God and Country

Because we are Christians, brought into a relationship with Christ and born again by His Spirit, we now have fellowship with Him and with His people. We find these words in Colossians chapter 1:
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

When we realize that not only we have a vertical relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ, we can also recognize that we have a horizontal relationship with those whom we call our brothers and sisters. We have community within the body and we are placed in communities into which we can shine the light of Christ and interact with those who don't know Him so that they might see who He is through us.  We are called to pursue righteousness and spread His message wherever we go.

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Christian believers are certainly called to pursue an individual walk with God and are responsible for their own spiritual growth. But, the Christian life flourishes in the context of the realization that we are part of a body of Christ. Ephesians 4 says:
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

You don't have to look far to see how the decline in religious faith has had far-reaching consequences.  Our society's rejection of God has manifestations in the breakdown of the family, the proliferation of crime, and the pervasiveness of pornography, and a sewer of harmful material that flows daily from the Internet and media.  Jesus died for this broken world that has embraced a culture of death.

The Christian Post recently reported on a poll by The Wall Street Journal and the University of Chicago’s NORC about what values are important to Americans.  One startling statistic: "The percentage of Americans who characterize religion as 'very important' has nosedived" over the past 25 years, "decreasing from 62% in 1998 to 48% in 2019 to 39% in 2023."

The article refers to a "generation gap" regarding this topic area and others, as well. 55% of U.S. adults over 65 said religion was "very important;" only 31% of 18-to-29 year-olds felt the same way.

Another of these core values is "patriotism."  The article says:

In 2023, 38% of Americans identified patriotism as a “very important” value. This represents a noticeable decline from the 61% who described patriotism as “very important” in 2019 and the 70% who said the same in 1998.

Again, the generational differences are large: 59% of respondents over the age of 65 said patriotism was "very important;" among those between 18 and 29: 23%

And, when you look at the sustainability of the family, consider this:  

While a majority of Americans surveyed in 1998 (59%) said having children was “very important” to them, just 43% said so in 2019. By 2023, just 30% of respondents cited having children as a “very important” value.

The generation gap is smaller in this area: 32% of adults over 65 and 23% between 18 and 29 said having children was "very important."

So, what is "very important" to Americans these days?  The Christian Post article states:

As Americans have placed less emphasis on patriotism, religion and having children over the past quarter-century, the share of respondents who value community involvement jumped from 47% in 1998 to 62% in 2019. However, the percentage of Americans who see community involvement as “very important” fell substantially in the past four years to 27%.

On the other hand, the share of respondents who think money is “very important” has consistently risen over the past 25 years. Forty-three percent of Americans classified money as “very important” in 2023, an increase from the 41% who listed finances as one of their most important considerations in 2019 and 30% who called money “very important” in 1998.

The article also notes:

The survey also asked respondents to weigh in on the hot-button cultural issues of the day. A majority of respondents (56%) expressed support for requiring trans-identified athletes to play on sports teams that align with their biological sex, while 17% supported allowing trans-identified athletes to compete on teams designated for the opposite sex.

But, Americans apparently are divided on how to respond to the transgender agenda; the Christian Post article relates: 

Overall, a plurality of respondents (43%) indicated that they thought society had gone too far in “accepting people who are transgender,” while a plurality of respondents (37%) believed society had not gone far enough in “accepting people who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual.”

One of the subsets of the LGBTQ+ movement has to do with use of "gender identity" pronouns: 

Thirty-five percent of respondents had a “very unfavorable” view of “being asked to use gender-neutral pronouns, such as ‘they/them,’ when addressing another person,” followed by 32% who had a neutral opinion on the matter and 15% who had a “somewhat unfavorable” opinion about requests to use gender-neutral pronouns.

The pendulum has swung on love of God and love for country - and it appears that people no longer see themselves as functioning members of a larger entity, such as a community.  You might chalk that up to isolation, when institutions that bring people together, including churches, were fractured. That isolation was certainly evident during the pandemic, but the rise of social media and the Internet has also resulted in people less apt to engage in face-to-face interaction.  It has a cost - perhaps we do not see ourselves as part of the universal body of Christ or the United States of America.  And, it seems to be getting worse, not better among our younger generations.

I think we have to see ourselves as part of something greater, or else we become incoherent, societally speaking.  Community can bring accountability, which could foster a greater level of obedience to the Word of God and less "experimental" trends that are contrary to Scripture. We have to say, in the context of the body of Christ, this is what the Bible teaches and show people where they have missed the mark.  We cannot accommodate sinful behavior, but expose it and point people to the power of a renewed life.