Many ACOG leaders believe they have a solemn duty to warn Americans away from their sins as a nation. Of course, a large part of their motivation for doing so is based on the fact that they believe that the people of the United States are the descendants of one of the "lost" ten tribes of Israel. However, even if we remove this strange and discredited doctrine from the mix, the truth is that most ACOGs would probably continue to preach their warnings to America and urge "God's People" to repent. Why? Because they believe that the founding and subsequent governance of the United States was inspired by Almighty God!
Hence, for many of these folks, the former righteousness of the United States is a given. For them, not only did God found America to keep his promises to Abraham, he also directly inspired the Founding Fathers to establish this republic and its commerce and governance on Divine principles! Indeed, they look upon the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as Divinely appointed documents. For them, these documents are almost on a par with Scripture, and the Founding Fathers who fashioned them are regarded with the same reverence and esteem that most Christians reserve for Christ's apostles!
Now, while a majority of Americans probably do believe that God had a hand in inspiring those men and the documents which they produced (and with some justification), they also clearly see that those men were flawed, and that many of their notions about commerce and governance did NOT originate in the mind of God. After all, we must remember that the United States was fashioned from a system which embraced imperialism, colonialism and mercantilism. Likewise, we must never forget that English settlers appropriated the lands and resources of the original inhabitants of North America and enslaved their African brethren to work it. As high-minded as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were, they both owned large numbers of slaves. Moreover, although Jefferson and Franklin were both brilliant men, their extramarital activities were legendary even in their own time! Finally, most of these Christian men subscribed to religious beliefs that would be very foreign and often repulsive to today's Fundamentalist/Literalist/Evangelical believers.
Hence, while it may be accurate to look back on a time when divorce was rare and church attendance was almost universal, it would be highly inaccurate to suppose that the folks of those times were somehow more moral/righteous than are the folks of today. We must not forget that things like domestic abuse/violence, alcoholism, land speculation and greed, ignorance, lack of sanitation, wanton exploitation and waste of resources etc. were widespread/common features of days gone by. Moreover, there has NEVER been a time in human history when folks didn't lie, cheat, betray and kill each other! Hence, while some of the vices of times past may have been different from those of modern times, the notion that there ever existed some golden age of virtue/righteousness becomes highly suspect and problematic.
In other words, America has always had MANY sins which could/did evoke calls for repentance. And, like ALL of the other nations of the world, America has developed a governing, economic and military system that incorporates more of the features of Babylon and Rome than anything that resembles a Godly or righteous system. Thus, the notion that America has fallen from some previously perfect/more perfect state is shown to be absurd on its face. It is pure fantasy to suppose that America has degenerated from some golden age - that it has somehow turned its back on God in the last two or three generations. The fact is that, from its foundations, America has been juggling MANY sins. Indeed, it's hard to imagine anything more heinous than murdering an indigenous people and stealing their lands - unless one counts our original sin: SLAVERY!
Sure, America is an economic and military powerhouse. However, as the old saying goes: "Might does NOT make right!" Wealth and resources do not equal righteousness, and they are NOT a definitive sign of God's favor! The truth is that sometimes the wicked prosper, and the righteous are oppressed. What about you? Are you a patriotic citizen of God's Kingdom, or are you a patriot of the United States of America? And, if you're thinking to answer "both," you may want to rethink your priorities.
Lonnie, good points. However, America did not institute slavery. It was introduced to our lands from Islam and others.
ReplyDeleteI did not mean to suggest that Americans invented the institution, just that they embraced it and used it for over 200 years.
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ReplyDeleteOne thing that I've noticed about some church hymnals is the incorporation of American patriotic songs. Nothing wrong with them per se, but to be sung as hymns at Christian services?
My rule of thumb for deciding whether a hymn properly belongs is to ask myself if the lyrics of the hymn could be sung as written (in translation as needed) by a Christian anywhere in the world and at any time in the past 2000 years.
By that standard, America the Beautiful and maybe the Battle Hymn of the Republic don't make the cut. They're beautiful, but they're patriotic hymns, not Christian ones. After all, we don't include Blake and Parry's "Jerusalem," also beautiful but a paean to England, not Christ.
Here's Dr. Wikipedia:
Although Parry composed the music as a unison song, many churches have adopted "Jerusalem" as a four-part hymn; a number of English entities, including the BBC, the Crown, cathedrals, churches, and chapels regularly use it as an office or recessional hymn on Saint George's Day.[38][citation needed]
However, some clergy in the Church of England, according to the BBC TV programme Jerusalem: An Anthem for England, have said that the song is not technically a hymn as it is not a prayer to God (which they claim hymns always are, though many counter-examples appear in any hymnal).[39] Consequently, it is not sung in some churches in England.[40] Despite this, it was sung as a hymn during the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in Westminster Abbey.[41]
Yes, I understand. it was all about cheap labor. You do know that more slaves were imported to Brazil than America? Also, there were plenty of white slaves, notably the Irish brought to our shores.
ReplyDeleteIt is misleading to say that there were white slaves in America. While it is true that most non-Anglo immigrants were exploited, discriminated against, and even suffered involuntary servitude at various times, they were NEVER locked into the permanent, multi-generational slavery that Africans were subjected to by white Europeans. In short, what Irish immigrants experienced NEVER rose to the level of systemic abuse and exploitation which their African brethren experienced.
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