From Bill Bennett's American Patriot's Almanac:
Sam Houston lived a life as big as Texas. Born on March 2, 1793, near Lexington, Virginia, he moved to the Tennessee frontier with his family at age thirteen and soon struck out on his own. He lived for a while with the Cherokee . . . taught in a one-room schoolhouse . . . fought the Creek Indians under Andrew Jackson . . . studied law and was elected to Congress . . . became governor of Tennessee . . . organized a Texas army and defeated General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto . . . became the first president of the Republic of Texas . . . worked to have Texas admitted to the United States . . . represented Texas in the U.S. Senate . . . and served as governor of Texas.
His finest moment came toward the end of his life, as the Civil War approached, and a secession convention voted to take Texas out of the Union. Houston opposed the move with every fiber of his soul. He took to the hustings to warn scornful crowds that secession would bring only disaster. In one town, when an armed man threatened him, the 68-year-old Houston stared him down, declaring, “Ladies and gentlemen, keep your seats. It is nothing but a fice [a small dog] barking at the lion in his den.”
His efforts weren’t enough. Texas legislators demanded that Governor Houston swear loyalty to the Confederacy. “In the name of my own conscience and manhood . . . I refuse to take this oath,” he wrote, knowing it meant the end of his career.
Supporters offered to take up arms to fight for control of the statehouse, but Houston turned them down. He did not want to cling to office by spilling the blood of fellow Texans. Brokenhearted, he retired to private life. It was for this final act of public service that John F. Kennedy would later make Sam Houston a hero in his book Profiles in Courage.
Every day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click here to subscribe.
Welcome to the Intersections Blog, where I try to work out where politics, pop culture, and the Bible meet
So What's This All About?
In case you didn't know, I'm in the multi-year-long process of posting a Christian devotional at the TAWG Blog. The TAWG Blog is, and always will be, mostly apolitical. For the most part, Bible-believing Christians will find little to disagree with there. But I also firmly believe that God's word can--and should--inform everything in life, and this should include politics and popular culture. How should we vote? How should we respond to hot topics such as abortion, capital punishment, taxes, and other issues? Which party, if either, is closer to the Biblical ideal? Tony Campolo and Ron Sider, Evangelicals whose political leanings are on the Left, have made the case in several of their writings that God wants his followers to vote politically on the Left more than on the Right. At times, some of them have gone so far as to equate voting on the Left with obedience to Christ, either subtly or not-so-subtly contending that the converse is true as well: If you vote Republican, you're sinning against the Savior.
I don't agree. I think that to the degree they actually resort to the Bible, they're misinterpreting it. With a whole bunch of caveats, I think politically conservative positions are a lot more compatible with the Scriptures than the Leftist positions.
Just to clarify, I would never accuse people who disagree with me--especially siblings in Christ--of what they accuse me of. I don't judge my own heart, much less anyone else's, and I don't equate political disagreement with theological fidelity to God. I have no reason to doubt their love for the Lord and "for the least of these," but I believe that they're sincerely wrong.
Just to clarify, I would never accuse people who disagree with me--especially siblings in Christ--of what they accuse me of. I don't judge my own heart, much less anyone else's, and I don't equate political disagreement with theological fidelity to God. I have no reason to doubt their love for the Lord and "for the least of these," but I believe that they're sincerely wrong.
So there are two main purposes for this blog. One is to make a case for my political beliefs based on Scripture. The other is a bit more vague, basically to work out my political beliefs and figure out what's based on Scripture and what's based on my own biases. I certainly don't have all the answers. Some of this stuff I'm still figuring out. And I'm certainly open to correction. As long as you make your case civilly and based on Scripture, feel free to make a comment, and I promise I'll post it and consider your arguments thoughtfully and prayerfully. Who knows? Maybe we'll learn a little something from each other.
May God bless our common striving together towards both the "little t" truth and "Big T" Truth. Our watchword here is a line from C. S. Lewis's The Last Battle: "Further up and further in!"
P.S. -- Below on the left is "Topics I've Covered" which lists everything I've posted topically. It's come to my attention that some people would like to see everything just listed for them. If that's you, you can get it here. Thanks to my friend Stephen Young for the tip!
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