Southern Heritage

I was not born in the South nor was I "raised" in it. I do, however, have a Southern heritage. My family came to Virginia when it was still a colony. We helped found it; we helped defend it; and we rebelled against British tyranny and helped Virginia and the rest of the colonies gain their independence. I was raised in Iowa with good conservative midwest values. Through my years I have been around the world and have ended up back in Virginia. I consider myself in many ways a rebel son come home. Since I have returned to the south of my family heritage, I have learned the nuances of southern philosophy, southern theology, and southern culture. I love grits (always have) but I'm still not a fan of sweet tea, though it's ok in small doses. Almost everything about the South and its culture and heritage I love. I do not like nor do I condone chattel slavery, never have, never will. 

The recent events in Charleston were tragic, gravely tragic. The facts as I understand them are a white kid messed up on suboxone who liked to burn the American flag and wear patches associated with apartheid South Africa, happened to have a picture on his Facebook account waving the Northern Virginia Army's Battle Flag. As usual the attention-craving liberal media grabbed onto this and started the perfect storm. Now several States have succumbed to the PC whore goddess and have taken down that battle flag from over their capitals. Amazon has banned the sale of that battle flag, sacrificing the profits they could make on its sale on the altar of political correctness. It's America; for the most part we are still free, though not as free as we were when I was growing up. 

Men that I respect, Franklin Graham for one, have called for us to put this flag in the closet for the sake of unity and peace. Men I love and respect and consider mentors, who have been my professors, have posted similar articles saying the same thing. I respect their views, and continue to respect and love them as theologians and mentors. I wonder however, what the cost is and should be for unity and peace? The church in America specifically has sacrificed much for the sake of unity, to the point in many cases of it becoming a graven image with a bloody altar.  We, meaning the church have sacrificed our God-given obligation and privilege to serve the poor and those in need to the government for the sake of "unity". We have given our right to free speech as pastors to speak against the evils of political opponents of the Gospel during elections. True Christianity is NOT bipartisan. True Christianity stands for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness within the confines of a biblical morality as our forefathers understood it. True Christianity is above politics, but it should also drive the politics of the Church. 

Should the flag be set aside? I don't know, but I do know setting aside any flag will not end a violence that is a heart problem. I also know that setting aside any flag will put us one more step closer to a loss of our First Amendment rights. Any step closer to our loss of the First Amendment rights puts us one step closer to us losing our right to wave the Christian flag, the Gadsden flag, the American flag. After the flags, what will they come for next: our Bibles? Our right to worship? All for the sake of Unity and Peace?  I myself have never flown the battle flag but feel an overwhelming desire to have it tattooed on my arm, not because I am a racist, not because it's heritage, but because it is quickly becoming a the symbol it was originally meant to be once again: a symbol of standing against tyranny. Whether the details were right or not, i.e., Slavery is a concern, but does that detail (as tragic as it was) overshadow the big picture of the loss of states' rights that was the result of the South's loss in that war? I don't know if the flag should be set aside or not, but I do not think it should be set aside over a contrived media frenzy propagated by the media meat puppets of the present administration which have used the same flag when it suited them and now want to put it away when it is no longer convenient for them. As the church we are not called by God to be in unity or at peace with the world. We are called to stand against it, because a world without God is a world at war with Him. I don't wave the battle flag, I don't even own a battle flag, but I have already lost to many of my rights and I am not willing to give up any more of them. 

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims in Charleston. It was a tragedy that should have never happened but it's a heart problem (there is a lot of evidence that says it is also a psychotropic prescription problem) not a flag problem, not a gun problem, not a white or a black problem. A very big and very tragic heart problem.