God & Self-Government

Today was a productive day at Eagle Forum. I posted a blog post about Senator Rand Paul here, if you would be so kind as to check it out! A few words about Rand Paul: in my blog post, I included a youtube video of the Senator literally demolishing a woman from the Department of Energy over whether the government should be able to tell you what kind of light bulbs to buy to put in your house. (He points out, lucidly, that an administration that is so pro "choice" when it comes to human life is staunchly NOT pro "choice" when it comes to choosing one's lightbulbs.) In other words, the government thinks you're capable of making the choice as to whether to terminate an unborn life, but when it comes to choosing light bulbs, that's a decision left up to Uncle Sam. 


I also posted a link to a video I made of Paul's CPAC speech on the EFC blog (my first time using iMovie, and I loved it! There will be many more similar videos to come on the efcollegians Youtube channel!). But, here's a quote from Senator Paul's speech that, in working on this blog post today, has stayed with me since I heard it in Chicago last weekend: 

“And when they come to retrieve from my freedom and the fruits of my labor, I will reply that no man, and no government can take my freedom. My freedom predates government. My freedom comes from my Creator, and preexists before all schemes that attempt to confine and restrict it.”

It's good to be reminded of this, especially in the politically volatile world we're living in. Government doesn't give us freedom. Our politicians don't give us freedom. Nor do either of those two entities give us "rights." Our inalienable rights and our freedom come from He who created us in the first place. There are those who seek to suppress this individual liberty granted to us by our Creator; there are those in government who truly think that they--the Ivy League "educated," the "elites"--know better than we do what's best for ourselves, our families, our homes, our futures. There are those that would have us replace our faith in God with faith in government. And there are those on the left who believe that man is not capable of governing himself. But if man is not capable of governing himself, what's to say that he has the right and the capability to govern other men? 


I believe that we are capable of individually governing ourselves without the assistance and guidance of government. This principle of self-government, though, is grounded in the fact that "man must be governed internally by the spirit of God rather than by external forces." In doing a little research on this subject, I came across this great page from the Foundation for American Christian Education. (http://www.american-heritage.org/Content/Docs/Parent/7Principles.pdf) "The principle of self-government," it says, "is God ruling internally from the heart of the individual." So in effect, I contradict myself--we are not capable of governing ourselves...unless we have God's help. Because even though we may be free politically, living in a free nation with little suppression, if we don't have God ruling internally within us guiding our actions, then we are then governed by "external forces" which will likely enslave us just as much as an intrusive government will.


In essence, then, God makes us free!