Can America Be A "Christian Nation"?

So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking a king from him. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your menservants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

1 Samuel 8:10-18

As a rule I prefer not to bring politics into my weekly Proverbs. I prefer to approach faith in a spirit of unity; politics all too often breeds a spirit of division.

Nevertheless there are moments when politics and faith intersect, when what is happening out in the world brings what is happening within one's faith into sharper focus. This weekend, being Independence Day weekend when America celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, is one such moment.

There has been much chatter on social media that America is a “Christian” nation, and that it is past time for America to return to its “Christian” roots. Recently I have even had micro debates with those professing a desire for the United States government to actively promote Christianity as the only true religion, with explicitly Christian teachings and ideals written into law. Those debates are the genesis of what I have to say here.

I am a Christian. To borrow from the beginning of the Apostle's Creed, I believe in God the Father Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. I believe in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary.

Being Christian, I naturally want everyone to embrace the Good News that is Jesus Christ. I take seriously the Great Commission Jesus has given His followers to make disciples of every nation.

If you are not now Christian, my hope is that my words will inspire you to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and embrace the Redemption He gifted all of us on the Cross at Calvary. If you are not now Christian, my desire is that God will soften your heart and open it that you might accept the gift of His Forgiveness, that you might be born again and be saved from death and eternal damnation.

If you are Christian, my hope is that my words will inspire you to seek greater passion and purpose in your faith. My desire is that you will be awakened to God's calling to be continually reborn, transformed by faith that you may seek God with ever greater devotion, and be ever more committed to the path that leads towards Him and away from sin.

Being Christian, I naturally want to see America be a nation of Christians. I want America to be a nation in which the people and the culture reflect all that Jesus taught His disciples during His ministry here on Earth. I believe that would be the very best outcome for every American.

I am all too aware that this is not a description of America as a nation today. Regardless of America’s past, America's present is not that of a Christian nation. Our social mores and our culture are focused on self indulgence, on ego gratification, on crass and destructive greed, and not on seeking God, following God's Law, and submitting to God's Will.

God willing, America may yet turn away from the degenerate and sinful pursuits popularized by modern culture, but it has yet to do so as a society. I pray daily for that to change.

As a follower of Christ, I do not want to see America’s laws, or any nation's laws, written in an explicitly religious context, let alone a Christian one. As a follower of Christ, I recognize that “Christian government” is a contradiction in terms. As a follower of Christ, I realize that we are called to follow God and not men, that man's laws are a pale, superfluous, and irrelevant imitation of God's perfect Law, which is the only true law.

The whole of Scripture teaches us that human government does not ever work the way we hope that it will. For all of mankind's best efforts and best intentions, men make poor governors and worse rulers.

This was Samuel's prophetic warning to the Israelites when they clamored for a king. Government is coercive. Government is corrupt. Government is oppressive. Left to itself, government will invariably tend towards authoritarianism.

Government is at best a necessary evil, and generally more evil than necessary.

This was Samuel's warning to the Israelites. Let it be a warning to all people in the world today.

We need only look to the rest of Scripture to see the truth of this warning. The rulers who appear throughout the Old Testament are hardly encouraging exemplars of human government.

Pharaoh was infamously hard of heart in Exodus, enslaving the Hebrew people before ordering the genocide of all male Hebrew infants.

King Saul began well as the first of Israel's kings, but sought to impose his will over what God commanded, spiraling down into sin, eventually dying ignominiously on the battlefield.

King David, for all his faith, sinned egregiously more than once, bringing a measure of chaos and civil war to the Kingdom of Israel.

King Solomon, celebrated for his wisdom, was seduced by his foreign wives to turn away from God, and so set in motion the events which would rend the Kingdom of Israel and eventually destroy it.

More than a few of the kings who came after Solomon, such as Ahab and Ahaz, were infamous for their evil and degenerate wickedness.

Even Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, proved himself to be a feckless administrator more concerned with manipulating and then appeasing the crowd in Jerusalem than in hewing to any standard of governance or leadership.

Scripture does not present human government at all in glowing, positive terms.

Human history agrees with Scripture. What government at any point in history has not been corrupt, venal, and vicious? What government has not at least dabbled in tyranny and oppression?

What government even now inspires anyone to seek God and pursue righteousness? Take note: coercion via the law is not inspiration.

Even if we accept government as a necessary evil, government is never necessary for individual moral judgment. No matter how government is structured, no matter how laws are written, it falls on the individual to choose for themselves moral right and moral wrong, and to act accordingly. The closing verse of Judges reminds us that we cannot escape this essential duty.

We do well to recognize that individual accountability has always been foundational to God’s Law. Deuteronomy 24:16 is explicit that we are accountable only for our own sins, which is to say our own choices. We answer individually to God for all that we do; what purpose is left for human government in such circumstance?

We do well to also remember that Jesus Himself admonished His disciples in Matthew 20 not to fall prey to the corruptions visible in Gentile kings and other leaders, who lorded their authority over their subjects. Jesus in His teachings envisions the Christian community as a community of equals—He explicitly called His disciples to be “brethren” in Matthew 23:8.

As I preached last week, we do well to remember that Jesus cautions us to beware of any who promote human authority. Those who seek human authority are by definition putting ego ahead of Scripture, are putting ego ahead of God. It cannot be said often enough that Jesus has authority; men have no authority.

If men have no authority, then there is no basis for leveraging human government to enforce “Christian” laws. Indeed, if men have no authority (and they do not), the very premise that human government can in any way enforce any part of God’s Law is not merely ridiculous, it is unbiblical.

When we recall the Apostle Paul’s keen observation of the nature of the law in 1 Timothy 1:9-11, we very quickly see why human laws—even presumptively “Christian” ones—do not ever work as intended: laws by their nature only affect those who are prone to break them.

Laws are of no consequence for the Godly, who in faith strive to do right with or without the law. Laws are of great consequence for the un-Godly, the “lawless and disobedient” who are predisposed to break the law.

Moreover, as the Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 7:6, we are called not to live according to the law, but according to faith—to live a “new life of the Spirit.”

If we are devout in our faith, if we are true followers of Christ, we have no need of human laws to steer us towards Godly conduct. Our faith already serves us well in this regard.

Similarly, if we are not devout in our faith, if we are not true followers of Christ, then no human law can hope to steer us towards Godly conduct. Our hardened hearts will make that impossible.

Inevitably, we must acknowledge that if we follow God’s Law, human laws are superfluous, and if we reject God’s Law, human laws are irrelevant.

That does not leave any “Christian” role for government.

We do well to admit that we do not need government to build for us Christian communities. We build Christian communities for ourselves, without government, and nurture Christian culture within our communities, by how we live our lives.

We do well also to acknowledge that we should nurture Christian culture within our communities not because that is this nation’s heritage, but because we are Christians. If we were transported to any other land and compelled to form new communities there, the imperative to build up communities which nurture and support every person’s Christian faith would be just as great. The calling of the Great Commission to make believers of all nations wherever we are would be just as compelling, for it is rooted in Jesus, not in geography.

Regardless of what people apprehend about America’s historical foundations, America’s present is where we are called to build up Christian culture and Christian communities. America’s present is where we are called to bear true witness to the Good News that is Jesus Christ, His Crucifixion and Resurrection, and through His blood our Redemption.

Government is not called to bear that witness. Government, being government, cannot bear that witness. Only we as individuals can bear that witness. We have an absolute moral imperative to do exactly that, to bear that witness.

That absolute moral imperative also demands we shy away from seeking to leverage human government in any way to advance the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth. We must remember that when Isaiah prophesied Christ’s coming, he foretold that the government would be on Christ’s shoulder. That which is laid upon the Christ is by definition not laid upon men.

Government is reserved—has always been reserved—to God and God alone. As mere men, our task is to bear witness to God’s perfect government. That is the essence of the Great Commission, to bring the peoples of all nations to joyful submission to God’s perfect government.

We must remember Isaiah further prophesied that, in time, “every knee shall bow” before God—which is to say every knee is not fated to bow before men.

Human government is not our destiny. God's perfect government is our destiny, either in our salvation or our damnation.

Today I pray a special prayer for these United States of America, that this nation may prosper as a glory to God. Today I say a special prayer for all Americans, that as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we are inspired to answer God’s call to let our light shine before the nations of the world, that they may see great works done by God through us and be inspired to give glory to God. Today I say a special prayer that people everywhere will be as inspired by the Declaration of Independence as were the Founding Fathers to stand firm in their freedom, stand fast against the evil forces which threaten humanity from every direction, and stand tall before God, that we may see God’s Kingdom established here on Earth.

As we are Christians, we absolutely should nurture Christian culture within our communities and across this great nation. We should do this not because America has a Christian heritage, but because we are Christians. The calling of the Great Commission to make believers of all nations wherever we are is rooted in Jesus not in geography.

As we are Christians, we should steer clear of the temptation to pretend that any government could possibly be a truly Christian government. We are called to follow God and not men.

We absolutely can make America a truly Christian nation, but we can only do that by living Christian lives molded by making Christian choices. When we are committed to that, we will find we have no need of either law or government, for we shall have God instead.