God or Country first?

or; the conundrum continues.

Published on June 18, 2007 By SanChonino In Religion

I recently read a letter in the Reader's Forum of a local newspaper, The Salt Lake Tribune. The author of this particular piece was specifically talking about Mitt Romney, criticizing him for saying that he and his family are patriotic when his sons, rather than serve in the military (which I guess, according to the author, is the only true way to be a patriot), served as missionaries for the LDS church for two years. He further stated that "country should be placed before God".

That didn't quite jibe with what I've always felt, at least in my own life. my priorities are the opposite of this mans - as has been discussed in other articles on this site, I'm a child of God first, and an American second. But that doesn't make me unpatriotic, does it? Simply because I place God higher on the list than the US of A means that I'm not patriotic?

So, JU, what is your thinking? What comes first - God or your country? Can you still be patriotic if you put your creator before your country, or, as the writer of the letter stated, are you somehow less-than-patriotic for your thinking that way?

Comments (Page 1)

Moderateman

on Jun 18, 2007

My own personal battle cry will tell you my answer.

" FOR GOD AND COUNTRY "!

amandapearl2

on Jun 18, 2007

You're only an American as long as your on this earth. You're a child of God for eternity.

singrdave

on Jun 18, 2007

It's really funny that some idiot (and I do use that term idiot) thinks that he is better than Mitt Romney because Former Gov. Romney sent his boys on missions "rather than" sending them into the military. Except in times of draft, both missions and military service are personal decisions. I wouldn't press my kid into military service any more than I would push them into the Missionary Training Center.

Rather than pumping up his own personal self-esteem in the eyes of the SL Trib's readership, maybe this guy should take a minute and drop his rationalizations about who's better than whom. He may take long enough to realize that for some people God comes before country and for others, the opposite. It's an individual choice.

As far as I'm concerned, you can serve both God and country. And I did:
LDS missionary: England London Mission, 1990-1992.
US Army: Fort Hood Texas, 1999-2005.

(For purposes of full disclosure, I am raising my three boys and one girl to hopefully serve missions one day. As for the military, they know my history and feelings about my Army time. It is my hope that they will decide according to their personal feelings on both military and missionary service.)

Shovelheat

on Jun 18, 2007

If you don't take care of the Spiritual You first, then what good to anybody is the Patriotic You gonna be?

lulapilgrim

on Jun 18, 2007

Definitely God before Country.

singrdave

on Jun 18, 2007

MM:

My own personal battle cry

You have a battle cry? You go into battle?

KFC Kickin For Christ

on Jun 18, 2007

If you don't take care of the Spiritual You first, then what good to anybody is the Patriotic You gonna be?

hmmmmm I'm thinking there's a famous old quote similar to this thought...maybe by Daniel Webster? Something about the best Christian makes the best American.

Definitely God first. Gotta be right with the vertical before we can be right with the horizontal.

Troy Ruiz

on Jun 18, 2007

I am a Mormon, and also a Veteran. I agree that God comes first.

What I find most interesting, though, is the venom so many folks have for us - Mormons. There is this pervasive idea that we are not "real" christians, and that we believe in a 'different" Jesus Christ. While we may have some basic doctrinal differences (we believe that God still has things to say to mankind, for example). But what I find most contradictory, and this string is the perfect example, I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a doctrine of service, wether it be service to our neighbors, our enemies (anyone remember 'turning the other cheek'?) or our country.

Lets not forget that, after recieving the Ten Commandments, Moses led his own army through the desert for 40 years! Back in the day, God and Country were not mutually exclusive concepts. God and Country were the same thing, and I think it would not be innapropriate to include the concept 'Family' into God and Country.

For Mormons, we have a concept called Zion, to which we aspire. The definition of Zion means "a people of one heart, and one mind", where there is "no rich, and no poor". We believe that, through service to one another, including our enemies, we can create this world. Crazy, no? What an awful thing to think about - that we can actually improve the socio-economic landscape by willingly helping each other.

SanChonino

on Jun 18, 2007

Thanks for the comments, everyone! (And what is an article of mine doing on the front page? That's a first) Seems as though I'm not alone in my thoughts - in fact, today, there was a decent rebuttal printed in the paper today. From the letter:

The headline over (the original) letter was right on, though. “True patriots serve,” but they serve God first, not the United States government.

That's about how I feel about it.

Sugar High Elf

on Jun 18, 2007

You are so un-American! You're going straight to Hell... wait... oops.

Yeah, I don't know many people who join the military or do missions... most folks choose neither. What does that make them?

SanChonino

on Jun 18, 2007

What does that make them?

Average!

Moderateman

on Jun 18, 2007

Reply By: singrdavePosted: Monday, June 18, 2007
MM:
My own personal battle cry

You have a battle cry? You go into battle?

Yes I do, and yes I use to.

Moderateman

on Jun 18, 2007

STUPID JOEUSER WONKY SCREWED UP MISTAKE FILLED DOUBLE POST, FOR WHICH I RECEIVED NO POINTS FOR WEITHER POST/COMMENT.

Dr Guy

on Jun 18, 2007

You serve God First, then Country. Do you impose your beleifs on others? Or do you allow your beliefs to form your conscious in the way you interact with others?

Your country allows you do do the latter, and asks that you not do the former. If you follow those rules, you can have your cake and eat it too. The quakers were no less Americans because they refused to pick up a gun. But they served their conscious and their country in other ways, proving that they were the equal of any other Americans.

It is sad that we are even having this discussion, as it should never come down to that question - except when your faith dictates you must break the laws of the land. And other than cults, I know of none that do.

Dr Guy

on Jun 18, 2007

PS: Except perhaps marijuana laws - (Should be added to the last paragraph of the above).

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