1. America is not God, and Americans are not God’s chosen people. Prosperity is not proof of righteousness. If you would claim to be a Christian, then you are a Christian before you are an American. Period.
2. America was founded just as much or more on Enlightenment Deism as it was on the Bible. And even if it was supposed to have been founded on the Bible, its history of slavery, conquest, and Manifest Destiny should be enough to convince anyone that it did not remain true to any Biblical vision that may have inspired its beginnings. This does not mean there are no good things about America. This simply means that, as in any nation, there are many evil things, too, and Christians should be the first to recognize and condemn them. The support of Southern Christians for slavery, which still lingers today in the form of excuse-making and unapologetic nostalgia, is despicable.
3. If domestic policies like abortion should come under the scrutiny of the church, then so should foreign policies like wars and Third World debt. It is possible to be a patriot and disagree with my nation’s foreign policy. In fact, automatic support for American foreign policy simply because it is American is the very definition of unpatriotic - someone who doesn’t care enough for his country to try and stop it from going down the wrong path.
11. ‘Liberal’ and ‘conservative’ are useless terms. Equating Christianity with conservativism is profoundly ignorant and unhelpful.
read more
6.10.2004
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Must one hate one's country to love God? No.
Can one be an outsider in one's own home? No.
This is your country. This is my country.
This is your home. This is my home.
What happens here is my responsibility.
What happens here is your responsibility.
We cannot pretend we are not what we are.
I am a Christian by choice. God made me an American at birth.
This country has truly been blessed and what God has blessed I will not curse.
If you want to change the world, love people, love God, and set an example. Whining on a blog helps no one, unless the blog is following by involvement. Do something about it.
Why would you assume that someone who agrees with these statements hates America. The writer points out that there are many good things about America. I happen to agree with what is written here and I love America. Just because I love my country doesn't mean that I have to agree with everything it currently supports or stands for. Also, I think Eric does set an example by loving God and loving people. He tries to make a difference in this world every day through the way he lives and how he interacts with others. Why is expressing one's opinion whining on a blog?
Sorry for the misunderstanding. I also agree with many of the points made and I know Eric wasn't the author. My main point is that we all live here and if we love our country and we don't like the policies we should do something about it. There were no suggestions, no solutions, and very few specifics. It's OK to complain but if you don't like the way things are the complaints must be followed by action for change. Few things are more counterproductive than complaints with no desire to solve the problem.
Also, I agree, Eric does set a good example. I love him dearly and I'm sure he expected a reaction from me when he posted this.
Post a Comment