Andy

Interesting question...
And Survive? May guess would be that no nation will achieve "[operating] entirely on Christian prinicples." :)

A lot of why some nations do not operate according this principle is due to the fact that many people claim that it would be lunacy to try.

I'm talking about a hypothetical nation that does try.

Entirely on Christian principles?

I think that for that to work, the nation would have to be entirely Christian or live in a Theocracy. But to survive, I don't foresee a theocracy surviving.

By Christian principles do you mean ten commandments, the golden rule type ideals? I think, though those ideas are great ideas and the best of them shall not steal, murder, have been excised, I don't see how they could foreseeably be implemented into a government and ruled.

It would be an idyllic society. A society where so much trust would be placed in each other to do their best and treat each other as according to rules that would be impossible to punish if broken. Many of the best christian principles are those that guide a persons behavior and thoughts, not actions. You can punish actions but not thoughts.

I think it's both like communism and the true philosophy of anarchy, it's a great thought, but it's not possible.

Consider the question as if the nation existed. I'm mainly curious what anyone thinks from a foreign policy standpoint. There are any number of issues internationally today and any day that make the question worth discussing.

The problem would be trying to get the Christians to agree on what "Christian Principles" actually are. ;)

If the nation already existed? Could it survive?

I think that it could, yes. Like I pointed out in my post before, I foresee a lot of the issues that I saw, I guess, where the forming of a nation. But if one to already exist, like POOF Germany now lives by Christian principles. I think it could survive in a foreign policy standpoint, but it depends on how they outline their policy early on in their "history".

As Christian principles are steeped in the tradition of helping your neighbor yet are very pacifisic at times, it could certainly create trouble on when and where to give aid. Leading to hostility.

Furthermore, any nation that blends religion and government so completely is bound to have some detractors. It wouldn't stop other nations from severing ties, but there would be clashes, I'm sure with other nations driven by other religious ideals.

Depending on the location in the world would present another problem. Look at Isreal for both of these points. If Isreal were to be founded where Costa Rica lies, it would not be the hotbed it is now, surrounded by other clashing religions and beliefs. Also because it is driven by Judeaica principles (and Iran, driven by the principles of Islam) it is looked upon differently than those states of the world who are not driven by religious basis.

If all else fails, North Korea has proven a nation can survive, albeit questionably, without the support of the world.

So, what do you think?

I think I didn't phrase my question very well. :)

That's ok. I might be able to form it more clearly later. My mind is not up to speed before the evening lately.

I wasn't really talking about setting up a theocracy. It should also be noted that Israel has a secular government. Many of the people of Israel are Jewish, but its government is not.

Again, my mind is not functioning all that well, but if one was to consider an Israel that did not retaliate aggressively (outside their borders) against terror attacks and instead sent large shipments of food to Palestinians, would those same Palestinians retain the will to destroy Israel for long? Maybe so, but I think it is a more complex question that it might appear on the surface.

Yet whenever anyone, including most people within Isreal themselves speak of Isreal, they speak of it as a Jewish state, the Jewish people, etc.

I think the Isreali/Palestinian conflict is much to dynamic to say that solely one action, such as aggressive action, is why Palestinians are so hostile towards the Isrealis. It goes much deeper than that. Thousands of years of history and clashing religions are hard to simmer down and find a medium ground. I'm not going to get into my opinion on either side of this argument because I've blabbed on your journal quite a bit.

And I'm afraid I don't understand exactly what your questions are and what you are trying to explore here. Perhaps when you are feeling better you can elaborate a little bit on what you mean by a nation based solely on christian principles and their international relations. I've tried to explore this, I find it quite intriguing, yet you keep telling me that what I am saying is not what you were asking or trying to explore. So, though it has been stimulating for me to think about, I'm really now curious on what exactly you were asking and trying to gauge opinions on.

Yeah, I know. My fault. A question I'd really like to answer is why I can respond at length to things through CFS problems but not formulate independent ideas myself.

Trust me, Andy. We all have those days...heck months. I've been there where my brain just doesn't function and I can't get my ideas out, even though I know what I want to say.

I'd like that answer too. But I will have to give that one to the doctors...and hope they can figure out what is wrong with us.