the Centrist

          I have long pondered the dilemma of being a Christian and being a patriot.  Being a Christian demands that I turn the other cheek, give to the needy, love my enemies, etc. … while being a patriot is equally demanding.  It demands that I be willing to give life, limb, and property to my homeland.   It even goes so far as not only to ask that I give of myself, but of my children, and should that government continue, my children’s children.  Neither is a casual commitment.  So the question, as I see it, is: as a Christian can I and should I fight for the nation I call my homeland?  Should I be so grateful to that government for the freedoms it has provided that I would willing give my life, limb, and even my hope for happiness? 
Those two worlds, that of the Christian and the patriot, can be bridged more easily than most think.  I have found in my study of philosophy and theology, that most weighty questions are answered simply … i.e. the heaviest questions are usually best answered in pragmatic ways, yet in that simplicity lay the most efficient and insightful rationales.  I think that is why Jesus loved to be with children … in their effortless thought, they could see through hypocrisy.  Their innate virtue gives them the uncanny ability to filter right from wrong, truth from lie.  While adults busy themselves basking in their egotistical intellectual spectrum of gray … children see things more as black and white. 
Perhaps it was with that in mind that Jesus covers patriotism with one phrase: “Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s”.  Then He exemplified what He meant by submitting to His own unjust torture and execution … by Caesar.   By that statement and example, that we should be willing to submit all that is material … including goods, income, life, limb, and yes, even children, to the authority of government, Jesus tells us that all that is material is temporary … it is mutable, changing, and is not ever lasting, thus, any loss we suffer is temporary.  Yet He warns never to give what is spiritual to any but God.  In effect, our soul belongs to God and is never ending, but our goods and our lives, are momentary.  He summarizes: ‘What good is it for a man to inherit the entire world and loose his soul’.  So, as a Christian, can I take a life or give my life to protect the nation and families that I love … absolutely. 
Finally, for those of you who still fail to see the validity of the Global War Against Terror, and that the present battlefield of Iraq is most essential … I simply do not believe I or any, except perhaps a face to face encounter with those that are truly evil, will ever be able to convince you.  But I hope you considered taking a moment for reflection and respect to those who did understand, and have given their utmost so that those on the left, like actress/comedian Rosie O’Donnell, Michael Moore, or ‘Moveon.org’ can continue their venomous attack on the patriotic.