The 13 Colonies (the United States) Divorced the King of England July 4, 1776

Here is the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. It is a divorce decree. It is the recognition of a breach of covenant. We celebrate this divorce in the United States every July 4th. The purpose of this post is to simply put forth this question: If it was right and good for the American Colonies to divorce the King of England for his many and repeated abuses, if most all Americans including pastors and church members celebrate this Independence Day as a glorious win for freedom, how is it that these same pastors and church members insist that an abuse victim in a marriage has no right to divorce their abuser?

There is the question as all Americans wave flags and watch the fireworks and celebrate freedom from tyranny. How is it that so many Christians will deny the same freedom to a fellow believer who is suffering a present and evil tyranny right in their midst? Let these victims go free or put away your fireworks, flags, and July 4th picnics.

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The Unanimous Declaration of the
Thirteen United States of America

In Congress, July 4, 1776

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

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UPDATE Sept 2021: I have come to believe that Jeff Crippen does not practise what he preaches. He vilely persecuted an abuse victim and spiritually abused many other people in the Tillamook congregation. Go here to read the evidence. Jeff has not gone to the people that he spiritually and emotionally abused. He has not apologised to them, let alone asked for their forgiveness.

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5 thoughts on “The 13 Colonies (the United States) Divorced the King of England July 4, 1776”

  1. That particular moment in history is a good example of victims seeking freedom, but it makes me sad how much of my country was founded on abuse. It was founded on freedom for the religious refugees of Europe yet extreme abuse for the slaves from Africa. It was founded on new life for those fleeing famine yet brutal murder for those who already lived here (Native Americans). The Bible was misused to justify those abuses and to destroy entire cultures of the natives and of the slaves. Yet those who defended the oppressed peoples also used the Bible in refuting slavery and segregation.

    At one point I was very ashamed to be American because of historical abuses but when I realized that all countries have as great of abuse in their histories I decided to appreciate that God made me an American who is aware of the rest of the world. I love that the “main American” culture is still a mix of many nations. It seems to me that the same patterns of abuse and resistance that are described by ACFJ are happening at many levels at the same time. There has always been one on one abuse, which is the focus of this blog and at the same time corporate abuse of employees and government abuse of citizens are also happening all the time somewhere in the world. I’m not saying all corporations and all governments are oppressive, but somewhere in the world there’s some that are.

    From that perspective, fighting abuse can feel pointless because abuse is in every tribe, tongue, and nation BUT I ought to walk by faith and not by sight. Because God has a plan for justice for every tribe, tongue, and nation and I should believe it before I see it. The same sometimes-invisible power of God that rescued Joseph and the slaves in Bible-era Egypt and the slaves in 1865 USA is also rescuing individuals today even when I don’t see it.

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