1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Has the US ever been a Christian nation.

Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by Bunyon, Oct 16, 2005.

?

Has the U.S. ever been a Christian nation.

  1. Yes

    25 vote(s)
    100.0%

  2. No

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
Top Posters
Page 1 of 7
  1. Bunyon

    Bunyon New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2005
    Messages:
    1,708
    Likes Received:
    1
    Even though we are more secular today than we have been in the past, has it ever been true that we were a Christian Nation? Or have we always been totally secular?
     
    #1 Bunyon, Oct 16, 2005
  2. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2002
    Messages:
    42,002
    Likes Received:
    1,492
    Faith:
    Baptist
    We have been a Christian nation and continue to be so as the vast majority of our populace has always been and continues to be at least nominally Christian.
     
    #2 KenH, Oct 16, 2005
  3. Rocko9

    Rocko9 New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2005
    Messages:
    1,621
    Likes Received:
    0
    I believe there was a time in America that the Church played a very important role in forming this country but slowly over a period of time we became more diversified and it was only natural for this to happen it happened in Israel in the Old Testament times. You woulda thunk we would have learned something from that.
     
    #3 Rocko9, Oct 16, 2005
  4. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2000
    Messages:
    17,527
    Likes Received:
    0
    I cannot think of a single time when we were a Christian nation. Even in our founding, we were a secular Constitutional form of Democracy. If we had ever truly been a Christian nation, I think we would have written the original version of the Constitution a lot different so that we would not have condoned slavery. Even then, we were not even a true form of democracy who protected the rights of everyone (kind of like I hear people harping about Iraq and its future as a democracy). We have become better as a nation by protecting the rights of the minorities the more democratic we become in our governance. But, even though we have become better in protecting the rights of some in our society, we still fail in protecting the rights of others. In the end, we are a totally depraved, sinful, imperfect secular democracy which is in no way a Christian nation. If we were truly a Christian Nation, we would not even be debating whether or not it is ok to murder our unborn babies.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #4 Joseph_Botwinick, Oct 16, 2005
  5. hillclimber

    hillclimber New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2005
    Messages:
    2,075
    Likes Received:
    0
    I think technically, we are a secular nation, founded on a Bible based Constitution, drafted almost exclusively by Christians.
     
    #5 hillclimber, Oct 16, 2005
  6. Bunyon

    Bunyon New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2005
    Messages:
    1,708
    Likes Received:
    1
    Technically, I would say our government is not a Christian government, but I think there is difference between what we are as a nation and the form of government we use.
     
    #6 Bunyon, Oct 16, 2005
  7. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2000
    Messages:
    17,527
    Likes Received:
    0
    I don't believe the whole of the Constitution has a Biblical Basis, at least, not the original version.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #7 Joseph_Botwinick, Oct 16, 2005
  8. Bunyon

    Bunyon New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2005
    Messages:
    1,708
    Likes Received:
    1
    "We have become better as a nation by protecting the rights of the minorities the more democratic we become in our governance'----------------------------------------------------------------------

    I am not sure this had anything to do with us becoming more democratic. We just needed time to catch up with our vision. We ended what was up until that century a worldwide institution. Yet we said in our founding, without equvication, "all men are created equal and with certain inalliable rights." We did not qulify it, even when slavery was a worldwide institution. If the idea, or authority, for the view that all men are equal with inaliable rights is not Christian, I don't know what it is. If it is not backed up with the God of the Bible, I don't know what backs it up.
     
    #8 Bunyon, Oct 16, 2005
  9. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2000
    Messages:
    17,527
    Likes Received:
    0
    And yet, it was all words, but no application. I think Jesus would have called that hypocrisy, but certainly not Christian. We were speaking out of both sides of our mouths when we said on hand that all men are created equal, and then on the other hand, we condoned 3rd class citizenship for those who were slaves in America.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #9 Joseph_Botwinick, Oct 16, 2005
  10. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2002
    Messages:
    42,002
    Likes Received:
    1,492
    Faith:
    Baptist
    God allowed for slavery in the Old Testament and I find no words of condemnation in the New Testament of slavery - only that if one can become free he should do so.

    1 Cor. 7:21 (ESV)
    Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.

    Personally, I am glad that we no longer have slavery but I don't condemn our founding fathers for compromising on the situation in the late 18th century.
     
    #10 KenH, Oct 16, 2005
  11. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2000
    Messages:
    17,527
    Likes Received:
    0
    So, you believe that slavery is compatable with Christianity? Even if you intellectually say yes, that still proves the concepts of the Constitution were not Biblical, as the other side of our hypocritical mouths said, "All people were created equal".

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #11 Joseph_Botwinick, Oct 16, 2005
  12. Bunyon

    Bunyon New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2005
    Messages:
    1,708
    Likes Received:
    1
    No I don't think it is compatable. But you nor me nor our nation has ever lived up to the vision we hold for oursleves. Simply, falling short of what you strive for should not really have anything to do with whether a person or a nation is Christian. It is what one stands for and strives for that tells the tell, not your failures.

    "And yet, it was all words, but no application"-----------------------------------------------

    I wold say words that had a slow and diffecult application.
     
    #12 Bunyon, Oct 16, 2005
  13. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2000
    Messages:
    17,527
    Likes Received:
    0
    Bunyon,

    You are correct. We are imperfect, totally depraved, sinful, secular humans who created a document which was better than what we had before in many ways. But, it was not totally Biblically based, was not perfect, and certainly talked out of both sides of its mouth, and could not be given as evidence that our nation was Christian.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #13 Joseph_Botwinick, Oct 16, 2005
  14. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2002
    Messages:
    42,002
    Likes Received:
    1,492
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Did God ever tell slave owners in the New Testament to free their slaves?
     
    #14 KenH, Oct 16, 2005
  15. Bunyon

    Bunyon New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2005
    Messages:
    1,708
    Likes Received:
    1
    The type of Christian nation you are describing wont ever exist until Christ comes to run it himslef.
     
    #15 Bunyon, Oct 16, 2005
  16. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2000
    Messages:
    17,527
    Likes Received:
    0
    The type of Christian nation I am describing will never exist here on this earth since God's kingdom is not of this world.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #16 Joseph_Botwinick, Oct 16, 2005
  17. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2000
    Messages:
    17,527
    Likes Received:
    0
    Did God ever tell slave owners in the New Testament to free their slaves? </font>[/QUOTE]Please also read the second part of that post:

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #17 Joseph_Botwinick, Oct 16, 2005
  18. Gold Dragon

    Gold Dragon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2005
    Messages:
    5,143
    Likes Received:
    149
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    No the founders of the U.S. purposely formed the Constitution so that it wasn't a Christian nation and would never be a Christian nation since that is what they were leaving behind in Europe, Christian nations that restricted the religious freedoms of its people. I thank God that both Canada and the US have never been and hopefully never will be Christian nations.

    I hope and pray that both will be nations of Christians.
     
    #18 Gold Dragon, Oct 17, 2005
  19. Bunyon

    Bunyon New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2005
    Messages:
    1,708
    Likes Received:
    1
    You said that already, didn't you, Gold Dragon?
    My response was that the idea of a Christian Nation is not necessarly pinned to whether or not we have a theocracy, which we don't. No one would want that. We have or had a Biblically informed and Biblically based democracy.
     
    #19 Bunyon, Oct 17, 2005
  20. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2000
    Messages:
    17,527
    Likes Received:
    0
    Not completely Biblically Based. As I pointed out earlier, there are things with the Constitution that go in direct opposition to the Bible.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #20 Joseph_Botwinick, Oct 17, 2005
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 1 of 7
Loading...