Tim talked about how the Israel (way back in Biblical days) fell away from God and the judges didn’t chastise them and it all went bad. Um hi, Israel was founded on being God’s chosen people. America is, like it or not, founded as a relatively secular nation. The Founders were mostly deists, which is different from modern-day Protestant. And I had forgotten that i get amused that United fears the country is falling away from being focused on the Christian God and Smith fears it’s falling towards that. Of course it’s all in where your focus since obviously there are indicators of both.
Pastor Bill talked about how isn’t it too bad that patriotism is being seen as a bad thing. And he talked about how so many Americans don’t truly understand the freedom they have. And yes, i argue that frequently -- that people throw around terms like “fascism” and “censorship” in really exaggerated inappropriate ways. But i also wanted to yell at Pastor Bill that people are getting troubled by patriotism because they think people are blindly supporting things that aren’t in support of freedom, that betray the ideals both sides would agree the country was founded in.
Oh Memorial Day Sunday. One of those many instances where i am reminded of how much i don’t fit on either of the two sides.
Excerpt from my mother’s "In pre-response to Elizabeth's LJ snarking about United's Memorial Day service"
I'm not a big fan of over the top "yay America" in church -- cuz I think God is God of everyone, not just Americans. On the other hand, I don't mind a degree of "we are grateful for America" because we should be. And Tim is correct when he comments about how Christians are not free everywhere -- something which is virtually not reported in the mainstream press.I wholly agree with the first two sentences. I also agree with the last sentence. I’m so bad, though. Whenever Tim mentions that i remember the Sunday School class in which he talked about that, about how in many parts of the world Christians can only meet in secret, always at risk of being found out by police, etc. And i kept thinking “Stonewall!” only of course i didn’t say anything.
Sidenote: Thanks to
carpdeus for pointing out the context of that oft-quoted Thomas Jefferson "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants." 