Seminary Journey, Worship, Musings

National Christianism

About 2-3 times a week now for through the summer up til now I’ve been visiting a college town delivering packages. The first observation i’ll offer is doormats. They’re all the same. Said in slightly different ways, or blatantly from target. I guess it’s quippy or amusing if you only have one house and door mat you see… but I see a lot of houses. And I see a lot of the same doormats. There was once a word I heard to describe it – blahzee. Blah – zay. With a littler more emphasis on the z. 

The other thing I notice out there are the beer pong tables. Nearly every sorority and fraternity have one. I first noticed them when I was door dashing, but never have I seen them utilized. They are larger, brutal, utilitarian type tables. It looks like each house crafts their own. Either that or someone is making a pretty penny off the college kids here. The sororities have a table also, smaller, painted, sectioned, looks a little more like a shuffle board or a plinko board – you can tell they take more care; so feminine. 

The game is played, in case you don’t know, with cups, ping pong balls and alcohol. They play their game trying to make one ball into a cup on the other side of a table. When they make it, the opponent drinks. It is a game of getting drunk. It is a ritual. And from what I’ve seen, it is a ritual that leads to much more debauchery than that. This game coupled with the exhibitionist woman walking around… is surely more than meets the eye. I wonder what god they are appeasing in this offering of themselves. Probably mammon, somehow. One asks themselves whatever happened to at least pretending to be moral? One might say things have not always been as they seemed, and that sin has typically found a way into every avenue of society. But there were better times. 

When I say Christian Nationalism you have to understand a couple things. 

1. I don’t mean forcing people to become Christian. It is clear that forcing someone to do so is not only ineffective but an actual violation of the thing God has given people in having the ability to make choices. 

2. I do not mean that only white people should inherit or rule America. Racism is dumb. Jew hate is even more short sighted than dumb — blind. Not only can they not speak, but they can’t see either. 

3. I also do not mean that I hope someone gets into power and forces everyone to do Christian things. Though I do hope for it. It is funny how people say things like you can’t “legislate morality”, but legislation means laws, and breaking those laws is immoral and will get you in trouble, thus the law is a moral pronouncement — morality. Otherwise why send people to jail for not paying taxes, etc.? It’s on this last little bit that I would spend more time speaking. 

Tell me, opponent of Christian Nationalism, do you wish your president was more Christian or less Christian? What was your primary accusation of him? That he groped woman? That he said unbecoming things? That he’s a rage monster unable to hold his tongue? What thing do you claim is illegitimacy to the office? Was it that he wasn’t as well tempered and “classy” as Obama? Or as soft (minded) as Biden? What is it? 

The likely answer is that he has acted grotesquely in the past. I agree with you. But tell me why that bothers you so much. No, don’t, I’ll say it. You don’t like that he’s not acting in a Christian way. Tell me, you say you don’t want Christian Nationalism, but then turn spurn a man for not being very Christian like. Square the circle for me. Which is it, should leaders do godly and Christian things, or should they not be Christian so that you can continue to claim that we ought not to have a Christian Nation? 

America was born as a Christian. There’s no getting around that. Having seen the terrors of Europe they took many steps in the direction of a separate governing bodies from the church bodies. One body to govern the soul. The other body to govern the general actions of people. The separation was only into who wields the sword of punishment (Romans 13) which was not given to the church. That’s something the Roman Catholic church got wrong, they mixed it all up together. I don’t immediately blame them when clearly the governing of the soul causes people to make better decisions. IT can get confusing. So the American system of government was supposed to fix that. But this did not mean that men in power do not also need to govern their souls. They need Christ also. 

We generally think of good laws, an opposed to bad laws, as those which produce justice in the law. This is just one reason that racism has entered the chat again. Black people hating white people, demanding to be treated better. White people, being treated poorly and as some sort of sickness, also demanding to be treated better. What sort of laws should be put in place so everyone has equal footing and opportunity? What is justice? Generally we think, what is fair. Which leads to another question: who gets to say what’s fair? 

We say murder is wrong. But why? What makes it good to punish someone, like Cain (Gen 4) deserve to be punished for killing? What makes us think this? There is a certain part that is clearly natural, an “I’ve gone too far” instinct, but we also have God saying not to do it directly (Exodus 20:13). When say murder is wrong we are using the standard that God put in place and not some altruistic vision for mankind. The same can be said of adultery, covetousness, stealing, cheating, lying, etc. etc. etc. And so we think that a law that keeps people from getting killed is a good one. How does it become controversial to say that abortion, the murder of a child is wrong, and it should be legislated, or made into law? 

IF you’re a Christian, you should be at the very least willing to call murder murder (#abortionismurder). Call it what God calls it. 

I think, lastly, if you don’t like Christian Nationalism, you’re not thinking about what’s supposed to happen when America turns back to Christ. You say you believe in the saving power of Christ, but I don’t think you believe it enough. Preaching, little by little, or a lot by a lot, is going to transform the world around you. Preaching that God hates sin, but is also able and willing and desiring to forgive it through his Son is the ultimate message. I mean, at first people don’t like it (especially in our day) because they feel bad for what they’ve done (sin), but if they accept it: there is sooooo much forgiveness in Christ! There is full reconciliation and walking with God after that. I know not everyone will come (Matthew 7:13-14), but I also know that when the times of judgement are upon us you have people saying, “Lord, did we not do good works in your name?” ( Matthew 7:21-23). Why would they be using the term Lord if they were not also believers. (Another discussion for Cultural Christianity for another time). 

Jesus said to make disciples of the Nations. Go into all the world. Why would he send you on a mission that wasn’t going to be accomplished? God makes no practice of futility (Romans 8:28, Isaiah 55:11). He gave you a task that seems impossible, but it doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to accomplish it. This comes down to an issue of faith. Hebrews 11:6 says that it is impossible to please God without faith. We must first believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who seek him. Evangelism is a faith issue. And yes, I’m insinuating that perhaps you have a faith issue when it comes to the part (just part, not the whole) of evangelism being effective at all. 

What are you going to do when the nation is transformed by Christ? When people willingly accept Christ as their Lord and savior? What are you going to do when parents start training their children up in the way of the Lord? And cops are reading their bibles? And doctors are both treating physical ailments with medicines and prayers on behalf of their patients? What kind of people are going to end up getting into politics? 

In case you’ve missed it, it’s going to be Christian People. Christian people in a nation. Politicks who are Christian. You can rest assured they’re going to be making laws that are Christian. This is what I mean by Christian Nationalism. It is the natural end result of a world evangelized. Like I said, maybe you just don’t believe that it’s possible for this to happen. But I do. I do because I believe that God keeps his word and that he won’t give us tasks that he doesn’t already intend to accomplish. Noah got a couple hundred years to complete that ark. Abraham was sent from his homeland to a place that he would eventually rule (descendants). The Israelites were sent into the wilderness, and they didn’t die, and they eventually reached the promised land. Gideon, weak and afraid to stir up any trouble (like most of the men in our society) was the one who was asked to go fight. When the Israelites came back from exile they never found another idol; they still had them, but they never found another idol made in that era. Paul was sent all over the mediterranean simply preached and people were transformed. They tried to kill him over and over again, and the jews hated him for preaching Christ! And yet the work of God was accomplished. 

Look, whites are not the Christian nation, but that means that neither are blacks, asians, etc. Maybe Mexicans, and spaniards – because they were brave enough to kick the moors (muslims) out of Spain. (And I’m being facetious!). The point is Christ is the only fix. We know this. Maybe other Christian Nationalists are racists about this, but it’s wrong, and they are not being Christian. And perhaps it’s time for you to start embracing that God is about to do a work of salvation you haven’t seen before. 

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