From the anti-sacralist Two Kingdom standpoint of New
Testament Christianity, the aforementioned thin line between Church and State is
in fact an insurmountable wall.***
Christians do not celebrate war. They do not take up the
sword. They do not seek revenge and they do not put themselves in service to
mammon. As such, Christians are necessarily divorced from the cultural
mainstream and cannot have any part in the political apparatus. Life of course
is complicated and saints have at times found themselves in difficult situations
and have been pulled into realms and spheres that they did not seek. These
realities are part of life in a fallen world. But this is quite different from
a mode of thinking that not only embraces these categories but sanctifies and
glorifies them.
Russian Orthodoxy is a false form of Christianity but it is
hardly alone. And while Christians may in some contexts struggle to remain
within the Evangelical fold it (generally speaking) also qualifies as a false
Church. From its increasingly truncated understanding of soteriology, to its
functional denial of Scriptural authority, to its embrace of idolatry in its
midst – the faithful who attend such churches will necessarily feel like
outliers if not outsiders. As Evangelicalism continues to amplify the role of
culture in its understanding of the Christian life there are simply an
increasing number of Sundays that the faithful must avoid.
The Sunday before Memorial Day is certainly one of them.
Should the Church celebrate and remember those who 'gave
their lives so that we can be free'?
This is the language of the propagandists and myth-makers. As
mentioned earlier, Christians do not celebrate war. There are many free nations
on this Earth and as Christians freedom is fine thing but are we called to kill
others for it? While political freedoms are nice in terms of living a Christian
life that is unhindered by state oppression – is it necessary? Should I sin and
commit evil to protect my gold or even my language? Is it always a good thing
when the Christian life is made easy?
And what of the wars? A more careful examination of each will
reveal the magnitude of the lies and distortions of the truth. Was it a 'good
war'? Well, look more closely and you'll find an ugly history before it, during
its conduct and after it. And I am of course not only speaking of the obvious
evil regimes that waged war but of those that are perceived to be 'good' and
fighting 'good wars'.
Am I glad Nazi Germany was defeated? Of course but we're told
this age will be characterised by wars and rumours of wars and that we're not
to be troubled by these things. The Babels and Babylons of this age will clash,
kill and destroy one another. Some are more wicked than others. But we're
called to a different view, a different way of redeemed and renewed thinking
and thus to a different life and mission. The Church has lost this and it's
painfully clear around these patriotic holidays. I write this on the Saturday
before Memorial Day. I won't be in church tomorrow because Christ will not be
worshipped there but rather an idol: Christo-America. That's not a god I will
bow to.
This is emotional for many as their parents, grandparents and
ancestors served in these wars. I've addressed this before on numerous
occasions and I will 'quote' myself so to speak as I close:
Are they proud of their Western heritage? Are they proud to
be Americans? I'll play their game and I bet I can out-do and out boast most of
them. My mother's family landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. In that same line are
found Puritans of Massachusetts Bay. My people fought in King Philip's War,
helped settled Connecticut and migrated with the Erie Canal from New England to
the Great Lakes and Pennsylvania. In this mix were Palatine Germans who had
fled the ravages of the Thirty Years War. There were also German Baptists in
Pennsylvania and Anabaptists who fled Switzerland. They moved west and
intermarried with English, Ulster-Scots and among my ancestors are found both
soldiers of the Union and the Confederacy. My mother's people settled
California in the days subsequent to the Mexican-American War, in the days of
the Gold Rush. They settled among the Redwoods and in the waters of Puget
Sound. There were cowboys (one was killed on a cattle drive) and loggers who
worked the northern forests of the Great Lakes. They fought in the World Wars.
On my father's side there were Ulster-Scots and Tidewater Cavaliers, and even Quakers
from Wales and Ireland. They fought in the French and Indian War and the
American Revolution. They settled Arkansas within a decade after the Louisiana
Purchase and scratch farmed the Ozarks until the Great Depression, claiming to
pick up a few Cherokee genes along the way. Like Steinbeck's Joads they
followed Route 66 out to the Central Valley of California and farmed, some
later migrating to the areas around San Francisco Bay. That same line was
joined by Volga Germans who had fled the ravages of the Seven Years War and
settled on the Asian side of the Volga River in the 18th century.
Lutherans and Calvinists, they left Russia after some of them were forced to
serve in the Tsar's wars against the Turks in the late 1800's. They came
through Ellis Island and made their way to California and farm there to this
day.
What's the point in all this? By all accounts I am an
American of the Americans. I can claim the full spectrum of the American
experience in my ancestry. My people have been here four hundred years. The
family was added to every century. From the earliest days of colonial
settlement to the Ellis Island experience, my family has known it all. My
people are the people of Northern Europe – the 'tribe' that became the Old
Americans. They lived its history, indeed every aspect of it and the various
struggles and groups of Church History are represented in my pedigree. I guess
should be brimming with pride and a fierce devotion to this heritage. I should
be a Christian Nationalist. By the reckonings of some I have great reason to be
proud and should be motivated to fight for and defend this heritage.
And yet like Paul when referencing his pedigree I count it
all as but dung, as worse than nothing. In fact the history is not glorious and
while I don't doubt there were wicked folk in my family as well as those who
were good and sincere in their service toward God, the truth is there is
nothing to glory in and much to regret. In most cases people were caught up on
tides and currents. They wanted to survive and when land was available and
opportunities presented themselves they took them, often giving little thought
to what they were part of and whether they had a right to this or that or what
the consequences of their actions were. It was much like today. But it's
nothing to glory in. Much of the West's history is wicked and expresses an
ethic that is anything but Christian. America is a land of wickedness and
shame, a land of thieves, liars and murderers. While there have been nations
that have been worse and more evil, America is nevertheless more wicked than
most. Only a lost person would glory in it and believe in and promote its myths
and lies. I have no doubt many within my family were false believers, deceived
by the lies of Christendom, the very lies promoted by American nationalist
Christianity. Others I know to be Christians and yet they often had failed to
truly think out the implications of their faith and apply the Bible's teaching.
Some did and I do rejoice in that.
I remember them but I will not celebrate their participation
in wars and killing. I will not lionise their errors and what amounts to their
blindness and lack of judgment. They were people, not demi-gods, not martyrs,
just people.
And so in conclusion we are right to reject the Moscow
abomination but we need to be reflective enough to see the same spirit thrives
in our midst as well. Don't be deceived by the mere style or outward
appearance. Consider what lies behind it and you'll come to see that American
Christianity is really in the same place.
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*** This is not to be confused with the various Dominionist
forms of Two Kingdom theology. Both the Reformed Kuyperian version of Two
Kingdom theology and the Lutheran variety represent a significantly different
view. They both teach what could be called a One Kingdom in Two Aspects view
that demands institutional separation but in reality argue for a Kingdom
construct that does not properly differentiate Christ's Realm from His Reign.
The two are confused and blended. Some temper their expectations of
transformation but in terms of individual ethics they embrace the Monistic (One
Kingdom) structure of Sacralism and its assumptions. They may express
discomfort with overt Christian symbolism being tied to the state but have no
problem with Christians pursuing the mammon-power ethics and goals of the
sacralist state. In other words the pilgrim ethic that flows from genuine Two
Kingdom theology is abandoned or subverted by the drive for Christians (as
opposed to the Church in an official capacity) to pursue the sacral ideal.