--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: when the kingdom of God is manifested…" description: "\"“when the kingdom of God is manifested, it’s obvious. It looks like Jesus. But America as a nation has clearly never looked remotely like Jesus. There ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a18/gregory-a-boyd-9424_christlike_when-the-kingdom-of-god-is-manifested-it_2446845.jpg" --- # when the kingdom of God is manifested, it’s obvious. It… ![“when the kingdom of God is manifested, it’s obvious. It looks like Jesus. But America as a nation has clearly never looked remotely like Jesus. There was nothing distinctively Christlike about the way America was “discovered,” conquered, or governed in the early years. To the contrary, the way…” quote by Gregory A. Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a18/gregory-a-boyd-9424_christlike_when-the-kingdom-of-god-is-manifested-it_2446845.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a18/gregory-a-boyd-9424_christlike_when-the-kingdom-of-god-is-manifested-it_2446845.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a18/gregory-a-boyd-9424_christlike_when-the-kingdom-of-god-is-manifested-it_2446845.jpg) > ““when the kingdom of God is manifested, it’s obvious. It looks like Jesus. But America as a nation has clearly never looked remotely like Jesus. There was nothing distinctively Christlike about the way America was “discovered,” conquered, or governed in the early years. To the contrary, the way this nation was “discovered,” conquered, and governed was a rather typical, barbaric, violent, kingdom-of-the-world affair. The immoral barbarism displayed in the early (and subsequent) years of this country was, sadly, pretty typical by kingdom-of-the-world standards. The fact that it was largely done under the banner of Christ doesn’t make it more Christian, any more than any other bloody conquest done in Jesus’ name throughout history (such as the Crusades and the Inquisition) qualifies them as Christlike.”” [Gregory A. Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-a-boyd/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that America's founding and expansion were violent and imperialistic, contradicting the teachings of Jesus, and that invoking Christianity does not make those actions moral. **In simple terms:** America's history is violent, not like Jesus. Key Takeaway Recognize the gap between ideals and actions. Themes history morality religion colonialism violence Mood critical reflective Type analytical ethical When to use this quote - education - public policy - church leadership - interfaith dialogue Key Concepts Christian ethics imperialism national identity Questions to Reflect On - How do we reconcile faith with national history? - Can religious symbols justify violence? A Different Perspective Christian rhetoric can mask immoral actions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Christlike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christlike/) [Conquest Jesus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conquest-jesus-535804/) [Jesus America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jesus-america-535803/) [Kingdom God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kingdom-god/) [Kingdom of god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kingdom-of-god/) [Qualifies Christlike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/qualifies-christlike-535805/) ## Related quotes > [What happens someday if more people own my record than the bible? 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And yet there stands Necessity saying:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augustine/we-want-to-reach-the-kingdom-of-god-but-we-don-t-want-to-travel-by/) [Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augustine/) > [The only significance of life consists in helping to establish the kingdom of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/the-only-significance-of-life-consists-in-helping-to-establish-the/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) ## More by Gregory A. Boyd > [“Consider these questions: Did Jesus ever suggest by word of example that we should aspire to acquire, let alone take over, the power of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-a-boyd/consider-these-questions-did-jesus-ever-suggest-by-word-of-example/) [Gregory A. 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Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-a-boyd/) > [“many people have trouble passionately loving and living for God because they have a mental picture of him that inspires anything but passion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-a-boyd/many-people-have-trouble-passionately-loving-and-living-for-god/) [Gregory A. Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-a-boyd/) > [“I believe a significant segment of American evangelicalism is guilty of nationalistic and political idolatry. To a frightful degree, I think, evangelicals fuse the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-a-boyd/i-believe-a-significant-segment-of-american-evangelicalism-is-guilty/) [Gregory A. Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-a-boyd/) > [Our central job is not to solve the world’s problems. Our job is to draw our entire life from Christ and manifest that life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-a-boyd/our-central-job-is-not-to-solve-the-world-s-problems-our-job-is-to/) [Gregory A. 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Boyd quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-a-boyd/) ## More Christlike quotes > [Developing Christlike attributes in our lives is not an easy task, especially when we move away from generalities and abstractions and begin to deal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dieter-f-uchtdorf/developing-christlike-attributes-in-our-lives-is-not-an-easy-task/) [Dieter F. Uchtdorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dieter-f-uchtdorf/) > [“God is Christlike, and in him is no un-Christlikeness at all. —A. M. Ramsey”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gergory-a-boyd/god-is-christlike-and-in-him-is-no-un-christlikeness-at-all-a-m-ramsey/) [Gergory A. 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Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [“The greatest thing a father can do for his children is to respect the woman that gave birth to his children. It is because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/the-greatest-thing-a-father-can-do-for-his-children-is-to-respect-the/) [Shannon L. Alder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-l-alder/) [Browse all 53 Christlike quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christlike/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“when the kingdom of God is manifested, it’s obvious. It looks like Jesus. But America as a nation has clearly never looked remotely like Jesus. There was nothing distinctively Christlike about the way America was “discovered,” conquered, or governed in the early years. To the contrary, the way this nation was “discovered,” conquered, and governed was a rather typical, barbaric, violent, kingdom-of-the-world affair. The immoral barbarism displayed in the early (and subsequent) years of this country was, sadly, pretty typical by kingdom-of-the-world standards. The fact that it was largely done under the banner of Christ doesn’t make it more Christian, any more than any other bloody conquest done in Jesus’ name throughout history (such as the Crusades and the Inquisition) qualifies them as Christlike.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gregory A. Boyd" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-a-boyd/when-the-kingdom-of-god-is-manifested-it-s-obvious-it-looks-like/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Christlike" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-a-boyd/when-the-kingdom-of-god-is-manifested-it-s-obvious-it-looks-like/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a18/gregory-a-boyd-9424_christlike_when-the-kingdom-of-god-is-manifested-it_2446845.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a18/gregory-a-boyd-9424_christlike_when-the-kingdom-of-god-is-manifested-it_2446845.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a18/gregory-a-boyd-9424_christlike_when-the-kingdom-of-god-is-manifested-it_2446845.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“when the kingdom of God is manifested, it’s obvious. It looks like Jesus. But America as a nation has…” — Gregory A. 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