Apologetics

In God We Trust

by Jeff Drinnan
11/21/21
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As a Christian, is it okay to say "I love America"? Yes, it is. That's only as long as the flag doesn't become an idol. Our constitution, which is based on Christian principles, is not equal to God. The document serves as a way to keep order among imperfect people.

Conservatism is not actually a creed, but a mechanism that allows we the people to govern ourselves, as the law of the land states that our nation is based on the premise that it is of and by the people.

Free speech and other freedoms allow Christians to influence the government and society. When the faith community influences the government, it becomes our proxy. The constitution gives us the freedom to right wrongs.

It's interesting that white abolitionists believed that the constitution opened the door for slavery. Frederick Douglas, a former slave, believed the problem of slavery was not due to the constitution, but to the evil in human hearts. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas believed likewise. I remember Justice Thomas being asked if new laws needed to be written to ensure equal rights. He replied that the problem is not with the constitution and pointed out the equal protection clause (equal protection before the law).

The same rule can be applied to the Bible. The Bible has been used by snake oil salesmen and others who misuse the Bible. The problem is not with the Bible, but with people. Ever since the first century people have been corrupting the Word of God, twisting it to meet their own agenda. This is why, to borrow a lyric from an old Motown song, when looking for a church or church related organizations, "You better shop around." Oh yeah!

This is the time of year when the celebration of the birth of Christ is being used for crass commercialism and trite, meaningless communications during the counterfeit Christmas. This is analogous to the money changers in the church, which Jesus drove out. "Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And he said to those who sold doves. 'Take these things! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!' Then His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.'" -John 2:13-16

The ills of this country are largely a result of the loss of a Christian consensus in our land. As Christian writer Oz Guiness wrote, our faith "should not be privately engaging but socially irrelevant."

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." -2 Chronicles 7:14