In several recent holidays, I have been grateful for broad efforts to honor service members’ valor and patriotic dedication. At the same time, I have been struck by how many Christians’ thinking about such topics is a hodgepodge of cultural traditions (accepted or rejected to varying extents) but largely disconnected from biblical truth—and a historical understanding. I invite you to join me in reflecting on a few items regarding our nation, the Kingdom of God, and our role as dual citizens.
In October and November, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps celebrate organizational birthdays, as the Army celebrates theirs every June—all three born in 1775—the year before the United States of America declared independence from Great Britain. Also in November, we celebrate Veterans Day. With all this proud remembrance of our nation’s warfighting institutions, it is worth pondering what makes individual American patriots fit (mentally, morally) to face the “…the times which try men’s souls…” (as Thomas Paine described our national birth pangs) with great fortitude, against enormous odds. Samuel Adams’ quote below reflects a level of commitment he lived out faithfully day and night, leading by personal example in the decade before the war, through its duration—and for years thereafter—under peril of sword, gallows, and more. As members of the military pledge themselves to “support and defend the Constitution” erected on the principles of the American Revolution “against all enemies foreign and domestic,” I think we can best face the present or future’s most daunting challenges not only by commemorating our forefathers’ noble achievements, but also by examining what inspired the indomitable conviction such Americans displayed before victory emerged: before victory, according to visible circumstances, appeared even to be possible. A few years before the Declaration of Independence, in the midst of growing civil turbulence, Sam Adams wrote the following plea to his fellow Americans:
“The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defendthem against all attacks. We have receiv’d them as a fair Inheritance from our worthy Ancestors: They purchas’d them for us with toil and danger and expence of treasure and blood; and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle; or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. Of the latter [false, designing men cheating1 us out of our liberties/freedom/constitution/Inheritance] we are in most danger2 at present: Let us therefore be aware3 of it…”
-Samuel Adams, from an Essay under pseudonym “Candidus,” in The Boston Gazette, 14 Oct 1771 (emphasis added)
What a statement of the individual citizen’s (not just a soldier’s) duty to watchfully guard and defend his Country’s inheritance of freedom! As Samuel Adams’ words above so well express, our patriotic duty includes watchfully guarding particular things against cheating; and he even warns that deception is more presently dangerous than violence! I am reminded of the James 1’s warning, against hearing the Word but not applying it, at risk of deceiving ourselves. Mr. Adams’ call to awareness and watchfulness might make some uncomfortable, but it should challenge us. Are not righteousness and boldness the scriptural qualifications we should want in civil gatekeepers today? Benjamin Rush (a fellow Declaration signer and major contributor to medicine and public education, and an early advocate for abolishing slavery) would have agreed. Regarding this duty, Mr. Rush wrote: “[E]very citizen …must watch for the state, as if its liberties depended upon his vigilance alone, but he must do this in such a manner as not to defraud his creditors, or neglect his family. ...He must love family honor, but he must be taught that neither the rank nor antiquity of his ancestors, can command respect, without personal merit. He must avoid neutrality in all questions that divide the state, but he must shun the rage, and acrimony of party spirit.”
Earlier in the same essay, Benjamin Rush, as a leader of early efforts toward public education in Pennsylvania and the United States, wrote of “the only foundation for a useful education in a republic”—specifically the New and Old Testaments, teaching Creation as the basis for human equality. So, on especially divisive questions (like slavery in his day), what was his advice? – Every citizen should be taught to avoid neutrality. Wow. Yes, please; I’d like to have the Hot Boldness—well done, extra salt, and hold the political correctness! That sounds like Ephesians 4’s command for believers to “Be ye angry, and sin not…,” doesn’t it? How many voices now teach instead, “Be ye nice, and sin… don’t worry about it, because _______(insert heretical excuse here)?” Okay, how about just a few more scripture references? In Exodus 15, we learn the LORD reveals Himself as a Warrior, as He destroyed Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea and prevented them from re-enslaving His people. In 2 Chron. 13, Abijah (Judah), directly confronts Jeroboam (Israel)’s army twice as large as his own, shouting at them from a mountaintop to rebuke their idolatry, gets ambushed from behind, and then God steps in to turn the tables. In 2 Chron. 16:9 the seer/prophet rebukes King Asa…not for pursuing a war with Syria, but for failing to seek God’s direction first—adding the LORD wants to show Himself strong by granting victory to those whose heart is fully His. In Judges 3:2, we learn God sovereignly allowed specific nations to cause Israel problems solely so that a younger generation, who had not experienced warfare, could learn how to fight. The entire New Testament is filled with warfare language, and the clear message that following Jesus in the way He requires will involve direct opposition and volatile confrontation with everything the world loves.
In 2 Tim. 2, Paul commands Timothy to “…endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” May we prayerfully seek to avoid neutrality (see Rom. 14:5), may God correct us if/when we err (Phil. 3:15), and may nothing keep us from standing together in this great day of opportunity!