Should we be proud to be______. You can insert your own nationality there. To be honest that is a tricky question. Certain countries seem to me to be rooted in Evil. Nazi Germany. The Khner Rouge. Ethiopia under Idi Amin. Stalins Rusia. Other empires hVe good times and bad time England the US, France South Africa, Russia, Egypt. And many others. So is the question m I proud today or despite today?
I also would say that the majority of people in any country are nice, kind, caring people, who want to live a peaceful life. They follow rules that make sense and come up with alternatives to one’s that don’t. You would be amazed at how many Chinese families had more than one child. How many Chrisitans survived Communist governments. How many Protestants survived Catholic persecution and vice versa because their neighbors chose friendship over legality.
But why not be proud of your country of residency? We pick sports teams and root for them. We are proud of our colleges. Why not see the good around us, the sacrifice that created our own little world, the history of our neighborhoods and beats our chest climbing with pride…we are the best.
Its good to be proud, if what you are proud of deserves it. And the measure of that is really your own. I am.an American. We are a country who has done a lot of questionable things. We claim to have Christian roots, and they do shine in our charity, our generosity, our constant fight for equality. But our struggle has gone awry because we have forgotten our Christian roots and become humanistic. Now the difference between them is not always a good or bad choice. I feed the poor because I recognize that the poor deserve respect and charity because we are all human…or I feed the poor because God loves the poor and Chsrity is a virtue which perfects my soul. In the end the poor are fed, they probably don’t care why the food is there.
I was once with a Christian group who wanted to give out condoms in the men’s prison. Their argument was that doing so would save lives by preventing AIDS or HIV. But you are encouraging homosexual behavior or rape. Classic problem. You are on a runaway train and going to kill 5 people who are on the tracks ahead. You can hit a switch and divert the train and kill one. You are not the cause of the 5 deaths, but would be killing the one on purpose. What is the right choice?
God doesn’t need us to fix things that are beyond our control. God loves us and we aren’t perfect. So we can love our imperfect country and we can acknowledge that it’s not perfect. We can pray for change and hope that our country gets better.
The sacrifice of those who fought and died to give your country time to shine should never be diminished or forgotten. Valor, bravery, and sacrifice are what Jesus Himself.showed when picking up the Cross and dying. The imitation of that is a virtuous action. The give your life to save others is praised in the Scriptures.
Celebrate your country. Be proud of those who helped defend it.Honor the sacrifice of those who have all. Thank God for the opportunity to be born where you were born, because that is where you have the best chance of getting to Heaven. God wouldn’t have put you there if that wasn’t true.
The musings of Peter 