Christianity and American Patriotism

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Christianity and American Patriotism
July 14, 2015 by Barry Mahler

Author’s Note: On Sunday July 5, 2015, in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision granting a Constitutional right to homosexual marriage, I delivered a message to my congregation regarding the state of our nation. I’ve been humbled by the many requests for the audio of that message, but due to technical issues it was lost. What follows here is my attempt to recreate that message in article form from the notes of the day, which began with our congregation reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Today, as promised, I’ll address the state of our nation and the Christian’s response to it, and I’ll do so through answering a series of questions. Let’s begin by reading Genesis 1:26-28:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (NIV)

Is it okay for the Christian to be patriotic?

Answering this question takes a bit of work, so please bear with me. The first thing we need to understand is that (among others) there are two simple, wonderful truths in the above passage from Genesis: (1) we are created in the image of God, and (2) the affairs of Earth were always designed to be human affairs.

Let’s look at the second one first. Regardless of how you may view your ultimate citizenship (this should be Heaven, by the way!) or how many NOTW stickers you have on your car, we qualify as human beings. This means that the affairs of Earth are our affairs, and as those charged with being salt and light in a putrid and dark world (Matthew 5), we should be deeply involved in bringing Biblical principles to bear in our world.

Regarding the image of God, it is simply humanity’s most ancient and precious asset, and though most do not acknowledge or understand this Image, it is the property of all men and must be protected from extinction upon Earth. I...

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