Why There is Hope for America

On July 4, 2007, I discovered an essay contest for Citizen magazine at the Focus on the Family's website. The topic was, "Why There is Hope for America." I felt compelled from the heart to write this 500 word essay, so since July 4th I have been working on this essay. I have finished it today and submitted it.

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This is the essay that I wrote:

Why There is Hope for America

by Mark O'Neil

The shores of America have always been a land of hope, hope of religious expression and freedom from Jamestown to the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, hope of independence for thirteen colonies seeking to secure certain unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, hope of freedom and equality for Africans abducted and forced into slavery, hope of equal representation and opportunity for women as coequal partners with men, and hope of new beginnings and new opportunities for immigrants leaving the old world behind for the new. However, it was one foundational hope that made America great and from this one hope overflowed all the blessings and the expressions of the other hopes. The founding fathers of our nation expressed this foundational hope for our nation in these words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” For it is when men anchor their hope in their Creator who endowed them with certain unalienable Rights, that these Rights are realized as blessings to men from their Creator, and when men anchor their hope elsewhere, these same blessings suffer from less than the equal and full measure of expression among mankind.

Because hope in the hearts of good men may grow dim and the assurance it brings may be neglected by them, and because there are evil and ignorant men among mankind who have contempt for their Creator, for His obvious design for Nature, and who strive to do all within their limited power to deceive, corrupt, and destroy the hope of men, then we must be ever vigilant to cultivate hope in our Creator and the assurance it brings to the hearts of men. Therefore all men who earnestly seek to experience the equal and full measure of the expression of their Rights should fix the foundation of their hope with a sacred solemn covenant in Nature’s God. For when the People of a nation fix their hope in Nature’s God, then He will restore the blessing of experiencing the equal and full measure of the Rights with which He endowed to them. Therefore when God can find at least one man in our nation who is willing to firmly fix the foundation of his hope in the Creator then there is hope for America.

However, history has proven that not all men will heed the Patriot’s call of our founding fathers to entrust themselves to their Creator. Therefore we must continuously strive to keep the Patriot’s call of our founding fathers by fervently guarding the hope with which we were entrusted until the day the last Patriot is no more. When this day arrives, Nature’s God will intervene into the affairs of men to champion His own cause bringing to full fruition His designs for Nature and for the blessings He endowed to men.

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It was difficult for me to keep the essay within 500 words, because there was so much truth and context that I wanted to bring to this specific subject and that I felt everyone needed to hear. I obviously had more to say on the matter. However, the contest being what it is, this is the best I could do in the time and words allowed.

As an afterword, I based my essay upon the principles from the entire chapter of Jeremiah 35 with the blessing of the Lord in verses 18 and 19 in my mind. I also drew upon my general knowledge of God’s word, the Declaration of Independence, American history, and our national motto, “In God We Trust.” All these afore mentioned things were combined and written in a style to honor the heritage which our founding fathers passed on to us, their posterity, and to hopefully pass on these same things and this essay on to our own posterity.

4th of July, 2007

Thanks to the strong convictions, bravery, and faith of our forefathers and special thanks to Nature's God and His divine hand of providence and protection, we have freedoms and the blessings that flow from those same freedoms that very few other nations on this earth have ever known. It is with this same formula of character and divine intervention that we too can continue to hope to pass on these freedoms and blessings to our own posterity.

Happy 4th of July in the year of our Lord, 2007

Mark O'Neil

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

Why I am Not an Atheist

1) Just a Few of the Many Reasons Why I Have Questioned the Existence of God

I believe everyone at some point in their lives asks the question, “Does God exist?” I certainly have asked myself this question, and not just once, but many, many times.

I cannot imagine anyone who is seeking to obtain a college degree in biology, like I did, who does not have to ask themselves this question, especially in light of the fact that the Theory of Evolution is the basis of modern biology. Anyone who seriously studies the Theory of Evolution will discover that it is based entirely upon naturalistic philosophy and was championed by men, like Charles Darwin, Stephen Jay Gould, Francis Crick, etc. who openly admitted their bias toward pushing a naturalistic philosophy without any room for the possibility of the existence of God.

Also, I was raised in the Christian faith, so growing up I had embraced the faith of my parents without much questioning at first, because as a child I had a relationship of love, trust, and security with my parents, which they had earned from me in some degree. I also had personal experiences while growing up in which the only explanation that I could ascribe to my experiences was a divine hand intervention on my behalf or on the behalf of others. As I grew older, more mature, more educated, I began to explore this question more in depth.

Another reason I questioned the existence of God was that I have seen things in this world that I could only describe as “evil.” Seeing such evil things in this world makes one question the existence of God, especially a perfect, holy, and good God.

The final reason I am sharing with you is that I have experienced great depression, loss, and pain in my life and when you go through such deep, dark places it causes you to question God and to question His very existence. I was twelve years old when I experienced my first bout of deep depression.

2) What is Atheism?

Atheism is the absolute denial of the existence of God or any gods. It is a Greek word in origin, meaning “no God”, the “A” stands for “no” and “theist” for “God.”

3) The Reason Why I am Not an Atheist

Since Atheism is the absolute denial of the existence of God or any gods, then to be an Atheist one would have to have absolute knowledge of this universe and everything contained within and without in order to be able to make the claim they are truly an Atheist. I am not willing to be so arrogant and so foolish to make the ridiculous claim that I know everything to there is to know about this universe in order to refute the existence of God or any other gods. This is why the bible says that the person who claims there is no God is a fool, because of the arrogance of making that very claim.

Psalm 53:1 “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God,’…”

The honest, humble, and more thoughtful person who doubts the existence of God or any gods, will not call themselves Atheists at all, but will call themselves, “Agnostic.” I remember when I did not fully understand and appreciate the difference between what is an Atheist and what is an Agnostic. It was when I was in college at Mississippi State University and I was a roommate with Todd Hoff at 54 Arbor Acres. At that time Todd was an adamant Agnostic and was adamant that no one could ever know, with any certainty, whether God existed or not.

Well, the next question you will be asking is why am I not an Agnostic?