God Bless America
God Bless America
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
I truly believe that the United States is the greatest nation that has ever existed. True, I may be a bit biased on this point. I’m sure there are billions of other people from other nations that would disagree with that assessment. But that’s part of what makes the world an interesting place…our unlimited capacity for debate. In fact, the mystique surrounding this “Great Experiment”, as George Washington called it, has even spawned the familiar phrase “the American dream”. And while the “greatest of all time” designator can be debated by some, what cannot be debated is the massive influence America has had on the planet over the past 250 years. We are not without our faults, no nation is. But there has never been anything quite like it.
Yes, we are about to celebrate our semiquincentennial. I have to say…that word does not easily roll off the tongue. It is accurate, but you’d think we could come up with a catchier moniker. I also am fully aware of my advancing age because I can easily remember the craze surrounding the bicentennial celebration of 1976. Here’s to hoping I won’t be around for the tricentennial. I am really hoping to be walking streets of gold waaaaaay before then. And I am extremely grateful to God for allowing me to live in this nation. It certainly is much preferable than say…North Korea. In fact, I am so grateful that I dedicated 26 years of my life to some kind of military service. I spent 6 years in the National Guard and 20 years on active duty in the Navy. But I’ve also noted that American Christians have a sometimes complicated relationship with our country.
I have heard the term that America is a Christian nation. To be honest, I would take issue with that claim. I think I know what people mean when they say that, but taken literally…it is not true. If it were, everyone would be a Christian. But, in fact, one of our founding principles is the freedom of religion. Anyone living here can worship anyone or anything their heart desires. That flies directly in the face of the first commandment of having no other gods before the true God. Maybe that means that the US was founded on Christian principles? Well…kind of. Scriptural principles certainly influenced some of the Founding Fathers. Our founding documents certainly reference God…but also certainly does little to define Who the God is and what He commands. For example.
Both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were deists, not Christians. They believed that God existed as a benevolent, guiding force, but both rejected Jesus as divine. They respected Him as a great, moral teacher…but rejected Him as the Incarnation. In fact, Jefferson actually compiled his own bible physically cutting out passages that referred to Jesus as being divine…leaving only His moral teachings intact. He famously said that cultivating Jesus’ moral teachings from the rest of the text was distinguishing “diamonds from a dunghill”. Referring to the verses where Jesus is declared to be God as dung. Look, Jefferson was a child of the Enlightenment so we can see why he would think that. And his personal feelings about Jesus do not diminish the impact he had on the founding of this nation. His work was extraordinary and he was used by God to accomplish His will.
But, as Christians, there are some things that we have to be careful about in relation to our love for this country. Patriotism is a good thing. I’m all for it. As I said, I spent more than two decades involved in the military because I felt that this nation is worth fighting for. But we also need to remember what God tells us in His word. In Philippians 3:20 Paul writes, “But our citizenship is in heaven”. The “our” he is talking about is Believers. As Christians, our first and foremost loyalty is to the God Who saved us. We are Christians before we are Americans. This political system we live under is a human-made system. It is a worldly system. A good one, no doubt…but still a product of the world. And as Believers, we are no longer citizens of this world. Our citizenship is in heaven. That’s where we belong.
God’s Word tells us that we are sojourners and exiles in this world (1 Peter 2:11). Reminding us again that our identity is not found in the nation in which we happen to live…but is instead found in the Blood that redeemed us. When we understand that, then and only then can we have the correct view of what it means to live in this country…the blessings that we have while living in this country. Too many Believers equate patriotism with Christianity. The Americanization of Christianity has been a problem for many Believers who seem to conflate being an American as tantamount to being a Christian. God has blessed America…and He has blessed, in ways small and big, every nation on the planet. He has done so with the Gospel.
The Gospel has infiltrated the most ungodly nations of the world. We have Brothers and Sisters languishing in the most ungodly nations in the world. Experiencing things we cannot imagine. God loves them as much as He loves us. And he has not seen fit to give them the liberties that He has given us. That is His divine will. Jesus lived in a pagan dictatorship His entire earthly life. He did not have the civil liberties we enjoy in this country. I love living in this country. And I love God more than that. I think we can only truly appreciate what it means to live in this nation in the light of realizing that we are first, and foremost, citizens of heaven. We live in America…we belong in heaven. Because that is where we will truly be home. My house is not my home. My state is not my home. My country is not my home. Heaven is my home.
And if I understand that, I will be able to rightly show the gratitude to God for allowing me to live in this great nation. It keeps things in perspective for me. So…have a great semi-quincentennial (we really need to work on that name). Be grateful to God for allowing you to live in this amazing nation. But also…remember your true home.
-Dr. Danny Purvis
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
I truly believe that the United States is the greatest nation that has ever existed. True, I may be a bit biased on this point. I’m sure there are billions of other people from other nations that would disagree with that assessment. But that’s part of what makes the world an interesting place…our unlimited capacity for debate. In fact, the mystique surrounding this “Great Experiment”, as George Washington called it, has even spawned the familiar phrase “the American dream”. And while the “greatest of all time” designator can be debated by some, what cannot be debated is the massive influence America has had on the planet over the past 250 years. We are not without our faults, no nation is. But there has never been anything quite like it.
Yes, we are about to celebrate our semiquincentennial. I have to say…that word does not easily roll off the tongue. It is accurate, but you’d think we could come up with a catchier moniker. I also am fully aware of my advancing age because I can easily remember the craze surrounding the bicentennial celebration of 1976. Here’s to hoping I won’t be around for the tricentennial. I am really hoping to be walking streets of gold waaaaaay before then. And I am extremely grateful to God for allowing me to live in this nation. It certainly is much preferable than say…North Korea. In fact, I am so grateful that I dedicated 26 years of my life to some kind of military service. I spent 6 years in the National Guard and 20 years on active duty in the Navy. But I’ve also noted that American Christians have a sometimes complicated relationship with our country.
I have heard the term that America is a Christian nation. To be honest, I would take issue with that claim. I think I know what people mean when they say that, but taken literally…it is not true. If it were, everyone would be a Christian. But, in fact, one of our founding principles is the freedom of religion. Anyone living here can worship anyone or anything their heart desires. That flies directly in the face of the first commandment of having no other gods before the true God. Maybe that means that the US was founded on Christian principles? Well…kind of. Scriptural principles certainly influenced some of the Founding Fathers. Our founding documents certainly reference God…but also certainly does little to define Who the God is and what He commands. For example.
Both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were deists, not Christians. They believed that God existed as a benevolent, guiding force, but both rejected Jesus as divine. They respected Him as a great, moral teacher…but rejected Him as the Incarnation. In fact, Jefferson actually compiled his own bible physically cutting out passages that referred to Jesus as being divine…leaving only His moral teachings intact. He famously said that cultivating Jesus’ moral teachings from the rest of the text was distinguishing “diamonds from a dunghill”. Referring to the verses where Jesus is declared to be God as dung. Look, Jefferson was a child of the Enlightenment so we can see why he would think that. And his personal feelings about Jesus do not diminish the impact he had on the founding of this nation. His work was extraordinary and he was used by God to accomplish His will.
But, as Christians, there are some things that we have to be careful about in relation to our love for this country. Patriotism is a good thing. I’m all for it. As I said, I spent more than two decades involved in the military because I felt that this nation is worth fighting for. But we also need to remember what God tells us in His word. In Philippians 3:20 Paul writes, “But our citizenship is in heaven”. The “our” he is talking about is Believers. As Christians, our first and foremost loyalty is to the God Who saved us. We are Christians before we are Americans. This political system we live under is a human-made system. It is a worldly system. A good one, no doubt…but still a product of the world. And as Believers, we are no longer citizens of this world. Our citizenship is in heaven. That’s where we belong.
God’s Word tells us that we are sojourners and exiles in this world (1 Peter 2:11). Reminding us again that our identity is not found in the nation in which we happen to live…but is instead found in the Blood that redeemed us. When we understand that, then and only then can we have the correct view of what it means to live in this country…the blessings that we have while living in this country. Too many Believers equate patriotism with Christianity. The Americanization of Christianity has been a problem for many Believers who seem to conflate being an American as tantamount to being a Christian. God has blessed America…and He has blessed, in ways small and big, every nation on the planet. He has done so with the Gospel.
The Gospel has infiltrated the most ungodly nations of the world. We have Brothers and Sisters languishing in the most ungodly nations in the world. Experiencing things we cannot imagine. God loves them as much as He loves us. And he has not seen fit to give them the liberties that He has given us. That is His divine will. Jesus lived in a pagan dictatorship His entire earthly life. He did not have the civil liberties we enjoy in this country. I love living in this country. And I love God more than that. I think we can only truly appreciate what it means to live in this nation in the light of realizing that we are first, and foremost, citizens of heaven. We live in America…we belong in heaven. Because that is where we will truly be home. My house is not my home. My state is not my home. My country is not my home. Heaven is my home.
And if I understand that, I will be able to rightly show the gratitude to God for allowing me to live in this great nation. It keeps things in perspective for me. So…have a great semi-quincentennial (we really need to work on that name). Be grateful to God for allowing you to live in this amazing nation. But also…remember your true home.
-Dr. Danny Purvis
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