CHANGE IS GOOD: CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM

In a previous post I said that we as a church need to examine the way we do things and evaluate them. I compared it to a football team that watches film in order to correct mistakes. The first thing I wanted to discuss was the American church's nationalism.

It seems to me that the majority of American Christians think that the American government was founded on God's principles and that because of this God blesses us. When in fact, many of our founding fathers were deists, not Christians, and our constitution was based on the ideals of the enlightenment, namely teachings from John Locke(not to be confused with John Locke from from the ABC hit show Lost). Another thing that bothers me is that George W. Bush claims to be a Christian, therefore we get a lot of people who blindly follow him. We tend to think that if we can get a Christian in the White House then all of our problems will be solved. As we can see now, that couldn't be further from the truth.

With all of that said, I love our nation. It's a great place to live, and we have the freedom to worship Christ. After my first time out of the country, I don't think I ever want to leave again. We are so lucky, we are rich, we don't have an oppressive government, etc., etc. And as the apostle Paul said, we need to respect our government. We need to give to Caesar what is Caesar's. We should vote. We should be involved. We should pay our taxes. But where do we draw the line? My own church focuses on America during our worship service on July 4 week. Is this okay? Furthermore, do we really fight for God and Country? Or do we fight for Country? I guess my basic point here is that America does not represent God. God is holy. America is not. Sure we live in a wealthy nation and it's relatively safe, but America does not represent the values of Christ.

One thing the Christian Right wants to do is gain political power so that they can push their agenda: ban gay marriage, ban abortion, teach creationism, and so on and so on. But is this really necessary? I'm not against voting by any means, but as Christians, should it be our goal to push what we think is moral on others? For me, it's not about living a moral life. If we can make others live moral lives by law (which we wouldn't be able to do anyway), what good does that do? We're supposed to be the light and the salt of the earth. We are supposed to be Christ to people. That means we live on a daily basis ministering to those in need, those who are hurting, those who have nothing, those who can't stand on their own. I just don't see the good in pushing political agendas. Why can't we be the people of God?

In Revelation 13, the Roman Empire is depicted as a beast. It has the authority of Satan, and it is inherently evil. It is selfish and it desires worship. If you do not worship the beast, it has the power to kill. How close is America to this depiction of government? Does America desire worship? I think it's getting closer and closer to evil.

How nationalistic should we be? Do we support war in the name of democracy? Do we focus on how the government should solve problems or do we go out and be the church? Where do you draw the line? When does America overstep its bounds?

PS
In regards to the church dealing with the state, I enjoyed Shaun Groves' post about the church's dependence on government to do the dirty work in Uganda. Click here.