toldailytopic: How do you balance your sense of patriotism with your disgust for what

Nathon Detroit

Nathon Detroit

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The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for September 1st, 2011 09:12 AM


toldailytopic: How do you balance your sense of patriotism with your disgust for what's going on in this country?






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MrDeets

MrDeets

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There is no balance. If I wasn't a patriot, I wouldn't be disgusted.



Can't wait to see where this thread goes... Are you ready? Are you ready?



Let's get it on!!!
 
Nathon Detroit

Nathon Detroit

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This is a topic I struggle with. I still love my country and I still believe it's the greatest country on earth but.... I'm sickened to see it fall apart.

Abortion, socialism, homosexual rights etc. all make me sick to my stomach and I hate the fact that we have strayed so far from where we started. Yet I still love my country and feel like there is hope in saving it.

How do you balance your sense of patriotism with your frustration regarding the demise of this great nation?
 
Granite

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I think we all have our own ideas for what's wrong and what's right here.

Everyone fundamentally wants the same thing: a better place to live and a better nation for their children. We differ our definitions of the problems and the solutions. Always have. Always will.

In terms of "patriotism"? Well, define. If a "patriot" is someone who respects the Constitution and wishes to see the rule of law restored--the end of unnecessary and illegal wars--the end of state-sanctioned torture--if a patriot is someone who wants a smaller, less meddlesome government at every level, well, then I'm a patriot.

Our nation was sold out and or hijacked a long time ago and maybe it was inevitable, but what disgusts me is empty rhetoric, demagoguery wrapped in a Bible and a flag, and red meat posturing used by empty suits who lack conviction. What disgusts me is a rah-rah pseudo-fascism that denounces criticism of country and confuses discourse with treason.

There isn't any balance when the conversation itself is not tolerated.
 
Town Heretic

Town Heretic

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Knight said:
This is a topic I struggle with. I still love my country and I still believe it's the greatest country on earth but.... I'm sickened to see it fall apart.
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There's always been something to be outraged over in this society. I think that's the price tag that comes with the experiment. The founders had slavery and women were only marginally better off than serfs. There's never been a time in our history without some significant, state sponsored, moral imperfection at the heart of the nation's struggles. So I don't think it's falling apart. I think it's doing what it always has done, which is stumbling toward the next step in the life of a Republic.

Abortion, socialism, homosexual rights etc. all make me sick to my stomach and I hate the fact that we have strayed so far from where we started.
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Where I think there was as much to hate, if you were inclined, in that optimistic but parochial landed gentry origin. Abortion I see as our slavery, a thing to be argued against both morally and in the purest secular sense and one where the angels will win out over time. I consider socialism an emotionally misinformed response to the failures of inadequately restrained capitalism. It can't win the field against human nature, but it isn't without a point in terms of its genesis, if not its solution. Homosexual rights I see as a liberty/legal issue with personal moral ramifications. I don't believe it's an issue that should ever have been or ever be legislated and while I find the practice antithetical to Christian principle, I haven't the least inclination to see discriminatory practice given the stamp of the state because I happen to feel that way about it. That's insufficient justification, as I see it. Two adults answer to each other and, ultimately, to God. It's none of my business (making that moral choice for them).

Maybe that's just a cultural thing. :idunno:
 
G

griffinsavard

New member
Come out of Babylon......American culture is not our Country!

Hbr 11:16 But now they desire a better [country], that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

You belong to the Kingdom of God not a country. God is ripening the harvest so we can see who serves God and who does not.

God brought Babylon against Israel because of disobedience.....we are being prepared for the translation.
 
Granite

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griffinsavard said:
Come out of Babylon......American culture is not our Country!

Hbr 11:16 But now they desire a better [country], that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

You belong to the Kingdom of God not a country. God is ripening the harvest so we can see who serves God and who does not.

God brought Babylon against Israel because of disobedience.....we are being prepared for the translation.
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You are some kind of Johnny One Note.
 
Buzzword

Buzzword

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I've pretty much abandoned most of the patriotic feelings beaten into my head as a child.

I "support the troops" because I have close personal friends among them, not because I as an American am obligated to support the military-industrial complex.

The only exception is generally in music.
I've heard several arrangements of the Star-Spangled Banner that left me choked up.

In general, though, I'm a complete cynic.

I'm an American, but I don't trust the American government.
I'm a Texan, but I don't trust the Texas government.
I'm a resident of Oklahoma, but I don't trust the Oklahoma government.
I'm a resident of Oklahoma City, and the only reason I KIND OF trust the municipal government is because I've been able to sit down and chat with several of the bigger names among them.

I don't see America as a whole spiraling down some moral black hole like the older folks do.
The black hole is an overdependence on technology, an overexposure to others' personal information, and an overcompulsion to share what should be kept private with the entire world.

And the resulting feelings of entitlement.


“We Americans act as though God owes Sodom and Gomorrah a note of apology if He does not punish America with fire and brimstone, but then we turn around and applaud those politicians who declare us to be the most virtuous, fair, idealistic, and just people on the face of the earth.”
-Tony Campolo
 
Stripe

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I reckon America is, in our lifetimes, gonna once again lead the world in ridding it of a great evil. :CRASH: Child killing.

I reckon it's worth being aware of the bad stuff, but it's still worth hoping and fighting for something better. :thumb:
 
Sherman

Sherman

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You can count me among those that are disgusted with the direction America has taken. Abortion, advocacy of homosexuality, fornication and adultery need to go. Destroy the family, destroy the nation. All of these I listed attack the foundation of these country. I love this country but at present it is very sick.

But my son who is stationed oversees has seen the shape other countries are in. They are in a whole lot worse shape then America. In many placed pederasty and pedophilia is legal. The things he has told me left me thoroughly disgusted. Both he and myself are more appreciative of being Americans. Here children are still protected by laws against perverts.

America is ill to be sure, but it is not as far along in its illness as other countries. There is still hope the tide can be turned.
 
Granite

Granite

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griffinsavard said:
Granite you people are the cancer of this country.....

Prov 14:34

Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
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:yawn:

You don't know a thing about me. So why don't you just shut your talkhole, or get a clue.
 
PureX

PureX

Well-known member
I think the people who claim to love America but then hate so many of their fellow citizens and everything that they think and do are just liars and fools. They don't love America at all. What they love is some made up fantasy of an America that they think ought to be. These people shout their patriotism from the rooftops while in reality they hate everything America is and stands for. They love freedom as long as that freedom doesn't extend to behaviors they don't like or agree with. They love equality as long as they're the ones deciding who gets to be treated equally and who doesn't. Their idea of justice is punishment without mercy, without exception, and often even without due process. They love our representative democracy as long as that democracy is representing their needs and desires, and no one else's. Their idea of free speech is having the freedom to preach hate and intolerance and willful ignorance in the name of their political or religious beliefs. All the while doing their best to suppress any open dialogue that might give voice to any opposition.

The real patriots these days aren't the ones shouting about how much they love their country, while they hate their neighbors, hate their politicians, and hate anyone who happens not to think and act like them. The real patriots aren't seeking to take over the government, destroy it, and then remake it in the image of their fantasy nation. The real patriots are hanging their heads in despair as they see their nation torn apart by greed and demagoguery fueling ignorance and prejudice for it's own gain. The real patriots aren't feeling very patriotic these days, as they are ashamed of what we're all becoming. A nation with so much promise, that has fallen so low.
 
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