Apr 19, 2006

a fragile religious freedom

For years we have lived in America with very little Christian bashing, but times they are a changin' as Bob Dylan rasped in his 1964 hit song. It has become the major goal of many atheists and the non-christian to undermine and scoff at our belief in a risen savior, and to deride our attempts to keep America a Christian nation. Their goal is a godless nation where we have no right, in any form, to proclaim God as our creator.

If we continue to sit around with folded hands,unconcerned and inactive, while a small percentage of our population rants against prayer, and other public displays of Christianity, we just may be looking for a good catacomb for our Sunday morning assembly. We must realize that our "church buildings" and "church signs" will eventually infringe on the rights of the non-christian minority, and soon (because of their loud protests) they will be the "squeaky wheel" our elected officials will be oiling.

We can still be Christians, but not permitted to refer to God or His Son publicly; pray, but only in our "church buildings" and closets. Basically just keep your religion and God to yourself, and don't promote your beliefs in a public manner.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer while imprisoned by Nazi thugs in Germany knew exactly how fragile religious freedom could be, and how it could be banished in a very short time. Read Bonhoeffer's Letters And Papers From Prison for a chilling account of life when religious freedom ceases to exist.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Be careful, there are many beleivers in the church who do not think it is good for us to take a stand. You may be opening yourself up for criticism.

Seriously, when you do speak up on these issues you are accused of being a war monger and not loving Jesus and the world He came to save. I struggle with that.

Great post, I look forward to seeing what the blog church fellowship has to say.

Larry said...

Hoot...
It's because we love Jesus that we need to unite in opposition to those who would remove Gods' influence from our country.

Surely no one would consider a person a "war monger" because they take a stand to promote jesus-but you just never know!

Anonymous said...

2Tm:3:12: Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Persecution is not limited to the first century Christians, how are we supposed to fight this persecution? With persecution, God forbid!
Persecution Christians are supposed to suffer, when it becomes eradication then we fight.

Main Entry: per·se·cu·tion
Pronunciation: "p&r-si-'kyü-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : the act or practice of persecuting especially those who differ in origin, religion, or social outlook
2 : the condition of being persecuted , harassed, or annoyed

Larry said...

Laymond...
Persecution by the standards of what is happening to Christians in other countries is pretty mild in our country. We are blessed with the freedom to respond to those who would attempt to destroy our faith in an open forum, at least to this point in time.

We can fight persecution in a free society by standing up for Jesus and not sitting back and allowing a small minority of unbelievers to dictate how we can, or can not, worship our God.

By voting for those upholding our faith in God, and letting our elected officials know we are not pleased with a few people limiting our religious freedom by their actions, we just may turn the tide in our favor.

I don't believe we are persecuting anyone by voicing our beliefs against those who prefer to be godless and don't want to see any mention of God in public. If we are to be a shining light in a dark world we need to show a little contrast in the way we walk.

Anonymous said...

I have always had a debate within myself on this. Jesus avoided politics, but then again he did not have the chance to vote.

When persecuted the church grew rapidly. I hear some suggesting this is what the church needs again to get off dead center.

I don't know, but I do agree with you in that we may just find out- and sooner rather than later.

BTW, thanks for stopping by my blog.

Larry said...

Danny...
Mixing the church with politics is something I'm not comfortable with at all. But if I vote at all I certainly prefer a Christian candidate running for office rather than an atheist.

Perhaps the church today is fat and lazy, and it will take a period of persecution to move us to action. I hope not, but the way things are shaping up, it just may be something we must face.

When it's all said and done it will be God who makes all the right decisions; His will be done in all things.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Larry. Great site! (Only excepting that you don't allow folks without Blogger accounts to comment.)

It is a touchy topic. But it's also one that I love to talk about. (yeah...I tend to be the "debater" type ;-))

Right now, the athiests are still in a good postition to say things like, "Oh, stop complaining. Noboody is trying to take your precious religion away from you. We just don't want it shoved down our throats by the Gov't."

But that crowd is growing at an alarming rate. And the arguments are becoming sharper and sharper with time.

I am not one to mix politics and religion, either. I love to discuss them both, although one is obviously a more fruitful discussion! And I admit that there are times when my political beliefs must take a back-seat to my Christian convictions.

God knows about the laws. He is able to change them, or not change them. One thing is for sure. If the law says that every third Thusday of the month we are to do a headstand for one full minute, then we are to do it. It is not a sin to do so.

But as soon as the law tells me not to preach the Word of Christ, I will willingly break the law because Christ's law comes first.

So let the athiest do their thing. And let us do ours. And let God be the judge over what happens, henceforth. We know His expections.