As a Christian, I never quite know what to do with the Fourth of July. I love picnics and parades and fireworks and days off from work and trips to the seashore and the sunny days of summer, but I’m not so sure that I can buy into the narrative behind the holiday. If it’s about signing a declaration, then while I can certainly celebrate the ideals that are set forth in that declaration, those signatures cost the lives of 6,800 Americans and between 24,000 and 25,000 British soldiers who were killed during the Revolutionary War. I’m not so sure that the Jesus who said “love your enemies” would approve of putting together armies and training soldiers to pick up guns and start killing other soldiers for the sake of thirteen colonies that wanted to be independent of their mother country. If it’s about liberty and justice for all, we haven’t yet achieved that. America is a work in progress, and we still have a long way to go, so the celebration is premature. If it’s about celebrating an ideal that has not yet been realized, then OK, let’s celebrate, but let’s not celebrate the war that was fought in order to try to make it happen, and let’s not celebrate as though the ideal had already become a reality. This world tells us that the way to fix the world’s problems is to pick up guns and start killing each other. This world tells us that if picking up guns and going to war doesn’t work, then we pretend the problem doesn’t exist and we celebrate anyway. This world tells us to pledge our allegiance to our flag and to defend our flag with war if necessary, while Jesus calls us to love our enemies and to pledge our allegiance to Him. Followers of Jesus have been called out of this world, and we shouldn’t be buying into the lies of this world. We Christians should know better.
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