Featured Patriotic Worship

I can see your point to some extent. I have never considered the US to ever be a truly, 100% "Christian" nation. With that in mind, I think that a person has to be realistic in the sense that the US, or for that matter any nation on the face of the earth, has had some very bad laws or policies, but most of them also have some very good laws.

I don't approve of abortion in the US (or any other nation), but OTOH the US probably has sent out more missionaries to more places in the world, it probably has more Bible preaching churches than any other nation, and I could go on, but I think you can reasonably see the point I'm trying to make.

Of course I don't worship the US. I certainly don't pray towards Washington DC. I don't worship what takes place on Capital Hill, but I do thank God for what took place on Calvary's Hill.

I see no problem with allowing a worship service to present a patriotic program as a small part of the entire Corporate Worship time so long as it's done in good taste, and as long as it doesn't become the main emphasis rather than the preaching and teaching of God's Holy Word.

OTOH, you certainly are entitled to your opinion on this. If you don't want to have anything that even faintly resembles a patriotic theme in any of your worship services, that's fine with me--I'm not going to condemn you for that. I only pray that you'll be charitable to others who may have a different point of view on such matters as this.

 

It's not relevant. The only purpose would be guilt by association. What I said was "Not having a patriotic worship service doesn't make one a liberal. Having liberal theology makes one a liberal."

Using the word substitute or not is irrelevant. You missed the point. Also, lets read what I said in context.

"But this in no way means I should substitute a worship service to God to have a patriotic service. Now, some have said they have a patriotic themed service that is to God and thanking him for our country, our freedom to worship, and helping brave soldiers that fought for us. There's nothing at all wrong with that any more than having a service with a love theme in February or a mom theme in May or a Dad theme in June. As long as our worship is toward God, that is what is important."

There are some that have substituted worship for patriotic in services. If you haven't done this, then good. My point was that we shouldn't. We shouldn't have a worship serviced devoted to praising a country.

 

My church has a hotdog and ice cream time after our evening worship service. We have patriotic songs playing in the background. It's a total separate time of our worship.

There's nothing wrong with thanking God that we are free to worship him. If we have any type of patriotic theme, it should be that. It should always be praise to God and no one else.

 

Well, going to play a little devils advocate here.
1. The service would be thanking God. So it would be directed to him
2. It could be thanking God for a country that we are free to worship.
3. We could pray to God for our country and it's need of the gospel.

 

Thank you for a wonderful post! :thumbs: I agree wholeheartedly and thank you for your articulate comments!

 

Hey, I believe I said he has some good points. In all reality, most of today's churches are nothing more than social clubs, IMO, but that is the topic for another thread. And BTW, I usually do sit out this particular forum AND discussions about theology. Been there, done that. Nobody's mind is going to change on any of these topics. Including mine. My convictions, opinions, etc., have been formed through personal Bible study and life experiences, as have most of these here. Back on topic.... :type:

 

I can't make too many complaints on this.

 

It is the foot in the door!

 

Perhaps one of the tests for worship in the Christian church is whether or not it can be effectively practiced across the vast array of cultures and nations in the world.

Would it be appropriate to have a specifically American glorifying worship service in Nigeria, India, China, Australia, Canada?

If you're okay with a patriotic/nationalistic worship service, is it okay for the Neo-Nazis in Germany to do the same about white pride? How about Japanese Christians about the victory at Pearl Harbor?

Where does it end? Thus my conscience only allows me to permit Christ honoring, Gospel focused worship. Anything else is a pointless distraction in our context.