god damn america

call me unpatriotic. call me unamerican.





when i heard the brief snippets of jeremiah wright (obama's pastor) say those words i found myself shouting an amen to myself and wondering how anyone could disagree. in a country where we love to proclaim that the united states is a christian nation or a nation of faith, we have all too often placed our nationalism and false patriotism over the divine. flag waving is more important than christian living. bombing is privileged over humanitarianism. we support our troops by patriotically sending them into harm's way. it is not our savior, but our nation that our media, history books, and patriots uphold as the sinless one.

why do we so easily assume that we deserve god's blessings instead of god's damnation? the book of mormon prophet, lehi, prophesied this about the land our nation rests on:

Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever. . . . [B]ehold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them.

according to jesus, the greatest of commandments are to love god and love our neighbors. he teaches us to love our enemies. by placing our patriotism and desire for empire over and above these these teachings, have we not rejected the true christ and begun worshiping a false christ of nationalism? we don't live by the edict to love our neighbors. instead, we bomb, enslave, oppress, ignore, impoverish, hate, kill, torture, and commodify our neighbors. rather than loving our enemies, we invade and terrorize them. the most condemned of sins in the book of mormon is the gap between the rich and the poor, yet america the so-called beautiful exceeds all other nations in widening this gap. why should our country which has been so blessed in the past expect more in light of our departure from him?

over the weekend, our american media has headlined the unfortunate surpassing of 4,000 american troop deaths in our invasion and occupation of iraq. but still our media largely fails to recognize the estimated 80,000 to 200,000 deaths of innocent civilians who have died as a result of our immoral war. our american media fails to acknowledged the 300,000+ iraqi soldiers who died defending their 'God, religion, and freedom, and peace, wives, and children' from our invading nation. are america's fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and siblings more important in the eyes of god than those of other nations. our true god and scriptures say no, but our false god of nationalism cries yes.

along with wright and lehi i ask how we can assume god's blessings while we continue in our nation's sins, iniquities, and inequalities? do we have the audacity to assume that we are so enveloped in god's favor that we are no longer subjected to god's judgment? do we think our past token (and occasionally altruistic) moral actions have purchased indulgences for our past, present, and future national sins? or have we truly lifted our flag as a false christ and false cross with the power to forgive us of our sins? is this not what happens when we hoist the red, white, and blue in the lands we have invaded, bombed, and abused? - "but look! we gave the iraqis democracy!" - and yet, when this divine democracy does not favor us (see iran in 1961), we destroy and sacrifice it to our idolic banner.

in abraham lincoln's second inaugural address, after the bloodiest time in american history, he pondered:

The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

like lehi, lincoln believed that god's will can both bless and damn those in this land. for him, perhaps our sin of slavery brought upon the wrath that bled our nation during the civil war. are our nations sins of poverty-induced slavery, racism, empire, war, hate, inequality, oppression, and death any less offensive in the eyes of god?

as wright asked, how dare we sing god bless america when we have done so much to deserve his damnation?

and yet, as wright also sermoned, governments can change. people can change. we are not damned to continue in our ways.

we can rise above our sins and accept christ's teachings that we have been rejecting. our ability to love both our neighbors and our enemies, is not just within our reach, but is already within us.

lincoln concluded his address with this plea:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on . . . to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

wright ended his sermon with a similar plea:

“Tell your neighbor he’s (going to) help us one last time. Turn back and say forgive him for the God Damn, that’s in the Bible though. Blessings and curses is in the Bible. It’s in the Bible.

“Where government fail, God never fails. When God says it, it’s done. God never fails. When God wills it, you better get out the way, cause God never fails. When God fixes it, oh believe me it’s fixed. God never fails. Somebody right now, you think you can’t make it, but I want you to know that you are more than a conqueror through Christ. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.”

as a country and nation that has been so blessed in times past - as a land that has been so privileged - as a people who have been given so much. - ought we to do a lot better?

claremont

found out i was accepted to claremont graduate universty for their masters philosophy, religion, and theology program. don't have much more infor to give you right now.

hold to the iron divining rod

the handrail of iron

seemingly without exception, every painting of lehi's dream of the tree of life (from 1 nephi 8 & 11) depicts the infamous iron rod as a long hand rail extending across the scene. followers are shown holding onto the hand rail, traversing the plain as they follow the iron hand rail, never letting it loose from their grips.


this standard artistic depiction is also the standard interpretation given in sunday school lessons, general conferences, family home evenings, scriptural exegeses, institute classes, and etc. i have never heard any other interpretation of what lehi's rod of iron was.

unfortunately, this common understanding is wrong. the rod of iron in lehi's dream was not a metal handrail constructed across the landscape, but should be understood as a 'magical' hand-held metallic divining rod.

what is a divining rod?

also known as dowsing rods, witching sticks, and sometimes 'rods of aaron', the use of divining rods were popular throughout europe and the americas up until the 20th century (and are still in use today by folk magicians and scam-artists). they are best known as y-shaped sticks held by both hands which guide the users to underground water.


however, divining rods were not limited to sticks and water. they were also at times forged from metal and were used to find treasures or ascertain answers from god or other entities.

according to folk magicians of the 19th century, a rod held in the hands would often extend by itself away from the user toward the water or treasure - even pulling the rodsman (a person specializing in the use of divining rods) forward. if one did not grip the rod tightly, it would occasionally fly out of the users hand, leaving him lost and treasureless.

oliver cowdery and his father were both rodsmen and it was his skill in rods that is described as oliver's gift in doctrine and covenants 8:6-8

Now this is not all thy gift; for you have another gift, which is the gift of Aaron; behold, it has told you many things; Behold, there is no other power, save the power of God, that can cause this gift of Aaron to be with you. Therefore, doubt not, for it is the gift of God; and you shall hold it in your hands, and do marvelous works; and no power shall be able to take it away out of your hands, for it is the work of God.

in the original book of commandments (the predecessor to the doctrine and covenants), this passage read

Now this is not all, for you have another gift, which is the gift of working with the rod: behold it has told you things: behold there is no other power save God, that can cause this rod of nature, to work in your hands, for it is the work of God.

when brigham young famously stuck his cane into the ground and announced "this is the place" in the salt lake valley, his 'cane' was actually oliver cowdery's rod which he received from oliver's brother.

rods and rods of iron in the scriptures

in every instance of the use of 'rod' in the standard works, the word is used to denote a hand-held cane, staff, stick, or length of metal. there is not a single instance in the standard works where the word is used to describe a handrail. while 'rod' is prevalent throughout the bible, it is only used by nephi in the book of mormon. likewise, it is used to denote a cane or staff, not a handrail. for example, nephi uses 'rod' to indicate that which his brothers beat him with.

And it came to pass that Laman was angry with me, and also with my father; and also was Lemuel, for he hearkened unto the words of Laman. Wherefore Laman and Lemuel did speak many hard words unto us, their younger brothers, and they did smite us even with a rod. And it came to pass as they smote us with a rod, behold, an angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands. (1 nephi 3:28-29)

in the four times 'rod of iron' is used in the scriptures outside of lehi's dream (once in psalms, thrice in revelation), it is similarly used to denote a hand-held cane or staff.


the divining rod of iron

with this background, let's revisit nephi and lehi's description of the rod of iron.

1 Ne. 8: 19-20, 24, 30

19 And I beheld a rod of iron, and it extended along the bank of the river, and led to the tree by which I stood.
20 And I also beheld a strait and narrow path, which came along by the rod of iron, even to the tree by which I stood; and it also led by the head of the fountain, unto a large and spacious field, as if it had been a world.
• • •
24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.
• • •
30 But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.

1 Ne. 11: 25

25 And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life; which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God.

1 Ne. 15: 23-24

23 And they said unto me: What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree?
24 And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

as we can see, there is nothing here that indicates the rod of iron is some lengthy handrail, but fits much better within the context of divining rods. like the divining rods that led to water and treasures, lehi's rod of iron, when held, would extended and lead its holder to the tree of life. if not held firmly, the user would find him or herself lost and unable to find the goal.