Pressuring Congress to pass laws --> Civil Religion

I'm on chapter four of Resident Aliens, which hits upon the topic of Christian ethics and therefore also upon the relationship of the church and the government. Hauerwas and Willimon hit the nail on the head when ti comes to Christians trying to legislate morality. It shows a misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of the church as well as a gross misunderstanding of the relationship between church and state. What follows are several quotes from the fourth chapter. (*sheepish grin* OK, so not just several but lots.)

"The way most of us have been conditioned to think about an issue like abortion is to wonder what laws, governmental coercions, and resources would be necessary to support a 'Christian' position on this issue. The first ethical work, from this point of view, is for Christians to devise a position on abortion and then to ask the government to support that position."

"The habit of Constantinian thinking is difficult to break. It leads Christians to judge their ethical positions, not on the basis of what is faithful to our peculiar tradition, but rather on the basis of how much Christian ethics Caesar can be induced to swallow without choking. The tendency therefore is to water down Christian ethics, filtering them through basically secular criteria like 'right to life' or 'freedom of choice,' pushing them on the whole world as universally applicable common sense, and calling them Christian."

"Here is an invitation to a way that strikes hard against what the world already knows, what the world defines as good behavior, what makes sense to everybody. The Sermon [on the Mount], by its announcement and its demands, makes necessary the formation of a colony, not because disciples are those who have a need to be different, but because the Sermon, if believed and lived, makes us different, shows us the world to be alien, an odd place where what makes sense to everybody else is revealed to be opposed to what God is doing among us. Jesus was not crucified for saying or doing what made sense to everyone." 

"Merging one's personal aspirations within the aspirations of the nation, falling into step behind the flag, has long been a popular means of overcoming doubts about the substance of one's own life." 

"Christian community, life in the colony, is not primarily about togetherness. It is about the way of Jesus Christ with those whom he calls to himself. It is about disciplining our wants and needs in congruence with a true story, which gives us the resources to lead truthful lives. In living out the story together, togetherness happens, but only as a by-product of the main project of trying to be faithful to Jesus."

"Yet most modern ethics begin from the Enlightenment presupposition of the isolated, heroic self, the allegedly rational individual who stands alone and decides and chooses. The goal of this ethic is to detach the individual from his or her tradition, parents, stories, community, and history, and thereby allow him or her to stand alone, to decide, to choose, and to act alone.  It is an ethic of great value in our type of society because the corporation needs workers who are suitably detached from communities other than their place of work, people who are willing to move at the beck and call of the corporation."

"The question is, What sort of community would be required to support an ethic of nonviolence, marital fidelity, forgiveness, and hope such as the one sketched by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount?"

"Whenever Christians think that we can support our ethic by simply pressuring Congress to pass laws or to spend tax money, we fail to do justice to the radically communal quality of Christian ethics. In fact, much of what passes for Christian social concern today, of the left or of the right, is the social concern of a church that seems to have despaired of being the church. Unable through our preaching, baptism, and witness to form a visible community of faith, we content ourselves with ersatz Christian ethical activity--lobbying congress to support progressive strategies, asking the culture at large to be a little less racist, a little less promiscuous, a little less violent. Falwall's Moral Majority is little different from any mainline Protestant church that opposes him. Both groups imply that one can practice Christian ethics without being in the Christian community. Both begin with the Constantian assumption that there is no way for the gospel to be present in our world without asking the world to support our convictions through its own social and political institutionalization. The result is the gospel transformed into civil religion." 

"The Sermon on the Mount cares nothing for the European Enlightenment's infatuation with the individual self as the most significant ethical unit. For Christians, the church is the most significant ethical unit."

"We ask ourselves what sort of church we would need to be to enable an ordinary person like her [a pregnant teenager] to be the sort of disciple Jesus calls her to be. More important, her presence in our community offers the church the wonderful opportunity to be the church.... ...we are graciously given the eyes to see her as a gift of God sent to help ordinary people like us to discover the church as the Body of Christ."

"Our ethics do involve individual transformation, not as a subjective, inner, personal experience, but rather as the work of a transformed people who have adopted us, supported us, disciplined us, and enabled us to be transformed. The most interesting, creative, political solutions we Christians have to offer our troubled society are not new laws, advice to Congress, or increased funding for social programs--although we may find ourselves supporting such national efforts. The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.

"The Christian faith recognizes that we are violent, fearful, frightened creatures who cannot reason our will our way out of our mortality. So the gospel begins, not with the assertion that we are violent, fearful, frightened creatures, but with the pledge that, if we offer ourselves to a truthful story and the community formed by listening to and enacting that story in the church, we will be transformed into people more significant than we could ever have been on our own.

"As Barth says, '[The Church] exists... to set up in the world a new sign which is radically dissimilar to [the world's] own manner and which contradicts it in a way which is full of promise' (Church Dogmatics, 4.3.2)" [Brackets in this quote are from the authors.]

"Ethically speaking, it should interest us that, in beginning the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, Jesus does not ask disciplines [sic] to do anything. The Beatitudes are in the indicative, not the imperative, mood. First we are told what God has done before anything is suggested about what we are to do." [emphasis theirs]

The Sermon on the Mount "is morality pushed to the limits, not so much in the immediate service of morality, but rather to help us see something so new, so against what we have always heard said, that we cannot rely on our older images of what is and what is not."

"We are forever getting confused into thinking that scripture is mainly about what we are supposed to do rather than a picture of who God is." [emphasis theirs]

Turning the other cheek "is not a stratagem for getting what we want but the only manner of life available, now that, in Jesus, we have seen what God wants. We seek reconciliation with the neighbor, not because we will feel so much better afterward, but because reconciliation is what God is doing in the world in the Christ."

"Therefore, Christians begin our ethics, not with anxious, self-serving questions of what we ought to do as individuals to make history come out right, because, in Christ, God has already made history come out right. The Sermon is the inauguration manifesto of how the world looks now that God in Christ has taken matters in hand. And essential to the way that God has taken matters in hand is an invitation to all people to become citizens of a new Kingdom, a messianic community where the world God is creating takes visible, practical form."

Whew! I still have a few pages of the chapter to go, but I thought these quotes were all so meaty that I wanted to share them here. 

Living in Two Kingdoms - Meg's Homework Ramble

Our Sunday school class just finished a John Piper video series in which Piper explained that Jesus is a lamb-like lion and a lion-like lamb. He expounded on that, of course, but I think the phrase pretty aptly summarizes what he had to say.

We're now beginning a new series entitled "Living in Two Kingdoms." I'm not sure if this is another tape series of someone speaking or if this is something Don has put together himself. But he sent out some homework questions for us to answer before we show up tomorrow. I thought I'd "think out loud" here with my answers.

1. What is the Kingdom of God?
The obvious first part of that answer is that the kingdom is the domain of God. And God wouldn't be god unless everything was in his domain -- from atoms to the universe, if it weren't all God's to rule then he really would be more of a demi-god or a sub-god than an almighty god.

But I think there's more to this answer than just the easy bit. The Kingdom of God encompasses all of this substantial world, but it also refers to a realm that overlaps with ours but that is distinct from the earthly/human world.

The book group that I'm in recently finished a book called The City & The City (by China Miéville) in which two distinct nations overlapped each other geographically, but were entirely distinct otherwise to the point that people in one nation learned to "unsee" people in the other nation. In order to "see" the people in the other nation you actually had to go through customs  to socially and politically enter the other nation, at which point you'd have to "unsee" the people that you had seen all the time back in your old nation. In other words, you could live right next to people in another nation and never interact with them, or even acknowledge them, because they technically lived somewhere different from where you did. It was a trippy book, but an interesting concept.

I think the Kingdom of God is similar to Miéville's story in that we live in an overlapped situation. But it differs in terms of interaction. We daily walk in both nations, as opposed to only in one or the other. But I think many people who call themselves Christians live only in one nation and believe that the other nation, the heavenly nation, is a subset or part of that one nation. They spout "God and country" in a way that clearly subjects God to the designs of the country. I think they miss "the Kingdom of God" in its entirety - or else severely misunderstand it.

I still don't think I've answered the question, though. The Kingdom of God is a political entity that defies all other polities. It is an eternal kingdom ruled by God, with characteristics unlike any other nation, and yeah, I'll cop to it, it's a utopia. It is the glorified, unified,

2. What are the characteristics of God's kingdom?
The Kingdom of God is characterized by love. In fact, love is the characteristic that governs every other characteristic in this kingdom: forgiveness, unity, kindness, faithfulness, caring, gentleness, mutual submission (looking out for each other's best interests), compassion, meekness, humility, self-control, selflessness, trust, patience, contentment, peace, equality of worth, hopefulness, truthfulness, generosity, perseverance, righteousness, readiness, holiness, prayerfulness,....

3. What features of U.S. culture are explicitly biblical-Christian?
I think this is the hardest question of the bunch. Maybe that's because I'm reading into it. I expect this question to be, "What features of U.S. culture are explicitly inline with features of the Kingdom of God. But I suppose that's not necessarily what it's asking.

I suppose the first part of this question is "What are the features of U.S. culture?" Individuality, selfishness, strength, craving entertainment, ingenuity, entrepreneurial spirit, risk-taking, creativity, consumerism, untested trust, arguing, hatred (that Westboro Baptist Church comes to mind), insensitivity, callousness, overload, brilliance, diversity, acceptance, .... This is a really hard list to come up with. There is obviously kindness in America, but is kindness a feature of U.S. culture? It doesn't strike me as being integral to our culture. Then again, if I were looking just at our neighborhood, or more likely, in a rural American neighborhood, then perhaps kindness would strike me more as being a feature of the culture. Maybe the first part of the question isn't "What are the features of U.S. culture?" but "What is the U.S.?"

OK, so to take a stab at answering the original question here, I'd say that diversity and creativity are explicitly biblical-Christian. There's probably other things. But I'm still caught up in "What is the U.S.?" and "What are the features of her culture?" to see them.

I'll be really eager to hear Sonia's thoughts on this question. She probably sees American culture with different eyes than we do.

4. How do we live in God's kingdom and earth's world?
Fully.

What? Is that cheating? I can't just answer with one word? *sigh* I'd say it's very easy to live in the earthly world. And those who like to point out the most loudly that they aren't living according to the culture or values of this world are often the very ones who hold more tightly to nationalism and cultural values of anger, hatred, and individualism more tightly than most. I think it's important that we're aware of how we're embedded in this world. What values have we taken on that are distinctly worldly? (Not just American, since not all Christians are Americans (*gasp* I know. For some I'm speaking heresy here.) but of any human culture.)

We are humans and therefore we cannot not live within human culture. It's impossible. Even when we try to steep ourselves in godly culture, we build within it so much human culture of our own making that we are no longer in godly culture. (The Pharisees and Westboro church are poster children here.) We do best to be aware of that in which we reside, to use well that which is good of our own culture and to disengage from that which is bad.

And we need to steep ourselves in the culture of heaven. Church should be our proving grounds where we test forgiveness and unity and kindness and.... It should be a safe place where we learn to put on heavenly culture and where we can safely mess up and try again. It should be a place where we experience godly culture, where we are helped to grow in it, where we have partners who grow with us. And it should be a launching point for carrying God's culture with us out to the world, loving the world and all her people, enabling those not of God's kingdom to experience the culture of God's kingdom and inviting them to join in it with us.

Dual Citizenship?

Lois and I were chatting in the car today on the way to Bible study. She teaches music classes on Thursdays and we often talk about what she plans to teach for the day. Today she was going to focus on music in America from the 1920's and 30's. The theme for the music she had picked was "Dual Citizenship." In other words, she was going to talk about how as Christians (she teaches in a Christian school) we are citizens both in heaven and of America.

That got me to thinking. Are we dual citizens? If so, then what about the verses that talk about being sojourners? I BlueLetterBible'd the verses that refer to sojourners and found out that for the most part, the term only comes up in the OT and it primarily refers to strangers that are living among the Israelites. But there is a verse in the Psalms that's intriguing:

Hear my prayer, LORD,
listen to my cry for help;
do not be deaf to my weeping.
I dwell with you as a foreigner,
a stranger (sojourner), as all my ancestors were. (Psalm 39:12)

I don't know that that verse says a whole lot to the topic, but I thought I'd throw it out there and see what you all think. Are we sojourners here on earth? If so, what does that say to our local citizenship?

Texas makes Jesus Facepalm - Yom Chechecheche

I'm laughing so hard I think I'm going to choke. I'm not kidding, this is hilarious.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jewish Speaker of Texas State House
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

More Guinness: The Case for Civility

"At one level, in resisting what they see as wrong forces, Christian arguments have become sub-Christian, even anti-Christian." -- Os Guinness

Os Guinness Part 1 from CPX on Vimeo.

Thanks to Jason (WiselyWoven) for the link.

Politics and Christianity

This article was originally posted in the Christian Community group here on Multiply. I started that group back in September 2004, but I've decided to remove myself from there and focus on my DandelionWine site instead. So I'm reposting several posts that I had made over to there.

I'm rather overwhelmed by the degree to which Christians ally themselves with certain parties here in the U.S. In fact, a member of the church I attend recently compared the choices in this election to Christ vs. Satan. I can understand the fact that in the US we are free to choose our leader and free to tell others our reason for doing so. But when they suppose they know God's will on the matter I get a little disgruntled.

We can't know the minds of the candidates, only God does. Moreover, who we *think* might be the best for the position, may not be. I'm sure the Romans never would have chosen Nero if they had the choice, and yet God allowed him to take office. But God has plans that reach far beyond our own. He makes political choices based on his will, not our concept of what his will might be in this moment in history.

If we believe that God is sovereign, then why do we get so hung up on elections? Why do we put our hope in "our guy" winning?  

Bible Verses Related to Citizenship

These are the verses that go with the Christianity and Patriotism essay that I posted.

Genesis 12:2 "I will make you into a great nation...." -- spoken to an individual about his progeny, not to a nation about its might.

Psalm 33:12-22 "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth-- he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those who hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you."

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people."

1 Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

1 Peter 2:13-17 "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king."

Exodus 19:5 "of all nations you will be my treasured"

Psalm 96:3 "Declare his glory among the nations,

Jeremiah 29:5-7 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

Matthew 22:17-22 "'Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is is right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?' But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, 'You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.' They brought him a denarius, and he asked them,'Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?' 'Caesar's,' they replied. Then he said to them, 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's' When they heard this they were amazed. So they left him and went away."

Romans 13:1-7 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for their is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect, if honor, then honor."

Ezra 7:26 "Whoever does not obey the law of your God and the law of the king must surely be punished by death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment." (see Pro. 24:21) [look up Daniel and nebechadnezzer asking him to bow down before him -- this was a note to myself, but, heck, i'll leave it in.]

Ecclesiastes 8:2 "Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before God."

Matthew 17:27 "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."

Titus 3:1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, ...

Philippians 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,..."

Ephesians 2:19 "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,..."

Hebrews 13:14 "For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come."

John 15:19 "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

John 18:36-37 "Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.' 'You are a king, then!' said Pilate. Jesus answered, 'You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.'"

2 Corinthians 10:3 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does."

2 Corinthians 10:7 "You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he."

1 John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world -- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does -- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

1 Timothy 2:1 "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone--for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."

Christianity and Patriotism

This is a repost of a repost. This article was originally published on my meg.dunn.net site (which has long since expired). It was then republished in the Christian Community group here on Multiply. I started that group back in September 2004, but I've decided to remove myself from there and focus on my DandelionWine site instead. So I'm reposting several reposts that I had put there over to here.

I originally posted this in November 2001 so no promises on the links.

			Christianity and Patriotism * "I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the nation for which it stands...." Many of us learned those words in first grade about the same time we learned the words to, "John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith. His name is my name too." We didn't give a lot of thought to what we were saying. In fact, I have seen comics in which kids say the pledge with all the wrong words... and its funny because we know we probably did the same as children. We had no true sense of what we were saying. We just tried to get the sounds and syllables right. There's no "Confirmation" point for our national allegiance (except, perhaps, in times of war). We don't generally have our allegiance questioned or tested. Its often just expected (a dormant dragon waiting to be roused by some catastrophe or Olympic sporting event). And because our allegiance is rarely questioned, we often don't weigh our own thoughts and attitudes, or actions, in regards to our allegiance. Are we devoted to our country? Do we feel obligated to it? How deeply do we align ourselves with our nationality (a confusing term in America where most of us consider ourselves something not American in terms of nationality -- "Kiss me. I'm Irish."). allegiance n. Devotion; loyalty; as, allegiance to science. Just as a child who is raised in the church, still needs to come to a point where they actually decide for themselves whether they will fully embrace the God of their parents (hence, Confirmation, or in some denominations, Baptism), so the children of America should, if they desire to be people of integrity, question their own relationship to their nation. This is especially true of Christians who reside in America (and I'm sure true of Christians in any country... but obviously I'm harping on Americans because I am one... besides, isn't it an American trait to be completely self-centered and ignorant? Woops, that's a bunny trail, now isn't it?) The question, when boiled down to its core, is, "Can a Christian, a follower of Christ, in good conscience, pledge their allegiance to the nation in which they have their citizenship?" allegiance n. The tie or obligation, implied or expressed, which a subject owes to his sovereign or government; the duty of fidelity to one's king, government, or state. Obviously, the first place to look would be the Bible. Does the Bible direct us to pledge our allegiance to our country? Does it say anything about it at all? Does it tell us to flee to the hills and forego all bonds to country? "No," "Yes," and "No," are the conclusions that I have come to for the above questions. The Bible includes several directives in terms of citizenship, national duty, and how our attitude should be toward our government. (I have compiled a list of verses that I believe are relevant to this topic.) Citizenship "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,..." (Philippians 3:20) Despite the fact that in terms of voting, ... and ... we are considered to be citizens of this country, our true and enduring citizenship is in heaven. As Paul says to the Ephesians (2:19), "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,..." I think that for many of us, its hard to envision what this looks like. Its easy to say that I'm a citizen of heaven, but what does that really mean in terms of how I approach life? I can understand it best when I consider a foreigner living in the United States. Let's say, for the benefit of having a more concrete example, that we're considering the make-believe person, Isobel, who is a citizen of Spain, though she lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. Isobel enjoys the benefits of living in America -- the huge shopping mall;, the ability to go site seeing miles away without having to take a passport along; the freedom to practice her own religion; even the right to bad mouth the United States, the President, the Congress, etc. At the same time, she must suffer the down sides of living in America as well -- the consumer minded populous; the American-centric, even prejudiced, attitude of many Americans; the comparative lack of hospitality; the dimwitted sitcoms on television, etc. Isobel may enjoy living in America. But, as a citizen of Spain, she maintains obligations to Spain that could require her return and that will actually affect her concerns and decisions. Not only will she tend to behave culturally as a Spaniard (though she may adopt some Americanisms), she will also maintain and concern for the welfare of her country. If Spain were bombed or suffering a severe economic downturn, she would suffer anxiety and feel compassion for those in her homeland. On the other hand, if America were bombed or suffering a severe economic downturn, she would most likely be affected, but not as deeply or emotionally as if it were her own country. I believe that what I am trying to get at is not only would Isobel have legal obligations to Spain (she may be called home if there is a war and she is drafted (do they draft women in Spain?) or she is still subject to their laws of espionage), but more than likely, her maintained citizenship in Spain indicates an emotional bond with that country that she maintains even though she is geographically no longer in that country. citizen n. 1. A person owing loyalty to and entitled by birth or naturalization to the protection of a state or nation. 2. A resident of a city or town, especially one entitled to vote and enjoy other privileges there. At the same time, Isobel is still subject to the laws of the United States. Just because she is a citizen of a different country does not mean that she can murder her coworkers without being subject to the related laws. She cannot fail to pay taxes, she cannot drive 100 mph in a 45 mph zone and she cannot legally sell crack to drug users. So, even though she is legally and probably emotionally connected to Spain, she also must behave within certain parameters during her stay in the United States. Though citizens of heaven, Christians still live on this earth and receive both the positives and negatives in living here. We are also required to obey the laws and obligations of citizenship in heaven and residency on earth. The laws of heaven are the Ten Commandments and the other laws listed in the Pentateuch. But as the Jews helpfully modeled for us in the rest of the Old Testament, the laws are impossible to keep fully. So Jesus (the King of heaven -- John 18:36-37) fulfilled those legal obligations for us, although the fruits of our citizenship should still be visible for others to see. (Woa! What do I mean by that? Well, though we won't be imprisoned for disobeying the law, since Jesus has "washed our sins away," we're still expected to behave as upstanding citizens of the country, heaven. Its not our "upstanding actions" that give us the right to be citizens of heaven, its Jesus' actions that have provided that right. But that doesn't change the fact that once we're citizens, we can be reputable citizens or we can be shabby citizens. In other words, our faith will be shown in works and not vice versa.) I'll dig deeper into our earthly obligations later. I also believe that the Bible calls us to an emotional connection with our heavenly citizenship (which is why I included it as a part of the Isobel example, though I've known foreigners who certainly seem to be more emotionally tied to America than their home country). Passages such as Hebrews 13:14, John 16:33, 1 John 2:15-17, as well as others, lead me to believe that we are not only legally citizens of God's Kingdom, but that we are called to long for that kingdom as well. It is easy to get so blinded by the day to day living on earth that we forget about our true homeland. And yet, it is remembering our true identity that helps us to live as citizens of heaven, with all the difficult decisions that may require and the positive fruit that it should produce. National Duty I think our national duty is fairly clear. Just as Isobel still had to obey the laws of America, so we still have to obey the laws of America (Matthew 22:17-22 - give unto Caesar what is Caesar's - as well as Romans 13:1-7 and others) as well as the laws appropriate to whatever state we live in, whatever country we live in, perhaps even whatever subgroup we live in. (A subgroup could be something like involvement in an online discussion group. One of the rules is not to spam the members. This might not be a national law, nor a local law, but its still a rule that should be followed if you want to be an upstanding member of that group.) There are still hazy areas to this civic obedience, of course. If the US goes to war, should we, as Christians, go and kill others in order to be obedient? Or should we look to the laws of heaven which might lead us to conclude that it would be better to run off to Canada than to take the life of another person? I definitely know people that would fall pretty soundly on either side of this argument, and yet I believe that those on both sides are Christians. Certainly God's law supersedes national laws. And yet, I believe that these laws disagree so rarely, that I certainly don't want to make a huge issue of it. I do think, however, that whatever side we might choose to follow in these gray areas, we should be sure to think through our decisions (and its ramifications) carefully. The Christians' Attitude Toward Government As followers of Christ, we're called to more than just physical obedience to the laws of whatever nation we might find ourself living in. We're actually called to have an attitude of submission as well. 1 Peter 2:13-17 sums it up fairly succinctly: "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king." We don't fear the king, even an evil tyrant (as many of the Christians lived under in the early church). In fact, as far as we can, we should submit to their authority. But we submit not out of fear of the ruler, but out of fear of God. (Fear of God is an entirely different topic and I'm not about to try to cover my thoughts on that here.) And no matter what type of person the king is, we're told to honor him. It doesn't say, "and honor those king's who are honorable." Not only do we give rulers the honor that they're due, but we should be praying for them. We should be seeking "the peace and prosperity" of the country/city/group to which we have been "exiled." (see Jeremiah 29:5-7) Whether we like where we live or not, whether we like the people we're surrounded by our not, whether we like our rulers or not, we still need to seek their best. In fact, seeking the best for our country and our leaders will actually end up benefiting us. (Jeremiah again) We should be praying for our national, local, and group leaders as directed in 1 Timothy 2:1, "that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." "I pledge allegiance to the Giants..." Patriotism So all of this brings me back to, "Can a follower of Christ, in good conscience, recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States?" Well, if the allegiance mentioned in the pledge is the same allegiance that I can hold for a sports team or a chocolate bar (mmmm, Chocolove!) then sure, why not? But, if allegiance means a tie or obligation that I hold to my King, Jesus Christ, then I don't think so. I can and will submit to my country. But "allegiance" seems to hold more to it than just submission. There's a relationship involved - subject to king. And if I am to remain faithful to that relationship, then I cannot hold the same type of relationship with any other person or thing. Attributing Patriotism to God Are we "one nation, under God?" Well, of course. Every nation is under God. Are we somehow God's nation? Or is God more on our side than any other nation's side? I severely doubt that. Perhaps its fine to support ones country. In fact, according to Jeremiah 29, we should be supporting whichever country in which we find ourselves. However, does that mean that a country can be Christian or non-Christian? God's or not God's? Every country is God's, whether the people within it call themselves Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist. * disclaimer: I use the term "American" to refer to those living in the United States of America, and likewise have chosen to use "America" to refer to those same United States (since it often sounds poetically more correct than saying "the USA" or "these United States" or any other phrase that has come to refer to this country that essentially has no name but is rather referred to by its organizational status. German Patriotism in the Church (in the 30's and 40's) (an addendum added April 2003) The following is a selection from Eberhard Bethge's biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from chapter seven which was entitled, "Berlin: 1933." A forest of swastika flags surrounded the alter of Magdeburg Cathedral. The cathedral dean Ernst Martin interpreted the scene from the pulpit with words similar to those used by many other church leaders: It has simply become the symbol of German hope. Whoever reviles this symbol is reviling our Germany.... The swastika flags round the alter radiate hope--hope that the day is at last about to dawn. In the first sermon Bonhoeffer preached in the Trinity Church in Berlin after Hitler's seizure of power, he announced: The church has only one alter, the alter of the Almighty... before which all creatures must kneel.... Whoever seeks something other than this must keep away; he cannot join us in the house of God.... The church has only one pulpit, and from that pulpit, faith in God will be preached, and no other faith, and no other will than the will of God, however well-intentioned. The Christian's obviously had no idea of what was coming. But as Bonhoeffer points out, whether well-intentioned or no, the church follows God, not state. Following state means dividing (or completely transferring) loyalties. Our allegiance should be to God. We should give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but to God goes our allegiance and loyalties. The church in Germany certainly struggled with this. Or rather, some of those churches didn't struggle enough. The German Christian's (a party within the church... church offices were elected) slogan was, "Build the new Church of Christ in the new State of Adolf Hitler." We can look back upon that and shudder, but how many Christians might feel completely comfortable saying something similar today (either of George W. Bush or of the Republican party). Matthew 6:24 says that "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other...." Choose carefully who shall be your master.