What's more important? allegiance to the flag/nation or to Jesus

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At what age does a person learn to pledge allegiance to America? In what ways does the pledge of allegiance to America stengthen or weaken a person’s allegiance to their Christian faith? Are faithful American Catholics viewed as unAmerican? If so, how? Should Catholics pledge allegiance to any nation/flag?
 
do the questions make you feel uncomfortable? What would an American catholic rather be known as? Christian or American
 
When one pledges to the flag, one also aligns with our Lord. He told us to give to ceasar what belongs to ceasar and give to God what belongs to God. It is that simple.
 
“Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and render unto God what belongs to God”. You can love America, but don’t let her take God’s place in your life.
 
I suppose a lot of it depends on what context you’re asking the question. In your life God should be first and foremost and your eyes should be on him constantly. In the choices you make and how you live your life should reflect that Christian commitment. To others it should be obvious you are a Christian. In your daily life and attitudes you should readily identify as a Christian.

However, standing at customs with you passport in your hand I’d recommend identifying yourself as an American first.

ChadS
 
BlsdBGd said:
At what age does a person learn to pledge allegiance to America?
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I learned to pledge allegiance to the flag when I was about six or seven, I think? Why does it matter?
On the other hand, I learned to praise Jesus when I was… Hmmm… I don’t even remember because my mother always taught me to praise Jesus! 😃
BlsdBGd said:
In what ways does the pledge of allegiance to America stengthen or weaken a person’s allegiance to their Christian faith?
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I’m not sure, since (in all honesty) I’ve never really meant it full-heartedly when I’ve said the pledge of allegiance because I really don’t fully understand what it means to pledge yourself to a country liable to change and even disintegration and destruction.
BlsdBGd said:
Are faithful American Catholics viewed as unAmerican? If so, how?
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I don’t see how so?
BlsdBGd said:
Should Catholics pledge allegiance to any nation/flag?
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If they really mean it and the country doesn’t actively persecute the Catholic faith, I don’t see why not? 🤷
 
Thank you for your thoughtful replies to my questions. Do you think teaching children to pledge allegiance to a flag or nation is a form of brainwashing? Can people choose not to do it? If someone refuses to pledge allegiance, how willl they be viewed/treated? Why is it so important for Americans to pledge allegiance to a flag or nation? Should the practice be discontinued? There will come a time, and I believe it is soon, that Christians will be martryed in America and north of it. It’s not a question of IF but rather WHEN. With this in mind, I believe it’s important to pledge allegiance to Christ Jesus our Lord alone, and not to any nation/flag. Believers will be severely tested/persecuted. We need to know where we stand now before the battle becomes severe.
 
BlsdBGd said:
Thank you for your thoughtful replies to my questions. Do you think teaching children to pledge allegiance to a flag or nation is a form of brainwashing? Can people choose not to do it? If someone refuses to pledge allegiance, how willl they be viewed/treated? Why is it so important for Americans to pledge allegiance to a flag or nation? Should the practice be discontinued? There will come a time, and I believe it is soon, that Christians will be martryed in America and north of it. It’s not a question of IF but rather WHEN. With this in mind, I believe it’s important to pledge allegiance to Christ Jesus our Lord alone, and not to any nation/flag. Believers will be severely tested/persecuted. We need to know where we stand now before the battle becomes severe.
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I think you need help!
 
BlsdBGd said:
Thank you for your thoughtful replies to my questions. Do you think teaching children to pledge allegiance to a flag or nation is a form of brainwashing? Can people choose not to do it? If someone refuses to pledge allegiance, how willl they be viewed/treated? Why is it so important for Americans to pledge allegiance to a flag or nation? Should the practice be discontinued? There will come a time, and I believe it is soon, that Christians will be martryed in America and north of it. It’s not a question of IF but rather WHEN. With this in mind, I believe it’s important to pledge allegiance to Christ Jesus our Lord alone, and not to any nation/flag. Believers will be severely tested/persecuted. We need to know where we stand now before the battle becomes severe.
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Are you a Jehovah’s Witness?
 
BlsdBGd said:
At what age does a person learn to pledge allegiance to America? In what ways does the pledge of allegiance to America stengthen or weaken a person’s allegiance to their Christian faith? Are faithful American Catholics viewed as unAmerican? If so, how? Should Catholics pledge allegiance to any nation/flag?
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What would Jesus Christ have done? That is the question a Christian should ask.

Mark 12:17: “Jesus then said: ‘Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.’” so we must obey the law unless it conflicts with God’s requirements:

but
John 17:16: “They are no part of the world, just as I [Jesus] am no part of the world.”
Later Jesus told the Roman governor, Pilate, that his Kingdom was no part of the world. – John 18:36.

Jesus was nothing to do with the politics of his time.

Jas. 4:4: “Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.”
(Why is the matter so serious? Because, as 1 John 5:19 says, “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” At John 14:30, Jesus referred to Satan as being “the ruler of the world.” So, no matter what worldly faction a person might support, under whose control would he really come?)

So, with their leaders example in mind, how did Jesus early followers feel towards national emblems?

“Christians refused to . . . sacrifice to the emperor’s genius—roughly equivalent today to refusing to salute the flag or repeat the oath of allegiance. . . . Very few of the Christians recanted, although an altar with a fire burning on it was generally kept in the arena for their convenience. …Still, almost no Christians availed themselves of the chance to escape.”—Those About to Die (New York, 1958), D. P. Mannix, pp. 135, 137.

The early followers of Jesus would rather face death than perform an action that was in affect worship of the state.

A similar predicament faced German Christians in the 1930’s. A swastika was raised before them and they were ordered to salute and shout: “Heil Hitler!”
Most professed “Chrisitans” did so. Only the ones later identified in the concentration camps by the purple triangle refused to worship the state. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_triangle
Which were true Christians?
 
Regardless said:
What would Jesus Christ have done? That is the question a Christian should ask.
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The WWJD is not really often the best way to go in general…

For Jesus would not do a lot of things …that I can certainly do as his disciple…his life was very different in many respects and while I am to follow him…he expects some different ways of life…some different decisions from me…than what he made or would make.

Instead we Catholics as Christians should ask…what should I do as a disciple of Jesus… as a Christian…as a follower of the Eternal Son of God …of the Logos…etc

In regard to the Flag and politics etc…

I understand you are a Jehovah’s Witness so you have some very different beliefs than us…(starting with Who Jesus is) and this is one of them as I recall.
 
As a daughter of two nazi holocaust survivor’s, I tell you the true Christians of nazi Germany were in the minority. While the majority were blinded by nationalism, true Christians disobeyed their elected government officials and their country’s laws, but rather sheltered Jews and others who were threatened with extermination. In America, who is being exterminated today? What do the majority of Americans think about the killing of innocents? And your government, has it not legalized abortion? and are not your tax dollars funding it?

In Germany, if discovered, the “righteous” were murdered by other “Christians” who blindly obeyed Germany’s nazi ideology. Do the majority of Americans blindly follow the culture of death in America?. Have any of you ever experienced open hostility from other Americans for witnessing your Catholic Christian faith? For example, for acting on or expressing your pro-life views in public? Have you ever been called unAmerican when acting on your Christian faith? Each Catholic Christian should ask to what extent is conformity to and acceptance of their nations values/laws a detriment to following Jesus. The signs are all around you.

Catholic Christians do not belong to the world, but to Christ and we should not be surprised when persecution comes. Pledge your allegiance to Christ alone.
 
I would not imagine that any Catholic or Christian could possibly rate allegiance to country as more important than allegiance to Jesus.

One’s faith is the standard by which one is asked (by God) to live. We are asked to obey God’s laws and precepts, to obey the Catholic Church. Insofar as anything our country’s government does, proclaims or legalises, contradicts with our faith, we are duty bound to stand against it, within whatever reasonable means we have available to us - even just by prayer.

A country is nothing more than a legislatively bound geographic territory. It is a means of justified organisation of an area into various rules, which rules may be changed by the political and legal means applicable to a governement of the day (be it anything from a dictatorial regime to a constitutional democracy). The “rules” of the Catholic faith do not change with government. Gods “rules” take precedence always.

(Yet we are still duty bound to “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar” - in other words work for the benefit of our country where we are expected so to do. Just not in a manner which contradicts with the Faith)
 
Failing to pay taxes = jail time. I can’t choose to not pay taxes so my money isn’t used for evil. If one works in this country, taxes are taken out BEFORE one receives the funds. How do you suppose I get around that little detail?

Pledging allegiance to my country doesn’t mean I have to stand for every, single, stupid thing the leaders in my country manage to do.

Your argument is completely off base.
 
BlsdBGd said:
do the questions make you feel uncomfortable? What would an American catholic rather be known as? Christian or American
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I think a minor, but very important, correction to your terminology would answer your question. In English grammar, the adjective is almost always more significant than the noun (if you ever studied debate or rhetoric you would be taught this). We should never refer to ourselves as American Catholic, as our being American does should NOT modify our Catholicism. We should refer to ourselves as Catholic Americans, as our Catholocism should certainly affect how we are Americans. This is key.

If the question was “What would a Catholic Amerivan rather be known as? Christian or American”, doesn’t it sound more as if the question answered itself?
 
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