Chreia's, Maxim's and the Persuasive Essay

I Tremble for my Country when I Reflect that God is Just -Thomas Jefferson

The understanding of Thomas Jefferson shows with the singular complex simplicity of this statement. He took the job as our president, guiding and steering our country. He was a trusted man, for he singlehandedly wrote the Declaration of Independence, putting his life on the line when the pen touched the paper. He realized in all this that his country was far from perfect. How much more evil are we in the dark, perverted, and secular world of today. If God unleashed on us his righteous anger, we would end the same as Sodom and Gomorrah, razed to the ground.

In this saying, Jefferson speaks almost of the foolishness of his country, seemingly saying, "I wonder at my kinsmen, for I reflect that God is righteous. For he judges the wicked and blesses the virtuous."

There once was an evil country but there resided an upright man within it. The inhabitants were corrupt, lazy, and fulfilling every desire of their flesh. One day, they saw the wrath of God as a light, more powerful than the stars, in the sky. They ignored it in their indolence. The righteous man feared for the people, evil though they may be, and pleaded with them to repent and relinquish their evil ways. They were contrite, and the bright light ceased that very moment. With their call for forgiveness, the just God of heaven relinquished his righteous anger. For the evil, God punishes, but for the just, he rewards.

There was another country like the first, righteous in no one's eyes. The place was a literal Slough of Despond, a Vanity Fair of sorts. Then one day, they too witnessed a great light in the sky. Nevertheless, they readily dismissed it in their slothful ignorance. That evening they looked to the blood red sky once more, and cried out repentance to no avail, as the wrath of a just God left not a stone standing in this region of ignorance. They fell to the manifestation of God's wrath, that being hellfire and brimstone for their evil ways.

Now let us turn to a realistic analogy we can all comprehend. A man was enjoying a night on the town. At his last stop, he had a little too much liquor. Head wobbling, and carrying himself with a drunken gait, he entered his vehicle. On his journey home, he was on a deserted highway going sixty miles per hour. He hit a pothole, just as the drink set in at full strength. With incoherent intoxication, he jumped the guardrail and ran the car into an explosives warehouse, dying in the massive explosion that followed. Just as a good man fears for the man who drinks, so an upright man fears for his country.

Recall the names of Sodom and Gomorrah. God looked upon the immoral cities and examined them, and they were evil, which burned his righteous anger against them. There were men who warned them, but alas! The stubborn cities were annihilated. Not a blade of grass was standing in the unrepentant cities. They were evil, and in God's justice, destroyed.

C.S. Lewis once said in his book Mere Christianity, "My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?" He shows that without a God of justice and goodness, we can't decide and judge justly ourselves. Think on a perfect God judging anything but a perfect world, and fear, my friend, for your country and your life.

So come, men and women of every race and creed. Come to righteousness and repent your evil ways before God judges you, as he will everyone, on the Day of Judgment.