Oh! Say, Can You See?

Truth about God and America?

In honor of Independence Day, here is a collection of The Curmudgeon's Blogs touching on topics of God, country, partiotism, and the Christian's relationship to his country.

A Hymn of Hate - No Christian should ever sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." It's hymn filled with bad theology and hateful sentiments. If you absolutely must sing it, never ever sing it in church. This is the third most visited of The Curmudgeon's Blog posts.

Hand Over Mouth - Does the church need to speak "prophetically" to the issues of the day? No. That is not its calling or mission. When the church speaks to the "issues" it dimnishes itself. My father told me it was important to learn when to keep your mouth shut. It's a lesson the church needs to learn.

You're in Babylon, Not Israel - Where does a Christian live today? The paradigm should be Israel in exile in Babylon, not Israel as the kingdom of God in its own land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is not a prayer for Christians to pray for the United States.

Patriotic Alien - Peter tells us we are strangers and aliens in the world. I found myself a stranger and alien at a patriotic service held at a Presbyterian General Assembly following the first Gulf War. You can't sing the songs of an alien kingdom in God's kingdom, the church.

The Much Maligned Doctrine of the Spirituality of the Church - The doctrine of the spirituality of the church, under attack now because churches were silent during the Civil Rights Movement, is a doctrine that has been frequently maligned by those who believe the church should "engage" the culture and address the issues o fthe day. However, the doctrine, rightly understood and used, is nothing more nor less than Apostolic doctrine.

The Election: The End Is Not Yet - Thoughts on the Presidential election of 2012 and the Christian's relationship to his counrty.

Was America Ever a Christian Nation? - Judge Roy Moore, the Ten Commandments Monument at the Alabama Supreme Court, and the mistaken view of America as a Christian nation.

So Simple Even a Theonomist Could Understand - Israel and the Church and how to understand, use, and preach about Old Testament Israel today. It's not that complicated when we have the right principles of interpretation.

I've Got My Fig Leaf On - Response to a theologian's defense of transformationalism and criticism of Two Kingdoms theology.

Bad News This Morning - Thoughts on the attacks on Robert E. Lee at the University that bears his and Washington's name.

Let's Free God from Politics - The constant temptation and the problems with thinking our political views are God's. Most of our political commitments do not reflect the mind of God - and that's not bad.