Christian nationalism

[Matthias]

“Important events in politics transpired in the apostle’s day, but I cannot remember an allusion to them. Great social problems were to be solved, but his one and only solution was the preaching of the great Saviour who is to cleanse the Augean stables of the world. For Paul there was but one thing worth living for, and that one thing was worth dying for. He did not count even his life dear unto him that he might win Christ, and be found for him. Hence his spirits rose or sank according to the prosperity or decline of the kingdom of Christ.” - C.H. Spurgeon

If what Spurgeon said is true, and if the early Christians believed in accordance with what Paul said, then I don‘t see a case for the earliest followers of Jesus to have been Christian nationalists.

Does that change for Christians in the 4th century? I think a good case can be made for that.

 

[Matthias]

“God simply is not calling us to wage a culture war that would seek to transform our countries into ‘Christian nations.’”

(John MacArthur, Why Government Can’t Save You, p. 13)

 

[Bob]

Thank you for the discussion. I am going to approach the question differently.

Let us ask: Can we scale the culture of the church to larger groups, ultimately to an entire nation?

Although we think of Love Your Neighbor as an individual commandment, it should also apply to a church or community. Two of the distinguishing characteristic are (1) embracing the nuclear family as the foundation and (2) adhering to processes that preserve the culture in the face of internal rebellion (See Matthew 18: 15-17).

Consider then the original 13 American colonies. Some worked hard to establish a Christian culture (it was even embedded in their constitutions). But unity under the Declaration of Independence could only be achieved if the group accommodated the southern colonies regarding slavery; ditto the Constitution.

Thus, even though our national and state constitutions embrace elected governing officials as servants of the people (consistent with the goal of Christian culture), there is too much socialist baggage interfering.

“Christian Nationalism” is actually a misnomer. It should at least be Judeo-Christian Nationalism, meaning the dominant culture; which, by the way is found in other countries but differently labeled. Japanese Shinto-Buddhist culture has many parallels with a Judeo-Christian culture, but tends to employ descriptive terms like “harmonious.”

By the way, the Polish Constitution establishes marriage solely as between men and women, and alphabet activists cannot proselytize in the schools! The Poles are much closer to being Christian Nationalists than the U.S.

Peace.