Preserving the National Soul

I had a thought-provoking question come through the mailbox the other day. A reader thanked me for describing how nations have their own souls (a “national soul”), but then he asked me to further explain “how can a nation hold on to their soul?”

If you are not yet convinced or do not understand how a nation could have a soul, I invite you to read this article first: The Origins Of A National Collapse.

In it, I define the national soul as the animating vital core of the nation. It is an incorporeal essence of a nation, similar to that of an individual, that demonstrates a combination of the mind and spirit on a metaphysical level to produce the very “being” of the nation.

In simpler visual terms, the soul is the root from which the rest of the tree sprouts. Up here on land, we can only see the tree; we can’t see the roots. But because we can see the tree, we know the roots must exist.

This soul is not based on the state, system, country, or government. But we often express this soul through the culture, which is influenced by those former things.

The soul is not based on things that you do. Similar to how as an individual you can do religious works but not be saved. It’s a soul matter, not an action matter.

It is the heart. Ideally, it is the heart and the action.

This is why it is different to have a healthy soul and to do religion. They are not the same thing.

This is the same for both an individual and a nation. A nation is not different here. Because the nation is also a living organism: The Nation-State As A Living Organism.

It is for reasons like this that I think it is often helpful to think of nations in terms of individuals. Obviously, the complexity is there that causes differences between the two. But many of the foundational truths are still apparent, especially on the spiritual side.

We see this often in the Old Testament. God treated Israel as a singular entity often. It was rare for Him to differentiate among the individuals within when working on the nation as a whole. Often, when the majority of a nation failed, all were punished. Because God saw Israel as one entity: A living organism. A nation that had a soul similar to an individual, but on an elevated hierarchical level.

One person can perform religiosity as much as they want, but if their heart is not in it, it is meaningless. Go read Jesus’s discourses on the Pharisees to see proof of this.

For a nation, it is no different. We could have a system and laws that force certain behavior, but if the Heart of the people is not in it, it will be worthless in the long-term.

Such a nation would degrade just like such an individual would degrade.

This is why this question is difficult to answer. We can’t just say “Oh, we’ll have a Christian nation”. Or “Oh, we will force people to do religious things”. Because that would do nothing to actually preserve the soul of a good nation.

Dissidents are notoriously bad with this mindset. Just getting a “right-winger” (whatever that means) into power will not fix the soul of a nation. It’s a much deeper problem. The only way to truly address this issue is if the leadership earnestly wants to solve it. The first step in solving the soul issue is in recognizing that it is a problem, which many so-called “right-wingers” never do.

While meditating on how I was going to answer this question, Psalm 121:7 and similar verses kept returning to me (121:7 – The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul).

In many scriptures, God says that He keeps the soul. I see no other evidence in Scripture that gives that authority to anyone else. Including ourselves. It is not ours to keep.

Dually, Romans 1 clearly indicates that after much falling away, God gives people over to their failures. Meaning not that God sends them into evil, but God allows them to walk themselves into it. He stops preserving their soul. Exactly like what He did with the nation of Israel prior to exile.

Both of those two things are apparent to me from the Holy Scriptures: 1) God preserves the soul, but 2) if we continually resist his preservation, He will let us fall away.

That is how it works for an individual. I see no reason or evidence for why a nation would have a different answer to this than an individual.

Which means to acquire that strong soul in the first place, we must petition God. There must be an earnest nation that is seeking after Him, wants to be led by Him, and then is granted that by Him. None of those are guaranteed, but it is how a Christendom-type soul could be acquired by a nation.

Then, to preserve it, is to not fall away once you have it.

I also believe that it is only our falling away that would lead us to lose it. God never takes a soul out for any other reason.

I do not believe that God would ever want to take away a prosperous, healthy, national soul. I believe, given the Holy Scriptures, that God wants all to be saved, and wants all to be reconciled to him. This means He would never just throw away a nation.

The only catch is that Romans 1 clause. If the nation keeps seeking to be removed from his authority, eventually, He will let it.

So my answer on how to preserve the national soul would be: The nation must continually reinvigorate the heart of the nation. They must not fall away.

This would require the nation to be led in a way that makes them desire to continue on with their current trajectory to keep the traditions of old and to do it with an earnest heart.

This would require a few things.

Four things, to be specific.

First, and probably most importantly, would be that a nation must keep idolatry at bay.

The main reason I think the falling away happens is because nations seek after other lowercase-g gods. This happens when nations put their market above their people, for instance. Or when nations idolize their founding fathers, their founding documents, and man-made philosophies like freedom of religion over God himself.

Idolatry is the quickest way for Satan to enter a nation. Look at our own. We worship money, sex, and about every other degeneracy you can think of. Is there any wonder why we’ve been given over to it in such extreme measures?

Second, a nation must exercise the spirit persistently and continually. 

Above, I said that works are meaningless without the heart. But that does not mean works are meaningless altogether.

Works are important, so long as they are coupled with the heart.

The nation should be encouraged by proper laws, systems, and leadership to do rightful things. This is where policies could make an enormous difference. So long as the nation is not idolizing improper things, policies could encourage or incentivize people in the nation to do the right thing or to practice a healthy faith to prosper the soul.

Even simple things, like church attendance and youth programs, could be used to exercise the spirit in a proper way to preserve the soul.

Third, it is important that a nation must cooperate with God.

Just like individuals, I believe God uses nations for his purposes. I believe the Scriptures are very clear about this, even with countries like ancient Babylon (read Habakkuk).

God uses individuals, but he also uses nations. So when God calls a nation to do certain things, like God did with Israel, the nation must respond in submission.

The only way this can be done is with proper leadership. Coupled with a form of government that grants leaders the power to do these things, and is not beholden to the lower forms of society that would restrict them from doing so (I.e. democracy).

The system must have a way for both the secular and the religious leaders to cooperate with God‘s commands.

Fourth and finally, a nation must continually reignite the desire to preserve itself. This is most important with the children.

Any nation that wants to preserve its soul has to put a major focus on family and children. That focus must include the desire to pass on the traditions and practices in the heart of the living generation.

God says in Proverbs that we are to raise up a child in the way that they should go, and they will not depart from it. There are, of course exceptions to this, but it is still a proverbial truth.

Now ask yourself: How much more important is this on a national level than an individual level? The nation must raise their children in the way that they should go, so the majority of them do not depart from it.

This requires an active, involved, and encouraged young-adult-with-children population. The exact opposite of what we have right now in America.

This population could also receive much benefit from certain policies and laws, too. Systemic solutions that favor child-rearing and access to homes/resources for young families should be used liberally.

Those are the big four.

We could go deeper with each of these four items. We could talk about more details and laws that could help us acquire it. But I believe this gives us a starting point for discussion.

At the end of the day, there’s only one way to keep the soul, and that is through God preserving it.

We do our part by not falling away. But that is all we can do.

God must grant the soul, and then we must fight idolatry, exercise the spirit, cooperate with God, and continually reignite the desire to preserve.

Through this, we can keep the national soul.

Thank you M*, for a thought-provoking question. This is an essential question for any future system or movement to answer.

It sure got me thinking. I hope it gets all of my other readers thinking too.