Discussion Questions
David says his homeschooling experience with Bob Jones and Abeka American history texts—“extremely patriotic” and not reflecting “two kingdoms”—pushed him to write *In God We Don’t Trust*; what specific instincts or loyalties do those kinds of “patriotic Christian” narratives tend to form in Christian kids, and how might that formation conflict with the kingdom-of-God perspective he’s arguing for? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What kinds of loyalties or habits do “patriotic Christian” history stories often build in kids, and how could that clash with putting God’s kingdom first?
He frames the Revolution’s core grievance as taxation and then immediately puts it beside Jesus (“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”) and Paul (Romans 13: “pay taxes… honor”); what would it look like to take those passages as controlling for Christian ethics even when the government feels unjust, and what reactions rise up in you against that? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If we really let Jesus’ “give to Caesar” and Paul’s “pay taxes and honor” guide us even under unfair leaders, what would we do—and what resistance do you feel inside?
David describes a European colonial mindset he found in documents: either natives invite settlers (fine) or “unlawfully resist” and Europeans must “defend ourselves”; what does that logic reveal about how power justifies itself, and what does it imply about how God views “rights,” land, and self-defense when one side has overwhelming force? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does the “they invited us or they resisted unlawfully” story show about how the powerful defend their actions, and how might God judge talk about “rights,” land, and self-defense when one side has far more power?
In discussing the Founders, he highlights contradictions like “Samuel Adams… devout Bible-believing… warmonger”; what does this tension expose about the human ability to affirm Scripture while ignoring “uncomfortable teachings of Jesus,” and where might we be doing the same kind of selective obedience today? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How can someone believe the Bible and still ignore Jesus’ harder teachings, and where might we be picking and choosing what to obey today?
David’s investigation into George Washington (diary silence about prayer/sermons, leaving before communion, not kneeling, the “Valley Forge prayer” story tracing back to a myth-maker) challenges cherished patriotic Christian folklore; how should Christians decide what to do when a beloved national story appears false, and what do we lose—or gain—by letting those stories die? JumpstartAnother way to ask: When a favorite Christian patriotic story about a leader seems untrue, how should Christians respond, and what might we lose or gain by letting the story go?
He says God may be “pleased when a government wants to bless Christians… promote Christianity,” yet also insists “no government can be a Christian government”; how do you reconcile those two claims, and what practical boundary lines would keep “being blessed by government” from becoming a betrayal of Jesus’ kingdom? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How can it be good when a government supports Christians but still be true that no government can be “Christian,” and what clear limits would keep government help from replacing loyalty to Jesus?
David argues the Constitution’s lack of reference to God was “really unusual” and may have “sowed the seeds” of later secularization because it failed to acknowledge Romans 13 authority-from-God; what picture of God’s intentions for nations and rulers is he assuming here, and how does that shape how we interpret America’s “downward drift”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What view of God’s purpose for nations and rulers is behind the claim that the Constitution’s silence about God helped lead to secularism, and how does that shape how we explain America’s spiritual decline?
He describes revolutionary actions—refusing taxes, beating/threatening tax collectors, burning houses, taking up guns and killing—as “rebellion against Jesus Christ,” then says if independence was God’s will it should have been won by prayer (“fight the battle on your knees”); what do these claims suggest about God’s relationship to political outcomes, and how does that confront common evangelical ideas about “freedom” being worth violence? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If violent revolution is called rebellion against Jesus and God’s will should be sought through prayer, what does that say about how God brings political change, and how does it challenge the idea that “freedom” is worth killing for?
On Native Americans, he distinguishes condemning land-theft and treaty-breaking from blaming colonists for disease (since “nobody understood germs”), while still insisting “Bible-believing Christians should be the most vocal” in admitting wrong; what would honest Christian repentance and public truth-telling look like without adopting partisan “maximum leverage” narratives from the secular left? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What would real Christian repentance and public honesty about wrongs done to Native Americans look like without copying the most extreme, political versions of the story?
He quotes Tertullian: “nothing more foreign to a Christian than public affairs,” and then calls voting for a commander-in-chief inconsistent with refusing to kill; what parts of his argument about voting feel compelling or extreme, and what alternative practices (prayer, nonresistance, refusal of coercive power, local faithfulness) would need to become central if Christians truly “stay out of politics” as early Christians did? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Which parts of his claim that voting for a commander-in-chief conflicts with refusing to kill seem right or too far, and if Christians stayed out of politics, what would they need to practice instead (like prayer, nonviolence, and local faithfulness)?