Can Christians be good Americans?

Disclaimer: This is an email that has been passed around called, "Can a Muslim be a good American?" I have adapted it to accurately reflect true Christianity instead of the pagan, nationalistic Christianity it began with to bash Islam.

This is very interesting and we all need to read it from start to finish and send it on to anyone who will read it. Maybe this is why our American Christians are so quiet and not speaking out about any atrocities. Can a good Christian be a good American? This question was forwarded to a friend who worked in the Internet for 20 years. The following is his reply:

Theologically - no. Because his allegiance is to God, and His son Jesus Christ, King of kings, the only Lord

Religiously - no. Because no other religion is accepted by his God except Christianity

Scripturally - no. Because his allegiance is to the Church and the Holy Bible

Geographically - no. Because his allegiance is to the Kingdom of God, which is not of this world

Socially - no. Because his allegiance to Christianity forbids him to make contracts with non-believers

Politically - no. Because he does not place his trust in men and government, but only in the Lord

Domestically - no. Because he encouraged to live a single, celibate life

Intellectually - no. Because he views himself as a resident alien on this earth

Philosophically - no. Because the nation-state teaches love of nation over love of the world, while the Kingdom of God has no borders

Spiritually - no. Because when Uncle Sam says, "I want you," he means to take your life. When Jesus says, "I want you," he means to give you life.

Therefore after much study and deliberation....perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL CHRISTIANS in this country. They obviously cannot be both "good" Christians and good Americans. Call it what you wish....it's still the truth.

A reflection on worship

I don't go into prayer with an agenda too often; but then I pray far too infrequently. This past Sunday was one of those times where I began praying and the Spirit convicted me; these guys in the band know this all to well from me because when we pray I tend to get splayed.

The story doesn't begin on Sunday though, it begins over a month ago when I was planning on booking a band from New York to play out here. I met with a few guys from a local congregation about hosting the event in their building. I like these guys, they're real and they have a great congregation. There is no paid staff, no head pastor, and they're very open to where the Spirit moves without regard to agendas and schedules.

Unfortunately the booking fell through, but one of them (Tom) suggested we do a night music and a speaker brought in from Hawaii. I agreed. There was confusion about this event, and every time I talked to Tom he had a different plan than the previous time. I planned on one artist performing, but they canceled about a week before the event. I ended up unknowing what was going to happen at the event with nobody to play.

In a bind, got my band to play. This band is led by Brandon (my brother-in-law) on vocals and guitar, Josh on drums and myself on bass. We decided on a relaxed acoustic set, but we also asked my father-in-law (Harold) to play with us. He had taught Brandon and raised him to be the musician he is today. This was very cool.

So right up to the point where we started playing on Saturday night, I had no idea how the event would go. And we started playing worship music. Brandon would just pick a song to play and we would go into it. Harold would lead a few songs too. After what seemed like a normal length set (30-40 minutes) we were done after an intense two-and-a-half hours.

This was an incredible, free time of worship and the very intimate setting was emotional and captivating. We were all blown away at the end.

Now to Sunday night, after what seems like a whole essay was writ.

More Than This was scheduled to play on Sunday night (the following day). The format was similar, we played acoustically with Chad joining us on Cajone. The difference was the venue. This congregation has a huge facility, strict time schedules (even counting the minutes down on a clock at the back of the room) and they're not the charismatic type. After the high of Saturday we were all feeling like we were constrained and we wouldn't be free to worship as we did the night before.

And then we prayed. And the Spirit convicted me. Worship is not about where we are or how much time we have. It is an attitude of reverence in the presence of grace. I thanked God for the opportunity to worship Him, and begged forgiveness for my spirit of spite.

And then we worshiped, and it was also incredible. It was powerful ... and it was 25-minutes on the dot.

The DNC

So the Democratic National Convention is going on in Denver, CO. Because it's tens of thousands of those damned liberals I bet they're all celebrating their new gay marriages, having all kinds of abortions on demand, and getting super high off all their drugs.

On the floor of the convention, (you know, post-abortion) they're probably planning how they're going to surrender the country to Iran. I bet they're giving out commendations to all the terrorists they love so much.

And worst of all, I bet none of them are wearing flag pins.

The real issues

I just finished watching the Saddleback Civil Forum hosted by Rick Warren.

Barrack Obama went first and gave lengthy, but detailed answers. John McCain threw out short soundbite phrases with no substance (and they say Obama is the "empty suit").

It made me sad that they were sitting in house of worship discussing American ideology as higher goals than the Christian confession. We've got a higher duty to preserve freedom and fight socialist governments than in caring for the widows and orphans in their distress.

What I want to talk about is the way questions are phrased. They're slanted and loaded. It is not just this forum but is endemic of the overall political process in the USA.

The main issue I found here is abortion. They ask if you're "pro-life" or if "life starts at conception." This means nothing. I've voted for pro-life candidates for years and nothing has been done about the issue as far as legislation. They bring it out in political campaigns to earn votes and ignore it for four years. Instead we should ask the candidates what legislation they have supported and propose that reduces the number of abortions.

Think about it. The pro-life Republican party has controlled the Congress, Senate, White House and Supreme Court for the last seven years with nothing done about abortion. How are they going to do this?

Another issue is marriage. Both candidates tonight were asked to define marriage. Big deal. They both defined it the same and they both said it should be left to the states. So throw this issue out the window because neither candidate will do anything about it, and they can't do anything about it.

But that's the biggest problem. For way too long we've been caught up debating issues politicians don't do anything about. Instead of getting nothing done, pick an issues they can and will get done. Energy, peace, poverty. These are things politicians can take care of.

Provoking war with Iran by killing US soldiers