Reconciling a Biblical Foundation with a Sinfull History

About two moths ago, I wrote an essay about the founding of America in which I espoused the idea that God was meticulously and intimately involved in the writing of the Constitution. While I still stand by this idea--and everything else in the essay--I realize there are certain problems that can arise from it. Someone who both reads and believes the essay may come to assume that the United States are somehow exempt from the normal laws of human nature or that we are inherently more pious than the citizens of other nations. While I do believe that America is in some ways unique and deserving of recognition, such biases can lead to a distorted understanding of American history and can even lead a person to reject facts in favor of more pleasing myths.

The first thing one needs to understand about God's involvement in American history is not that God shows favoritism because someone is American. If God was involved in the affairs of the United States, then it must be true that he approved of such things as the Trail of Tears. To agree with and advocate such beliefs is to pervert both historical and Biblical truths and also to insult God, who died on the cross for the sins of all humanity. The idea that I proposed in "Why the Constitution is a Holy Document" was essentially that in order to bring about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, God involved Himself in the Revolutionary War and many events preceding it. The reason for this--although I may not have spelled it out in the essay--is because the Constitution was a breakthrough in human history, which ushered in a new age of freedom.

For any Christian, it is vital to realize that America, despite being founded on Biblical principles, has only been deserving of the title "Christian nation" at two times in history. First in the Revolutionary War, and again during the Civil Rights movement. During the Revolution, Americans placed their trust in God every day. God was exceptionally active during this time not only in regard to His direct actions, but also in regard to those who were most devoted to Him. John Adams, the man who pushed more fervently for independence than anyone else, was also one of the most pious members of the Continental Congress. When asked if he thought America could win its independence, he replied, "yes, if we fear God and repent our sins." After the war was won, America continued to rely on God as they formed the laws of this nation.

However, America slowly turned away from God. The primary cause of this was slavery. Patrick Henry, the revolutionary who famously said, "give me liberty or give me death", was also a slave owner who never released a single slave in his life. However, Henry was well aware of his hypocrisy and once said "I will not, I cannot justify it!" Later slave owners were not so quick to recognize that what they were doing was wrong. It is not comfortable to sit there and read "remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering" (Hebrews 13:3) with the realization that you are inflicting pointless injuries upon your slaves simply by owning them, not to mention "disciplining" them. In fact in the King James Version (which is what these slave owners would be reading from) the verse uses the word "bonds" instead of prison. Because of obvious contradictions such as this, Southern churches completely reinterpreted the Bible to fit their needs. In Galatians, Paul wrote that if anyone, even an angel from Heaven "should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!"

During the Civil Rights Movement, America experienced a revival of the principles on which it was founded. Under the direction of Martin Luther King Jr., who was not only a preacher but also a co-founder of the Souther Christian Leadership Conference which played a key role in organizing protests. Dr. King lived by the word of God and even when his family was endangered, he continued to love his enemy and pray for those who persecuted him, as Christ preached so many centuries ago. Through love, Dr. King won America back from Satan's bed for Christ to whom our Founding Fathers promised her.

So how does a patriot deal with the rest of American history? How can we justify what we did to the Irish, the Chinese, the Blacks, the Jews, and every other minority that has come to our shores? Simple, we don't. True patriotism is not about loyalty to the geography or politics of America, it is about the ideas and values that this nation was founded on. If anyone tries to justify the sins of our country, then they have made themselves an enemy to this foundation.

At the same time, one should not assume everything America did in the past was evil and despicable. History is not something that is conveniently divided up into right and wrong. For instance, it is my belief that persecution and struggling is part of what has made the minorities that came to this country distinctly American. I still believe that it was wrong to persecute them but I also believe that there were some positive results of that persecution. A student of history must be prepared to see good deeds in evil intentions and evil deeds in good intentions.