;)
America – For the Christian, The Best Place to Live
Posted by Rob Ayers in Church & Missions, IMPACT Features, News & Culture
This article first appeared in my local newspaper The Sedalia Democrat Friday July 1, 2011. The original article can be found here.
As we contemplate another 4th of July and all that it means, I will be the first to confess to you this “awful” truth: there are many in Christendom who are conflicted about God, country, and patriotism. As believers in Christ, the Bible tells us that we are merely sojourners and not permanent in the world; we are ambassadors, citizens of a heavenly kingdom and not of any national or tribal affiliation. Christians can be found in every country on earth, so to call any one of country or nation “unique” or “special” kind of flies in the face it seems of the scriptural principle of “heavenly citizens in a foreign land.”
Being a American citizen for many Christians is then merely happenstance, the fate of a draw which then some it seems feel eternally guilty for. Most of these folks would as result rail at all of the sins of America as if they can never be redeemed at any time: slavery, segregation, overemphasis on wealth, less inclined toward social justice toward the poor or the immigrant as some primary examples. They tend to gloss over the civil war to free the slaves, the attempt to end segregation, and a social safety net in case all else fails. The truth is that all of these attempts at redress have had (and have) at their core the work of a faithful, dedicated Christian, even whole churches. who believed that something could be done to redress the wrongs of our nation and indeed make them right so that this would be a better place to live. Christians do have a prescription for good living that ultimately points to a greater Truth: Jesus came and died for the sins of the world.
Yet many outside of Christian circles see the actions of faithful believers in the country as suspect. They see that the Christian prescription or right and good living would force Christian morality on them (as if everybody lived in a moral vacuum). Many opinion makers advocate that “religion” has no place in the public square, or even in politics. They too have forgotten that the Christian and Jewish faith is the core of the philosophy of this nation and to excise it would be like doing a self-lobotomy. It is quite obvious to me that something is needed in politics when politicians of all party stripes can’t seem to get it together either in public or their private lives. What our current national malaise should do is force all Christians to their knees imploring that God would heal this land.
A few years ago in The Sedalia Democrat a column admonished the churches because some kept a U.S. flag in worship sanctuaries, calling it “irreligious.” Now our sanctuary at Camp Branch Baptist Church does have the American and Christian flags displayed inside. Do we do so because we are suggesting that country is more important than God as some say? Are we displaying “patriotism” over the Kingdom of God? No, none of these criticisms are true. We display the flags that represent the nations and Christians that live in them. We display the American flag to represent the people of our nation as we pray for them. We display the Christian flag that represents Christians all over the world, reminding us to pray for their well-being in the nations they sojourn in.
While we admit that not everything is great and good in America, we must also acknowledge this truth: of all the nations of the world, we would much rather live here than anywhere else. We thank the Lord for His blessings of peace in this land, and pray for our fellow Americans that they would see their need for Jesus so that He could bring His peace to them.
May God continue to bless America. Have a safe, and wonderful Independence holiday!
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
Forgive my naïveté, but in what way is America the best place for Christians to live? I don’t think you really addressed it in your article.
Andrew,
Your forgiven
I did not like the title either, but it is a facsimile of the title the paper gave the article.
The Reason primarily centers around the Freedom to Worship, To Share the Gospel, and the ability to take the message to other lands without Governmental hindrance. The freedom to choose, to make a living, and other type freedoms also make this a great place to live.
Rob
“They too have forgotten that the Christian and Jewish faith is the core of the philosophy of this nation and to excise it would be like doing a self-lobotomy.”
A problem with this: we accept that our country holds ‘Judeo-Christian values that are ethical and moral’. And much of our traditions have also come down to us from ‘Western Civilization’ of Greek and Roman heritage, particularly in our legal traditions, through English Common Law.
But “Judeo-Christian faith’, as a term, might be a stretch . . . considering that many, many Christian fundamentalists openly preach that all Jews are ‘going to hell’. These fundamentalists are a voting block in this country. Not all Christians see Jewish people in that way, but enough to where it makes a difference what terms you can apply meaningfully.
Christiane;
I did not state “Judeo-Christian” faith as a term – I separated the terms: “…Christian and Jewish faith” as to distinguish the difference between “faith” beliefs and “philosophical” traditions i.e. morals. It could be argued that Europe also holds some of the “Western Civilization” mores such as the Greek and Roman heritage you referred to. Certainly we as Americans have the added rich heritage of the English Common Law (based in part on Aristotle’s “Natural Theory”). Yet in the singular the American experiment has the elements you mentioned along with a strong embodiment of Christian and Jewish faith philosophy (Moses/Paul) with roots based upon Samuel Rutherford’s “Rex Lex” with a touch of John Locke (“Second Treatise of Government”). The European philosophical model seems to embrace a more Rousseau/Marx/Hobbes approach. The divergent philosophies can be seen in the American motto: American “Trilogy”: “In God We Trust” – the official motto by an act of Congress; “E Pluribus Unum” (“out of many, one”); and “Liberty”); versus the French motto or Trilogy: “Liberty” “Equality” “Fraternity.”
The Bible openly preaches throughout its pages that unless one has received as a gift the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ by confessing sin and believing that Jesus Christ is the Messiah come to redeem the world and that He is the only way to God, then whomever rejects that message be it Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, business person, good person, criminal, housewife, American, Russian, you name it, stand in line to receive God’s wrath in a place built for the devil and his angels, “where the fire never quenches and the worm never dies” for eternity. If that makes me a “fundamentalist” which in this merely takes the Bible at its word (in open difference to the “fundamental” jihadists of the world) then so be it – thank you for the reminder of your hostility towards biblical authority and intolerance towards those that do use the Bible as an authority for their lives and mission. What exactly does that then make you?
Rob
Rob,
I can certainly agree with you here:
I may love my country (and I do) and think it is a good place to live (and I do), but, I don’t see anything that makes America an especially good place to be a Christian. We may have a long legacy of freedom, and that is certainly a good thing. But other countries (by no means, all) have similar freedoms.
If I love my country, it is primarily because it is “my country.” Specifically, as Christians, though, other people from other countries love their countries for precisely the same reason: because it is “their country.”
As I see it, church is a place to show our loyalty to God, not to show our loyalty to our country, nor to our favorite football team.
Rob,
I think the title is a true statement. Being placed here in time, space and location by the Hand of God is no different than Paul being where he was at the crossroads of his life on the road to Damascus. I relish in the fact that I am an American in a country that was founded on such freedoms that made it a great nation in its time for such a time as this. We are able to view the unfolding of time’s end in a way that we would never have been able to see it before or after this day and place in time. We will serve to fight with Israel in that final Day and no other nation can say or do that. The heritage I know about America is a great backdrop known nowhere else on planet earth. I also get to enjoy the ultimate freedom in Jesus Christ and His kingdom now and to come. I can think of no other time in history, except the Garden, that we are as free to serve, worship and glorify God as here in the USA. Though a diminishing of morals is obvious across our land, we can meet within the boundaries of our church buildings and celebrate what we came to America for and continue to strive for the prize of the upward calling of Jesus Christ. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. And that goes either way. God Bless America and May His Kingdom Come.
David,
While we can agree to disagree over your conclusion, I would hope that what I advocated for here is the agreement that church is a place to show loyalty to God – though when you brought up the football team bit, thems fightin words!
Rob
Bruce,
Thank you for the word. May your tribe increase!
Rob