God or Country?
Since we’re now going on nine months sans TV (warning, a moment of honesty ahead: I’m getting a little itchy, what with the new NFL season right around the corner; can I hold on? Stay tuned!), I rarely get an opportunity to watch live TV; no great loss. So I’m sitting in Mel Grata Toyota this morning, having the “check engine” light checked (warning: there may be a post on this topic in the immediate future!), and on comes a Fox News report regarding the activities of the cowards we all know as Al Qaeda; apparently these gutless wonders have cooked up another sicko video in which they’re warning all of us that they’re going to cut out our gizzards or something. Fine, whatever. But then comes the obligatory analyst, some humorless dude with, as I recall, a British accent, and he’s talking about how British Muslims think about their relative allegiances, and he says that, if I remember the quote correctly, two-thirds of British Muslims report more loyalty to Islam than they have toward the crown.
Which got me thinking. One, I freely confess that I profess greater allegiance to Jesus, my Lord and my Savior, Whose blood purchased my pardon, and Whose resurrection gives me hope and power, than I do toward the government of the United States. Thus far, I’ve not been put to the test in having to blatantly choose between those two allegiances; will that day come? “We must obey God rather than men”.
Two, I wonder what percentage of professing evangelical American Christians would say the same? Just askin’…
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
6 Responses to “God or Country?”
That’s an interesting point. I know alot of Christians who opposed the war in Iraq because they felt it threatened their allegiance to God and undermined it with the will of the state.
Sam ~ Aug 14, 2005 at 12:10 pm
And though I might not agree with their conclusion, I’d sure respect their commitment!
Byron ~ Aug 14, 2005 at 11:02 pm
Frankly, I’m surprised that there are 1/3 Muslims that have a stronger allegiance to Britain! They must be nominal – certainly not extremists! My allegiance stands with the Maker of Heaven and Earth, not with any country. That said, I believe that the United States is still the best place to find the Way, the Truth and the Life. It sometimes hurts to see how wayward we are as a nation, especially in light of the way that God has blessed us. Can anyone draw a parallel between this ‘Godly’ nation and the disloyal Jewish nation of Old Testament times ?
Mark Merritt ~ Aug 15, 2005 at 5:54 pm
Back on July 4th weekend, I blogged about the false idea that God=USA which is subtly put forward in many American churches. Too often, patriotism is seen as a part of Christianity, especially in the rural church. When I got to my church, there was an American flag sitting right beside the Christian flag in the sanctuary. What kind of symbolism is that? Why are there patriotic songs in many hymnals? It’s enough to make my head spin.
A pastor friend of mine is in the midst of a struggle with a member who equates God and country. It’s an attitude the member learned at that church while growing up.
This isn’t a new problem, but for many it’s an idea they never considered.
rev-ed ~ Aug 15, 2005 at 10:25 pm
Rev-Ed,
Those are good thoughts, ones I’ve mulled over before…should there be an American flag in the sanctuary? One I always wondered about was why, at VBS, our kids pledged allegiance FIRST to the American flag, and only then to the Christian flag and the Bible. Haven’t ever thought much about patriotic songs in hymnals…hmmmm…
Byron ~ Aug 16, 2005 at 11:03 am
Byron –
Here’s the link to that post at my blog.
http://rev-ed.blogspot.com/2005/07/star-spangled-idol.html
A side note – the lady in charge of sanctuary decorations for July put out lots of small “Americana” type items in the windowsills and a few other places. I had no problem with it. Then I saw that she had placed a small American flag on the pulpit, hanging over the front. That wasn’t going to happen. I looked at it and saw that it covered the cross which is on the front of the pulpit. Nice symbolism, don’t you think?
FWIW, nobody complained when I ditched the flags (not even the one on the pulpit).
rev-ed ~ Aug 17, 2005 at 10:37 pm