A lot of churches are saying we should take America back for God, that America has fallen so far away from the Christian values set by our founding fathers. The problem with the phrase "Taking America back for God" is the word Back. This means at sometime America belonged to God. My question is when was this? when was America God's country? This is a book I'm reading now by Gregory A. Boyd, "The Myth of a Christian Nation (How the quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church). The words in parentheses are mine but this is a direct quote from the book, I really think he has some great points.
"(Do not get all Donald Miller and say i'm sorry for how christians did these things..) Did America belong to God when Europeans discovered America and stole the land away from the Indians or when they murdered the natives by the millions and broke every covenant they ever made? Did America belong to God when they kidnapped and loaded five to six million Africans on cargo ships? Was it when Americans lived in Wealth by the sweat and blood of their slaves? Did America belong to God during all the KKK racism and all the hurt and pain of the civil rights movement? was this the time when America was the "One nation under God" that most Pastors want to take us back to?
Some may ask, then when did the idea of "Gods Country" come from? The founding Fathers might of thought that they were creating a nation full of "Christian" morals, but the paragraph above shows that the Christian morals meant nothing. (Much of the myth of Washington's alleged Christianity came from Mason Weems influential book, "Life of Washington." The story of the cherry tree comes from this book and it has no historical basis. Weems, a Christian minister portrayed Washington as a devout Christian, yet Washington's own diaries show that he rarely attended Church).John Adams, the former president, wrote in a treatise with Tripoli (now Libya) "The government of the United States of Americas not, in any scene founded on the Christian Religion". This Treaty was ratified by more than two thirds of the U.S. Senate and signed by John Adams himself! In order for America be part of the Kingdom of God, you would see Jesus in it, and my question is do you see Jesus in your nation? you may say, "But it used to be like Jesus before they took God out of schools!" If that is your thought, look at History (and the paragraph above) and tell me if America ever did anything like Jesus."
-Gregory Boyd (Chapter 5)
look, i believe we are called to reach the nations (the great commission), but its all in how we word it. When we are wording something like, "Taking America back for God", Boyd has a point, America was never Gods, if it was, we would know it because when something is apart of the Kingdom of God, you'll know it.
The point: We are all sinners, we all need the gospel, we need to stop worrying about the morals that America has and worry about if our neighbor is following Christ or not. This is why the quest for political power is destroying the Church. If the morals of America is really more important than saving souls….. Someone has a problem
*Gregory Boyd is a Open Theist and makes comments like, "God doesnt ordain anyone, he just commands them". Which is something i dont agree with at all*