At the risk of sounding unpatriotic:

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I had a thought today. Maybe not an original thought, but it was new to me.

Maybe, those Pilgrims weren't such heroes of the faith after all. Maybe, just maybe, the founding of America actually impeded the spread of the Gospel.

Gasp! Horrors! What's that you say? Amy, are you turning your back on the good old U. S. of A. and your private Christian school upbringing?

I'm just thinking.
Picture if you will, a group of Christians getting picked on by their government. Harrassed and persecuted and interfered with. History is riddled with examples. The Bible is riddled with examples - along with some pretty clear instructions about how to handle the situation.

Matthew 10 gives us a picture of Jesus explaining what the disciples are about to face as they head out into the world with the gospel. He warns that it's not going to be pretty. Persecution, beatings, betrayals. Brother against brother. Jesus's answer: Don't be afraid. I'll give you the power. So what if you're arrested? Preach to the warden. I'll give you the words.

Throughout the Book of Acts, we see believers coming up against opposition in town after town. Again and again, the Gospel is preached, the preachers are harrassed, but the body of Christ explodes in number.

Now, fast-forward 1600 years or so - past the Colisseum, past Nero - to a group of Christians on a ship called The Mayflower. Now, I don't claim to be an expert, but...weren't they running away? Does it not seem to anyone else like they were choosing isolation - a Christian bubble - a whole new saltshaker - over "living such good lives among the pagans, that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us?" (I Peter 2:12)

I think about the "house churches" in China, and how, in spite of tremendous government opposition, the number of believers increases exponentially because the Chinese believers aren't stomping out of the country in a pout.

So, instead of remaining in England and hanging on - allowing the Lord to add to their number daily - the Pilgrims assisted in spreading not only the word, but the population across an ocean - making the sharing of the Gospel logistically that much more difficult. Oh, and England remains a largely "unchurched" nation.

I buy that America was founded because people were seeking freedom and opportunity. There was money to be made, there were dreams to be chased. It is, indeed, a wonderful place, and I am all for celebrating our unique history and strong national character. But I can't help thinking about how the world would be different if Christians followed Christ with more passion than we follow our flight instinct.

Comments

berry said…
I thought you were going to say we impeded the work of the Gospel because of the way we treated the people that were already living here. I think you could make that argument too.

But this is a line of thought I haven't crossed before. Interesting.
December 5, 2007 at 11:43 PM
Justmatt said…
In the same passage you quoted (Matt 10) v. 23 says:
"When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes."

Sounds exactly like what the Pilgrams did -right?

Although buying the entire US for 10 ears of corn I don't think was very Christlike. Good thoughts both you and Berry.
December 6, 2007 at 9:07 AM
Amy said…
Oh, good call, Matt. But were the pilgrims actually persecuted, or were they just annoyed?
December 6, 2007 at 11:43 AM
Justmatt said…
Well if I remember correctly I was always taught that they fled b/c of "religious persecution" but I think that word can be painted with a pretty broad brush.
Here is what wikipedia has to say:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims
December 10, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Amy said…
After more thought - and the wikipedia entry - It still looks to me like they were running in search of a place to be left alone, to live in isolation. Not to spread the word, or to live as an example so much as to preserve the traditions they had set up for themselves.

And yes, Bear, the argument about our treatment of the native Americans is a very valid and under-argued one - though I don't think that was as much the Pilgrims as it was the Dutch East India Company and others who came seeking "opportunity." (I'm reading a book on it right now...)
December 10, 2007 at 10:49 AM
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