{"id":5823,"date":"2024-07-05T06:14:34","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T11:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2024\/07\/president-biden-has-told-allies-he-has-only-days-to-salvage-his-candidacy\/"},"modified":"2024-07-05T06:14:34","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T11:14:34","slug":"president-biden-has-told-allies-he-has-only-days-to-salvage-his-candidacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2024\/07\/president-biden-has-told-allies-he-has-only-days-to-salvage-his-candidacy\/","title":{"rendered":"President Biden has told allies he has only days to salvage his candidacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
ABC News <\/em>has shifted<\/a> President Biden\u2019s interview tonight with George Stephanopoulos to primetime. Seldom in American history has so much ridden on a single conversation, but this is just one example of the continuing turmoil<\/a> regarding Mr. Biden\u2019s future. According to the New York Times<\/em>, he has told<\/a> key allies that he knows he has only days to salvage his presidential candidacy.\n<\/p>\n
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Powered by RedCircle<\/a><\/p>\n
In light of today\u2019s news, consider this warning<\/a> from one political leader to his colleagues:<\/p>\n
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We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and by-word down to future ages.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Was this a reflection on our current political climate? Actually, these words were spoken by Benjamin Franklin on June 28, 1787, at the Constitutional Convention. According to James Madison, Franklin was deeply concerned about \u201cthe small progress made and the different sentiments\u201d being expressed as the infant nation struggled to forge a common governance.<\/p>\n
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*Franklin\u2019s solution?<\/p>\n
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*I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
This from a man widely considered<\/a> a deist rather than an orthodox Christian. But even Benjamin Franklin recognized his nation\u2019s urgent need for divine guidance and strength. Others, however, did not\u2014one delegate remarked that the Convention had no money to hire a chaplain, and the assembly adjourned without voting on the motion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Laws of Nature and of Nature\u2019s God\u201d<\/h2>\n
While the Constitutional Convention did not formally endorse Mr. Franklin\u2019s recommendation, another Founder typically thought<\/a> to be a deist might have. Consider the theology espoused<\/a> in our Declaration of Independence<\/em>, authored primarily by Thomas Jefferson:<\/p>\n
\nIt speaks of \u201cthe Laws of Nature and of Nature\u2019s God.\u201d<\/li>\nIt claims that men are \u201cendowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.\u201d<\/li>\nIt appeals to \u201cthe Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions.\u201d<\/li>\nAnd it closes with \u201ca firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In fact, as president, Jefferson issued<\/a> a \u201cprayer for the nation\u201d in 1801 in which he asked God to \u201csave us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way.\u201d Both he and Franklin were right: fallen humans need help beyond ourselves to become a people capable of independence.<\/p>\n
Monarchies such as the one from which we rebelled typically believe in the \u201cdivine right of kings\u201d to rule over their lesser subjects. Autocracies are typically ruled by dictators who consider themselves superior by virtue of religious office or personal attributes.<\/p>\n
By contrast, America\u2019s democracy is founded on the belief that \u201call men are created equal.\u201d This means we are subject to no one by virtue of their innate superiority. But it also means that none of us is worthy of unaccountable authority over others.<\/p>\n
The fact that our Founders recognized this paradoxical truth provides yet another reason I\u2019m grateful to be an American today.<\/p>\n
My skin cancer experience<\/h2>\n*****
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Here\u2019s the catch: we need God\u2019s help to become godly people. Drowning people cannot save themselves. Sinful people cannot make themselves holy.<\/p>\n
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I recently had a skin cancer removed. It was a minor event\u2014the surgeon reported that she got \u201cclean margins,\u201d meaning that she removed the entire malignancy, and all is well. But it occurs to me that I am trusting her in this. I have no ability to confirm her report myself. If she chose to lie or were incompetent, I would not know it until the remaining cancer became symptomatic and the malignancy became harder to treat.<\/p>\n
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Jesus is still the Great Physician. As such, we can trust him to diagnose spiritual disease we do not see and remove it completely by his atoning grace (1 John 1:9). His Spirit can sanctify unholy people, molding us into the character of Christ (Romans 8:29). The key is for us to seek and trust his transforming power.<\/p>\n
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*****St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335\u2013c. 394) wrote of Jesus:<\/p>\n
"\n*****
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He is like a pure, untainted stream. If you draw from him the thoughts in your mind and the inclinations of your heart, you will show a likeness to Christ, your source and origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained.<\/p>\n
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For the purity of Christ and the purity that is manifest in our hearts are identical. Christ\u2019s purity, however, is the fountainhead; ours has its source in him and flows out of him. Our life is stamped with the beauty of his thought. The inner and the outer man are harmonized in a kind of music. The mind of Christ is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behavior.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cChristianity without the living Christ\u201d<\/h2>\n
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And so, once more this week, we see that our best and most patriotic service to our nation is for us to be a people capable of the liberty we celebrate. Dietrich Bonhoeffer observed:<\/p>\n
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\u201cChristianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.\u201d<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
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*****For the sake of our nation and your soul, would you ask the \u201cliving Christ\u201d to make you more like himself than you have ever been?<\/p>\n
Friday news to know:<\/h2>\n\nKeir Starmer is set to be next UK prime minister<\/a><\/li>\nHardliner faces reformist in Iran presidential run-off<\/a><\/li>\nIsrael-Hamas cease-fire talks show new signs of progress<\/a><\/li>\nHurricane Beryl moves toward Mexico<\/a><\/li>\nOn this day in 1852: Frederick Douglass delivers his \u201cWhat to the slave is the Fourth of July?\u201d speech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n*********
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*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.<\/em><\/p>\n
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Quote for the day:<\/h2>\n
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\u201cEach one should become as it were a Christ to the other that we may be Christs to one another and Christ may be the same in all.\u201d \u2014Martin Luther<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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*********ABC News has shifted President Biden\u2019s interview tonight with George Stephanopoulos to primetime. Seldom in American history has so much ridden on a single conversation, but this is just one example of the continuing turmoil regarding Mr. Biden\u2019s future. According…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4396,"featured_media":5826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Biden has told allies he has only days to salvage his candidacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ABC News has shifted President Biden\u2019s interview tonight with George Stephanopoulos to primetime. 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