United We Fall

Making my way home today; cruising along I96-west, my head was occupied by nothing in particular. I suppose I was mulling over the business of the day or maybe my agenda for tomorrow - I really don't recall. That is until my mind was brought into sharp focus - a billboard caught my eye and the old synapses started firing. "Now when did they put that one up?" I said to the empty seat beside me. Does the image above give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside; does it give you a greater sense of security? An adorable little girl on her daddy's shoulders waving old glory; surrounded by a diverse throng holding fast to the same devotion; look at it - you'd be hard pressed to find a more innocent and inspiring portrayal of civil expression.

But...what about the words - the message we're all supposed to take to heart? Those words - they bothered me all the way home. I rolled on through the familiar countryside of our rural community, all the while that message was replaying in my mind.

What makes
us great.

UNITY
Pass It On

Well...okay then, I'll pass it on - that is, I'll pass on my editorial on their roadside proverb. I hope you don't think me a kill-joy but I feel compelled to dissect that happy little message. So then, is that really true - does unity make us great? Now I assume from the context of the accompanying image, "us" infers the United States of America. Unity - it's a notion tightly woven into our history. About 210 years ago, a revered statesman from our nation's founding gave his final public oration:

"Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs."
-Patrick Henry

"United we stand, divided we fall' - it originally appears in a couple of Aesop's fables from around 600BC. Today, it's one of the most widely recognized quotations among the American people. So why does that billboard, in all its warm, cute, inspiring, feel-good imagery bother me? Aren't they expressing the very same sentiments that Patrick Henry spoke of? Is it not one of the foundational ideas for western culture - dating back to the ancient Greeks? As I explore these ideas, let me first put forth the following premise - that by "great" the billboard folks are speaking of our nation's virtues; our quality as a people and not our economic and military might.

So then, does unity make a nation great? Does it make any set or subset of individuals great? Look at the images below. Now you must admit that there's a strong unity among the people pictured there - am I right? In those examples, do you see a people elevated to greatness or degraded by their unity?

Go back and carefully read the entire quote from Patrick Henry's speech; are there any conditions to his admonition unto his fellow Americans to unite? Did he not qualify the Aesop quotation by first mentioning a trust in God? Faith is foundational to "that union upon which our existence hangs." - isn't it?
Unity doesn't make a people great; it's that which they're united by that makes them great! The Nazis were united around a false ideology. So was fascist Italy and imperial Japan. All throughout history man has sought to be united around his own fallacious ideas. God didn't have much esteem for man's unity when, at Babel they sought to build a great tower as a monument unto themselves, did He? Instead, He confounded their plans and scattered them - divided them!

When I saw that billboard, the warmth of the image was chilled by message. I shuddered as I thought of what has happened to my people - my culture. Just what banner am I being asked to unite under these days? The cute little girl and the stars & stripes; the solemn display of patriotism - they're not enough to overcome the gauntlet of man-centered ideas I'm assaulted by each day. Consider these words by another founding father:

"Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other". -John Adams

Our nation isn't great because of its unity. In fact, it was born under a great deal of disunity. An uneasy tension had been brewing for years as a growing number of colonists were no longer content to be united under British rule. They chose contention over tyranny. Yet, not all of them - many were indifferent if not opposed to the revolution. Our nation is great because of its constitution - written under the premise that all men are created equal and that our rights come from the Creator rather than the benevolence of government. We've wandered so far away from the freedoms found under a constitutionally limited republic and what we're left with is by and large, hostile towards the very ideas upon which liberty is possible. The moral fabric of our nation has become threadbare - battered by the winds of godless thought. Therefore, I'm inclined to resist the notion of unity with a people who've jettisoned the values that made it great. Without faith in God, that roadside message is as hollow as the empty beverage cans that litter the tall grass in its shadow. Unity at the expense of well-founded values is worthless! Look to scripture; did Christ command us to preach unity? Well...did He?

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law — a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Matt. 10: 34-37 (NIV)

I love my country but I cannot unite with a people so hostile to Biblical truth. By simply holding fast to the values this nation once held in common, I and those like me have now been labeled as extreme - even potential terrorists! If we the people unite around man-contrived values, then we will lose our greatness. I am writing this knowing that the majority of my readers are people with whom I'm indeed united - in Christ. And so I want to caution my brothers and sisters to discern everything. Whether it be a clever ad campaign or the postings in this blog, I encourage you to filter it all through God's Word.
As citizens of this nation, it is our duty to uphold the biblical values upon which it was founded; to do our utmost to influence the course of our society. We cannot do that if we sully ourselves by adopting the prevailing thoughts of contemporary man; laying aside truth for the sake of unity.