{"id":6153,"date":"2009-11-13T06:09:33","date_gmt":"2009-11-13T06:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-2.html"},"modified":"2009-11-13T06:09:33","modified_gmt":"2009-11-13T06:09:33","slug":"8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-2.html","title":{"rendered":"8 Little Foxes that Spoil the Church’s Vines 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fox.jpg\"<\/span>In their new book, Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>, Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford examine cultural scripts that work against the gospel work in the Church. Our theme today: nationalism.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The motto: My Nation, Under God<\/b>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Honest question: If Jesus were alive and living in the USA today would he be a patriotic American? Who has learned his or her lesson about the seductiveness of nationalism? How did you learn it?<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
Now Wilkens and Sanford are examining religious nationalism: the belief that the USA (any nation) is uniquely favored by God and an integral part of God’s plan<\/i>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Big one, I admit. Esp for a Friday. Still, we need to converse about this in a civil manner. The authors believe that patriotism — love of one’s country — is a good thing. Patriotism that loses perspective is an evil thing, so they say. Patriotism that loses perspective becomes nationalism. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Where to begin?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Nations are artificial boundaries and are not eternal. Nations come into existence through power: economic, military and stability. Nations that become focused on these powers become nationalistic.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
You may be a nationalist if…<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
1. You think God’s plan for the world would be severely hampered without the USA.<\/div>\n
2. You think it unthinkable for a citizen to refuse to pledge allegiance or sing the anthem for religious reasons.<\/div>\n
3. You think our Declaration of Independence or Constitution are eternal principles and never to be changed.<\/div>\n
4. You think our nation would be better if we got back to the way things were.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wow, but there are some good in national thinking: we are less individualists, less tribalists, nations help with the common good, and our national identity helps us understand ourselves.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But… we need to realize that our national measure has to be compared to the divine standard, not just against itself; the “other” is not a challenger to us but our neighbor; nationalism overreaches loyalty into idolatry; nationalism forgets the transnational nature of God’s church.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In their new book, Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives , Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford examine cultural scripts that work against the gospel work in the Church. Our theme today: nationalism. The motto: My Nation, Under God. Honest question: If Jesus were alive and living in the USA today would he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\n8 Little Foxes that Spoil the Church's Vines 3 - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/8-little-foxes-that-spoil-the-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"8 Little Foxes that Spoil the Church's Vines 3 - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In their new book, Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives , Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford examine cultural scripts that work against the gospel work in the Church. 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