{"id":1311,"date":"2015-07-06T11:19:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T11:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html"},"modified":"2015-07-06T11:19:00","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T11:19:00","slug":"family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","title":{"rendered":"Family fun on the Fourth of July"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Loving America as a Christian is always tough. \u00a0Our country has never been a \u2018Christian Nation.\u2019 \u00a0The few times such things as building a real Christian society have been attempted have ended in disastrous blights on the Church\u2019s reputation and ages of apologies and backlashes as a result. \u00a0So that\u2019s probably good that we aren\u2019t actually a Christian nation.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, European \u2013 and by extension American \u2013 society had, for most of its existence as a civilization, been founded upon some level of Christian world view and moral fabric. \u00a0That tension has been at its highest in America, where our founders deliberately avoided a Christian theocracy, and yet presupposed a Christian society. \u00a0Or at least a religious one founded however loosely on Christian values and ideals. <\/p>\n

The subsequent centuries following our founding were anything but smooth, and many horrible things would happen. \u00a0Often by people committed to the same Faith of Jesus Christ as we today. Which makes you wonder. \u00a0Were they that bad, stupid, uncaring, evil, or what? \u00a0Did they know they were wrong and didn\u2019t care? \u00a0Or did they, in some twisted way we later generations can so easily see, believe \u2013 really deep down believe \u2013 they were right. \u00a0When Lorne Greene sits and reads his Bible while one of his slaves is being beaten in the groundbreaking series Roots<\/i>, did he get the problem? \u00a0Or did he really believe there was nothing to see there?<\/p>\n

And that gets me to thinking, as I am wont to do. \u00a0How do I know, how do I really, really know, that I\u2019m not guilty of some flagrant blind spot like those we so quickly and mercilessly condemn from days of yore? \u00a0Sure, I can see all the other Christians and how wrong they obviously are. \u00a0But what about me? \u00a0Is there something I\u2019m all about, knowing fully that it is completely acceptable, when in generations people will look back and see me sitting here at my computer while whatever happens and thinking it\u2019s just fine and dandy and ask \u2018how the Hell\u2019? <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know. \u00a0At what point do we bail? \u00a0For many, the bail has already happened. \u00a0America has been weighed on the scales and found guilty and without redeeming qualities. \u00a0For others, America and the Kingdom of God are one and the same. \u00a0They really mean it, probably more than Winthrop, that America as the city on the hill is the same city that Christ spoke of. \u00a0For others, we realize that the two are not the same, but when did it pass that point of no return, or when will it? \u00a0Just when do we jump aside and let the nation drive over the cliff, lest we also be implicated? \u00a0That\u2019s the question. \u00a0For some, unless we change we are guilty of being Lorne Greene. \u00a0For others, that guilt is quickly approaching.<\/p>\n

No answers, just kicking things around as we lit fireworks, watched movies, had cookouts, and did the same things we do every year because, as of now, we can. \u00a0As I say, the tough thing about history is that you have to wait for it to happen to study it. \u00a0So with all that, here are some important pictures of our Independence Day celebrations (which spilled over onto the 5th, since we all had Sunday off!):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Episode 5, which focused on the late, great Richard Winters<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Still worth watching, despite the deplorable job moderns have in thinking over the history of the time
(my boys yelled \u2018censor it!\u2019 every time they saw the Confederate Flag, just for fun)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Our youngest psyching himself for the fun<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The boys, the smokers, the sparklers \u2013 enough said<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Don\u2019t know what happened, but he was beating a hasty retreat<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Getting ready for chocolate fondue redux<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I don\u2019t know, but he seems to be anticipating the treat<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Our youngest is no shy wall flower when it comes to chocolate treats<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Even my Mom, after a life of meat and potatoes, enjoyed the fondue moment<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The family, the fondue, the fun \u2013 a jolly 4th. \u00a0Thanks to the Founding Fathers and the Veterans for making it happen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loving America as a Christian is always tough. \u00a0Our country has never been a \u2018Christian Nation.\u2019 \u00a0The few times such things as building a real Christian society have been attempted have ended in disastrous blights on the Church\u2019s reputation and ages of apologies and backlashes as a result. \u00a0So that\u2019s probably good that we aren\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFamily fun on the Fourth of July<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Loving America as a Christian is always tough.  Our country has never been a 'Christian Nation.'  The few times such things as building a real\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Family fun on the Fourth of July\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Loving America as a Christian is always tough.  Our country has never been a 'Christian Nation.'  The few times such things as building a real\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daffey Thoughts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-06T11:19:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-kmhkf2fQt2Y\/VZr9jodvxpI\/AAAAAAAAGWo\/2JHGpd_nQsU\/s400\/220px-Band_of_Brothers_poster.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\",\"name\":\"Family fun on the Fourth of July\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-06T11:19:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-06T11:19:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\"},\"description\":\"Loving America as a Christian is always tough.  Our country has never been a 'Christian Nation.'  The few times such things as building a real\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Family fun on the Fourth of July\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/\",\"name\":\"Daffey Thoughts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\",\"name\":\"Dave Griffey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Griffey\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Family fun on the Fourth of July","description":"Loving America as a Christian is always tough.  Our country has never been a 'Christian Nation.'  The few times such things as building a real","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Family fun on the Fourth of July","og_description":"Loving America as a Christian is always tough.  Our country has never been a 'Christian Nation.'  The few times such things as building a real","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","og_site_name":"Daffey Thoughts","article_published_time":"2015-07-06T11:19:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-kmhkf2fQt2Y\/VZr9jodvxpI\/AAAAAAAAGWo\/2JHGpd_nQsU\/s400\/220px-Band_of_Brothers_poster.jpg"}],"author":"Dave Griffey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Griffey","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","name":"Family fun on the Fourth of July","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-07-06T11:19:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-06T11:19:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7"},"description":"Loving America as a Christian is always tough.  Our country has never been a 'Christian Nation.'  The few times such things as building a real","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/07\/family-fun-on-the-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Family fun on the Fourth of July"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/","name":"Daffey Thoughts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7","name":"Dave Griffey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Dave Griffey"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}