What Is Freedom For?

I am a patriot who happens to be a Christian.

I am awestruck by the number of Christians that are totally surprised when Christian values and long standing moral practices are attacked. Our old moral standards, especially Judeo/Christian Ethics - in the name of fairness, religious freedom and equal rights are not only attacked but successfully done away with piece by painful piece.
 
What do these people (followers of Christ) expect? Didn’t Jesus PROMISE this? Didn’t He say this is inevitable? Hasn’t the anti-Christ follower crowd been around since about 30 AD? Hasn’t antisemitism been around for about 3500 years?

Why then are “conservative Christians” so up in arms, so seemingly surprised and so eager to point out the hypocrisy of our political class?These well meaning people almost always associate politics with following Jesus.

It is true that our nation was founded by men who fled England’s attempt at imposing a state religion. True that some of these men followed Christ and that the new nation was established on principles of religious freedom and may I say free will. The men who founded this nation were mostly deists and had a creator in mind as giving natural law or rights.

What is not true is that patriotism and following Jesus are somehow the same. To say our political system requires you to somehow be a Christian just isn’t true. To intimate such seems to imply that the USA is a theocracy and it is not.

 I dislike the term Christian. Not because of what it literally means – I am a follower of Christ, but because of the negative implication that can and does go with it around the world, I prefer the term “follower of Jesus” (it has been shown people tend to love Jesus but dislike “Christians”). But for the sake of expediency and given that I am a slow typist, I am going to use the two interchangeably – after all I am using the literal meaning.

I believe that by associating Christianity with patriotism we saddle each with the faults of the other. No system is perfect. Although our country's endeavors and our Christianity may be as good as we can possibly make them, both systems are imperfect. That imperfection is then accentuated by people, often by mistake, in other nations.

 Although established with a Creator in mind, I would argue the USA is not and never has been a “Christian nation”.

When we say “God given rights”, even if we agree that our rights come from God, (I believe they do). And we agree that is the correct and best way to set up a political system, it is very wrong to assume this is what Christ wants.

What Christ wants is for us to spread the Gospel. No matter how we need to do it. If we need to work within the confines of government to do that, so be it. If the government is no longer sympathetic to the cause of spreading the Gospel - so be it. But our responsibility as Christians is not alleviated.

In the fifth chapter of Joshua, as Joshua approaches Jericho, the Commander Of The Lord’s Army (Jesus) tells Joshua He is on “neither” side. Also, let us not forget that when Jesus does come back to claim the earth in re-establishing God’s Kingdom, He will be a dictator of the most prejudicial sort. There will be no democracy or republic.

Christ, by the way, never once complained about the unfairness of Rome. He never once wrote an op-ed criticizing their government or giving advice on how to better it.

Do I want people in office who think like me? Who have the same worldview and priorities? – Of coarse. So when I vote, it will likely be for someone who thinks like me in most matters. 
 Luckily, I am a Christian who happens to live in the USA. I am a Christian who happens to think my political system is the most fair and offers the best opportunity to spread the Gospel. For that I am beyond thankful!

I believe we get religious freedom (political side) mixed up with Christianity. I think we get so obsessed with protecting rights and/or religious freedom that we forget what that freedom (as a Christian) is for.

As a patriot, I (we) say and have said “I will die to protect your freedom”. As Christians I say we shouldn’t need religious freedom. Can we say we would die to spread the Gospel? Is this the cost Jesus said we must count?