Should we celebrate Independance Day?

Last week there was an question emailed out by Steven: Should Christians celebrate July 4th/ was the Revolutionary War Biblical?... Here is the reply I sent; much of this came out of conversations with my dad, mom, and sisters. I really do not have any original thoughts.

After thinking over this and talking with people, I have come to a few conclusions...

• Whether or not one believes the gaining of Indepenance was Biblical, I think we should all celebrate it. Since some might not read this whole email, I am going to start with what I think is the most important thing to consider:
  "Everything goes back to the gospel" (to quote Mike Bullmore). Does our celebration hinder the furtherence of the gospel or malign the gospel in any way? I believe the answer is, No. Instead, a celebration of 4th of July is an opportunity to give glory to God and spread the gospel of His kingdom. We have so very much to be grateful for in this country - just read through the 1st amendment or consider how many other countries have a peaceful transfer of authority every four years. We have an opportunity, as Christians to express to our unbelieving neighbors and family members our gratefulness to God. If we refuse to celebrate, what message is that sending to them? We, as Christians have more, not less, to celebrate because we see God's providential hand over the affairs and history of our nation. We can also take this opportunity to share with them that, though we love and celebrate our country, we know that - because of the gospel - it is not our ultimate home.

• Let's apply Rom. 13 to our lives today, not the lives of men who lived 200 years ago. Yes, I believe a study and analysis of history is important and fruitful so that certain parts of history are not repeated. However, we need to guard against self-righteousness. We can only know so much of history, and we cannot fully know the hearts of those who lived it. Like I said above, God has placed us here in the USA in the 21st century. So, in light of Rom. 13: Who are the leaders God has placed over us? How can we honor our leaders? How can we respect them? How would God have us be good citizens of this nation? Is my obedience to leaders causing me to disobey God? If so, what would the Lord have me do? By God's grace, - and this is something to celebrate - we have the opportunity to elect leaders who will, Lord willing, lead in the fear of God.

(Also, Romans 13:7 "...pay respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed". We need to show respect and honor to those who founded our country and those who fought for our independance. Like Steve said, we need to go back and study these men and study what they stood for and what they fought for. Taxation without representation was a small portion of it. History is more complex than that. If we study these men and their times, I do not think there will be any question of whether or not we should celebrate.)

• Lastly, We should spend less time considering and discussing what we, as Christians, shouldn't be doing...and more time pondering and discussing what we, as Christians, should be doing. As Steve mentioned, this is not our home. We are citizens of Heaven and we are looking forward to coming of Christ's kingdom. So, we should be asking questions like: How can we better serve the church? How can I grow in delighting in God's word? How can we reach our friends with the gospel? How can we further the kingdom of God in the workplace? How can we encourage our family more? etc..etc...etc...

So...
"Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but eencouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." Heb 10:24-25

This email discussion led into a conversation about the sanctity of life. Eric wrote an insitful and thought provoking post on his blog (see the link on the sidebar.)