Sunday, August 30, 2009

Be a Christian First, American Second.

As Americans, we often take many things for granted and when making decisions and forming opinions, we often misplace our priorities. I was speaking with a good friend of mine the other day and we were discussing different forms of democratic government ranging from republics to socialist states. He opined how he had not spent much time thinking about a social democratic type of government but his basis for forming the opinion was formed largely on the foundation of how many freedoms he had to give up.

So I went to the Bible (figuratively, I was driving, kinda hard to read while you're driving.)

I said "The Bible doesn't promise us any freedoms (politically.)"

Holy Crap what?!? You mean my freedom to do such and such isn't guaranteed by Almighty God in his inspired word? No. In this physical temporal natural world, there is no such guarantee, and our freedoms are provided only by ourselves and our government system.

This American view that we are guaranteed all these "freedoms" is something that is doing a lot of damage to what could be a great thing in this country. The political discord sown by the right through the Christian Right to the gullible masses is hindering bringing health care to the poor, something the Bible explicitly endorses. Doing it the wrong way you say? Well sure, the "right" has had all the opportunity in the world to do it "right" and has instead opposed providing anything to anyone but the rich, and especially not the the most needy, both of which the Bible explicitly condemns.

I just recently heard a pastor (not in front of church) talk about tired he was of all the "spiritual" people he knew up in arms simply because Obama is president. He was talking about these people going so far as to set up "safe houses every 20 miles" I guess so if we get universal health care they can hide from it or something.

Be followers of Jesus people. Hate your country, hate your freedom, hate your political party, hate your ideology all for the aim of following Jesus. A lot of people hate conservatives, a lot of people hate democrats, but when it comes right down to it, it's really hard to hate Jesus. Our english Bibles sometimes gloss over the fact that the word for "servant" in the New Testament is perhaps better translated as "slave" or "bond servant" which means nearly the same thing. Freedom is not our goal, freedom is not our salvation, freedom is not our reward, Jesus is. To be his "servant" is to be his "slave" and slaves have no freedom. So when Jesus gives you a government, make the best of it. Revolution is not a Christian ideal, it's Marxist, and Marx was not a Christian.

So no matter how many freedoms you think you may have to give up (not likely many or any) when we become a more (believe it or not, we already are quite a bit) socialized nation, just remember, it doesn't matter. Like my dad always said "it doesn't amount to a hill of beans." Because there are Christians in every country in the world, in communism, fascism, socialism, totalitarianism, monarchies, constitutional monarchies, Islamofascism, theocracy, democracy, republics, emirates, territories, dictatorships, and anarchies. And the last thing that really matters in the world is what Americans think because we've lost all the respect in the world we had earned, and no one gives a burning sh!t about what we think. But as Christians, some fantastic things can and will be done.

Because Jesus never bombed brown people.
WiredForStereo

5 comments:

vlntine82 said...

This is so true. The Bible promises us freedom in Christ. This is totally unrelated to freedoms such as those laid out in the Bill of Rights. Most American Christians believe that our country was founded by Christians, but the truth is that most of our founding fathers were not evangelical Christians. At best, many were agnostics or deist. Take Benjamin Franklin. He believed in God, but rejected ideas such as salvation, Jesus' divinity, and hell.

Anonymous said...

wow. This has to be one of your best posts ever! I really enjoyed it and have forwarded it on to some people. It is so true- so often I find myself wondering if I should be worried about the government- where it it headed, etc. but you are right, not matter what the government, Christians exist. this was very encouraging! Great job!

Heidi

Solomon Parker said...

I am making a concerted effort to fight the fear. So much in the news and media, people are saying that they are scared to death of this, or afraid of that. It's a political system (and one party more than not) appealing to the lowest factor and using fear to eliminate progress. People are being convinced to fear what might be rather than to hope for what could be.

Studies have shown that the the easiest way to get people on your side is by making them fear the other side. This is no solution at all especially for Christians and when you realize that all over the world Christians are dying for no other reason than because they won't deny Christ. Fear is worship of a false god. Our God commands us to not fear anything and to trust in him.

And now we have a republican threatening "minor revolution." Think I'm joking? http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/01/gop-senator-warns-of-minor-revolution-over-health-care/

It's gone too far. As a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, I'm having no part of it.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to disagree with "Revolution is a Marxist ideal" or at least, suggest a different philosopher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Treatises_of_Government#Right_of_revolution

The crazies usually (in my experience) aren't Marxists and have this philosophy instead. For one, this allows them to have a phobia of socialism. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, they can cite Locke's influence on early American thought and thus, claim to be "true patriots" or "that's not what the founding fathers would have wanted".

- Peace, Keas

Solomon Parker said...

Granted, however my purpose was not to delve into the subject of violent revolutions. On the contrary, my purpose was to show that violent revolution is not a Christian ideal. This I juxtaposed to Marx's philosophy which stated that the proletariat was to violently overthrow the bourgeoisie. I love metaphors.

You are right, the "crazies" as we know them in America today are not Marxist, however they often to claim to be Christian. That claim was what I was shooting at. I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't Christians, then they could do whatever they want and only be accountable to their own moral system. However, they are hijacking my moral system and making a mockery of Christ. This I cannot stand.

Many of our founding fathers were not Christians as my wife has so well pointed out, so I can understand how they could be for violent revolution and as such, it became a part of our nascent federation. However, I still hold that it is not a Christian idea or ideal. It is the true Christian ideas and ideals that I promulgate here.