As a politically conservative Christian, a criticism often heard is that you are too nationalistic or too patriotic, or more loyal to America than to Christ. I can not speak for other conservative Christians, but I suspect that it would be as incorrect a conclusion for them as I know it is for me.

I have been a believer since I was 18 years old when a fellow track man explained to me the gift of God in sending His Son, Jesus to die as the payment for my sins and the sins of every man, woman and child who has ever or will ever live. He explained that God wanted a relationship with me, but the relationship was broken because of my decision to live my life for myself (sin). God had created me for relationship with God, He had created me for a purpose and that purpose could never be realized if I lived for myself. If I wanted a relationship with the creator of the universe for now and for all time, I would need to offer Him control of my life with no strings attached. I know often this crisis of decision (who would you serve?) is an emotional time, but to me, it was an extremely logical and sensible choice and I was glad to choose to serve God, confess my rebellion against His rule and offer Him my life to for Him to have His way. It is a decision I have never regretted and has innumerable times been cause for great rejoicing. I mean seriously, a personal relationship with the creator of the universe, who loves you and has nothing but good intentions for you. It would be hard to not be grateful.

Doctrine is one thing, but He changed my life. I may have surrendered to Him, but He has been gracious to me and did not make me a slave. I was a free agent when I submitted to Him, but He has called me a son and a friend. He allowed me to keep my free will and has never forced His will on me. My relationship as a son and friend is now spent in enjoying Him and serving Him. He is a good God. Service to God is pretty much always in the service of others. He has had me serving children in church, the unborn on the streets and co-workers in the insurance business. He has had me directly serve the poor in Mexico, Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as the poor indirectly in many other areas of the world.

All of that is to say that I do have one over-riding allegiance and that is to God – The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Any interpretation of what I write about Politics, America, Socialism, Communism or social issues should be seen through that spectrum. My thoughts and musings are in service to Him.

With that as background, I want to state clearly that the reason I am strongly pro-American is because of its founding principles, not because of any misguided sense of nationalism or patriotism. The ideas and the founding principles of this country are unique among the nations of the world and were particularly revolutionary two-hundred & forty (240) years ago.

To form a government based on ideas rather than the conquest of territory or hereditary reign was unusual to say the least. It was not just that ideas formed the country, but the content of those ideas. The ideas are biblical in nature, establishing that all people are created equal in the eyes of God and that the people are given rights by God and the only legitimate role of government is to protect or guard or ensure those rights. The rights include our right to the life God gave us, the right to be free in that life and not under the thumb of some other power or individual and the right to pursue happiness or the dreams  and hopes that God put in your heart and mind, the right to pursue the purpose for which god created you.

With those core ideas, the founders set out to construct a government that would allow the maximum amount of freedom without ending up with anarchy. In reading the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers (disclaimer – I have not read them entirely – but what I have read is incredibly insightful) it is quite amazing to see the depth of intellectual thought that went into each specific idea or branch of government and what they were empowered to do, etc. It is impossible to read and not be very grateful for the minds that God used to construct the government of the United States.

So to me, America is more a set of ideas than a territory, although I very much appreciate the territory. Psalm 16:6 “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.” America is not just any other government, it is unique and it is worth fighting for, worth fighting for the purity of the ideas that it was founded under. While that fight may involve physical fighting, it is important that daily we fight for the ideas because tyranny is always on the march and if we do not fight for freedom we will lose it.

We will lose that freedom for those who will come after us, for those around the world that live under tyranny, who want to see a place where there is hope for freedom, for a place that will speak for the oppressed and for justice and what is right. To paraphrase Edmund Burke, If good men do nothing then evil will triumph. To me this is a spiritual battle and fully in keeping with God’s call to serve Him.

This is not to espouse a theocracy, far from it. The ideas of America are not in any way and can not be construed in any way to set up a theocracy. The ideas of America are however directly in opposition to statism as Mark Levin would call the movements to give ever more power to a central government and away from individuals.Americais to governments as Bach is to Rap music. They can both be called music, but they are not in the same league and they really are quite opposed to each other, so too are the concepts and ideas that make up the American experiment far superior to and even in opposition to statism, socialism, communism and all such tyranny, soft or hard. That is why I write.