Are We A Christian Nation?

May 18th, 2009 | By Sonnie Johnson

With all the media attention around President Obama speaking at Norte Dame yesterday, I got into a really deep conversation with a very wise woman.

The conversation started with us being on separate sides of the issue. I’m Pro-choice and she is Pro-life. But she’s the Democrat and I’m the Republican, so how did that happen? She broke it down to me like this, “We all have the right to believe what we choose to believe.”

Simple, right? Come on, you know nothing is ever simple with me.

So, we started talking about God and Faith. She brought up taking prayer out of school and not allowing teachers to discipline the students. She places all the blame of our failed educational institutions on those two principles.

I point out, “The extreme left of the Democratic Party are responsible for pushing to take God out of everything and they also rule the unions that allow concessions, like the teacher not being able to defend themselves, to come to fruition.”

Then she came back to her original point, “We all the right to choose what we choose to believe.”

I’m starting to get mad because this doesn’t make any sense to me. If I give you facts and figures, how can you dispute them? Especially if you agree with the initial concept? Especially if you don’t have any differing facts or figures to dispute them?

She repeated, “We have the right to choose what we believe.”

My respect level for this woman is so high, I let it go. I saw where this was headed and I was sure to lose my cool, sooner rather than later.

We stopped talking politics and got back on God. This is where her words really hit me? I said, “America is made up of 72% Christians, We are a Christian Nation.”

She said, “And of the 72%, I bet 50% don’t practice what they preach.”

That’s it. She hit the nail right on the head and got me thinking. That’s the problem. A lot of us choose to believe we are Christians but nothing in our actions prove the point. If God himself came to a random American and said “Let my will be done”, it’s a 50% chance he’d run across someone that questioned what they would get in return.

As a Southern Baptist Christian, I learned you didn’t have to be perfect. You didn’t have to get it right all the time, all you had to do was confess your Sins to God and continue on doing the best you can. And that’s what I believe, heart and soul.

But when I start to think about how I’ve been fighting God, even with absolute faith in his word, I realize this is not as black and white as I thought. Our society is starting to program us into believing what they would have us to believe and we have the right to choose if we want to believe it.

It doesn’t matter if it’s toxic to our future. It doesn’t matter if it contridicts everything we think we believe in. If we choose to drink the Kool-Aid we are bound to it’s results.

And that’s where we find ourselves, having to decide which side to follow. I’ve been under the impression that’s an easy choice to make. But the truth is, you’re cool until you start to talk about God.

Some of us walk around like we are truly Christians, but let the conversation turn to talking about Christianity and people will choose their politics over their God. It’s cooler to be Democrat, than it is to be a child of God.

Out of my conversation, I got these contradictions.

I don’t believe in Abortion, but if President Obama does, I’m sure he has his reasons.

I don’t believe prayer should be taken out of schools, but if Obama agrees, then it has to be the best thing.

I don’t believe in saying “Happy Holidays”, but if Obama said it, I would accept just like he was saying “Merry Christmas”.

What?

Are we a Christian nation? Or are we a nation that likes to believe we have Christian values? Because something has to give. I can understand believing in the fiscal policy of Obama, not really but you know what I’m saying, but I don’t understand how you sacrifice your self held beliefs to do it.

I was told, “you have to do you, first and foremost”, and I laughed. I’ve tried that. I did exactly what I wanted to do, without asking for God’s input. I bent all the rules and didn’t care. When someone came to talk to me about God, I didn’t want to hear it.

Been there, done that. All I got was an empty feeling in the center of my heart and a life that didn’t reflect what I really wanted. One of those, “Be careful what you wish for” moments.

Now when I talk about God, I can get, almost, everyone to agree. They will say God is at the center of their life, but question their politics and they’ll throw God under the bus for Obama.

Maybe Obama was right. Maybe we are no longer a Christian nation. Maybe we are becoming a Government fearing country more than a God fearing country.

The only thing that makes it worse, the Christians who really do believe are making concessions to let it happen. I guess they can choose to believe that’s the same thing as standing up for what they know in their hearts is right. Let’s hope God can see it from your point of view.