A Scout Is Reverent, Part I: Do My Duty to God and Country

After a two year silencing from God I have been given opportunities to teach and preach again. It was a necessary silencing that needed to take place to teach me. It was a wilderness wandering that had God preaching to me through His Spirit in my life experiences. 

Learn I have. It appears I have often learned the hard way so that others can learn too from my mistakes.

Many of the lessons have been quite painful. Some are still continuing but we all learn to cope as we go along. If we become completely incapacitated due to trials we become useless to the cause of evangelism.

Part of the new opportunities for teaching is instructing the Boy Scout troop which my sons attend about God, the Bible and morals/ethics. The morals and ethics with me as a teacher will of course embody principles gleaned from the Bible. Part of the Scout Oath and the Scout Law grasps a reverence for God. The oath and Law are as follows. Mind you, these are creeds...similar to that of the Christian faith. They are creeds by which the scouts (and their families) live. Yes, these things still matter to a few elect people...

Scout Oath

On my honor I will do my best  to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong,  mentally awake, and morally straight.

Scout Law

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

I consider this a tremendous opportunity to gently spread the word of God not only to the children but also to their parents that might not have heard the Good News. Earlier in the summer the council for the Southeast region or Pennsylvania had a Jamboree and on the Sunday and they were intending to have an ecumenical interfaith service for the entire camp. Of course a few packs were holding the biblical line and opted out. 

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

When some found out I was a preacher of the Gospel they came to our camp and I preached for about 15 minutes to both the boys and their parents. I suspect because I was loyal to God in that instance he bestowed more work for the Gospel in the form of the pack's religious badge this year. 

I was also given and opportunity to teach a class on morals and ethics and because I have a biblical Christian background, I have inserted some principles into the class. In the next post I have included an outline of the intended class coming in December. As I have the classes prepared for the religious badge I will post them under this series.

As long as my sons remain in the scouting program and I am allowed to teach my sons and others with the permission of their parents, I will be oriented towards God and country. Towards honor, loyalty, love, charity, mercy and grace. Towards faith and the founding principles of this once great American nation. I will stay the course for these children. This is because I believe the characteristics like love, loyalty, godly instruction, self-reliance based in proper training and in mastery of moral awareness skills we best embody an image of the Lord that we pray to.

As long as I am given the opportunity to teach the precepts will still be anchored in the cornerstone of...One nation under One God. No heavy-handed legal tactics by the ACLU or godless culture will dissuade me from that purpose.

[Continued In:  "A Scout Is Reverent, Part II: Morals and Ethics of A Scout]