As we began two weeks ago, we must avoid confusing American political ideals with the truths of Scripture. Principles articulated in national treasures like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence have so far provided a secure and united nation. But these same principles—Equal Rights, Freedom, Individualism, and Opportunity—deserve scrutiny in light of God’s values.
Rugged Individualism
The picture of the fiercely independent man is as American as the flag itself. Think of the lonely mountain man, like Davy Crockett, or Daniel Boone, striking out into the wilderness to kill bears and blaze trails through the mountains. Think of pioneer families hauling all their belongings on horse-drawn covered wagons, heading out to claim territory and establish a new homestead. Think of cowboys sleeping out on the open range. Think of industrial giants like Ford, Armour, and Vanderbilt, founding new companies from scratch. Americans value individuality and independence.
It makes a lot of us believe that we are better off when left all alone. In fact, a number of political philosophers created accounts of mankind in a mythological “state of nature” which heavily influenced our Founding Fathers. Jean Rousseau, for one, imagined mankind being happiest without community, working alone to satisfy his own needs, concerned solely with his own welfare. To Rousseau, morality and responsibility were unnecessary burdens imposed by society. John Locke, for another example, imagined the state of nature as one of perfect freedom and equality, in which no one harms another’s “life, liberty, or property.”
Of course, these are total fictions! In reality, mankind is not happiest when left alone. In fact, one wonders if Rousseau and Locke remember being raised in a family, playing on a playground, or walking in a marketplace. Most people would starve to death without society. And when individuals do live in close quarters, some form of jealousy, robbery, and violence is the norm. In fact, one other famous philosopher named Thomas Hobbes who also envisioned a “state of nature” was probably closer to the truth when he described life there as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Today, this American ideal is expressed less in vigorous solitary economic activity and more in moral relativism. We demand our right act independently of the expectations of God, church, and family. The new pioneers go farther and farther into the frontiers of excess and debauchery.
This is not God’s design for His children. He gave us rules not to restrict our fun but to keep us safe. He gave us the church as a mutually encouraging family, where we might find a place of acceptance and a use for our talents. “We who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Romans 12:5). “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph. 4:15-16).
And He gave us the family of His church where we might be mutually sustained and supported—and occasionally rebuked—for our good. “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another” (Romans 15:14). “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).
We are not better left alone. We are not happier outside of community. Our fates are intertwined with others’ fates, and we are at our best when we live for the health of the whole.