A Facebook friend recently expressed his discomfort with pledging allegiance to the flag, given that our allegiance ought to be to Jesus Christ. He’s certainly right that some Christians take things too far. A Babylon Bee article satirized this problem well when it declared that “Dozens Accept America As Lord And Savior At First Baptist Dallas Service.” I’m glad to see Christians wrestling with the issue. Only rarely do I hear American Christians even acknowledge that God sometimes asks for a fidelity that conflicts with the expectations of the state, or that the American government might demand something contrary to the law of God. But just because we can do patriotism badly doesn’t mean that loving our country is wrong. In fact, it’s a moral good, and patriotism is a virtue.
How could this be? On the one hand, Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24). But on the other hand, he also says, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). How can we resolve this apparent contradiction? We don’t have to, because Jesus resolved it for us in front of Pontius Pilate (John 19:10-11). When Pilate boasted, “Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” Jesus replied, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.”
In other words, whether Pilate acknowledged it or not, the power and authority he had came from God. This means both (a) that we should respect lawful secular powers, and (b) that there are limits on the state’s power. If God and the state contradict one another, we should never forget that “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). St. Paul says this same thing: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Rom. 13:1-2). Implicit within this reasoning is that you can’t obey the governing authorities in doing something evil, since it’s a violation of both your duties to God and it undermines the state’s own authority.
But we can never let our focus on the limits of our obedience take away from the reality that Christianity isn’t a religion of anarchy. Perhaps that’s somewhat surprising. After all, both Jesus and (many of) his initial followers were unjustly executed by the State, yet the inspired Christian texts are explicit in the need to “be subject to the governing authorities.”
St. Thomas Aquinas goes so far as to describe patriotism as a type of virtuous piety. As he explains, the virtue of piety is primarily about the divine worship paid to God, but secondarily extends to the honor paid to country and to our parents. What do God, country, and your parents all have in common? Each have given you more than you could ever repay. No amount of thanks will make you even with the parents who literally cooperated with God in giving you life, and no amount of thanks will make you square with the country whose bounty you daily enjoy. And of course, more than all else, you can never “square up” with God, the ultimate bestower of all good things.
So there’s no way in justice to render to God, to nation, or to your parents what they deserve. All that’s left is to take time to honor them for the gifts you cannot repay. This action, inadequate though it may be, is the best that you can do, and it’s what Aquinas and other theologians mean by piety. It’s why the Ten Commandments go from the worship owed to God to immediately talking about the honor owed to father and mother, and it’s why faithful Christians ought to be patriotic. It’s not a matter of declaring that all other countries are bad (anymore than loving your family is a judgment against other families) but of recognizing the particularities of the gifts you’ve been given, and responding in loving piety.
So go, savor that barbecue, enjoy the fireworks, and delight in an opportunity to exercise the virtue of piety, in the form of patriotism, this Fourth of July!
Thanks for your words on this Independence Day 2019. They settle well in my belly (right next to the BBQ and apple pie). 😉
Dear GOD/GODS and/or anyone else who can HELP ME (e.g. MEMBERS OF SUPER-INTELLIGENT ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS):
The next time I wake up, please change my physical form to that of FINN MCMILLAN of SOUTH NEW BRIGHTON at 8 YEARS OLD and keep it that way FOREVER.
I am so sick of this chubby Asian man body!
Thank you!
– CHAUL JHIN KIM (a.k.a. A DESPERATE SOUL)
P.S. If you are reading this then please pray for me!
CJ,
Jesus Christ, Son of God, was born in a cave/stable suitable for animals, He was, as a child, harassed by political power and forced to flee all the way to Egypt as a refugee in a foreign country. Then, when He returned to His native land, He lived in a town of such poor reputation, that it was said of it: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”. When 30 years old He spent 40 days in a solitary desert, without food for 40 days, wherein He was severely tempted and harassed by the devil (a fallen angel), and needed in His poverty to be assisted by the help of His Father and the aid of good angels…so poor and physically weak was He. Then, still in poverty as an adult, He returned to His hometown of Nazareth only to have His own towns men refer to Him, saying..”Is this not the carpenters son?”…that is, not even using His own name….so insignificant He was in their eyes, This is to say, that Nazareth was seen as one of the worst towns of Israel, and Jesus was seen by His own townsfolk as the worst of THEM! So, how poor and despised was Jesus while living in this world?? Even the Prophets revealed His humble condition and abject poverty by putting these words in his mouth: “I am a worm and a no man”. Then we all know that he also died on a cross after being mocked by political powers and having a sarcastically humiliating ‘crown of thorns’ put on His head, which was also exceedingly painful. He was mocked at the same time while being tortured until His entire body was covered with deep lashes.
This is to say, how ever bad you might have it, you probably don’t come anywhere close to the humility, physical sufferings and poverty of “the Lamb of God’, Jesus….and He was God With Us…. on Earth.
Eternity is forever, so that should be the focus of all men in this world. Jesus also taught: “Blessed are the POOR, for theirs is the Kingdom of God”. And, also “The first will be last and the last will be first.”
Moreover, even people such as Socrates commented on his nominal physical appearance and even joked about it, but look at the beauty and wisdom of his philosophy! In sum, we are not the ones who choose whether we will be one nationality or the other, rich or poor, famous or despised, beautiful or ugly, literate or illiterate, healthy or sick…etc… God the creator, in His infinite Wisdom knows all of these things and He also knows what Heaven and Eternal Life is like..not just the mere 90 years, or so…of possible life on this Earth. So, If I were you, I would strive to be like Jesus… and focus on Eternal wisdom of heart, joy, friendship with others, and the imitation and love of Christ, And if not already, I’d become a Catholic and go to the liturgy of the Mass everyday…where looks, or nationality, or wealth are not important at all. and there you can be in the companionship with Jesus Christ to the satisfaction of your hearts desire. There you will find true joy in this life!
You asked for help….and I tried to give it.
Best to you in your journey closer to God. May the Lord aid you in any troubles you have and give you peace in your life..
Amen.
CJ Kim is a fairly notorious ‘troll’ who is not genuinely interested in the truth as he leaves nonsensical notes in stores and leaves the same messages on various forums with absolutely no regard to the effort that people put in to help him with his confusion and delusions.
That being said, he genuinely is desperately in need of the TRUE God and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Pray that the Holy Spirit would get through the tangled web of deceit that Satan has ensnared his heart.
As he explains, the virtue of piety is primarily about the divine worship paid to God, but secondarily extends to the honor paid to country and to our parents. What do God, country, and your parents all have in common? Each have given you more than you could ever repay. No amount of thanks will make you even with the parents who literally cooperated with God in giving you life, and no amount of thanks will make you square with the country whose bounty you daily enjoy. And of course, more than all else, you can never “square up” with God, the ultimate bestower of all good things.
Does that day extend to the Christian born into, say, Belarus, during the reign of Stalin or born into Berlin during the reign of Hitler?
Because such a person truly loved Belarus or Germany he would oppose those dictators who (like Napoleon before them) used a country to advance their own evil agendas. There is no piety and no patriotism in such tyranny and the true patriot would fight them. Konrad Adenauer and his family prayed for an allied victory in WWII, not because they hated Germany, but because they loved it and despised the Nazis for abusing it.
Mr. Byrne. ABS has tried twice to answer the question posed on July 7th but the comments have not been approved.
What can be said, in truth, is that God granted the power of government to Stalin and Hitler
Those who want to claim that God approved Attila, Genghis Khan, Tamurlane, Suleiman and all the rest, all the way up to Mao and Pol Pot, are welcome to their philosophy I suppose, and may explain it from Scripture if they can. As for the rest of us, we explain it by the sinfulness and blindness of man abusing as ever, the free will given him to choose good or evil.
Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s…and when conflict arises between what Caesar wants and what God wants, the choice is clear.
As for doing obeisance of one kind or another to occult symbolism, ignorance is the only defence possible, and in this day and age there is precious little defence in that.