We gathered up our God and we gathered up our guns...

We gathered up our God and we gathered up our guns...

Preface: I am not an expert in any of this. This is partially an opinion piece, so                      feel free to talk to me about any disagreements or corrections. I                                welcome dialogue, but everything must remain respectful.

Its called Dominion Theology. Most Christians have probably never heard the term, but a scary majority of American Christians whole-heartedly believe in it.

Stealing from Wikipedia-

            Dominion Theology is a theocratic ideology that seeks to implement a nation governed by conservative Christians ruling over the rest of society based on their understanding of biblical law.

Go into most churches today, and if there are any flags at all, there are undoubtedly 2: A Christian flag, and an American flag. Typically, they opposite each other on stage. They also opposite the sides of most American Christians’ hearts, sadly. Now don’t get me wrong, I love America and I’m proud to be a Christian, but I’ve noticed the terrifying trend of the two merging to become synonymous.

We Christians like to tout how America is a “Christian nation”, and how our founders were God-fearing men. While I am sure some were, most of our founding fathers were religious…not necessarily Christian. Many accepted the idea of a God, but rejected the specific Jesus Christ as savior narrative. You don’t believe me? Google the term “Jefferson Bible”, and don’t continue reading until you have looked it up and see what it is.

Still with me? Do you have a better understanding of our founding now? I’m not proud of it. It is actually kind of disgusting how he just kept parts he liked and discarded parts he didn’t (Although do we not do the same thing?). Since the beginning of this country, Christians have enjoyed a privilege that people of different faiths have not. We grew up on the grounds of this being “God’s chosen country”, and how we have to “get back to our roots as a Christian nation.” Gay marriage is legal, so suddenly our country is “less Christian” than generations past…you know…when we enslaved people. Starbucks didn’t put Christmas themed things on their cups: war on Christians.

American Christians are facing an phenomenon that we are unaccustomed to: erosion of privilege.

How dare we complain about our country. Things may be legal and happening that we disagree with, and we may not be able to put big Ten Commandments displays at the courthouses anymore, but until we are being killed for our faith like so many people in the world are, then we have absolutely no right. We are not “God’s country.” We never were. Israel is God’s country, if he even has a country. God does not have chosen countries, he has chosen people. His chosen people are those who have embraced His mercy and grace and have recognized His love in our lives.

We should thank God for the privilege that, as Christians, we enjoyed for so long. We should also thank His for allowing us to be uncomfortable. The most dangerous thing for Christians in America is not gay marriage, Hillary Clinton, illegal immigrants, or Barak Obama. The most dangerous thing is comfort. We are nice and cozy in our Christian nation, to the point that we pay not a single thought to the plight of true Christians around the world. Christians being literally crucified, burned, beheaded, and shot for their faith. Imagine a persecuted Brother or Sister coming to America and seeing our uproar over a Starbucks cup. They would have more pity for our white, rich, comfy, evangelical, Sunday morning service attending souls that we could ever fathom on their behalf.

Forgive us, oh God.

Forgive us for bypassing the lost as we spend all our energy supporting a Kentucky clerk who won’t do her job. Forgive us as we fly our American flags high while our Bibles are lost. Forgive us for spending three hours talking about college football and not even an attosecond praying for the truly persecuted. We are so consumed with politics, our church denomination, arguing doctrines we don’t understand, and our white picket fence lives, that we completely lose sight of the call of Christ to go out and make disciples.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

                                                                                                –Matthew 28:19

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not putting myself up on a tower shouting down to the wrongdoers. I am the chief wrongdoer. As I go through life chasing after God’s heart, I make more mistakes in a day than most do in a lifetime. I just cannot go day-to-day in this ultra-patriotic, “Jesus for president” society without at least pointing out things I feel can we changed in order to better fit the call of Christ.