Neighborhood Church
Party Crashers: Can A Nation Be Christian?
Can A Nation Be Christian? – Forrest Jenan
Locations & Times
Neighborhood Church
5505 W Riggin Ave, Visalia, CA 93291, USA
Sunday 8:00 AM
What does it look like for followers of Jesus to engage politically?
Politics matter because people matter.
SERIES SUGGESTIONS
• Sundays are for starting conversations.
• Resist putting me in a box.
• You don't have to agree with me.
• Please be gracious.
• Ask questions.
• Sundays are for starting conversations.
• Resist putting me in a box.
• You don't have to agree with me.
• Please be gracious.
• Ask questions.
Difference is inevitable. Division is a choice.
Want to ask a question?
At the After Party on Sunday, August 25, Forrest will respond to questions we receive throughout the Party Crashers series, and we’ll also give people opportunity to discuss those questions together in community.
https://www.menti.com/alrw4f5g18q4Can a nation be Christian?
The Case for Christian Nationalism
• The appeal to divine providence
• The founders wanted the nation to reflect their beliefs.
• Government and founding documents were rooted in Christian ideas.
• The appeal to divine providence
• The founders wanted the nation to reflect their beliefs.
• Government and founding documents were rooted in Christian ideas.
The Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11 - 1797:
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
The founders all kinds of different beliefs around Christianity.
Can a nation be Christian?
Let's look at what Jesus and the authors of Scripture have to say.
Let's look at what Jesus and the authors of Scripture have to say.
Western civilization is so drenched with Christian principles that society has come to take Christianity’s moral vision to be self-evident.
TWO KINDS OF KINGDOMS:
• The Kingdoms of this World
• The Kingdom of God
• The Kingdoms of this World
• The Kingdom of God
Kingdoms of the World = Power OVER
Kingdom of God = Power UNDER
Kingdom of God = Power UNDER
If Jesus were an earthly king of this age, then soldiers would kill to bring about his kingdom, just as they do for every other earthly kingdom: victory through violence. If that's not how Jesus' kingdom will come, it will come rather through the imperial violence done to him on the cross and through the anti-imperial, death-reversing, justice-loving power of resurrection.
NT Wright
NT Wright