I'm about to say things that may make you mad. I don't take offense if you feel the need to yell at me for my opinions here, even my parents don't agree with me. I feel that the leaders of the American revolution misused the Bible to attempt to justify their acts of rebellion against the authority God placed over them. The Bible clearly states that God places kings and authorities in power and we as Christians are supposed to submit to their authority. The only time we are not to submit is if the authority asks us to do something the Bible says is wrong, then we are to simple, peacefully, say no, and accept the consequences. The revolutionary leaders took various scripture verses out of their proper context to justify their actions. They used verses talking about what government should do to show that England was out of line, while ignoring the verses that say we are to submit even if they are out of line and let God deal with those who do not honor Him. So that's my opinion. I believe God in His mercy chose to use this country to do many good things in spite of the fact that we started out very badly.
There is no question that the leaders of the American Revolution were influenced heavily by the Bible. Of the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 52 were active members of a Christian congregation. The pre-Revolutionary period was an unprecedented period of Bible reading and study, especially in America, where Puritan families in New England taught their children to read by using the Bible as their textbook (incidentally, New England had a higher literacy rate than Britain itself in those days). That being said, the leaders of the Revolution were influenced by more than the Bible. They were also influenced by the Enlightenment, which gave people carte blanche to revolt against an oppressive government. In my opinion, the Revolutionary leaders were inspired by the Bible's stories of deliverance (especially the people of Israel being freed from Egypt), and were willing to interpret Scripture selectively to justify their actions. I don't think there was a deliberate attempt to subvert Scripture, but even the most well-intentioned Christians sometimes use the Bible incorrectly as they live their lives.
Don't ever be ashamed of voicing your thoughts DancingLady. You bring up a good point and it is something that most Christians do not wish to think about, yet it all boils down to how you understand what Christianity really is and how Christians are manipulated like everybody else. There is a common myth that there are a lot of wars fought over religious beliefs, yet close study shows that very few wars are actually about a difference in religious ideology, yet religion is manipulated to get soldiers to do the hard work. Christians shouldn't get caught up in this, yet we do because we forget to turn to God and keep our focus on God; God's commandments and the example of Jesus. Everytime we lose focus on God we stumble back into the ways of the world. Thankfully God has mercy and encourages us to repent.
