My father and I were both fascinated by the printing process. How ideas from one mind could be spread to others through black marks on a page intrigued us. That’s how we ended up at McCormick Place in Chicago for an international print exhibition.
One company featured their gold stamping machine. A salesman was handing out samples with the words, “THE GOLDEN RULE: He who has the gold makes the rules.”
My dad accepted one and replied, “That’s so true. Have you ever heard this Bible verse? ‘“The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,” says the Lord of hosts.’ (Haggai 2:8)? So this motto’s right. God has the gold, and He makes the rules.”
I was 20 years old when the US went off the Gold Standard. It was August 15, 1971, during Richard Nixon’s tenure. I’ll leave it to wiser heads whether that was a good idea, although the mad printing of oceans of paper money without anything backing them but trust in the government seems a risk of the highest order.
But another dramatic change occurred in America about that time, far greater than “The Nixon Shock.” On December 13, 1971, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in the Roe v. Wade case. Not until January 22, 1973, did they rule in favor of Roe.
Although America’s foundation had been eroding for years, I think this was the day we went off the God Standard.
As someone once phrased it, “Oh, you know the, you know the thing.” Here it is for those who don’t. “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….”
But what if you want “rights” that your Creator would never give you? Like killing your offspring, or marrying someone of your own gender, or cutting off children’s body parts to try to make them something else?
I pass no judgment on these matters. I don’t have to. I’ve accepted the God Standard, and it’s perfectly clear.
Do you know why half the country gets frantic when they hear the word “again” in that slogan on red hats? It isn’t his fabulous wealth or philandering or foul language that puts them off—their heroes in Hollywood are like that.
They’re convinced it means America would go back on the God Standard, that the demise of Roe is a bellwether of this. They like the God-less trajectory of our country, and are horrified to think of prayer back in schools and limits to trans surgery or fetus killing.
The Founders stating that our rights came from our Creator meant that no one could rightfully take them away. But if people make them, they can take them, too. RIP Roe.
No, I’m not suggesting a theocracy. Just taking seriously the principles that have been the bedrock of civilization for hundreds of years. Let me leave you a few lines describing the benefits of this:
“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” (Psalm 33:10-12)
The God Standard. There’s nothing better.
Article by Jabe Nicholson first published in the Commercial Dispatch, Saturday, October 19, 2024.