I am curious as to how those who care to answer feel about Christian nationalism, and how they would define it.
Apparently, the term covers a wide swath of definitions. From my understanding, there are some who have the audacity to believe that Christian principles (as derived from God's word) should be what determines the law of the land i.e. murder should be punished by death, rape should be punished by death, etc. this was the case to a certain extent up until relatively recently. I know there are more extreme views that theonomists take - which is debatable as to whether or not that should be the governance of the land.
I have concerns about both sides. Those who would seek to accuse other believers of sin insomuch as they vote according to the moral policies that the candidate campaigns for, rather than the upstanding character of the candidate, or the fact that they vote at all. Therefore these groups do nothing and sit on their hands while society decays, and there is certainly an argument to be made that by doing nothing they are also contributing to moral degradation by omission.
Then there is the other side which will in some cases compromise on biblical matters, partnering with false teachers, making allowances for sin, and hyper-focusing on the culture war while forgetting the gospel.
I believe that we as believers should influence the culture through the gospel, as well as by promoting and voting for candidates that would stand for biblical policies (or at least policies that are a step in the right direction). If one is against this, then I would ask: How do you feel about children being and the sexual degradation, gender confusion, and grooming that your tax-dollar-funded schools are teaching?
Is it moral to stand by and do nothing?
"We the People" rule the United States. If we Christians do not engage in politics, then by defacto evil men will govern us. The Gospel is the long term solution to save our nation. Politics is the interim stop gap. They are in no way exclusive of each other.
Absolutely. The fact that we have laws against rape, murder, theft, etc. is reflective of the fact that we have always governed the nation according to God's law in some form or fashion. Laws or even the concept of right and wrong are incoherent if one rejects God. We all - even the unsaved, have a conscience given by God, and we know these things are right or wrong because our God-given and calibrated conscience says so.
There is never a time when we are not governed by a theological persuasion, whether it is a secular or a Christian theology we must decide.
No nation is "Christian". Never has been, never will be. Thus, there is no such Biblical thing as "Christian" nationalism. There is such a thing as nationalism - like when I root for the United States men and women's soccer teams in their respective FIFA World Cup games.
I am not against voting(I voted yesterday myself), but we need to bear in mind that politics is downstream from culture, and not the other way around. If one wants "better" politics, then change the culture; if one wants a "better" culture, then spread the gospel.
I placed the word better in " " because all politics and all culture will always be depraved as it is we filthy, depraved sinners who comprise the culture and act in politics.
I do not believe Christian nationalism exists (the term is two words that stand in contradiction to one another...like round squares).
We cannot serve two masters.
That said, Christians do (or should) influence the community in which they live through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
John, since people in the US self-declare their religious affiliation they can call themselves Christian without ever having been redeemed. I believe there are a handful of people here in the BB who are CINOs. Therefore there are Christian Nationalists who believe the United States is God's chosen nation and thus they need to protect the US from forces outside of their so-called Christian power structure. Indeed, this concept was magnified by Jerry Falwell and his "moral majority" in the early 1980s.
Some man-made proclamation does not mean that the majority of the people of a nation were chosen by God before the world began and had their sins imputed to Christ and Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to them and been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and granted the gifts of true faith and repentance from dead works to look to Christ alone as the Lord their Righteousness.
Your content drum beat is hyper-emotional rhetoric thrown out there for the purpose of demonizing anyone with which you disagree with. Most every word of your posts are seething with vile hatred of them. However, none of your posts work to follow
the scripture you work to wrap your ideas with. For in fact scripture is clear that this should not be the case.
Col 4:6
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
No one believes that the US is God's chosen nation. There is not a single shred of evidence that it is seen that way. Holding on the the biblical founding may seem like that by those who revile such a founding but such claims are a hyper-emotional indulgence that lacks an ounce of self control.
How many of those in that poll who call themselves "Christians" were chosen by God before the world began and had their sins imputed to Christ and Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to them and been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and granted the gifts of true faith and repentance from dead works to look to Christ alone as the Lord their Righteousness?
It is WAY too common in the United States(and the rest of the world) to just accept anyone who calls himself a "Christian" and to just roll with it like they are truly a Christian by the sovereign grace of God and were chosen by God before the world began.