God Bless America. And Tanzania. And Venezuela. . . .
What a blessing it is to live in the United States.
But.
But America is not the kingdom of God. America is not God’s plan for reaching the world. America is not our highest allegiance. This is a nation that has had great sin (slavery, greed, immorality, racism, etc.) and that has done great good (in the progress of human rights, e. g.).
If there is no America in a century, that’s tragic (in my humble opinion). But not ultimately tragic. Nations come and go.
But the reign of God will never be defeated. Even now, while the Christian faith is losing ground quickly to other religions in North America (partly because of the trivializing of it and the attempts to tie it to one or another political party), it is far outpacing other religions in places like Asia and Africa.
God bless America. And Tanzania. And Venezuela. And China. And Iran. And India. And Croatia. . . .
Classy, Troy.
Snapshot – You’re absolutely right. I was working too quickly this morning. Long day ahead. But that’s no excuse. I think my point would be the same (people feel sick and disappointed about things they disagree with), but you did NOT make your statement about the comments but about how you were feeling. And that’s quite different. Sorry!
Apology accepted.
Have fun blogging.
Strange juxtaposition of the 12 comments regrding worship of our LORD and over 100 on political disagreements. Hmmmm???
I hear a lot of people saying that God has blessed America. Mostly it seems to boil down to America being so rich and having so many guaranteed freedoms. And yet I read Jesus and his kingdom to have turned such ideas on their heads. The kingdom of God means that the world is suddenly upside-down–the poor and hungry are blessed; those who are being persecuted for their faith are blessed. I wonder if this is not an example of our American materialism. We know that “all good gifts are from above, coming down to us from the Father of Lights,” but we presume to call ourselves blessed because we possess wealth and freedom–two things that Jesus never called blessed.
You’re right, David. That’s certainly not what I mean by the brief prayer, “God bless America.” (Or, “God bless Sudan,” etc.) It’s a prayer that, when answered, may surprise us — even upset us. God’s blessings are often unrecognizable in a culture of consumption.
I shudder to think of what ANY country would look like if God had not blessed it or it’s people.
I don’t have a problem with God being the dominant power in a democratic government and neither did our forefathers. That does not make it a theocratic government! The Bible is the dominant influence in our laws and societal fabric. Rendering unto Caesar is only necessary if there is a Caesar. Freedom is a scriptural icon. There is even more of a necessity for religious guidance in governments::: If people cannot govern themselves by a individual understanding of religious truths they cannot be free… and dictatorships, oppressive despots and slavery will reign! We have too many people in America today who do not understand those principles.
On the other hand, history has taught us not to let religious people gain power over us, who are not willing to be our servants. Power does corrupt.
jdrain
Mike, I didn’t mean to seem to say that your idea of God’s blessing America is to make us more wealthy and more free. I just meant to point out some of the prejudices that American patriotism often entails.
Mr. Drain,
First: I don’t have a problem with God being the dominant power in a democratic government either, but I also would like to point out that regardless of what views you hold, as a Christian with certain views, you are in all probability part of a minority. And so, if you truly believe in the sort of freedom that this nation has long promised, you must allow for the probability that your views concerning the integration of faith, morality and politics will be rejected. When the culture has completely rejected, politically, the primacy of God in the life of the nation, will you still stand up and defend the nation and its freedoms?
Second: I would argue that it is intellectually and spiritually dishonest to argue that the sort of freedom that America has promised is the sort of freedom that you consider a scriptural icon. I am a pacifist; whenever this fact is mentioned, it always seems like someone has to say, “Well, freedom isn’t free, you know,” or “Be thankful that there are those willing to fight and die so that you can have the freedom not to.” But the freedom that the Bible talks about was not bought by the sacrifice of American soldiers, nor is it currently being thereby secured. It was bought, once and for all, by the blood of Christ on the cross. So freedom may not be free, but the “scriptural icon” of which you speak is not the province of governmental authority.
Third: the hope that people should be able to govern themselves by “an individual understanding of religious truths” is illusory. An individual understanding of religious truths should make people less concerned with and less devoted to their governing authorities or the righteousness thereof, and instead redirect our attentions to the prospect of a kingdom that transcends national boundaries that will never be brought down by any nation’s fall.
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Interesting comments..
I read similar article also named ss America. And Tanzania. And Venezuela. . . . at PreacherMike, and it was completely different. Personally, I agree with you more, because this article makes a little bit more sense for me