God Bless America?

Originally posted by Suzianne
Are you seriously saying that God never even blessed the Hebrews as a nation? That God's Chosen People (the Jews, just to be clear) don't even have (or even never had) his blessing?

I'll clearify and it was God's people from the time of Abraham to Jesus. So it was that line of people whether it was the Hebrews or the Jews down to Jesus that he did bless. Once the Jews as a whole rejected Jesus, that ended God's dealings with any particular nation. The only nation he deals with since is "Spiritual Israel" which is composed of ones from all the nations as the Bible explains.

Originally posted by RJHinds
Perhaps the "I" vowel sound was never there in the beginning or perhaps it was a silent vowel sound in the beginning. So in that case there would be no need to place a vowel in front of the name Sacc, then there would be no need for it when designating the sons of Sacc as Sacsons or Saxsons.

Saxons got their name from the weapon which was peculiar to them; the seaxe
(a type of sword). These sword can be seen on the crests of Essex (East
Saxons) and Middlesex (Middle Saxons).

The word passed into Old English as a word for knife.

The Seaxe Club is the Official Supporters Club of the Middlesex Cricket Club.

Originally posted by Suzianne
Of course it's a Christian one. An *American* Christian one, to be sure, but I don't see a lot of atheists lining up to say that America is blessed. And after seeing all the Euro-chest-thumping going on in here, it's laughable that my opinion would be given any weight at all.

Yes, America has been blessed, and I'd say a rather high percentage of Americ ...[text shortened]... ou can even find my nationalism in the vast, wide sea of nationalism in this thread.

"I also find it laughable that the OP, an American himself, denies the idea. Ask ANYbody in America, Gman, and I mean ANYbody (except maybe your JW brethren) if America is blessed by God. No, better, ask 10 Americans if they think America is blessed by God. I'll bet you get 9 yes answers. The good life most Americans have enjoyed for the last two hundred years didn't just fall out of the sky. When has America ever been attacked, except for Pearl Harbor and 9/11? (Edit: And even Pearl Harbor was not American soil at the time.)"

As I said man can say all they want on being blessed by God. That really means nothing if indeed God has never said it.
No where from any heavenly source has God said he has blessed either the USA or any other country of this world.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
I asked you this earlier, but maybe you missed it:
"Did you consider things such as Native American genocide and the abhorrent practice of slavery prior to drawing your conclusion?"

As far as slavery, I think America has passed the test. We had a Civil War over it, a war which cost America more young lives than any war since. As a nation, the US was against slavery and yet did little to stop some states from participating. It was very much a question of righting a wrong; a wrong precipitated not by the nation, but by the states. But the nation as a whole paid the price for the offenses of some. Look to Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address for some particulars and the over-arcing idea that God was watching over the nation.

To wit: '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." [Matt. 18:7] 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." [Psalms 19:9] '

As for healing the rift between white and black, we've come a long way, but it has taken a long time. I think the mere fact that the US now has a black president is evidence enough that times have changed and we're on the right road.

As far as the Native American genocide, I'm afraid it's not so clear-cut. I am part Cheyenne (it's still questionable how much but the most recent accounting by relatives says 1/8th), so I can in a way identify with the heavy sorrows caused to the Native Americans by the white man. Their nations so totally ripped asunder with nary a thought for their heritage or bloodlines or their rights as the First Inhabitants of the land. It is a debt the US Government has never yet repaid. Frankly, I'm not sure how this score can be settled, financially or spiritually. This is a good point you raise, but still, I'm not sure that America can be held for ransom for the deeds of a single generation of weak-willed, evil men.

Edit: Okay, more than a single generation. Your point is well-taken. No, I did not stop to think on this 'til now, to answer your question.

Originally posted by Suzianne
As far as slavery, I think America has passed the test. We had a Civil War over it, a war which cost America more young lives than any war since. As a nation, the US was against slavery and yet did little to stop some states from participating. It was very much a question of righting a wrong; a wrong precipitated not by the nation, but by the states. Bu l-taken. No, I did not stop to think on this 'til now, to answer your question.

Recently PBS showed a series called "The Abolitionists" that paints a VERY different picture of the slavery issue, Lincoln and the Civil War than what most of us were taught in school (or at least what I was taught in school). Looks like you can still watch it by clicking on "Watch Online" in the upper left hand corner after going to the link below. I think you'll find it enlightening as did I.

Bringing to life the intertwined stories of Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimké, Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Brown, The Abolitionists takes place during some of the most violent and contentious decades in American history, amid white-hot religious passions that set souls on fire, and bitter debates over the meaning of the Constitution and the nature of race. The documentary reveals how the movement shaped history by exposing the fatal flaw of a republic founded on liberty for some and bondage for others, setting the nation on a collision course. In the face of personal risks -- beatings, imprisonment, even death -- abolitionists held fast to their cause, laying the civil rights groundwork for the future and raising weighty constitutional and moral questions that are with us still.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/abolitionists-introduction/

What brought the issue of Native American genocide to mind was the following comment you made earlier:
"America also believed in Manifest Destiny, or the idea that God gave America full right to all land clear to the Pacific Ocean."

Given the reality of what that entailed, it hardly seems likely that the "right" was given by God. At least not the God of Jesus.

When one considers issues such as these, it's difficult to escape the reality that the US was built on things such as ruthlessness and greed. Why would God bless such things?

Originally posted by Suzianne
As far as slavery, I think America has passed the test. We had a Civil War over it, a war which cost America more young lives than any war since. As a nation, the US was against slavery and yet did little to stop some states from participating. It was very much a question of righting a wrong; a wrong precipitated not by the nation, but by the states. Bu ...[text shortened]... l-taken. No, I did not stop to think on this 'til now, to answer your question.

Well I agree with your comment that the USA has gotten farther from God like ways on many levels, but then you say it has come a long ways from such issues as slavery. So doing those things then as well as the American Indian issues was closer to being in line with God's ways and what he says is right and wrong in loving your neighbor?
So it has gotten worse or was it worse back then?

Originally posted by Suzianne
I know I'm just jumping into your little pre-planned fire, but I'll be honest (what a concept) and just say No.

England was never a chosen people, by any stretch of the imagination.

Might disagree there as at one point the Sun never set on the British empire.......




Manny

Originally posted by galveston75
A very well known statement. Some actually believe this even to the point of one poster saying "God gave us the atomic bomb".
So has God blessed America?

How do you know that it's not more of a prayer of people saying "God bless America" and not sooo much as your thinking that people are making the statement that God is/has blessed America ??


Manny

Originally posted by menace71
Might disagree there as at one point the Sun never set on the British empire.......




Manny

That just doesn't necessarily follow.

Are you saying that when the AntiChrist rises to power and creates his one world government and forces everyone to worship him as God that that government will be "God's chosen people", or "blessed by God"?

Does "might make right"?

Originally posted by Suzianne
That just doesn't necessarily follow.

Are you saying that when the AntiChrist rises to power and creates his one world government and forces everyone to worship him as God that that government will be "God's chosen people", or "blessed by God"?

Does "might make right"?

have you come up with any evidence that america is blessed yet?

Originally posted by galveston75
Well I agree with your comment that the USA has gotten farther from God like ways on many levels, but then you say it has come a long ways from such issues as slavery. So doing those things then as well as the American Indian issues was closer to being in line with God's ways and what he says is right and wrong in loving your neighbor?
So it has gotten worse or was it worse back then?

Having accomplished some amelioration of some social ills does not mean we've vanquished them all. In the issue of race relations in America, we've no doubt come a long way, but even this does not mean we are not, as a nation, headed away from God.

Originally posted by stellspalfie
have you come up with any evidence that america is blessed yet?

It's just that I'm not the only one who has thought so. I believe that especially was the founding of America blessed by God, even if the American people have since then trashed and sullied His blessing (which was part of my original point).

In George Washington's first inaugural address, two paragraphs stand out as touching on the subject of being blessed by God:

"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. And in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their United Government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most Governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me I trust in thinking, that there are none under the influence of which, the proceedings of a new and free Government can more auspiciously commence."

And the last paragraph of this address:

"Having thus imported to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign parent of the human race, in humble supplication that since he has been pleased to favour the American people, with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparellelled unanimity on a form of Government, for the security of their Union, and the advancement of their happiness; so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend."

Source: George Washington's Inaugural Address of 1789
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/inaugtxt.html

Originally posted by Suzianne
It's just that I'm not the only one who has thought so. I believe that especially was the founding of America blessed by God, even if the American people have since then trashed and sullied His blessing (which was part of my original point).

In George Washington's first inaugural address, two paragraphs stand out as touching on the subject of being bles ...[text shortened]... gural Address of 1789
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/inaugtxt.html

The fact that other people have shared/do share your view doesn't make it right, and is not evidence
that it is right.

When asked to provide evidence for a position you are not answering the question if you simply say
"hey look! here are some other people who say the same thing".

Originally posted by Suzianne
That just doesn't necessarily follow.

Are you saying that when the AntiChrist rises to power and creates his one world government and forces everyone to worship him as God that that government will be "God's chosen people", or "blessed by God"?

Does "might make right"?

You meant IF the Antichrist ...

Because otherwise you are making a fact knowledge claim without evidence to justify it...
In other words lying.

And no might does not make right... something you should remember when talking about your god.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Recently PBS showed a series called "The Abolitionists" that paints a VERY different picture of the slavery issue, Lincoln and the Civil War than what most of us were taught in school (or at least what I was taught in school). Looks like you can still watch it by clicking on "Watch Online" in the upper left hand corner after going to the link below. I thi ...[text shortened]... S was built on things such as ruthlessness and greed. Why would God bless such things?

I love the PBS series "The American Experience". It really delves into American History in such a way as to bring it alive. I have seen part of this series on "The Abolitionists".

What I did originally hold in mind as the concept of being "blessed by God" was especially the founding of America, the bringing about on the land of North America "a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal".

As I said in another post, I believe that America was blessed by God at its founding, even though later generations of Americans would trash and sully God's blessing. And now America stands to lose this blessing altogether. This really was my original point.