Patriotism (Part 2)

Can one be a good Christian ad also be a patriot? Can one belong to both the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world? Is this possible?

I recently tackled these questions in a paper for Christian ethics. I argued that it is possible to be a good Christian and a good "patriot," if the word were nuanced.

My view of patriotism is the love of one's culture, background, and country of origin.
The term "patriotism" is derived from the Latin patria, "belonging to one's father." Thus, to be a patriot is to adhere to the culture, practices, and even country of one's father.

God himself works through cultures and peoples. God created man with the ability to create cultures. God called Abraham and told him he would make him "a great nation" and bless "all peoples" through him. God called the people of Israel to be a "kingdom of priests" and a "holy nation." God choose Israel to be his called nation in order to bless the world through them.

In the NT, Jesus tells his disciples that there is a difference between the Kingdom and the kingdoms of this world. Yet Jesus never tells them to not associate with the kingdoms of this world; rather, Jesus reminds them to "give to Caesar what is Caesar's..." Thus, we are called to be good citizens of our country.

Yet when the ethics of this world stand in sharp contrast to the ethics of the Kingdom, we must decide: which kingdom do we ultimately adhere to? Put another way, am I an American Christian or a Christian American? The ethics of the Kingdom of God must always trump out the ethics of the kingdom of the world...

What do you guys think?

(I am trying to publish this paper, so any feedback you can give me on my arguments would be greatly appreciated.)

Patriotism (Part 1)

Someone help me understand the dichotomy between these two thoughts:

Noah Webster: “Whatever makes (human beings) good Christians makes them good citizens.”

Adolph Hitler: “One is either a good German or a good Christian. It is impossible to be both at the same time.”

Aren't they mutually exclusive?

God is good!

Amen

I want to be like. . .

These are the words of Marcia For, from Traditions of the Ancients

"When I came to faith in Christ, I was so broken that I had no hope that he could or would fix me. I didn't come to be fixed; I came to him hoping that maybe he could hold the shards of my life in his hands for awhile, even if he couldn't put them back together again and make me whole. My life no longer mattered to me. Christ was my all, and I wanted Christ to consume me. But I did not flee to the desert like Anthony (a 3rd century monk.) I became a 'victim' of my society -- which, by the way, includes the church -- and continued to be entangled in the illusions of my false self. I conveniently forgot that my new passion as a believer was to become like Christ. Instead, I became like. . . well, everyone else."

Wow. The Christian life does not mean being like everyone else in church. Instead, the true Christian life is about being like Christ.