We have always been a moral and religious people — and evidently we are becoming more so, according to a January 2006 poll conducted by the Barna Research Group. The percentage of the United States that can be classified by their beliefs as “born again” (not self-identifying by that phrase) has risen in the last two decades from 31 percent to 45 percent.
As one of the primary contributors to our founding documents and our second U.S. president, John Adams, cautioned, our government is wholly inadequate for a people who are not moral and religious. America was a new and exciting experiment combining Enlightenment theories of self-government with Judeo-Christian values. The degree of liberty Americans have enjoyed is dependent on a government that treads lightly. A government can tread lightly without inviting chaos and license only in a society where the majority of the people obey the law voluntarily, not simply from fear of punishment, but because they are acutely aware of their accountability to a transcendent moral order for the way in which they live their lives.
Not just our social fabric is at stake in what God’s got to do with America, therefore; our liberty is as well. If we were to reach a point at which most Americans no longer believed in a transcendent moral order and did not feel an internal obligation to do the right thing even when no one was watching, the consequence would be chaos, reduced liberty, or both. Forced to choose, most people would opt for order over chaos, even at the loss of significant liberty.
When Christians say, “God bless America,” they understand there is a connection between personal responsibility and faithfulness to God and the experience of divine blessing. This connection is explicit in God’s promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” This promise originally applied to the believers in Israel but now applies to believers wherever they reside. It is not exclusive to Americans—it could apply to believers in England, Germany, Korea, Japan, Brazil, Guatemala, Mozambique, South Africa, or anywhere else.
I believe that if America is exceptional, it is not because we made it that way. It is because we experienced God’s undeserved blessings upon this nation. This is a doctrine of obligation, responsibility, sacrifice, and service — not of pride, privilege, and prejudice — and it is founded on a very basic spiritual and biblical principle: to whom much is given, much is required. God’s blessing is always grace — that is what makes it a blessing, not a reward.
When we say, “God bless America,” we are asking God to treat our nation better than we deserve, even if we do repent and seek His face. If enough Americans respond in this way, we could reach a divine tipping point of heal-the-land blessing. Continue >>
Comments
Spot on again, hlerwin
That's should read "DRJ." You see how scribes, when their hands are not guided by God, can make errors?
DJR, what a big lie: "Just because attempts by godless liberals to change our history books so as to eliminate the truths surrounding the founding of America have succeeded, there are many still living who remember what we were taught. America was founded on Christian principles!" The bigger the lie, the more likely it is to succeed. Washington was a cultural Christian, a normal Episcopalian for his day. Adams was a Unitarian, who (by the standards of the people on this Web site) is in Hell today. I don't need to go into Mr. Jefferson's views; they are well known. Such founders and others must be turning over in their graves that modern Americans are seriously discussing religions from the far-right and far-left bunkers we have built!
When exactly was it that we were God's most favored nation.
Was it during the time our forefathers, including our first president owned slaves? Was it during the time we staughtered the native american population? I could go on and on.
We have never been a nation following Christ. All we have done throughout our history is exchange one set of sins for another.
If our Father God is to continue to "bless" America, He will first have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah! The truth is whatever blessings we may perceive in present day America are only the residual effects of His original blessings on a once godly nation. Just because attempts by godless liberals to change our history books so as to eliminate the truths surrounding the founding of America have succeeded, there are many still living who remember what we were taught. America was founded on Christian principles! As long as Jesus Christ is honored as God and Savior, America will be His protected and favored nation. Since the number of those who believe this truth in steadily diminishing, you can look for the same effect on God's blessings toward this land. When God's Word is no longer our standard, God is no longer our God. He is either Lord of all, or not Lord at all! As a nation we will always respect other religions, but it must be understood always that God will bless the nation whose God is the Lord Jesus! The only hope for America will be found in a return to God as King and Lord. Any other path leads to destruction.
"So when we say, âGod bless America,â we are not just saying, God bless this nation of people who inhabit this geographical territory. We are saying, God bless and spread the idea of America, so that all people â Arab, Jew, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, African â can live in the equality and human dignity and freedom to which the laws of nature and natureâs God entitle them. We are reciting, together, a prayer, a hope, a dream, a visionâthat all men and women yearning to breathe freely may live in the liberty and equality that are their God-given birthrights â not just here, but everywhere."
And if other people don't desire our way of life we will beat them into submission.
Most of those people in the strip club are at church on Sunday (including the dancers).
Right after 9/11, I saw a sign that said "God Bless America" on a sign outside a strip joint. Couldn't believe people with that kind of morals had the guts to ask God to bless this nation.
"When we say, âGod bless America,â we are asking God to treat our nation better than we deserve, even if we do repent and seek His face. If enough Americans respond in this way, we could reach a divine tipping point of heal-the-land blessing."
Mr. Land,
When we pray for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we are also asking for God's blessings even as undeserved as they may be.
But this is still supported by scripture. God is gracious and merciful, and hopefully He will let us know before we have run out of both.
God bless the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship!
really mr. land. so what is your definition of blessings. more money? more power? is it real blessings when you point a gun to other nation so you can be called blessed? what about those other rich people who bully their way so they can be called blessed?
why would god "bless america"? the US decimated native americans, enslaved africans, dropped bombs on civiilans in indo-china (vietnam, cambodia), are dropping bombs and killing civilians in afghanistan and iraq(for oil and US strategic interests) and propped up dictators to protect our business and strategic interests (shah of Iran as one example, there are many more i could cite).
God save America...
When I here God Bless America I always think of the verses my father a 29 year air force veteran taught my brothers and I when we were young.
God Bless America Land that I Love
Confirm her soul in self-control
Her liberty in Love.
This is why I have to work to control my feelings when I here the phrase used by jingoistic nationalists to justify poorly planned aggressive foreign policy.
Mr. Land,
Do you read your bible? Since when does God bless satanic religions so people can have "human dignity"?
You are the poster child for what is wrong with the church in America (or better yet... American Christendom").
Worship of AMERICA, instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. America is now gOd and idol to many Christians, and therefore we see it being destroyed by its own sine and debauchery..