Should I Be Proud To Be An American?

Length: 8 minutes

Many people are either proud to be an American or ashamed of being an American, depending on how you line up politically and morally. So, should we be proud? Well, it depends on whether you’re talking about a nationality or the principles that helped found this nation.

National Pride?

It’s very popular today to be proud of your race, ethnicity, nationality, or lineage. But the Bible explains that God does not respect (take pride) in a person for their appearance or nationality. Before God there are only believing and disbelieving people. The nation you’re from, the skin color you have, and the lineage you’re after is not considered before God.

Acts 10:34-35 (KJV) Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

When he says that God is no “respecters of persons” this properly means “respecter of the face/appearance.” It means that God does not respect physical characteristics. Peter specifically makes an application to your nationality here, saying “in every nation…” God accepts people who believe.

When the Jews wanted to take pride in their lineage and nationality, John told them, “God can make children of Abraham out of these stones” (Matthew 3:9). It’s clear that God doesn’t see nationality as any accomplishment.

When we are talking about being proud to be an American (or any nationality) the better question is, “Is God proud of it?” God does not see physical characteristics or nationality as a shameful thing, but neither does he see it as a point of pride. It’s a neutral. It just doesn’t mean anything to Him. Therefore, if we want to line up with God, we need to take the same approach.

So, should we be proud to be Americans? Well, not strictly as a nationality. If an American believes in Jesus, God regards that person as lawful. If an American rejects Jesus, God regards that person as lawless. Being an American doesn’t come into the equation.

But here’s an important point: Even though being an American (as a nationality) should not be a point of pride for us, any more than being black or white, Jew or gentile, it is correct to be proud of the gospel (Jeremiah 9:24). And because many of our founding principles in this nation were derived from the gospel, America’s founding principles have much to be proud of. So, should we be proud of a nationality? No. Should we be proud of the ideas behind America and its founding principles? Much of them.

I am, by far, not saying that the motivation or founding of this nation was perfect, or even close to it. I’m also not saying that this nation has always lived up to its own godly ideals. But neither have you lived up to your ideals and God still respects your faith (John 12:26).

This nation is unique in its being founded so that people could believe in Jesus without the hindrance of a state religion. In fact, I have heard that the most cited sources for the writings of the founding fathers were sermons, and the most cited book for their writings was the Bible. They knew that without the gospel being acknowledged in how we governed, our nation would not prosper.

This nation was not meant to be founded with Christianity as the state enforced religion, but it was certainly founded with the explicit intention that our government should always consult the God and Father of Jesus Christ to know how to govern. Those are things to be proud of… very proud of! And any other nation that does the same thing should have the same pride in those truths. It is not a uniquely American thing. It’s not a nationality thing. It’s a gospel thing. God respects that!

I will refrain from going into the historical detail about the honorable things I’ve heard about the founding of this nation, because I don’t want to be inaccurate in any details or dates. Instead, I will direct you to the “Wallbuilders” organization website or YouTube channel. They study and teach American history, with an emphasis on its Christian founding. What I like about them is that they have so many original documents that are cited; that way there’s no guess work with its accuracy. Those are the best footnotes to have. Doctrinally, we may not see eye-to-eye on many things, but we truly respect what they’re doing to prove America’s Christian foundation and recommend you check it out.

What About Slavery?

Now, there are plenty of things that this nation has not done right. Slavery is certainly one of them. So, how does this play into being proud of many ideals that America was founded on? Let’s talk about that for a second.

Slavery of innocent people is sin. Not only for America, but for every nation that has ever partaken of slavery. Slavery was never an American thing. It has always been a human thing, because sin and hatred is a human thing (Galatians 5:19-20). This doesn’t justify America, but it certainly doesn’t uniquely accuse America.

This is evident, even in the African slave trade itself. White, black, and brown people across the world purchased African slaves in this slave trade. America (particularly the American south) inexcusably partook of that. Although Americans were not even amongst the largest in its involvement. Countries across the world partook. And black people (Africans) themselves were enslaving their own people to sell them to other nations. Even this slave trade is a manifest token that hatred is a human problem, regardless of nationality or color, not a uniquely American problem.

All of this is brutal and wrong and should be despised. The thing with America is, we have it written in our own Declaration of Independence that, “All men are created equal.” So, America’s involvement with slavery, while it was not unique to begin with, contradicted its own Christian ideals.

After hearing about how America partook in this, how could we possibly say that there’s much to be proud of in the principles and ideals that America was founded upon? After all, slavery is a blatant “dehumanization” of other people.

Stay with me. I think this will be enlightening.

The Bible says that a child in the womb is in fact a child, not just a fetus (Judges 13:7, Luke 1:44). But there are many people, even many Christians, who vote for politicians who believe in abortion. Why? What’s the logic? They believe it’s less than human, so it’s OK to eliminate it. Am I saying those people aren’t Christians? No, voting this way doesn’t disqualify you from being a Christian. That same person may love God, do a lot of great things in other areas of their life, but for misunderstanding of the Bible, and because of cultural norms today, they find it acceptable — or at least passible enough to vote for a “pro-choice” politician.

Why am I bringing this up? Because slavery is the exact same thing. Both are a disrespect to human life, based on the logic that someone else is less than human. Many Christians across America today vote for abortion, thinking it’s passible, because they’ve been brought up in a culture that says, “That baby is less than human.” Likewise, many Christians in the past saw slavery as passible because they grew up in a culture that said, “This person is less than human.”

I’m trying to say that sometimes, for gross misunderstanding, Christians can accept heinous things in one area of their life, while doing great things in another. It’s not excusable, but it is possible. That’s applicable to slavery or abortion. Just because a person or a nation is wrong in certain areas, does not mean that they are wrong in all of them.

The irony is, most of the greatest critics of America, who believe the whole thing is rotten because black people were treated as less than human, are doing the exact same thing by voting for politicians that will kill an innocent baby, on the assumption that it’s less than human. That’s an uneven standard.

I say all of this because I believe there’s a concerted effort by the devil, to undermine the godly principles, religious freedom, and faith on which this country was founded, based on the bad things that people did alongside of it.

The same way that the sins of your past do not erase your belief in the gospel, nor all the good things God has done in your life, so the grave mistakes of America, while they should be addressed, do not erase the gospel-centric motivation for this country. Not by far. This country is unique in that sense.

So, should we be proud to be an American? Not if you’re referring to the mere nationality, but yes, if you’re referring to the many truths and principles this nation was built on, and how they sought God, through Jesus, to establish this nation.

I believe wholeheartedly that God started this nation. In fact, it was a wave of new understanding of Jesus that preceded the founding of America! No wonder, America left a world power one century, only to become a world power themselves in the next! Amongst other important issues, many of these people wanted a nation where they could learn Jesus, without the government dictating their beliefs for them. That, above all things, is honorable and respectable. It’s an ideal to be proud of. An ideal to emulate. An ideal to fight for, in this nation and in every nation across the world.

God, set this nation as a beacon of truth and a haven for the oppressed, until Jesus comes back again. God guide America, keep America, and God bless America.

Again, I would direct you to check out “Wallbuilders” website and YouTube channel to learn more about the Christian founding of this nation.