I do not say righteousness is the only factor. I do not say it is always the determining factor. But, righteousness does contribute, and sometimes mightily.
Make America great again? Have we fallen? Could it be for lack of righteousness?
Would it be so wrong to look at whether we are keeping the commandments, and see if there is any connection?
What are the two great commandments? To love the Lord God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. And, the second commandment is like unto it, to love thy neighbor as thyself.
Loving the Lord God -- or lacking to do so -- might be reflected in our attitudes on public prayer, and whether we are a church-attending nation. Some -- in this day we have arrived at -- are angry when creationism is taught in our schools. That is hardly loving the Lord with all thy soul.
Now, love thy neighbor: How are we doing on this? Look at the divides. Of them, there might be no bigger than the division of conservatives and liberals. Notice how often one cannot speak of the other without saying something derogatory -- calling them a foul name or questioning their intelligence by calling them idiots.
We would call this love? We would suggest that, somehow, we are still keeping the commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself?
We spew hatred, and insist we are Christian people of love. We insist we are Christian to the core, yet we take a brother and a sister, and a neighbor -- and hate them.
I would add more: I would turn your minds to the treatment of immigrants -- who often constitute some of the poorer people of the earth. Yet, we revile them. Is this, Love thy neighbor?
How righteous is our nation? If we judge it by whether it is keeping the two great commandments, how is it doing? Look at the current success of our nation and weigh it against how we have became a nation of so much hatred -- and wonder that we are as successful as we are.
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