Jesus and America...

Let me preface this by saying I love my country very much... I read A lot of American history. I mean a lot.  Some of these things make people uncomfortable and i understand that. These are just thoughts and questions. Please let me reiterate...I adore my country and wouldn't live anywhere else. I support our troops and am thankful for the freedoms that they insure. I don't believe these questions make me any less American.  I fly an American flag on the front of my house year round. I tear up listening to patriotic songs. I vote. I am very, very conservative. My favorite president is Ronald Reagan. I loath President Obama and believe his philosophies are destructive to our nation. I do believe God is a part of our nation's history. I carry a 9mm HK P-30 constantly. Finally, I hesitate to post this but since only 3 people read my blog I'll be safe.

I skipped church the Sunday before the 4th of July. There's always the obligatory time spent semi-worshipping the USA. There's a lot of things that bother me but wrapping the American flag around Jesus really gets up under my skin. A few thoughts:

When the bible in 2 Choronicles states:

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

I really don't believe He was talking about America.  I f we believe the NT, His people are believers and not a country.

Does God love America more than Uganda, Afghanistan, England, etc...?

This country has a rich History including a strong presence of the belief in God but does that merit some kind of special consideration?  Are we worthy of some kind of divine guidance because we're free to worship?

Why would christians seek to involve a worldly institution into the church? Do we have the same goals?

While in the beginning freedom of worship was one of the reasons for the early settlers coming to the americas our country was built on several goals. Some came seeking adventure, money, some where sent here to purge prisons or to rid England of the "unwanted". As far as freedom of religion...once the settlers landed they set up religious villages that required the people to worship in a certain way. Some villages even made it a punishable offense to miss church. Miss one sunday, one day in jail. Miss two, one month in jail. Freedom? Upon statehood several tried to establish a gov't religion.

If you study history you'll find this country was built partly on greed. Greed for money, land, possessions. We took an indigenous people and to some degree performed genocide, driving them from their land and forcing them west only to end up taking that from them also. Even the "5 Tribes" that were considered civilized, that actually melded into our culture were eventually, Under Andrew Jackson driven west. Many say the tears on the "trail of tears" wasn't from the indians but from the people that say the way they were treated.

The Declaration of Independence states nothing about freedom of religion but is mostly about monetary rights.

The book, "Hole in the Gospel" raises an interesting question. Should the American dream be a christian's dream?

Should we celebrate when humans, evil or not, are killed?  Would Christ?

Repetitively Jesus made it clear that this world was not His? Why are we so infatuated with seeing America as the "New Jerusalem" or Zion.  God is forever but if history has taught us anything...no country stays on top forever. Some even disappear.

Christians prayed for George Bush but spend more time and energy berating President Obama than helping the poor.  We're commanded to pray for our leaders...period.

Many believe God only blesses those that do His will...America was and is far from that.

These things don't make me dislike or hate America but it's not the lilly white country i was taught in a Christian school.

On a side note. People are always bemoaning the fact that God is not in public school. Two things. As long as christian youth, like my daughter and so many of her friends are there, God is indeed there. Also, if we take all the christian kids and separate them to a private school are we not helping to remove God from the public arena? IN the world, not Of it.  This is a whole different subject...maybe later.

I'm sure after all that I'll be labeled as un-American and I'm not. God bless America.