Why, as a Christian, I Love America

I was recently having lunch with a friend, a Christian, who was professing his frustrations with living in America as a believer. American Christians, he said, are too complacent, comfortable, and easily distracted from the Gospel in pursuit of their own self interests. While I can't disagree with what he had to say, I do disagree with the demonizing of America that has been so prevalent as of late.

A popular quote from the film The Usual Suspects is: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist." This couldn't be more true of the struggle that American Christians are up against. A big reason many American Christians are naive to spiritual warfare is that the attacks from the devil are very subtle. Things like lust, greed, and pride are the tricks he uses against us.

In other countries, attacks from the devil seem more obvious and overt; things like spiritual warfare and witchcraft run rampant. I just spoke with my brother who returned from a two week trip to both SE Asia and India, and the outright attacks on Christians, both physically and spiritually, were alarming. However, I think the only one we have to blame as American Christians for our laziness and complacency is ourselves. It's not our culture's fault, it's not our government's fault, and it's not our country's fault. It's ours.

Here are the top 5 reasons why, as a Christian, I love America:

1. I can tell my neighbor about Jesus and not get arrested.
2. I can buy a Bible at a local bookstore, rather than sneaking off to a black market bookstore that has to sell Bibles illegally.
3. I can gather at my church without the fear of our service being raided by the police.
4. I can pray in public before eating a meal and not get thrown in jail.
5. I can say the words "God bless" without fear that the person on the receiving end will alert authorities.

Do we forget that not so long ago a group of brave Christians who couldn't worship God freely escaped the reign of religious tyranny on a boat and established a new country where anyone, not just Christians, could worship freely? I think many times we don't realize how good we have it here, religiously speaking. Let's take advantage of the freedoms we have and use them to promote the Gospel, rather than excusing our complacency.