12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.
13 The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of His dwelling He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth;
15 He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.
We have been placed on this earth and called to reside in certain places. We can be thankful that our nation, despite its multiple shortcomings, has been a nation that was established on Judeo-Christian principles, a nation that God has blessed. But we are not called to worship our nation, our states, or the politicians who are called to be stewards to lead us. God has established government with a role, intended to be consistent with His principles, and we are instructed to pray for and honor those who are in authority.
In 1st Peter 2, we read an informative passage about how we are to regard the institutions of
government:
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--
16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.
17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
The matter of what it means to be patriotic has been explored in some recent polling data, and again, it shows the polarization that has occurred in America.
The Washington Examiner reported on a survey sponsored by the Ear to the Ground Listening Project. Executive Director Anne Sorock says that the country “is fractured.” The article says:
With respect to Christians...
The ACFI summary states:
So, we have much for which we can be proud or thankful. And, we can appreciate the symbols of our nation - the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem, because they can cause us to think about the significance of America - and we should always be mindful of those who have served in our military and who have risked their lives to preserve our freedom and to stand for the cause of freedom in countries around the world.
We can always be reminded that we are called to worship God - we don't worship the United States of America or the State of Alabama, or our political leaders. Politicians are not our saviors, but we do trust in a Savior who governs in the affairs of humanity and before Whom all people will stand and give an account. In America, patriotism and Christianity are not synonymous with each other - and in totalitarian regimes, you will find them in direct conflict. In the world Jesus lived, the Roman Empire, the perspective of the religious leaders, and His teachings were contradictory, although He did instruct His disciples to "render unto Caesar..." Paul wrote to pray for governmental authorities and laid out the Biblical role of government, as did Peter, who wrote about honoring the "king." But, we don't worship the government nor put our patriotism above our faith.
+++++
In 1st Peter 2, we read an informative passage about how we are to regard the institutions of
government:
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--
16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.
17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
The matter of what it means to be patriotic has been explored in some recent polling data, and again, it shows the polarization that has occurred in America.
The Washington Examiner reported on a survey sponsored by the Ear to the Ground Listening Project. Executive Director Anne Sorock says that the country “is fractured.” The article says:
The survey and report, titled The Tale of Two Patriotisms, found that most feel patriotism is in decline in America, though far more conservative than liberals agreed.
And the political opposites couldn’t agree on what groups or businesses are patriotic. For example, liberals cited the Democratic Party, the NFL and Planned Parenthood as patriots. Conservatives cited the NRA, Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A.Here are some more of the survey results:
- 65% of conservatives say is it “completely accurate” to say they are proud to be American; 37% of liberals feel the same way.
- 18% of liberals would prefer to live in another country, compared to 5% of conservatives.
- Overall, Freedom of speech was considered the most meaningful of the components of patriotism tested, with nearly nine out of ten adults (87%) saying it was very meaningful to them, personally.
With respect to Christians...
People associated with the Christian faith rated themselves higher in terms of personal patriotism (64% extremely or very patriotic) than did those associated with non-Christian faiths (38%) or with no faith (40%). Within the Christian universe, Protestant Christians rated themselves more highly on the patriotism scale than did Catholics.Just less than half "completely" embrace the concept of feeling "proud to be an American." 56 percent of Christians do.
The ACFI summary states:
Faith inclinations clearly make a profound difference in how people see the country, and in their responses to what is most meaningful to them. The close tie between being born again and assigning great meaning to the signs, symbols, and provisions of American freedom and greatness are strong and undeniable. When compared to three other faith segments – Notional Christians (i.e., not born again but consider themselves to be Christian), adults aligned with a non-Christian faith, and Skeptics – born again adults emerged as the group that was far-and-away most impacted by the nine elements tested in the survey.I think of the old Lee Greenwood song, God Bless the USA, in which the singer states, "I'm proud to be an American." And, I believe that there are many aspects of the American experience for which we can be thankful. We have been granted freedom of speech and freedom of religion in our Constitution - think about that in contrast with the millions of Christians that are living in nations where people are persecuted, perhaps imprisoned or killed just because they name the name of Jesus. Yes, we find instances where there are threats to our freedom to practice our faith and we should stand and speak against those; but, by and large, there is a robust element of religious tradition and practice in our land.
So, we have much for which we can be proud or thankful. And, we can appreciate the symbols of our nation - the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem, because they can cause us to think about the significance of America - and we should always be mindful of those who have served in our military and who have risked their lives to preserve our freedom and to stand for the cause of freedom in countries around the world.
We can always be reminded that we are called to worship God - we don't worship the United States of America or the State of Alabama, or our political leaders. Politicians are not our saviors, but we do trust in a Savior who governs in the affairs of humanity and before Whom all people will stand and give an account. In America, patriotism and Christianity are not synonymous with each other - and in totalitarian regimes, you will find them in direct conflict. In the world Jesus lived, the Roman Empire, the perspective of the religious leaders, and His teachings were contradictory, although He did instruct His disciples to "render unto Caesar..." Paul wrote to pray for governmental authorities and laid out the Biblical role of government, as did Peter, who wrote about honoring the "king." But, we don't worship the government nor put our patriotism above our faith.
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