The Friendly Corner
Beloved Friends of Israel:
It gives me pleasure at this time to allow our son, Victor Jr., to be the guest columnist of The Friendly Corner. He was married to Darlene Brender last September. They live in Washington, D.C. where Victor has a position with the Government. We praise the Lord for what He has done in Victor’s life and that he and his wife love and serve Him.
Lydia Buksbazen
THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM
Freedom ranks after life itself as the quintessence of human experience. It defines the man. It stamps the divine image on him.
Yet, freedom is such a fragile thing, so easily lost, yet so hard to regain. It can be stripped from a people by a palace coup or by the seizure of a broadcasting facility or by the simple vote of a misguided electorate.
Very few nations in history have known or experienced true freedom. Tyranny, of whatever variety, is the natural outgrowth of the human race in its sinful state. We in the Western world did not acquire our freedom from royal charter, or by concession of Parliament. It was won, instead, by hard-bitten, psalm-singing, Bible-toting men and women who knew its cost only too well.
The so-called democracy of the ancient world was a farce. Greek culture was based upon slavery, as was that of the Roman Empire. Any form of rule by a select number-aristocracy, plutocracy, or monarchy, unless based upon popular will—is a tyranny.
No social or political revolution anywhere in the world has matched the blessings to mankind that have been produced by the free exercise of representative democracy. The Puritans are widely-ridiculed today for their inflexibility in the area of morality; however, let us not lose sight of their achievements.
Only in the last 350 years or so—thanks in large part to our God-fearing European ancestors—have men truly known what it means to be free. (It took them a long time to catch up with the message of Galatians 5:1).
Standing beside the Connecticut River in 1638, Thomas Hooker, one of the greatest of Puritan Christians, told the newly-established Connecticut General Court: “The choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people, of God’s allowance (direction) . . . the foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free consent of the people.”
In order to secure greater liberty and justice for all, democracy must be worked at and updated constantly. There are still imperfections in the American way of life. The Constitution has already been amended 26 times, and will undoubtedly be amended many more times. The same is also true of the charters of Britain, Canada, and Australia.
One of the primary differences between an ascriptive society, where laws are handed down unchanged and unquestioned from generation to generation; and a democracy, is that the structure of government in the latter is never closed to constructive change.
But a hot-eyed, dissident element representative of only a fraction of today’s idealistic youth (with a sprinkling of Dr. Spocks and Chaplain Coffins thrown in for good measure) is now on the move throughout the land. Working in conjunction with the rebellion in some urban areas, they are urging for 1972 “a massive revolutionary youth movement which could seriously disrupt America and thus be a catalyst for the internal breakdown of the American ability and will to fight guerrillas overseas.” As reported recently in CHRISTIANITY TODAY, they call for a refusal to pay taxes, massive traffic tie-ups, the breakdown of homes, paralysis of education, etc., etc.
In Soviet Europe, for instance, a person can be sentenced to death for demonstrating against government policy.
What they do not realize, cannot realize, until it is too late, is that no representative form of government can withstand continual uproar in the marketplace. To plunge a free nation into social chaos is not only to gain nothing, but to lose everything as well.
Somewhere along the garden path these “social guerrillas,” as they call themselves, have been given an historical snow job. With no discernible understanding of how our freedom was wrested from hostile tyrants by brave men at great personal sacrifice, they have been taught that the United States and her allies are the enemies of the “little people” of the world. They have been led to believe that a wonderful free life awaits them behind the Iron Curtain. And what is perhaps the gravest error of all, they have been indoctrinated into thinking that they will ride into history on a white charger, seize power without any by-your-leave of God or man, and set the world right side up again.
Then they scream about police brutality when they are prevented from carrying out their illegal missions. If they would take a good look at themselves in the mirror of God’s Word, they would realize that their own actions are far more brutal.
The youth of this country forms the mainspring of the future. Most of them, by far, are satisfied to complete their education or training, to settle down to jobs and raising families, to contribute something worthwhile.
The times call for men and women who are determined not to give away this delicate, precious, growing thing called freedom. They call for young people and older ones, too, who have a vision, a burning passion in their hearts, who want to make their lives count for Christ and for their fellow man. Let each one stand and be counted; and let him call upon the God of our fathers to give him courage in the heat of battle. And may every Christian take to heart the words of his Master: “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)
