What are we to celebrate on this day? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
I’m writing this a day in advance so that people will have enough time to think about what I have said and thus think about how they will celebrate this holiday. Some of you will be puzzled by what I say. I am a patriotic American after all aren’t I? Whether one agrees with my opinions or not, have I not been politically minded at many times on this blog? Do I not state my position as a conservative?
Despite all that, I want it to be clear that I do not celebrate and I will not celebrate the 4th of July.
The reason I don’t is that I am an American and I celebrate what I am supposed to celebrate.
When December comes around, we don’t all gather around and talk about how we’re looking forwardto celebrating the 25th of December. Happy couples don’t go and make plans for what they will do on the 14th of February. Little kids don’t get busy picking out a costume while parents pick out candy to deal out on the 31st of October. Nope. We talk about Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Halloween instead.
Somehow, when we get to this day, we name it by the day on the calendar. Why? There is a specific reason for this day just as there is for the other day and many other holidays you want to mention. (Obviously, Easter and Thanksgiving aren’t the same since those fall on different days each year.) What is it that we celebrate on the day that falls on the fourth day of July?
We celebrate independence. We celebrate that we are a free people. We celebrate that we are self-governing and no one else rules over us. We have people who fought and died when it was extremely risky to do so. They did it so we could be free.
So am I celebrating the 4th of July? No. That’s just a calendar date. I am celebrating Independence Day. I am celebrating that at least for the time being, I live in a country where I have more freedom than I do most anywhere else in the world. I can go to church on Sunday and not fear persecution. I can speak freely if I want to. I have the right to bear arms.
I say about forthe time being because freedom is just a generation away from being wiped out every time. All it takes is for one generation to not care. They might say that they want us to be a free people, but these people will value something else more than freedom and they will see fit to curtail the freedom of others for what they deem to be a greater good. One most often is the concept of security. Just sacrifice a little bit of freedom and you can be safe. It doesn’t work. There’s a saying that those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither.
So Tuesday, I’m celebrating not a day on the calendar, but Independence Day, and I will call it that and not “The 4th of July.” This day has a meaning. The word means something. I will keep that word.
Happy Independence Day!
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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