Every offering plate accepts these items.
They each contain 4 little words; prominately displayed...
Posted on 07/05/2017 10:00:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The 2016 presidential election brought politics and faith together in a way that excited some evangelical voters but made others uneasy. Then-candidate Donald Trump courted the evangelical vote in an astonishing and unprecedented way, and the melding of Christianity and nationalism created a most unusual marriage.
Trump's nationalism combined with the effort to win evangelical voters gave some Protestant leaders, like the Southern Baptist Convention's Russell Moore, pause. Other leaders, like Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Texas pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress, placed themselves firmly within the Trump camp, which paid off come Election Day.
Jeffress appears to have doubled down on this nationalistic take on Christianity. This past Sunday at his church, First Baptist Church of Dallas, the congregation celebrated Freedom Sunday.
The service took place, complete with church members waving little American flags, the choir and worship team leading the congregation in patriotic songs, and fireworks. You read that right — fireworks.
Professor and blogger John Fea chronicled the service and weighed in:
People waved American flags during the service.
The last time I checked, the waving of the American flag was a sign of support or loyalty to the nation. Jeffress had no problem allowing such an act to take place in a church sanctuary–the place where Christians worship God as a form of expressing their ultimate loyalty. Patriotism is fine. Flag-waving is fine. But I wonder if any of the congregation felt uncomfortable that all of this took place in the church sanctuary on a Sunday morning.
One of the songs that the congregation sang was Woody Guthrie's folk song, "This Land Is Your Land." For those who don't know, Guthrie wrote the song as a godless alternative to "God Bless America." The original verses will make your head explode, and even if you don't have a problem with patriotism in the church, the inclusion of "This Land Is Your Land" should make your blood boil.
All of this begs the question: what place does patriotism have during a church service? Granted, First Baptist of Dallas's service appears to be way over the top, but can a church service focus on nationalism or patriotism?
It's a tricky question, really. Mentioning holidays like Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day during the service is fine. Praying for our country is wonderful — and vital. Talking about our freedom is great, especially if the sermon or discussion centers on our freedom in Christ. But an entire Sunday morning service turned into a festival of patriotism turns America into an idol.
Do Some Evangelicals Go too Far in Their Efforts to Bring Patriotism into the Church?
Pray for those in authority.
Anything beyond that has no place in a service of Christian worship.
Roman Catholic voting patterns in presidential elections 1952-2016. Red indicates majority of Roman Catholic support for the GOP candidate.
| Yr | D | R | ||
| 1952 | 56% | 44% | ||
| 1956 | 51% | 49% | ||
| 1960 | 78% | 22% | Kennedy | |
| 1964 | 76% | 24% | LBJ | |
| 1968 | 59% | 33% | ||
| 1972 | 48% | 52% | ||
| 1976 | 57% | 41% | Carter | |
| 1980 | 46% | 47% | ||
| 1984 | 39% | 61% | ||
| 1988 | 51% | 49% | ||
| 1992 | 47% | 35% | Clinton | |
| 1996 | 55% | 35% | Clinton | |
| 2000 | 52% | 46% | ||
| 2004 | 52% | 48% | ||
| 2008 | 53% | 47% | Obama | |
| 2012 | 53% | 44% | Obama | |
| 2016 | 45% | 52% |
Source:
1952-2008 Gallup
2012 National Election Studies
2016 Pew Research Center
Your White Horse prophecy, the one Mitt Romney seems to believe himself destined to fulfill.
The church is not about politics or countries.
Sounds to me as if somebody yet again has a warped understanding of the so-called separation of church and state.
If people do not have brains enough to decide for them selves if they believe in this nation or not i doubt if preaching patriotism is going to do much good.
And 50 percent of the people voting for socialism proves that point.
Pray for those in authority.
Deal with it.
Who said anything about being taught? If people want to demonstrate patriotism in church I see nothing wrong with it. They’re not forcing their religious belief on anyone, and no one is forcing patriotism on them.
The church is about our relationship with our creator and our fellow pilgrims in that relationship, and thus it is about politics, "the activities and affairs involved in managing a state or a government," (Word Web)
Not as mistaking the country for the kingdom of God, and longing for a repristinated Mayberry RFD society as idyllic, nor as driven by anxiety over what the world will do to us, but as salt and light seeking to make a difference in the lives of people for time and for eternity, bring them to Christ and to do His will on earth as it is in Heaven. .
And as stewards of the manifest grace of God seeking to save a country with a unique Christian historicity*, in which Christians had a unique position kind of were like shareholders, and which the devil thus seeks to convert to worship him.
Those who imagine there belongs no special affection for that country and grief over its spiritual declension and special burden fort it and to see the salvation of souls are the kind of "believers" the devil wants.
*
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805—1859. French political thinker and historian; best known for his two volume, “Democracy in America”) — The sects that exist in the United States are innumerable. They all differ in respect to the worship which is due to the Creator; but they all agree in respect to the duties which are due from man to man. Each sect adores the Deity in its own peculiar manner, but all sects preach the same moral law in the name of God...Moreover, all the sects of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity, and Christian morality is everywhere the same...
In the United States the sovereign authority is religious, and consequently hypocrisy must be common; but there is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth...
There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated, In Europe almost all the disturbances of society arise from the irregularities of domestic life. To despise the natural bonds and legitimate pleasures of home is to contract a taste for excesses, a restlessness of heart, and fluctuating desires. Agitated by the tumultuous passions that frequently disturb his dwelling, the European is galled by the obedience which the legislative powers of the state exact. But when the American retires from the turmoil of public life to the bosom of his family, he finds in it the image of order and of peace...
The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other; and with them this conviction does not spring from that barren traditionary faith which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than to live...
Thus religious zeal is perpetually warmed in the United States by the fires of patriotism. These men do not act exclusively from a consideration of a future life; eternity is only one motive of their devotion to the cause. If you converse with these missionaries of Christian civilization, you will be surprised to hear them speak so often of the goods of this world, and to meet a politician where you expected to find a priest.
They will tell you that "all the American republics are collectively involved with each other; if the republics of the West were to fall into anarchy, or to be mastered by a despot, the republican institutions which now flourish upon the shores of the Atlantic Ocean would be in great peril. It is therefore our interest that the new states should be religious, in order that they may permit us to remain free." (Democracy in America, Volume I Chapter XVII, 1835; http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/religion/ch1_17.htm)
• There are certain populations in Europe whose unbelief is only equaled by their ignorance and their debasement, while in America one of the freest and most enlightened nations in the world fulfills all the outward duties of religion with fervor.
Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more did I perceive the great political consequences resulting from this state of things, to which I was unaccustomed. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country. (Democracy in America, [New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1851), pp. 331, 332, 335, 336-7, 337; http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/religion/ch1_17.htm)
A quote often attributed to Tocqueville but which is not documented by any early sources, states,
• Not until I went into the churches of American and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790. One of the Founding Fathers; leading thinker; author; printer; statesman; postmaster; diplomat, and a non-Christian deist) — ...serious religion, under its various denominations, is not only tolerated, but respected and practiced. Atheism is unknown there; Infidelity rare and secret; so that persons may live to a great age in that country without having their piety shocked by meeting with either an Atheist or an Infidel. And the Divine Being seems to have manifested His approbation of the mutual forbearance and kindness by which the different sects treat each other, and by the remarkable prosperity with which He has been please to favor the whole country. (Benjamin Franklin, "Information to those who would Remove to America" In Franklin, Benjamin. The Bagatelles from Passy. Ed. Lopez, Claude A. New York: Eakins Press. 1967; http://mith.umd.edu//eada/html/display.php?docs=franklin_bagatelle4.xml. Also, John Gould Curtis, American history told by contemporaries .... Volume 3, p. 26)
Every offering plate accepts these items.
They each contain 4 little words; prominately displayed...
Have we flipped the coin over yet?
What place does Christianity have during a meeting of Congress?
Thank you; Michelle; for your input.
"And keep yer damned religion outta my GOVERNMENT; too!!!"
So true; but...
Psalms 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the lord.
Thank GOD!!
The pastor is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.
Deuteronomy 6:10-12
"Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
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