There are some that believe Christians are wrong to be patriotic; wrong to protest against our government, and wrong to believe in closed borders and a strong military.
I’m not one that believes any of that.
I’ve thought and prayed about this over 10 years and discussed it somewhat with the pastor of a church I attended while I was involved in the Tea Party movement. More recently I’ve been reading the book The Great We-Set, which I highly recommend.
Our country and freedoms have been paid for with the blood, sweat, tears, and misery of all those that have sacrificed for it over the last 250 years. I believe those sacrifices and efforts deserve…no, DEMAND that we do our part to honor them by being active and involved.
Economics, security, and politics are important. There are a lot of organizations involved with trying to improve our country in those areas.
I believe as a Christian, we need to focus on principles. That doesn’t mean we should ignore the issues mentioned above, but if we followed Biblical principles as a people, I believe most of our problems would take care of themselves.
Patriotism:
Defined as a love for one’s country.
I see this as a matter of gratitude if you are blessed enough to live in a country that recognizes your God-given rights. i.e. the right to free speech, self protection, religion, etc.
If your country doesn’t recognize those rights, you can still love your country and strive to improve it. Working to get your country to recognize the rights of its citizens is a worthy cause. Working to keep your rights uncorrupted by government is just as worthy.
Even Jesus loved His country and its people. He wept for Jerusalem and by extension, Israel, when He returned on the back of a donkey in his Triumphant Return. Why did he weep? Because they refused to recognize His Lordship, rejected His teachings, and He knew the city would be destroyed and His people would be scattered across the globe to be slaves and victims of genocide.
The Responsibility of Government
The purpose of government should be to protect our rights and security. Clearly; laws, borders, and a strong military are tools to be used in accomplishing that purpose. When government ignores and even undermines their responsibility for political or tyrannical reasons, it is right and just for We The People to resist as the governing authority of our public servants.
The Authority of Government
For years, I’ve heard the verse Romans 13:1 used as a basis to put forth the opinion that Christians should not protest, should not stand up to tyranny, and should be willing to take whatever government does with no push back.
The verse states: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” ESV
The brilliance of our Founding Fathers, and I believe-the inspiration from God Himself, had our country formed in a way that was unheard of.
THE PEOPLE are the authority.
We have allowed that fact to be obfuscated, ignored, and undermined for decades upon decades.
WE THE PEOPLE are the authority in the USA. We’ve allowed our SERVANTS to do evil in our name, take power and freedom away from US, and treat us like they are our RULERS instead of our public servants. WE are not only allowed to stand up to our government, WE ARE REQUIRED TO DO SO. When we sit on our hands while evil flourishes, WE BECOME EVIL BY OUR INACTION.
You don’t have to be perfect to make a difference. Our Founding Fathers were imperfect men that accomplished something extraordinary. God used imperfect men throughout Biblical history and beyond to accomplish great things. One imperfect man, Teddy Roosevelt, gave a speech in 1910 that came to be known as “The Man in the Arena” .
Excerpt: “…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
What about you?
Are you in the arena? Or are you sitting on the sidelines, pompously criticizing while you allow evil to flourish?