As my recent custom, I have been listening to the Holy Scriptures as a discipline, understanding them as a narrative, rather than my usual lawyerly inclination to examine every word, phrase, jot and tittle. It is amazing how different you begin to understand them when you are not examining them for every theological preceptive, but just enjoying them as a story, and particularly, as a story of a people.
The Bible, for the most part, is written as a narrative of how the God of the Universe dealt with his human creation, starting with Adam and his family, Noah and his family, and then Abraham and his family. The later family being the focus in the rest of the Scriptures, both as the physical tribe of God, and at the appointed time that blessing passing throughout humanity through our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, the heir of the Abrahamic and Davidic blessings.
These stories are the great sagas of a people, a people dedicated to their god and their land. There are wars, persecutions, great heroes, villains, temptresses, triumphs, and defeats. There are great unimaginable creatures, dragons, giants, serpents, and those that tame and slay them. There are tales told of brutality and seduction, more than any Netflix binge series. And, so is your saga, Southern man and woman.
The saga of your people is of a people leaving their native lands to pursue the calling of God on this continent, a people for His very own. It is not lesser than the tales in the Bible, lest you think that God stopped caring about His people as the Christians scattered throughout creation. Yes, the story of the South is the story of God’s people, and you should think of it that way.
No fault of yours, those that should be telling you of God’s work among our people are exclusively telling you the tails of foreigners, for they are ashamed of you and your ancestors. I recently read that a prominent minister in Nashville looked forward to the destruction of the “Bible Belt Religion”! He was not talking about a system of theology, but a people – your people. What a disgusting apostate, and worthy of all the hell and damnation he will inherit. Can you imagine a minister articulating the he looked forward to the destruction of the religion of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, a direct attack on the ancient Hebrew people? There is no difference in calling for the destruction of the religion of your people.
As you read the love letters that the ministers of your people write to you, the writers at Identity Dixie, it is our hope that you read them as the sagas of your people, calling you to remembrance of what a great people you come from, and rediscover them just as the people of God did coming back from exile in Babylon. But more importantly, start living your best saga now, and telling your children unapologetically of the stories of your people. They will call you blessed in the day of judgement.
As always, Deo Vindice!
God Save The South!
Service to God and honor to the South.
Absolutely true and I heartily endorse this understanding. Our Churches need to teach the struggles of Christian faith for 2000 years, not just the Bible that was not even written until well after we were established, it is our story and the South is a huge world shaping part of it. We also have to take steps to counteract the God awful abomination of Judeo-Christianity and by relating Christian history, certainly our own, we can make strides towards that. History is a fundamental part of identity and by neglecting ours in our Churches we have left the door open to those who wish to rewrite it, like the hucksters over at the SBC.
This is a great idea, our seminaries have been corrupted, like everything else, but the real Southern ones that are left certainly need to move this understanding to the forefront of their teachings.
Good and timely article, have a blessed day.
Thank you, Sir.