Patriotic Thoughts

Nobody...with the exception of God Himself... could possibly be more contemptuous than I am of "patriotism." The "patriotism" so-called: we all know it when we see it, and we see it most of all on the 4th of July. That my country does no wrong: and if it does, I vehemently SUPPORT its wrong-doing. That each and every one of my country's military people are "heroes." That mine is the greatest nation on earth: indeed, the earth's greatest nation EVER.

It's all a "higher" form of self-righteousness, self-justification, self-congratulation: egoism enlarged to encompass MY nation, MY people, MY culture. So-called "patriotism" lets me follow on MY own way, disguised (and proud) in the selflessness of devotion to a "greater good."

There's no better example than the Omaha pro-war rally N.P.R. covered in 2003, when invading Iraq was in the offing. The fans had gathered in a large outdoor sports-stadium to hear "patriotic" speakers urge war on Iraq...where the President and his Secretary of State told us Saddam Hussein was building "weapons of mass destruction" to unleash on good people (that is, ourselves)...just as he had the 9/11 hijackers. (And lest we forget, both those justifications for going to war proved to be lies.)

As the reporter described the rally with its thousands of waving flags, and spoke with participants, the crowd could be heard continually in the background roaring its "patriotic" sports-cheer: "WE'RE NUMBER ONE !!", "WE'RE NUMBER ONE !!", "WE'RE NUMBER ONE !!", "WE'RE NUMBER ONE !!".

"Patriotism," so-called. We all know it when we see it...and most times, we join in. We join in more vehemently if we harbor any suspicion it's all hollowness and deceit: such thoughts are not "patriotic." Our mouths are quite practiced at shouting down the unacceptable thoughts of our heart.

My problem with joining in is knowing what patriotism means. That's no real glory to me: just what happens with the reflective tendency God has given me to search out and ponder definitions, before pontificating (like this) about a subject. LOL.

"Patriotism" is not a hard definition: it is "love of country" (or more properly, love of one's "father-land".) Nobody can have any problem with that meaning, or fail to understand it. Our problem comes in what we (or more often, professional manipulators) make "love of country" in practice.

Rallying for war, in which the wealth and lives of one's country's people are destroyed, isn't what I call "love." Real people should at least have the wisdom of the fictional Vulcans, and wish that our friends "live long and prosper." Indeed, the nationalistic pride that masquerades as "patriotism" is usually a curse on a nation, destroying rather than blessing. Everyone's seen the pictures of Berlin in April 1945.

Jeanette Rankin had unique standing to speak to the question. Her wisdom was that "You don't win a war any more than you win an earthquake." What kind of unnatural malefactor, then, wishes an earthquake kill his neighbors and friends, and destroy their property ? Who but a psycho murders his own family and sets fire to destroy his home...and says he acted from "love" !?! But the "patriotism" of nationalistic pride asks us to accept that reasoning for war: and we do.

If those outward consequences of such "patriotism" aren't convincing enough, there are spiritual ones. We serve a God who hates pride above all else. He hates its self-congratulation and its self-worship, He hates its disdain of Himself, He hates its rebelliousness, He hates its lies, its hypocrisy, its deceit. God hates pride for opposing and denying all that He IS...and for arrogating His righteous sovereignty to itself.

Pride is the quintessential character of satan: the quintessential "enemy," in Jesus' characterization. How much more hateful to God that Man...His creature, most beloved by Him, and most dependent on Him...vaunts his feeble, dependent self in pride against the King of Glory !!

God hates man's pride with consuming hatred. We know "God opposes the proud" (James 4:6): but "oppose" doesn't begin to convey the force of the Greek antitassetai. "God sets Himself in battle array to besiege to destruction the proud" might come closer. He hates it even more (if that is possible) for vaunting itself on a superiority (personal, racial, familial, national, doesn't matter) that is arrogant vain emptiness. Walking in pride...in opposition to His great command in Micah 6:8...pits us against The One Who governs all: and ensures His implacable judgement against us. What Nazi Germany suffered at the hands of human enemies was child's-play by comparison.

I feel the "thrill of pride" everyone references when they hear the national anthem, the same as anyone else. That's O.K.: it's a natural reaction of my natural man. But it will NOT (by God's mercy) enter into my spirit and heart to poison God's life in me.

The real "love of country" is (in another well-known definition) "wishing and doing the best for" one's country. And the best for my country, or anyone else's country, is easily discerned: God's blessing...which is to say, His Presence. But He will NOT dwell with those proud in their own strength and own way. He will not bless liars, men of violence, deceivers, the unrighteous and unholy. Such are "patriots," so-called.

If we truly mean anything when we mouth the slogan "God Bless America," we must mean God humble America: God make America honest to Him: God teach America to hear Him, and (most of all) obey Him. Since none of those are encompassed in our glib "patriotism"...the greatest patriotism is to entreat God that He give America a heart of deep repentance.

Amen !