1.  SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

                - Tim Ewing Live on Point of View radio

2.  WEBSTER’S 1828 DICTIONARY SAYS…!

                - How the Founders defined “God”

November 22, 2005

1. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Tune-in Wednesday, November 23, and hear Rare Jewel Magazine founder, Tim Ewing, as a guest on Point of View radio talk show.

Tim will be joining Point of View talk show co-hosts Kerby Anderson and Carmen Pate for their live broadcast at 2pm Eastern Time.

Listen on the Web (live or via archive) or find your local station that carries POV broadcasts at http://www.PointOfView.net. Point of View is an issues-oriented “live” talk radio program heard daily nationwide, covering the full spectrum of issues and current events that affect our faith, family, government, education, and basic freedoms from a Christian perspective.

2.  WEBSTER’S 1828 DICTIONARY SAYS…!

How did the Founders define “God”?

We can understand the original intent of the Founders by understanding the meanings of the words they used -- meanings which often vary widely from how we use such words today. Hence, we turn to America’s first English dictionary, published in 1828 by Noah Webster. [1]

In this issue of Rare Jewel Insight, we will compare the 1828 definition of “God” with a 2002 edition of Webster’s Dictionary.

1828 definition of GOD:

“The Supreme Being; Jehovah; the eternal and infinite spirit, the creator, and the sovereign of the universe. God is a spirit; and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4.”

2002 definition of GOD:

“Supreme Being. Being with supernatural powers.”

In the last issue of RJI, we learned how the Founders defined “Oath,” with particular reference to its required use in the Oath of Office specified in Article VI of the US Constitution (see http://www.rarejewelmag.com/articles/view_article.asp?id=177). We learned that an Oath was considered to be an appeal directly to “God.”

We gain deeper insight into the Oath of Office by understanding the Founders’ definition of “God.” This was no generic reference to some “supreme being” as our culture today attempts to define the word. When the Founders used “God,” they specifically had in mind the God of Christianity, our Creator, our sovereign authority…and Webster included a Scripture reference in the definition to leave no room for doubt!

[In next week’s edition of RJI, we will look at the Founders’ definition of “Providence” – we’ll gain an accurate understanding of the concluding line of the Declaration of Independence, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, Our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”]

[1] In 1828, Noah Webster published America’s first English dictionary, titled, An American Dictionary of the English Language - with pronouncing vocabularies of Scripture, classical and geographical names. This 26-year project, begun during Thomas Jefferson’s first term as President, contained 70,000 entries and 12,000 new definitions. For the first time in the history of the English language a standardized spelling for vocabulary words was provided.