God Bless America?

I am an American by nationality… born, bred and raised in the hills of east Tennessee. Though I have been brought up in a family and community that have always stressed patriotism and that I should be grateful to those who have died for what I am so “blessed” to have, I grown more and more bothered by the fact that the blessings we say are from God are in a lot of cases not given to us but taken from others. Whether it is from cheap Mexican labor or from buying for cheap prices and selling for a lot. We constantly talk about how slavery is wrong but we constantly find one more form of slavery. We may not chain people by physical chains to work in America but we have bound them by monetary chains by outsourcing to places where we can pay cheaper wages. Even though we always seek another slave to replace our last slave to make our “American Dream” a reality we neglect the fact that we are called to be δοῦλος(doulos) or slaves by submitting to God and each other.

Matthew 20:25* Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

The word in verse 26 for servant is διάκονος(diakonos) the word is literally transliterated deacon in most Christian traditions and the word for slave in 27 is doulos. We as a nation have broken off from other nations and established ourselves on not being slaves, which is kind of ironic when you think about it. Instead of submitting ourselves as good slaves, as Paul stresses over and over through his letters, we have grown stagnant and have struck back (i.e. basically every Revolution that has ever taken place violently by Christians dating all the way back to Constantine A.D. 325 when Christianity became legal.)

Colossians 3:22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.

Ephesians 6:5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.

We have forgotten submission. We got discontented and forced our way out of the submission. We try to justify it in so many ways but we forget that we are called to submission.  The Israelites for example did not force their way out of submission but were delivered through the plagues. God commanded all of the Hebrews to bless the world over and over again.

To Abraham

 Genesis 15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

To Isaac

Genesis 26:4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws."

To Jacob

Genesis 28:14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

We so often forget that part of the blessing that was put on the Israelites is that of through them the world will be blessed. Is that any different to what is supposed to happen through the Church**? We are to teach all nations.  Why are we constantly being so arrogant to think we are worthy of a blessing? We should be asking God to Bless the world. We need to understand that the church is NOT America or an American thing. We are profiling and killing people at this moment that in all honesty probably look just like Jesus in nationality. We constantly throw out the old law of an “eye for an eye” but we neglect that Jesus took that to a completely different level pointing out that we are all murderers in our hearts.

Matthew 5:21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell…

38"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

No one is worthy to take the life of someone else unless they completely IGNORE the words of Jesus. It makes us a hypocrite.  How can we be followers of Jesus Christ and ignore Jesus Christ? When the followers of Yahweh grow large they will always be feared and lashed out at… but God will deliver (if you doubt this read Exodus a few times.) When we preemptively try to avoid being attacked it only causes a worse suffering of those who should be receiving a blessing from us (i.e. Abram saying Sarai was his sister and Isaac saying the same with Rebecca.) We need to quit fearing but instead embracing. We need to quit cursing the world and instead blessing them with the grace that we are not even worthy of ourselves.

Romans 3:21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

*All scripture from TNIV

** By Church I mean ἐκκλησία (ekklesia) as in the body of Christ not an assembly.

So you call yourself pro-life?

In modern politics, there are very few points that really seem to decide who you vote for… and those are marriage laws and … abortion. Should it be this way when we have everything from poverty, war, healthcare, human trafficking, free trade, exploitation of the powerless, etc. that take over and shape our everyday life and values. Well in this writing I am not going to say that either side is right about their opinions, but shouldn’t we as Christians have a calling to make sure our politicians are doing the right things on all spectrums. I will go ahead and say that I do believe that abortion is wrong but that is a personal issue that I have prayed and reflected on for a very considerable time. Do not spout out scripture that is pulled out of context to try and defend abortion because for one, you are talking to a worldly system and secondly most of them are no more than that… out of context. The Hebrews believed that life started at the first breath on ones own but I am not here to fight antiabortion but to point out the issues with our approach to being pro-life. First of all we have to realize we are in a secular country. You can say we are a Christian country all that you want but it is not true in the current state that we are in. Yes our founders were in most cases Christian but they intended it to be a place that is free to all walks of life. We as Christians, in most cases, stand behind the belief that abortion is wrong but looking at times past it is going to happen whether we like it or not. We base the majority of our politics fighting something that if it ever did become illegal we would have more women trying to intentionally miscarry and that can lead to some very unfortunate outcomes (ex. Fetal alcohol syndrome, born addicted to drugs, and many other birth defects). When looking at it this way should we really be lobbying to make it illegal or should the church take the money spent on lobbying and other methods of protest (approximately 6.9 million dollars spent just on lobbying congress since 1990*) and spend it elsewhere (aka orphanages, teen pregnancy center, etc) to create alternatives to be encouraged instead of abortion. Christianity was in the beginning designed to be a proactive community looking both at past and present trends in working to shape the world around them. Fighting and telling people that they can’t do something will only cause them to do things out of spite. We must create alternatives to prevent the issues not more issues to prevent the alternatives.

            Okay, we have abortion out of the way. Now to the rest of what being pro-life means. And you may ask, “Doesn’t antiabortion mean pro-life?” and I would beg to differ. One of the main points of the pro-life movement is that you are defending the sacredness of a human life. Well why aren’t most “pro-life” people against war and against the death penalty. Isn’t the life of a criminal just as sacred as your life or mine? Isn’t the life of each and every enemy of the United States just as sacred as yours or mine? I would say, “Yes”. Too often in abortion cases we tend to say that no one has the right to kill what God could have plans for. When do we ever get the right to decide that a person is a lost cause and that God cannot change them? Take Paul for example. He killed Christians on a regular basis. God changed him and turned him into one of the most influential people in the Christian timeline. The great King David committed adultery and then had the husband of the woman killed but God stilled used him. Too many people will say “ but it says an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth” and forget what Jesus said about murder …

Matthew 5: 21(NASB)"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'

 22"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.**

Where do we get off saying that we have the right to think that we are better than anyone when according to Jesus’ standards we are all murderers? We have caused this gap between what is a modern “Christian” standard and what is an actual Jesus teaching.  To often we look at “turn the other cheek” as if that would be a stupid idea and will retaliate gun-hoe against someone who has wronged us and try to say we were right in our actions. Killing is killing and there is no way around it. I am not saying that some people shouldn’t be incarcerated but to end their life is NOT a choice that is ours to make.

            So what about war? Lets take a look at the military or guerilla sects that are opposing us. They are youth fighting for what their parents, family and government say is right. Okay… how about our military? They are youth fighting for what their parents, family and government…say….is……..right…. hmmm. That sounds familiar and I wonder why? It’s because it is all a matter of perception. I am not saying that they are killing for the right reasons but I am saying that we are for the wrong reasons. We try to say we are Christians yet we will send our youth to fight and kill people for reasons Jesus out rightly objected to.

Luke 6:27 (NASB)"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.29"Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.30"Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.31" Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32" If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

It doesn’t make sense to me how we could have created such a huge gap between what Jesus taught and what we really do as Christians. I personally do not believe it is a Christian action to be part of the military. I do not mean that there are not many good Christians in the military. I believe it is just as I said earlier that it is out of misguidance that they are even there to begin with. We have created a double standard for the American life vs. the Foreigners life.  We act as if we have more of a right to have a chance to live and eventually hear or follow Christ. I hate to burst a lot of people’s bubbles but there are Christians outside of the States and some of them are even family members of people who would rather see us dead. Think about your own family. I know that everyone has someone that isn’t a Christian or has turned his or her back on God. Now imagine that someone wanted to kill him/her for what they believed. Wouldn’t you fight to the nail to get them one more chance to hear the gospel, if not a lifetime of chances? When does God cease to have the power to change someone’s mind? I believe the answer to that is never.

            So next time you say you are pro-life think about it a little harder because I know that to me being pro-life is a much bigger issue when you count every military casualty (on both sides) and death sentence alongside every abortion as a total body count. It is scary that we are no longer “teaching all nations” through a loving example but “killing them as they would kill us.” Basically playing by their rules and standards instead of the ones set up by Christ himself.

*http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary.php?ind=q14&recipdetail=A&sortorder=U&cycle=All

** If you don’t like NASB look up another translation it says basically the same thing in most cases. I prefer NASB or NRSV for the sake that they are a bit