...thinking a bit about patriotism tonight.  Here are some interesting links:

http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/10/easy-to-be-hard-easy-to-be-cold.html - Real versus imaginary patriotism...

http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-country-tis-of-me.html -  'designer love' and other things...

http://www.pajamasmedia.com/2007/10/pride_and_shame.php - 'America' - a real culture, or only an abstract ideal?

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/americas-identity-crisis/ - is nationalism wrong?

http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/10/obama_will_no_longer_wear_amer.php - why Barack Obama says he will no longer wear an American flag lapel pin.    What would you think of a husband who said he would no longer wear his wedding ring because it was "only a substitute for true loyalty and love"??

and finally, http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=27427_UK_Debate-_We_Should_Not_Be_Reluctant_to_Assert_the_Superiority_of_Western_Values&only - a debate on the proposition "We should not be reluctant to assert the superiority of western values."  What do you think?

 

My own situation - I grew up nominally/untestedly patriotic, then went through four years at college of extreme discomfort at the apparently unquestioning 'God-and-country patriotism' mentality being promulgated, then began to think 'deeper' and ponder more whether there might actually be a place for true patriotism.  I like the twofold contrast given by the top two links above: patriotism might be a commitment to sacrificial loyalty to one's homeland/country (the older conception), or it might be a commitment to 'ideal' behavior, as in, 'I will support whichever country or leader operates with the best morality/legitimacy at the moment' (the newer conception).  But since all men and all countries without exception are deeply flawed and sinful (and since many actions of countries are so vast as to be hard to analyze - e.g. were the Americans in the World Trade Center "little Eichmanns" as Ward Churchill claimed?), the latter definition of patriotism usually seems to simplify down to treason: aiding the enemy.

Yet what to do when one's country pursues actions and policies which seem very wrong, and all the (typical) legal ways to change the country's course seem ineffective?   E.g. Vietnam...?  Dietrich Bonhoeffer?  Peter and John?

Is America actually worth dying for?  If so, how does that fit with our higher allegiance to the Kingdom of God (which is unquestionably worth dying for)... ?

An American?  Yes.  I am an American.

But first and dearest, I am a Christian - an adopted son of the Creator God.

As a Christian, I believe that Jesus was right when He said -

"See to it that no one misleads you.
For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.
You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.
But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.
Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."
Is this morbid of me?  Am I improperly focusing on the "dark" that is in society without properly seeing the "light" in every person?  Ought I to follow the Buddhist path and ignore the evil, unrest, wars, and riots that are happening with increasing frequency around the world?   Shall I believe the liberal/Eastern "peace and safety" myth, as in the following poem, that peace is actually attainable without God's Messiah?

(keep in mind that this poem was written the day after September 11, 2001)

Wage peace with your breath.

Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.

Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.

Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.

Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.

Play music, memorize the words for thank you in three languages.

Learn to knit, and make a hat.

Think of chaos as dancing raspberries, imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.

Swim for the other side.

Wage peace.

Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious:

Have a cup of tea and rejoice.

Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.

- judyth hill

No.   No!   and with much weeping I say... No.
Flowers, tea, and knitting, wonderful as they are, will never bring us peace!
I say this not because I am a pessimistic person, but because I am a realistic person.  I say this because God has pronounced, very clearly, that there will be no peace until Jesus Christ returns to reign on earth forever.

Evil is not an illusion (and should not be treated as if it is such), chaos is not "dancing raspberries".

Rather, evil is real.  Sin is the darkest of abhorrent twistedness, a screaming-in-the-face-of the Beautiful One.

But God...   But God is there, and He is not silent... He has not left us alone...  He has acted...

Evil is temporary.  Our bottled tears will soon be wiped away, and death will be no more.

You who are grieved at the evil in the world, turn to the Loving Creator!

Please don't ignore Him, don't pretend that He doesn't exist - don't pretend you don't need Him.   Accept the forgiveness He offers you in Christ's substitutionary death-for-us!  Please accept it before it is too late.

Turn to Him in wholehearted repentance... in a 180 degree reversal of your past self-worshipping life...  turn to Him in devotion and allegiance - worship Him alone.

Then, and only then, go make some soup.

 

    For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
Isaiah 9