"This country needs to turn to God to survive."

I hear and read this more times than I'd like to count, and on the outset, it's relatively harmless and has a good sentiment behind it. Who can argue against the idea that the United States needs to rely on the creator to protect its creation?

The problem with this wonderful phrase, other than being completely useless when it comes to evangelizing, is that it completely misrepresents what's actually wrong with Christianity in America, and I would argue society in general. It implies this notion that America is a being that can choose to turn to, or to turn away from, a creator. As if the country itself has a will and a choice of salvation. To say that the country needs to trust in God is to say "other people are the problem, not I." As comforting as that might be to our egotistic soul, it is incredibly unbiblical.

One argument I hear for America's need to return God is this idea that we've strayed too far from our "good ol' days". To many, the definition of a restoration of our belief in Christ is for the country to return to its 1950s heritage of root beer floats and sock hops, as if our country wasn't as morally bankrupt then as it is now. (See Jim Crow; Birmingham, etc.) No Christ follower who is keen on history should want to return to some utopian past that didn't exist but look to the future of hope in Jesus himself. The symptoms may vary, but the disease is the same.

Someone who has studied the Revolutionary War and the Constitutional Conventions at any such length would tell you that America was never founded as just a country, but as an idea. The first of its kind, a country that isn't represented by one person or one family, but by its people. One could argue that America did not just invent individualism, but it perfected it. The founders were very careful to place the emphasis on its people, and when people visited the newly founded country, it was the religion of the individual, not the country as a whole, that caught their attention. It's in that light that the Declaration of Independence was penned, and it is under that same light that we "turn to God". Individually in our hearts and in our homes, and outside of our cozy Shangri-La that we call social media.

Trust me, I understand the intent behind the phrase and mindset. Perhaps I am putting too much thought into it. When I see it continually pop up on timelines and injected into conversations, however, yet see no fruit from many communities committed to Christ, I question whether we are wanting God, or just a deism that allows us to live how we want on Saturday but claim moral superiority on Sunday.

I once came across a picture that was Uncle Sam kneeling at the foot of the cross. It was shared millions of times on Facebook and had a few heartfelt posts attached to it that described the need I have wrote about. But here's the thing:

Uncle Sam can't kneel, because Uncle Sam doesn't exist. He was created in the 1800s because beef shipped to soldiers had the letters "U.S." on it. I hate to burst our patriotic bubble, but he isn't saving us. I know that sounds juvenile and obvious, but it has seeped into our understanding of what it means to be a Christian in America.

That isn't what we need. We're too busy sharing the photo to realize it has to be me at the foot of the cross. It has to be you. It has to be us.