The following is the commentary from our rifle competition held today:
We want to welcome you to our 9th Annual Independence Day Rifle Competition (affectionately also known as the Christ Church Shootout). We would like to encourage you to enjoy the day with us as we celebrate the historic signing of the Declaration of Independence 232 year ago.
We have now established a tradition of holding these competitions every year at this time, and it would likely behoove us to recount and reexamine just exactly what we are trying to do here. Any tradition, good or bad, can become stale or lifeless if we forget why we are maintaining it, and what we wish to accomplish by continuing it. For this particular day, it is a multi-faceted affair that we should be consciously aware of.
First, we would like to see ourselves as following in the path set out by the Founders themselves. To do this we must remember that the majority of the Founding Fathers, and the signers of the Declaration itself, were orthodox, reformed Christians of basically similar persuasions. Their faith in Christ, and their commitment of obedience to Him, informed all of their attempts at reconciliation with England prior to the decision to separate. Shortly after the signing of the Declaration, John Adams wrote the following:
“It (July 4th) ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is worth more than all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction, even although We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”
So, John Adams saw this as a day that should be solemnized by acts of devotion to God, and enthusiastic celebrations. And he proposed this all the while having a realistic appraisal of what this course of action was likely to cost them. Indeed it did. If you have ever read the historic record of what happened to most of those who signed the Declaration of Independence you will have discovered that a very heavy price consisting of hardship, injury, and loss of property and life attended them. We should be grateful to God for their willingness to sacrifice so much.
Second, we would like to be celebrating together with you all, and not in isolation. Recall that Adams and the others did what they did with an eye toward the benefits to all of their posterity. They had something far greater than their own liberty in view, though that itself was important. They envisioned future generations that would reap the benefits of their sacrifice. Contrary to contemporary selfishness and narcissism, they sought (by the grace and providence of God) to accomplish something that would endure to all future generations. Put in the context of world history, this became extremely unique and relevant. Rarely, since the creation, has there been a place on this earth where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has prospered in this dimension and been accompanied by such an abundant blessing from God. We have much to give thanks for.
Third, we want to assess where we are in the light of history. As every group of covenant people before us, we have had our ups and downs, our victories and defeats. We need to honestly review where we stand before our God in relation to our contemporary situation. Interestingly, I recently heard the results of a survey taken by the Pugh Foundation concerning the religious persuasions of the American people. The conclusion was that in excess of 95% of all Americans claim to be theistic. They believe in some deity, or some concept that represents deity (however amorphic). Somewhere around 50% of the population makes the claim of being what the survey defined as conservative, evangelical Christians. However, a resounding majority of all respondents, and the majority of these conservative, evangelical Christians, conceded that there is more than one way to salvation and eternal life. So we see that the overwhelming majority of Americans embrace a sort of universalistic polytheism. Is it any wonder that our institutions reflect the same?
In conjunction with this, we should consider the historic record in the Bible itself. How has God dealt in the past with covenant breaking nations? Perhaps the record in Judges, Chapter 10, might have some bearing on this topic.
“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord and served not him. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.” (vs. 6-7)
So, in similarity to our nation, the Israelites had embraced a similar idolatrous polytheism. And the Lord’s response was heated anger, delivering them into the hands of their merciless enemies. It appears to have taken Israel 18 years of oppression before they figured out the root cause of their problems.
“And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen: let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.” (vs. 11-14)
This is, to our ears, a hard, hard saying. And yet this is one of the more tame rebukes contained in the Bible. God taunts them with their unfaithfulness, effectively telling them to go have a chat with Baalim. Do we have an image of a God Who can be repeatedly offended, and yet we expect Him, because of His declared graciousness, to continue to be merciful to us and not bring judgement upon us for our sins and rebellion? If that is our image, it certainly does not comport well with this passage in Judges, does it? So what is wrong here, our image or the text?
The record in Judges continues:
“And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. “(vs. 15-16)
We see in the Israelite’s confession of their sins a willingness to suffer the chastisement of the Lord, with one implied exception. They would have this judgement not to come at the hands of their enemies, therefore their plea for deliverance from them. They do not claim a special exemption from God’s holy wrath; they merely trust that the Lord is indeed more just and merciful than the Ammonites.
Perhaps we would do well to imitate the faith, frail as it was, and the repentance of the children of Israel in this example. We need to put away our idolatries and return to the Lord of the Covenant and serve him only.
Fourth, all along we have been attempting to encourage the development of rifle marksmanship in our midst. Our goal is to meet the rifleman’s standard of being able to shoot to 4 minutes of angle. This translates into 4” at 100 yards, or 2” at 50 yards. Whatever your personal motivation in competing, this is an objective standard that can be met. Past competitions have proved that most, if not all, of us are still aspiring to the goal. Whether your particular concern is hunting, self defense, recreation, or a combination of these, we believe that this is something all Christian men should aspire toward. And we are pleased that a number of the ladies have similar aspirations. But it is far, far, more important for the men. We are not men because we know, or think we know, how to shoot. Rather, we would assert that because we are men, Christian men, we therefore should know how to shoot. And we aspire to do so well, to the glory of God. We do not link ourselves to the Scottish rednecks by mistake. There was a reason they were feared by those who sought to persecute them.
Fifth, and lastly, we want this to be an enthusiastic celebration similar to what John Adams envisioned. Noise and guns, pomp and piety, solemnity and joy, and bright illuminations should all be employed. So enjoy yourself, whether you compete or spectate, and give thanks to God, our Deliverer.
We have now established a tradition of holding these competitions every year at this time, and it would likely behoove us to recount and reexamine just exactly what we are trying to do here. Any tradition, good or bad, can become stale or lifeless if we forget why we are maintaining it, and what we wish to accomplish by continuing it. For this particular day, it is a multi-faceted affair that we should be consciously aware of.
First, we would like to see ourselves as following in the path set out by the Founders themselves. To do this we must remember that the majority of the Founding Fathers, and the signers of the Declaration itself, were orthodox, reformed Christians of basically similar persuasions. Their faith in Christ, and their commitment of obedience to Him, informed all of their attempts at reconciliation with England prior to the decision to separate. Shortly after the signing of the Declaration, John Adams wrote the following:
“It (July 4th) ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is worth more than all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction, even although We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”
So, John Adams saw this as a day that should be solemnized by acts of devotion to God, and enthusiastic celebrations. And he proposed this all the while having a realistic appraisal of what this course of action was likely to cost them. Indeed it did. If you have ever read the historic record of what happened to most of those who signed the Declaration of Independence you will have discovered that a very heavy price consisting of hardship, injury, and loss of property and life attended them. We should be grateful to God for their willingness to sacrifice so much.
Second, we would like to be celebrating together with you all, and not in isolation. Recall that Adams and the others did what they did with an eye toward the benefits to all of their posterity. They had something far greater than their own liberty in view, though that itself was important. They envisioned future generations that would reap the benefits of their sacrifice. Contrary to contemporary selfishness and narcissism, they sought (by the grace and providence of God) to accomplish something that would endure to all future generations. Put in the context of world history, this became extremely unique and relevant. Rarely, since the creation, has there been a place on this earth where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has prospered in this dimension and been accompanied by such an abundant blessing from God. We have much to give thanks for.
Third, we want to assess where we are in the light of history. As every group of covenant people before us, we have had our ups and downs, our victories and defeats. We need to honestly review where we stand before our God in relation to our contemporary situation. Interestingly, I recently heard the results of a survey taken by the Pugh Foundation concerning the religious persuasions of the American people. The conclusion was that in excess of 95% of all Americans claim to be theistic. They believe in some deity, or some concept that represents deity (however amorphic). Somewhere around 50% of the population makes the claim of being what the survey defined as conservative, evangelical Christians. However, a resounding majority of all respondents, and the majority of these conservative, evangelical Christians, conceded that there is more than one way to salvation and eternal life. So we see that the overwhelming majority of Americans embrace a sort of universalistic polytheism. Is it any wonder that our institutions reflect the same?
In conjunction with this, we should consider the historic record in the Bible itself. How has God dealt in the past with covenant breaking nations? Perhaps the record in Judges, Chapter 10, might have some bearing on this topic.
“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord and served not him. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.” (vs. 6-7)
So, in similarity to our nation, the Israelites had embraced a similar idolatrous polytheism. And the Lord’s response was heated anger, delivering them into the hands of their merciless enemies. It appears to have taken Israel 18 years of oppression before they figured out the root cause of their problems.
“And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen: let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.” (vs. 11-14)
This is, to our ears, a hard, hard saying. And yet this is one of the more tame rebukes contained in the Bible. God taunts them with their unfaithfulness, effectively telling them to go have a chat with Baalim. Do we have an image of a God Who can be repeatedly offended, and yet we expect Him, because of His declared graciousness, to continue to be merciful to us and not bring judgement upon us for our sins and rebellion? If that is our image, it certainly does not comport well with this passage in Judges, does it? So what is wrong here, our image or the text?
The record in Judges continues:
“And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. “(vs. 15-16)
We see in the Israelite’s confession of their sins a willingness to suffer the chastisement of the Lord, with one implied exception. They would have this judgement not to come at the hands of their enemies, therefore their plea for deliverance from them. They do not claim a special exemption from God’s holy wrath; they merely trust that the Lord is indeed more just and merciful than the Ammonites.
Perhaps we would do well to imitate the faith, frail as it was, and the repentance of the children of Israel in this example. We need to put away our idolatries and return to the Lord of the Covenant and serve him only.
Fourth, all along we have been attempting to encourage the development of rifle marksmanship in our midst. Our goal is to meet the rifleman’s standard of being able to shoot to 4 minutes of angle. This translates into 4” at 100 yards, or 2” at 50 yards. Whatever your personal motivation in competing, this is an objective standard that can be met. Past competitions have proved that most, if not all, of us are still aspiring to the goal. Whether your particular concern is hunting, self defense, recreation, or a combination of these, we believe that this is something all Christian men should aspire toward. And we are pleased that a number of the ladies have similar aspirations. But it is far, far, more important for the men. We are not men because we know, or think we know, how to shoot. Rather, we would assert that because we are men, Christian men, we therefore should know how to shoot. And we aspire to do so well, to the glory of God. We do not link ourselves to the Scottish rednecks by mistake. There was a reason they were feared by those who sought to persecute them.
Fifth, and lastly, we want this to be an enthusiastic celebration similar to what John Adams envisioned. Noise and guns, pomp and piety, solemnity and joy, and bright illuminations should all be employed. So enjoy yourself, whether you compete or spectate, and give thanks to God, our Deliverer.
