Flags in Church Discussion

This was a discussion I went to on Thursday. There were no resolutions before the conference on this topic, but it was a topic of discussion.

It appears that in some countries having the flag, or picture of national leaders in the church is a problem in that the people assumes this implies some connection between the national government and the church. This inhibits the church as a "conscience" for the government.

It was pointed out that in one African nation the national leaders were being very dictatorial in some issue, and the only body capable of challenging them was the church,which did so. Although it was not brought out, Communism in Poland was brought down by the Church (Catholic church in this case).

In any event, some people are offended by this practice, particularly some people from other countries.

In the group I was there was one Canadian, and everyone else was from the United States (Actually, there were only four participants). I think that everyone was open to listening to the objections raised, so there was no actual disagreement.

Personally, I realized that I really do not support the current United States government. That is, not this administration, but the government itself. At one time is was a good government, the best on the Earth, but that has not been the case for a while, and the current administration is illustrating the reasons why. I am inclined to quote Revelations 18:2-3 (Inspired Version):

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

That is, Babylon is not just an evil state, but a state which has fallen. It was once a good place, but is now not so good, in fact, it is evil. The specific complaints are: 1. Hate abounds (hateful bird) 2. Economic problems, even though it is noted that it is a very rich country. (The following verses get into this in a big way.) This represents my view of the United States at this time.

The result is that I found myself on the side the objected very strongly to the display of the flag on the rostrum. This was a revelation to me in that I had not realized how much I object to the government of the United States.

I have objected in a small way (see my secession WEB page, which was prepared tongue in cheek I thought, but sometimes I wonder how serious this is.) This session brought out the extent of my objection, which was much more than I expected.