Thoughts for Independence Day II

As I'm writing this second post concerning my thoughts for the role of Christianity in the formation of this country, I'm listening to Bob Dylan's classic song "The Times They are a Changing." I cannot help but think that change has been the only consistent force in the shaping of the United States. Change is the way of the world. Nothing in our universe ever remains constant. Every event that occurs whether in nature or in human behavior changes something in the universe and effects everything else, I believe. There is no such thing as a neutral action that affects only the being or force doing the action. Even something so simple as a deer walking through a forest creates change. It may spread the seeds of an invasive plant that kills everything else or the deer may destroy the habitat of an endangered insect. The fact is, the world is always changing and so are human beings. The only thing that does not change is God. God is "the same yesterday, today, and forever," "All glory be to thee oh Lord as it was IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW, AND EVER SHALL BE, WORLD WITHOUT END, AMEN (emphasis mine)."

While God never changes, Christianity often does. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst. While many would think it is a good thing that most Christianity in America is no longer like that practiced by the Puritans, it is bad that some factions have begun to say certain sins like abortion and homosexuality are not sin. In the case of American history, much of the change our nation has gone through culturally has been deeply affected by, or has affected the church.

Like I mentioned in my last post it was because of the history of religious persecution that the relatively new idea of separation between church and state was included in our constitution. During the pre-Civil War era, the church found itself split along with the rest of the nation over the issues of slavery. The temperance movement was fueled to a great degree by the church. During the Progressive era of the late 19th century, liberal protestantism found itself working for social reform while forgetting the gospel. This helped give rise to the distinctive American Fundamentalist movement. As the years wore on and the culture changed, fundamentalism gave way to modern Evangelicalism. The last hundred years have been, like much of American history, a time when the Christian community has been a force to be reckoned with concerning many different issues. Abortion, homosexuality, entertainment, evolution, and even foreign policy have been issues inseparable from the presence of the Christian population.

The ability of Christianity to thrive in a country that aims to leave religion alone has also been the source of much overseas missions work. The Evangelical churches in America are, and have been, very missions-minded. Our great prosperity has made it possible for practically any church member, who so desires, to go on a short term missions trip. In continuation with the Christian character of this country, Americans supply a great amount of aid to underdeveloped countries all over the world. Because of the Protestant work ethic that has so pervaded the populace, our wealth has given us so much more than we need, even plenty to spare.

However, the world still changes, and within recent years, it seems our wealth is not as stable as it used to be. We have been given the blessings, but we have not been godly stewards of it. We have forgotten God and have bloated ourselves on our riches. The recent economic crashes have begun to show us that money is a fickle master to have. We have been faced with the reality that we cannot have everything we want, as we have long believed. However, even in our economic hard times, we are still richer than most of the world. As Christians living in this context, we have found that even we have fallen into the sin of idolatry in our pursuit of consumer goods and money. However, American Christians can use this time of economic hardship to begin to break free from our idols. We can look at our brothers and sisters throughout the world and see that they live in greater poverty than we ever will. This can show us that the gospel and power of Christianity lies not in a strong society but in the lives of believers. When our Christianity becomes so closely tied with our culture, especially a culture of wealth, it can become difficult to remember the distinction between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the world. Our Mega Churches are a good example. They are a product of our wealth and can be used for God's glory. But we can also reach just as many people, if not more, without the grand buildings and fancy worship bands. We can meet in our homes for Bible study. As our culture repairs itself, it is up to us to show America the lessons we have learned. I will discuss more about Christians as the conscience in America in my next post.