻根本做不到，未來也一樣，因為我們並不是如此被造。神沒有那樣造我們，是因為個人的主動性帶來個人的責任或管家職分。此外，唯有我們擁有，我們才能給，這對經歷愛和善舉而言是必須的。
與此相反的，馬克斯主義被建造在一個基本謬論上，就是『個人毫無價值』，不應擁有私人產業。這完全不管用，只會讓人貧窮，未來也是如此。然而，許多人繼續證明愛因斯坦對瘋狂的定義─不斷重複做相同的事，卻又期待不同的結果。
(摘自喬納 word for the week, Week 47, 2013)
The Great Commission, Week 47
Understanding American Exceptionalism Part 2, Week 47
Rick Joyner
Last week we began to address the concept of “American Exceptionalism,” or what made America different from all other nations, at least until recently. In the last few decades, America has been turning from what made it an exception while other nations have begun to embrace what had made America exceptional. This understandably coincides with our decline and their advances.
The first reason for American Exceptionalism was the foundational honoring of God the Creator that was sown into our government and our culture. The basic image of God in which man was created was the expression of God’s creativity. The closer man gets to God, the more creative he will be. Regardless of how revisionist historians have changed our history, this was a basic foundation in America. True creativity requires liberty, which is why we are told that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (see II Corinthians 3:17).
Many nations have promoted religious freedom, but there is a difference between that and truly honoring God and welcoming Him. As we see in Revelation 3:20, in this age the Lord will not even enter His own house, the church, if He is not wanted. For most of its history America wanted God, loved God, honored Him, and invited Him into almost everything we did. When we started telling Him we did not want Him anymore, beginning in the early 1960’s, He began to leave. You can mark the American slide from that time. Another basic way that America was an exception was that we were the first modern government that was “of the people, for the people, and by the people.” It was the first country on earth where the government existed for the people and not the other way around. It was the first government based on the devotion to the value of the individual and the protection of the rights of the individual. This released an unprecedented prosperity and advancement because it released people to be who they were created to be.
Fundamental to this value of the individual was the individual’s right to own private property and have it protected. If someone built something, then the government would protect the fruit of their initiative and/or innovation. This was considered both the right thing to do and the just thing to do. As we are told in Psalm 89:14, righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne. These are the foundations of the kingdom of God, which is why in the kingdom of God there will actually be private property. In God’s economy “the righteous will receive the results of their own work” (see Isaiah 3:10).
This was a fundamental principle of the Promised Land where the families of Israel were each given their own land, and they could eat the fruit of their own labor. As a part of the blessing of this, they were also required to consider the poor and share their blessings with them. However, it was by their own initiative that they did this so that charity was also personal, uplifting those receiving the charity as well as the charitable.
As we covered earlier, when the first English colony in America had a communal garden, in its first two years, half of the colonists starved to death each year. In the third year when each colonist was given his own plot of ground to plant and eat from, no one ever starved in that colony again. Productivity is vitally connected to personal initiative. As idealistic as it may sound that we should all work only for the common good, this has never worked, and it never will, because we were not made that way. We were not made that way because personal initiative leads to personal responsibility, or stewardship. Also, only when we have something can we give something, which is necessary for experiencing love and charity.
In contrast to this, Marxism is built upon the basic fallacies that “the individual has no value,” and there shall be no private property. This has never worked except to impoverish people, and it never will work. Yet there are many who continue to prove Einstein’s definition of insanity—doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.
