Hm... I've never thought of patriotism as "my country, right or wrong" but more of a fond sense of belonging and sense of duty to a country. There are lots of things that the government of my country does that I don't like, some that shame me... but my "country"? My country is the people, my country is the mountains and the fields and the rivers, and feel love for that country and loyalty to it. Is that temporal? Certainly.
I like your thinking on the avoidance of patriotism... but I disagree with it. You gave a very elegant argument about why to not be patriotic. In the Millenial Kingdom, I don't think we'll need the divisions - but today I think that we do. Why, even God organized the children of Israel into tribes. It's hard for humans to work together without boundaries. The fact that you, personally, have overcome that difficulty is awesome - but I don't think it can be done by most folks. It should be good-natured, and something that's used to help us strive to be better. (I know it's often not, but that's just the evil that is this world).
Should we, as Christians, wish to help our brothers and sisters in Christ without regards for nationality? Yes, of course. We identify first with our membership in a body of believers.
Hm... not sure where I was going with that. :)
At any rate, a good discussion... but shall we to the 95 Theses? Let's go 3 at a time until we're warmed up and can see if 5 at a time is doable, what say?
Hearth
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