Saturday, July 23, 2011

Abraham Lincoln and I would have been friends

Thomas brought home a bunch of info about President Lincoln, because he is considering taking the family to visit the Lincoln Library and Museum in Illinois (a family vacation/field trip).  In the information he brought home, was quote from Lincoln:

"When any church will inscribe over its altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed statement of substance of both law and Gospel, 'Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself,' that church will I join with all my heart and all my soul."

The quote was a part of an article about our 16th President's faith, because he never signed on and formally joined a church, or identified himself with a certain denomination.  I firmly believe from that statement, and the many speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln that he was a Christ follower and I will meet him in heaven someday. 

The important thing is that we are a part the the Church, the body of Christ, not that one is aligned with a certain denomination, brick and mortar, or wood structure here on earth.  None of that will last, but our relationship with God and other Christ followers will still be with us when this world is no more.  This is not to say that Lincoln (or myself) did not attend church services in a building;  his family was Baptist, and he attended Presbyterian church with his wife in both Illinois and Washington, D.C..  President Lincoln's words and example show that he was a Christian, I have no doubt.  Since President Lincoln and I apparently have similar beliefs about joining a church and man made rules, I am pretty sure, had we known each other in this life, we would have been friends.

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