Happy Independence Day 2017

Happy Independence Day!

To some of us, the Fourth of July is descriptive only of the date, after all we wouldn’t say “Happy February 14th,” December 25th, or even April 1st. The meaning for us is Independence, grounded in American history (and patterned after the freedom in biblical history from Genesis to Revelation and its connection to life).

Therefore, the Fourth of July is less about the fireworks we love than what they celebrate: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Freedom and everything that Liberty makes beautiful.

Not all nations are free, but those nations that aren’t still know what freedom means. To oppressive governments, America and its freedoms pose a threat to their way of life and control. To those being oppressed, freedom is a distant hope they desire to taste and see someday.

It means something wonderful to those who passed through Ellis Island or today take the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America:

“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”

People take this oath and obligation freely because the freedoms of the United States of America represent to them a fresh wind of opportunity and a blessing, particularly in contrast to the violence and persecution many have fled.

It is no surprise that in nations of tyranny the first things to go are often monuments to a prior history. There is a reason why ISIS (and other regimes) destroy places of historical importance, especially religious significance.

Erase a history, forget its meaning, and oppression will have no competition. There is vulnerability in being a nation with no memory.

On this Independence Day, it is good to remember that to our founders, the Fourth of July wasn’t a date on a calendar for a picnic or a barbecue or a convenient document signing. It was a day to remember as history because our founding fathers knew what it was to be in bondage and what it feels like to be free.