Did America sin declaring independance from Britain?

I would concur and encourage every American to read the list of grievances in the Declaration of Independence and mark how many of those apply to us today.

I run a small farm and the amount of grief I get from government agents for daring to run a small farm is insane.

The government once told me that since my business name contains the word "happy" I may need to change all my signage because the government cant prove that my livestock on pasture is "happy". Good grief!

Leave me alone and let me work the soil....sheesh.

 

Oh, Salty, most of the stuff in your link is old hat. Indiana used to be big on Lincoln. He lived as a boy in southern Indiana after being born in Kentucky, as you know. He was a very strong man from doing so much heavy labor in his childhood. When the civil war broke out, Indiana Governor Morton, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, was able to borrow money from Lanier in Madison, Indiana, and rush soldiers and money to DC.

Once again America is a house divided against itself.

 

I believe JMac is right and applies Romans 13 well.

This interview, while an hour long, is a great introduction to JMac's stances on politics.

 

How authority is from God? All. Paul used as his reason for why we ought to be subject to the higher authorities that there is no authority except what is from God. He is very clear that this principle applies to all governments and authorities by both saying that “...there is no power but of God;” and that “...the powers that be are ordained of God.” (Romans 13:1 ASV) Paul in the original context was writing to Christians who lived in Rome. Many scholars suppose that the emperor was none other than Nero when Paul wrote Romans. Regardless who was emperor when Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans it is evident that he was not a just ruler. History makes this evident, yet Paul still tells them to be subject to the governing authorities.

 

The Roman government under which the Christians Paul originally wrote to in Romans 13 was an unjust and tyrannical government. Regardless what Caesar was on the throne we know from history that he was not just.

 

That's highly questionable since Lincoln said if he could preserve the union without freeing a single slave he would do so.
As to the latter reason, consider the 10th Amendment to the constitution.

 

The founding fathers in the U.S. clearly violated scripture when they rebelled, raised an army and defeated the British for independence and self-government.

But, that's not unusual in Christian history. We often offer excuses for ignoring the scriptures we find inconvienent to our secular lives.

Peace to you.

 

Was it okay for the South to fire on Fort Sumpter?

 

I did research on the civil war as an undergraduate and believe differently.

 

i'm not convinced.

 

The civil war combat veteran buried in the cemetery on my family's land ontop of a ridge on the banks of the New River, whom never owned slaves, would be surprised to know that he wasn't fighting to defend his homeland from a yankee invasion, but rather was fighting and died to enslave black people.

The War between the states was fought for a myriad of reasons piled into large, dry pile of brush. Slavery was just the spark that fell on the brush pile, but slavery wasn't the brush pile itself.

 

He didn't fight for their freedom.
And the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery.

 

You're visiting a house of someone whose politics you don't like. While there somebody tries to break in and you join the person in fighting the intruder off together.

Does that mean that you suddenly support his politics? No. It means that at that moment, defending yourself was more important than arguing over a hill of beans.

So to boil the Civil War down to "For/against" slavery is not reflective of the complexities of either. The Civil War was caused by a combination of tyranny from the North over slavery, economic inequality in the U.S, defense of one's family once the North invaded our homeland, and more.

What you can say is the implementation of changes to slavery sparked the beginning of the war.

What you can't say is that the whole war was fought over slavery.

That would be like saying the Hatfields and mccoys were fighting over pigs. It's a lot more complex.