This verse is very relevant, yes. The world in its nationalities, and the church can never be the same. The believer's weapons - the whole armour of God in Ephesians 6 - are spiritual.2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
At one point they were going to make Jesus king by force, but he didn't want that, so why should we fight for anyone in power.
Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy once said, “Patriotism in its simplest, clearest and most indubitable signification is nothing else but a means of obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason, conscience, and a slavish enthrallment to those in power.” His quote is a bit grim and cynical, but he makes an important point.
Patriotism is nothing short of government worship. Arguably, patriotic feelings are a form of idolatry which replaces God with a nation. If someone recites the Pledge of Allegiance or otherwise expresses devotion to a flag, country, or national emblem, he is committing idolatry, something which the Bible forbids in Leviticus 26:1: “Do not make idols or set up an image or sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God.”
We Christians should be worshipping God, not a flag or nation. For this reason, do you think Christians should be opposed to patriotism? If you think patriotism is harmless, explain why it doesn't constitute idolatry.
The Soviet regime was extremely unpopular when Stalin was in power, and it's hard to believe that anyone would be patriots for a brutal authoritarian nation, but millions of Russians still fought in WWII despite the lack of patriotism at the time. I think you're a little short-sighted because you apparently haven't heard of conscription. Basically, it's where the government forces their citizens to fight in a war, whether they like it or not.
We have rights. We should defend our rights.
Even as children of God, it's our duty to be the best kind of a person that we can be.
The peaceful power that our Constitution allows is exactly what the Bible allows
If you are in Christ, you surrendered your rights to boast before man.
Where is that found in the Bible? The Bible teaches apart from the work of God, none of us are capable of being the "best kind of a person that we can be". [Ephesians 2, Romans 3]
Not really.
Patriotism is nothing short of government worship. Arguably, patriotic feelings are a form of idolatry which replaces God with a nation.
God is the one who protects and preserves the Christian
I say this as someone who is not particularly patriotic towards my own New Zealand.
The Bible teaches apart from the work of God, none of us are capable of being the "best kind of a person that we can be".
And to some extent He does so by means of nations.
That is not God using the US government as a means to protect and preserve Christianity, but a judgment on this nation.
In so far as the US government is better than the governments of North Korea, Somalia, or ISIS, that is God working to protect and preserve people by means of the government.
Exactly.Love of country, like love of family, is a good thing.
Like any love of a good thing, it can turn into idolatry if taken too far.
I also agree that the US Government is not as evil as it could be, but that is only because of the restraining hand of God's grace
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