Founding Fathers

Historical revisionists have gone to great lengths to assert that most
of the founders were deists, agnostics or atheists.  While researching
another subject this week, I stumbled onto something that challenges
this claim. The two founding fathers considered to be most
influenced by “rational thought” are Benjamin Franklin and Thomas
Jefferson.

On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed these men, along
with John Adams, to design a national seal for our new, freshly declared
independent nation.  Their personal notes, held in the Library of
Congress, indicate that Franklin wanted a depiction of the Biblical
story of the crossing of the Red Sea, while Jefferson thought that the
pillar of fire and the cloud that led Israel through the desert was a
more fitting symbol.  It wasn't a heated debate.  As a matter of fact,
they agreed to show the crossing of the Red Sea with the Egyptian army
being carried away by the sea and the pillar of fire in the background.
The first great seal of the United States of America had the
inscription: "REBELLION TO TYRANTS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD."   Not bad for a couple of agnostics and deists.
It seems the truth, which sets people free, can also ruin a lot of unsubstantiated claims. One thing is obvious; these great fathers of our Republic knew the Bible and its clear message that God does intervene in the affairs of men.  Maybe all fathers should be founding fathers who create symbols for their children that recall the faithfulness of God and give a vision of Him moving in our lives.

Rebellion to tyrannical ideas is still obedience to God!
Ed Litton