Session 1 - Who is the enemy?

This class is about Faith and Politics. More specifically it’s about how we, as representatives of Christ should act and react to this 1thing we call politics.

I wanted towrite about this because I see, within our society, a tension between faith and politics that leads to a culture of exclusion that may cause us to dismiss those with different viewpoints, or even worse, may cause disunity within the family of God.

Let’s start by establishing the scope of the discussion we will participate in in this series of discussions.

We are going to study the impact of politics on our faith and the impact of our faith on politics. It’s really a two edged sword. This includes some of the issues of the day, and how or if Scripture addresses them. It also includes the attitude Christians should have towards government, the responsibilities that Christians have with regards to their beliefs, our societal impact, and strength and tenor of our voice.
·
There are two major political parties in the United States. What are they?o Democrats and Republicans.
o What other words are used to define them? Be nice.
o Left and Right
o Liberal and Conservative

Which party does God favor?
Which party is salvation open to?
Which party did Jesus die for?
Guess what? You can be a saved Christian regardless of what political party you hang your hat on.
·
Political viewpoint are not always black and white either.
o There may be some whose ideology is more liberal than others on specific issues.
o There may be some who seem to believe things far to the left of center.
o There may be some who are extremely conservative.
o There are likely both Democrats and Republicans, those that voted for Barak Obama and those who voted for John McCain.

So how do we approach this “touchy” or “controversial” topic without stepping on each other’s toes and possibly offending each other? And how do we navigate our way to the truth without causing hurt feelings?

The answer is, we can’t. There are likely going to be some bruised toes from this discussion and it’s all of our responsibilities to limit them as much as possible.

To do that we are going to do three things.1. First of all, we are using the Truth of God’s word as our guide.2 Tim 3:16-17
16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Gods’ Word equips us fully for the task of discussing these issues. We have no excuse or cause for worry if we keep within the Word.

2 Peter 1:3
3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
God, through His Word gives us everything we need for righteousness, life, and Godliness. So His Word will be the ultimate and only authority for our discussion.

2. Secondly, we are going to honor Jesus prayer for us in John 17:20-2120"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
3. We are going to show our honor to the desires of that prayer by keeping at the center of our discussion three Scriptures. We are going to read them every week.
Phill 2:3
. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Eph 4:2-5
2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Gal 3:28
. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Ok, given that introduction, I want to establish some ground rules.1. We’re going to get emotionally involved in this discussion because some of these issues have deep emotional impact. So, please think about others room, what you’re going to say and how you are going to say it before you post a comment.
2. Try your hardest to be scriptural in every part of the discussion.
3. No bashing or smashing others that may think differently than you. Try to consider the reason behind their beliefs.

Fair enough?

So what are we going to study during this discussion?
In this post we are going to try to clarify who the enemy is and what tools he uses.

Future postings will include the following:

• Christian response and responsibility with regard to social issues of the day.
• Loss of Freedom /respect for God - Prayer in schools, religious artifacts in government buildings, Christmas trees and atheistic statements.
• Equality of non-Christian immigrants.
• Gay and Lesbian rights, the definition of marriage.
• Issues of Life – Suicide, Assisted Suicide, Abortion, Capitol Punishment, War
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of Religion
• Inalienable rights
• Right to bare arms

Faith and politics. Let’s talk for a bit about what these terms mean, who the enemy is, and what tools the enemy uses to cause tension between what we call “faith and politics.”

What is faith?

Heb 11:1-13
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age--and Sarah herself was barren--was enabled to become a father because heA considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
Did the ancients know of Christ? Did Abraham understand the Gospel story? No, it was before his time. So what were the ancients commended for? They were commended for their belief in, and obedience to, God.
Rom 10:1717Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Did the definition of faith get changed when we moved to the NT era? It seems like this verse is saying that faith changed from “belief in and obedience to God” to “believing the Gospel message of Christ.”
No, it is still “belief in and obedience to God” but it’s delivered or revealed in more detail through gift of Christ and His and the Apostles teachings.
That’s why Jude can say in Jude 1:3

3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
Faith is the belief and obedience in God, and what he reveals to us. He made some things clear to the ancients, revealed more to us through the sacrifice of His Son,

Rom 1:17
17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
So when we discuss faith, it is really the belief in the unfolding revelation given to us by God through His word, from creation to our modern day anticipation of Christ’s return, and our obedience to all he calls us to.
So is it fair to say that the word “faith” that we use when we talk about “faith and politics” is equal to saying “obedience to God”?
Does that mean that politics is the “disobedience to God”?
No. These two terms are not opposites. They are not at odds with each other. I’ve intentionally named this class “faith and politics” not “faith vs politics” because they are not meant to have an adversarial relationship with each other.
What makes us think they are at odds? What causes or adds to the tension between them? Have you ever heard of the term “separation of Church and State?” What does it mean?

Reflecting a concept often credited in its original form to the English political philosopher John Locke, the phrase separation of church and state is generally traced to the letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists, in which he referred to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as creating a "wall of separation" between church and state.] The phrase was quoted by the United States Supreme Court first in 1878, and then in a series of cases starting in 1947. This led to increased popular and political discussion of the concept.
The actual text of the first amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
So the amendment was created to allow religious freedom, not to limit it.

What is Politics?

Typically when we think if politics we think of the following things:

• Governmental Structures
• Political Parties
• Individual Rulers or Leaders

What are different kinds of Governmental Structures?

• Autocracy - Rule by the few or the one.
• --Monarchy or Empire.
• ----Elective
• ----Hereditary
• --Dictatorship – Typically Military Rule
• Democratic - Rule by the many.
• --We are a representative democracy.
• ----Specifically a constitutional republic.
• ----We have representatives and a President.
• Socialism
• Anarchy – rule by none.

What is the purpose of Government?

Dictionary.com defines Government as:
The political direction and control exercised over the actions of the members, citizens, or inhabitants of communities, societies, and states; direction of the affairs of a state, community, etc.; political administration: Government is necessary to the existence of civilized society.

What two forms of Government existed in the time of Jesus:

The Roman Empire, and Law of Moses.

So which of these systems of government are evil and which are good?
Could there ever be a Socialistic Government that pleased God?
It turns out that Government, in its various forms and structures is not inherently an evil concept. So when we are talking about tension between faith and politics, it’s not specific to the form of Government.

So then it must be that the tension is because of the political Parties involved in Politics, right?

What are the two most popular political parties in the US?

Democrats and Republicans.
What are some others? Green Party, Libertarian Party, Communist Party.

Let me share with you some interesting information about the two most powerful parties in the US.

Democrats
What they stand for:
The Democratic Party is committed to keeping our nation safe and expanding opportunity for every American. That commitment is reflected in an agenda that emphasizes the strong economic growth, affordable health care for all Americans, retirement security, open, honest and accountable government, and securing our nation while protecting our civil rights and liberties.

Wow, that doesn’t sound like the work of Satan, that sounds pretty good.

In fact, 14 of our Presidents have been Democrats.

• Founded by Thomas Jefferson – formerly called the “party of the common man.” Principal author of the Declaration of Independence. – no religious affiliation.
• John Quincy Adams - Unitarian
• Grover Cleveland – Man of good character.- Presbyterian
• Franklin Roosevelt – pulled America out of the Great Depression with the “New Deal.”
• Created Social Security. Helped the nation through the attack on Pearl Harbor. The only president to serve 3 terms - Episcopalian
• John F. Kennedy – man on the moon. - catholic
• Lyndon Johnson – defending civil and voting rights. – Disciple of Christ
• Jimmy Carter – Baptist
• Bill Clinton – Baptist
• Barack Obama – united church of Christ

Republicans

What they stand for:

• We're fortunate to live in America
• --The Republican Party believes that the United States has been blessed with a unique set of individual rights and freedoms available to all.
• --You can be what you are, and become what you are capable of becoming
• The Republican Party is inspired by the power and ingenuity of the individual to succeed through hard work, family support and self-discipline.
• --Helping those around you is worthwhile.
• The Republican Party believes in the value of voluntary giving and community support over taxation and forced redistribution.
• --Small government is a better government for the people
• The Republican Party, like our nation's founders, believes that government must be limited so that it never becomes powerful enough to infringe on the rights of individuals.
• --You know what to do with your money better than government
• The Republican Party supports low taxes because individuals know best how to make their own economic and charitable choices.
• --Free markets keep people free
• The Republican Party is supportive of logical business regulations that encourage entrepreneurs to start more businesses so more individuals can enjoy the satisfaction and fruits of self-made success.
• --Our Armed Forces defend and protect our democracy
• The Republican Party is committed to preserving our national strength while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world.

Wow, that doesn’t sound like the work of Satan either, that sounds pretty good.

22 of our Presidents have been Republicans.

• Abraham Lincoln – Emancipation Proclamation. – no religious affiliation
• Ulysses Grant – As a Union General, defeated Robert E. Lee in battle. As president continued to lead the army and support the blacks. - Methodist
• Theodore Roosevelt – Oversaw the completion of the Panama Canal. Established National Parks. Won a Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating and end to the Russo-Japanese war. – Dutch reformed
• Richard Nixon – Ended Vietnam war, first President to open negotiations to and visit China. Left office amid scandal. - Quaker
• Ronald Reagan – “Reaganomics.” Ending the cold war. – Presbyterian
• George Bush - Episcopalian

As a matter of fact of the 43 men that have held the office of President of the United States, 38 have had some affiliation with religion that teaches about God and includes some form of Jesus. You could say that were “Christians.”

So it doesn’t look like the parties or even their leaders are evil or the reason for this tension between faith and politics. So what can it be?

Perhaps it’s some of the propaganda they put out. Let me show you a couple of examples:

From the Democrats immediately after the signing of the healthcare bill:Mon Mar 22 2010 08:19:00 GMT-0400 (EDT) by DSCC Online Team
Just after Congress voted to pass health care reform, DSCC Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez sent this message to DSCC supporters:
Dear Friend,We just witnessed history being written.After decades of inaction, a year of work, unparalleled Republican obstruction and no small amount of leadership by President Obama, health care reform soon will be law. This bill will save lives. Millions who don't have health coverage now will. And insurance companies won't be able to drop people who get sick.Republicans and their powerful partners have spent millions spreading lies aimed at killing reform. They have failed, and the American people have won.But don't be fooled. Republicans and their corporate allies won't miss a beat as they pivot from attacking Democratic proposals to attacking Democrats themselves. Every lawmaker who voted for health care reform is now a top target, and the GOP's end goal is to make President Obama's first term his last. We must push back.
Democrats fought for us, and won. It's our turn to fight for them.Sincerely, Sen. Bob Menendez

From the Republicans on the same day.
Posted by: Chairman Michael Steele
After Speaker Pelosi strong-armed her health care takeover through the House on Sunday night, I began reaching out to folks all across the country to let them know that the RNC is focused on one thing: firing Nancy Pelosi. Check out some of my guest posts on other blogs, and be sure to read the comments left by fellow Americans concerned about their country under this Speaker’s leadership. Just imagine the outrage when President Obama signs this bill into law at 11:15 AM today.

Does this begin to start to make you feel uneasy?

It does me. It’s full of half truths and innuendos. Its two opposing sides each painting their picture of the accident that just happened.
We see the same thing at campaign time. Candidates not promoting their own credentials but capitalizing on each others faults. Telling half truths and painting biased pictures in the minds of the voters.

Don’t you just hate that? Why?

It offends our sense of right and wrong.

It opposes the things we believe.

It conflicts with our values.

It’s not some governmental structure that is the enemy.
It’s not a political party that’s the enemy,
It’s not even individual elected officials that are the enemy; after all they are just representatives of the will of the people.
It’s Satan that is the enemy, and that never changes.

And in a democratic country one of his greatest tools is to cause us to feel that our values, our faith, our abilities to be obedient to God’s will for us is in jeopardy.

But I truly thank God that we are a democracy because that means that the Government is responsible to follow the wishes of the majority of the people

In our next post we will look specifically at the Christians Response and Responsibility in our Democratic society.

Session 2 - The Christian Reaction

In the last post we discovered that any particular political structure is not an evil entity, and by and large the political parties and even the politicians are not evil. The tension between faith and politics emerges when Satan, the real enemy, uses politics to threaten our values and our ability to be obedient to God.

We said that we were going to hinge our discussion on three Scriptures:

Phill 2:3

. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Eph 4:2-5

2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Gal 3:28

. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Keeping these Scriptures in mind, in this post we are going to look at how a Christian should act and react to the political issues of the day.

Participation

Let’s talk for a few minutes about whether participation in the political or social issues of the day is something that God desires or requires of His people.

Hebrews 11;24-26

24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
John 18:33-38
33Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
34"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
Some people use these verses to argue that Christians shouldn’t be involved in political issues. Others take it a step further and argue that it allow for civil disobedience.

What do you think? Are we excused from civil obedience?
Are we prohibited from participation in political or social affairs?

Let’s look at some examples.

Luke 2:1-5

21In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.
4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

This was a trip for Joseph and Mary of about 80 miles – one way. Joseph was obedient to the cival law.

Acts 9:1-2

91Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Saul got permission in writing to pursue Christians.

Mark 12:13-17

13Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15Should we pay or shouldn't we?"
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." 16They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"
"Caesar's," they replied.
17Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."
And they were amazed at him.

Jesus showed civil obedience by paying taxes.

We see the same idea in Romans.

Romans 13:7

. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Clearly God calls us to be civilly obedient.

But is that all he calls us to?

Matthew 5:13-16

13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

What does that verse say to you?
We are to be more than just merely obedient.

We are to be influential!

Ok, so what is the goal of our influence?

Psalm 69:30
30I will praise God's name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.

Romans 15:5-7

5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5:16

. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

So we are obedient to the political and social structures and are called to be influential – and it’s all about bringing Glory to God.

Christians have had a strong social influence throughout history. They have been responsible for:

• The majority of orphanages.
• Homeless shelters.
• Rehab centers.
• All of the addiction (AA, etc.) use the 12 step program which talks about giving yourself over, and praying to God.
• Family centered organizations like “Focus on the Family,” “Promise Keepers.”
• Locally, Christa Ministries are making a difference for the members of the human race.

But notice that it is the homeless, the hurting, broken families, shattered lives, those that need healing that are the primary target of Christian Influence, Tuck that idea into the corner of your mind, we’ll come back to it.

1 Peter 2:11-17

11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
13Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

What stands out to you in this verse?

• Live good lives.
• They can’t discredit you.
• Pagans glorify God.
• Submit to authority.
• Live as free.
• Don’t use your freedom as a cover for evil.
• Show respect and honor.

Romans 13:1-7

131Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

This then, says what about government?

We should submit to authority because they are in authority by the establishment of God.

Read verses 1 & 2 again. Not only did He establish them, if we rebel against them God will bring His judgment against us.

Who established Barak Obama as President? God!

So these two Scriptures, 1 Peter 2 & Romans 13 will serve as our example of how to react to the political issues. Do you notice why we are to react like this? To bring Glory to God!

One other thing I see in 1 Peter 2 is that we are Aliens.
What does that mean?

John 18:37

37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

Is Jesus a King? Yes.

Where is His Kingdom? In Heaven.

There are some Christian groups that use this verse to say that Christians should not be involved in politics, government or social issues.

Are they right?

What is dual citizenship?

Do you know anyone that has dual citizenship? What does it mean?

It really means that you have obligations to two sets of authority. I have a friend that has Italian and American citizenship. If war breaks out between the two countries he has to pick who he fights for.

We are kind of like that as well. We are subject to both the American political system and to the will of God.

Eph 2:12-13

12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

Eph 2:19-20

19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

John 17:13-19

13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus left knowing that His Disciples, including us, would be in the world, and He prayed that we could keep from being of the world.

Living as Dual Citizens as we do is bound to increase that tension that exists between Faith and Politics.

To recap so far:

• We are living under obedience to two authorities, the human authorities that God has established, and the authority of God.
• We are to be salt and light to the world, to have an influence.
• We are to do this with respect and with a good reputation.
• The goal of it all is to bring glory to God.

But then what do with the conflicts like the Bible saying not to kill, and the government legalizing abortion?

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Perhaps we should stop looking to government to solve all our problems.

Let’s return for a moment to the notion of this tension between faith and politics.

What is at the center of that tension?

Galatians 5:19-21
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The tension is because of sin. We are uncomfortable when the authority of man allows behaviors that God says are sinful. We are trying to defeat sin.
But that, is our main stumbling block.

John 1:29

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Hebrews 9:26

Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

It’s not our job to defeat sin.

It’s Jesus job to defeat sin. If we concentrate on trying to get people to keep from sinning we will end up with a wide gate overflowing with well behaved sinners.

Matthew 7:21-23

21"Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Then what is our job? The end of that last verse tells us. Jesus says, “I knew you not.”

Matthew 28:19-20
. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inA the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The greatest glory we can pay to God is to introduce the lost to His son.

Think about this: There may be more rejoicing in Heaven over one sinner that truly comes to know Jesus than there is over an outlaw of gay marriage.

I don’t believe that we can stop sin, or that the government legislating behavior will bring about God’s will.

Should we participate? Absolutely!
Should we influence? Absolutely!

There are plenty of Scriptures that show us how to correctly combat the sin that creeps into the world. We need to show obedience to the law, and respect and honor our leaders.


However we must keep the big picture in mind. If we, in our fight against sinful practices, turn the sinner away from God, then we have done a dis-service to God. Introducing people to Jesus is our goal.

Before we conclude today we are going to play a little game called “Appropriate or inappropriate.” I’ll go through some examples of people reacting to issues of the day and you decide if it’s appropriate or inappropriate.

1. Being upset about abortion, a man shoots an abortion doctor.

2. In disagreement with the financial bailout measure you write your congressmen telling them what a lousy job they are doing representing you.

3. In an effort to combat the current government you join a “tea party” and protest at the Capitol building in Olympia.

4. In an effort to combat homosexuality you urgently and with a passionate heart approach a co-worker who is gay and explain to him that he is going to hell and needs to divorce his domestic partner immediately.

5. Someone mails you an article about President Obama being a secret Al Qaida sleeper agent so you email it to all the folks you know to be of “like mind” with you so you all have a chance to read it.

6. You see a funny bumper sticker of George Bush wearing a USA t-shirt and holding a sign that says “will work for China” so you buy it and put it on your car, right next to the Jesus fish.

7. You’re not much into politics but you dislike the direction the country is going so you’re diligent to vote.

8. You’re not much into politics but you dislike the direction the country is going so you’re diligent to vote. Not knowing anything about the candidates, you vote for candidates from a particular party only and when there is more than one you pick the candidate with the most vowels in their name thinking, God is in control.

9. You dislike paying taxes so you look for every loophole you can find so that you pay as little as possible.

10. Assisted suicide is legal in your state but you believe it to be immoral so you physically intervene when a terminally ill loved one wants to end their own life

Session 3 - Religious Tolerance - Part 1

In the last post we looked at the fact that as Christians, we are kind of living as dual citizens; citizens of the United States, and citizens of the Kingdom of God. We realized that the possibility of these two authorities being in conflict added to the tension we feel between faith and politics. We discussed the fact that God established the current authorities, and admitted that we don’t know if it’s the position or the actual person that God appointed. We read, none the less, that we are to be obedient to authority and not doing so can bring about God’s judgment. We also looked at the fact that we are expected to be salt and light to t he world, which extends our participation from mere obedience to the point of influence. Finally we looked at some guidelines to help us be influential in the world, yet still obedient to God.

We said that we were going to hinge our discussion on three Scriptures:

Phill 2:3
3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Eph 4:2-5
2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Gal 3:28
28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

The company that I work for used to print a weekly periodical. It was a 4 to 6 page newspaper containing company news, activities, and editorials. One day I got the paper and read the headlines on the front page, “Gas guzzling SUV’s to be banned from the Sammamish Plateau.” I live on the Sammamish Plateau and was irritated even at the headline. I proceeded to read the article and it talked about Sammamish wanting to be a “better citizen community” and how people from the company I work for were spearheading the effort and it looked like it would easily make the November ballot.
I vented to a few friends, and had a venting session over the phone with Kathryn, and then I saw it. While staring at the article on the front page of that newsletter I noticed up in the top right hand corner, the date. I don’t recall the year but the day will live with me in infamy. It was April 1st.

Why was I upset?

Because I believed I was losing something that I felt was important.

Loss is a painful experience.

I’ve got three coins, all US $1 denominations. Let's discover them together.

• The first is a 1883 Silver Dollar. It has the words, “In God we Trust” on the back, because in 1883 we trusted in God.
• The second is a bi-centennial (1776-1976) Silver Dollar. It has the words, “In God We Trust” located on the front because in 1976 we trusted in God.
• ---In case you’re interested: Congress first authorized a reference to God on a two-cent piece in 1864. In 1955, the year after lawmakers added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, Congress passed a law requiring all U.S. currency to carry the motto "In God We Trust.”
• The third is a 2010 new dollar coin. Where are the words “In God We Trust?” Are they gone? No, they are now in tiny little print on the edge of the coin. I have to use a magnifying glass to read it.
  

The world is changing.

Many years ago I learned the word ecumenical.

What does that mean?

Essentially it means promoting a worldwide Christian unity.
To be ecumenical means not to press differences, such as baptism, or women’s roles.

Is this right?

Is this the unity that Jesus prayed for in the garden in John 17?

A unity at the expense of truth?

In many ways the idea of being ecumenical makes me feel like the company newspaper did, like I am losing something.

This is but the tip of the iceberg of a movement called “religious tolerance.” For the next two weeks, this will be our topic. While I realize that what we are going to study today may leave you feeling angry or upset, I promise that as we work through this, we will find the balance that God wants us to have.

How do you define “religious tolerance?”

I found two interesting definitions both compelling.

1. Religious Tolerance is allowing followers of other religions to follow their spiritual beliefs without oppression or discrimination. It is a fundamental right in a democracy, a noble goal, and vitally necessary for world peace.
2. Religious Tolerance is an acceptance of all religious faiths as being equally true. Since religions teach different beliefs, this implies that absolute truth doesn't exist, and therefore the idea of religious tolerance is inherently evil.
   

Which definition is correct?

Let’s look at some of the effects of religious tolerance. I’ve put these, for the most part, in chronological order.

Example 1 - 2003

A Ten Commandments display in the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court building was removed because it violated the First Amendment's ban on establishment of religion.
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who has become known as the "Ten Commandments judge," was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union after placing the monument in the courthouse. The four-foot-tall, two-ton granite display features the Commandments inscribed on two tablets along with historical quotations.
The Court of Appeals said, "If we adopted his position, the chief justice would be free to adorn the walls of the Alabama Supreme Court's courtroom with sectarian religious murals and have decidedly religious quotations painted above the bench," the three-judge panel said, according to the Associated Press.
"Every government building could be topped with a cross, or a menorah, or a statue of Buddha, depending upon the views of the officials with authority over the premises," said the panel.
However, supporters of Moore said the monument was intended "to remind everyone of the moral foundation of the laws of Alabama and the United States."

Should the Ten Commandments be displayed at government legislative buildings?

Example 2 - 2007

Here’s a case that has gone back and forth.
A Sacramento doctor and lawyer, sued the Elk Grove Unified School District in 2000 for forcing public school children to recite the pledge, saying it was unconstitutional.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor in 2002, but two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he lacked standing to sue because he didn't have custody of the daughter on whose behalf he brought the case. He immediately filed a second lawsuit on behalf of three unidentified parents and their children.
In 2005, a federal judge in Sacramento found in favor of him, ruling the pledge was unconstitutional because its reference to "one nation under God" violates children's rights to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." The judge said he was following the precedent set by the 9th Circuit Court's ruling in the 2000 case.

How does this one make you feel?

It reminds me of this Scripture.

Romans 14:11-12

" `As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
`every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.' "
12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Another suit brought by the same man.

In 2005, he sued Congress and several federal officials, arguing that making money with the motto on “In God We Trust” violated the First Amendment clause requiring the separation of church and state.

Last year, a federal judge in Sacramento disagreed, saying the words did not violate his atheism.


Example 3 - November 2008

The Freedom from Religion Foundation argued that having a Christmas Tree and Nativity Scene in the rotunda was not fair and they were allowed to put up a sign next to these Christian symbols. It read, "There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens our hearts and enslaves our minds."

Is atheism a religion?

It certainly appears to be treated as one.

Dictionary.com defines atheism as, “The doctrine or belief that there is no God.”
It sounds like the world believes in atheism as a valid choice of religious preference.

Example 4 - April 2010

The National Day of Prayer is an annual day of observance held on the first Thursday of May, designated by the United States Congress, when people are asked "to turn to God in prayer and meditation". The law formalizing its annual observance was enacted in 1952

Federal district court judge from Wisconsin Barbara Crab, ruled that the "National Day of Prayer" was unconstitutional. The Madison, Wisconsin based Freedom from Religion Foundation filed the lawsuit against both the Obama and Bush administrations in order to block the Presidents from making an annual proclamation customary of the event.

In May it was reported on CNN that President Barack Obama would be the first president in 8 years not to hold a public ceremony on this day. He will, however, sign a proclamation as other presidents have..

It says something positive about our society if the President of our nation feels his participation in a pubic prayer is unimportant.

Example 5 - July 2010

From Port Angeles, Wash. – Apparently incumbent Judge Rick Porter had required a potential juror in a DUI trial to pledging to truthfully answer questions about her qualifications to be a juror and asked her to pledge to do so using the words, "so help me God."

The woman claims to be a secularist, not an atheist. She said, "I challenge church dogma of any sort. It didn't make me any less impartial."
She also said, "I felt consternation, I felt embarrassment, and I felt discriminated against. I was not given the option that the state Supreme Court has given people."
She wrote a note to the judge where she compared the oath to taking an oath that invokes the name of Santa Claus.

If there is no God, where does she get the moral direction that would make her impartial?

Example 6

Bible reading and prayer used to be common in our public schools.
In high school, I remember thinking it was nice that a preacher would get on the public address system before a football game and pray for fair play and the safety of the players.

Various courts have ruled about prayer at school sponsored athletic events, and other issues about prayer or religion at school. This is not an exhaustive list.

• An individual student or group of students is free to pray at a game. To prevent this would violate the student’s free speech rights.
• Teachers, coaches, etc. cannot lead a group prayer. To do so would be viewed as school endorsement of a specific religion, which is unconstitutional under the principle of separation of church and state.
• Student-led, student written public prayers are not permitted to be part of a game format. The school officials cannot insert a prayer into the schedule of a game, even if the actual prayer is led by a student.
• Promoting any one denomination or religion at the expense of another faith group or secular philosophy is not permitted. For example, a comparative religion class must give a balanced description of religious and secular beliefs from a variety of faith groups and ethical systems.
• Religious clothing and symbols, if not disruptive, are a protected form of speech.
• Prayers before a Board of Education Meeting are not allowed. The court ruled that prayers are an illegal endorsement of religion
  

One of the most notable controversies is over prayer in public schools.

• In 1962 the US Supreme Court ruled against mandated daily school prayer.
  The Supreme Court's previous last major school-prayer ruling was announced in 1992, and barred clergy-led prayers -- invocations and benedictions -- at public school graduation ceremonies. "The Constitution forbids the state to exact religious conformity from a student as the price of attending her own high school graduation," the court said then. The ruling was viewed by many as a strong reaffirmation of the highest court's 1962 decision banning organized, officially sponsored prayers from public schools.
• But in 1993, the justices refused to review a federal appeals court ruling in a Texas case that allowed student-led prayers at graduation ceremonies. That appeals court ruling, which is binding law in Louisiana and Mississippi, conflicts with another federal appeals court's decision barring student-led graduation prayers in nine Western states.
  

So on goes the battle...

Now there is more to all these stories but the fact that is these issues point a degree of power that religious tolerance has developed.

I have to say that I had a really difficult time with this lesson. I kept getting irritated and wanted to editorialize them so that you could hear the frustration in not only my voice, but also the words. I hope I was able to successfully overcome that. My desire was to describe the facts of the stories only

Session 4 - Religious Tollerance - Part 2

What did we study last week? We looked at the fact that loss is a painful experience and that when we lose things that we feel are important to us we feel that pain. We looked at the term “ecumenical” and defined that as applying to a worldwide Christian unity.
Then we looked at a similar, but larger issue called “religious tolerance.” We then looked at several issues that are symptoms of religious tolerance such as the Ten Commandments being taken off the Missouri State Court building, and taking the words “under God” out of the “Pledge of Allegiance. We left our discussion perhaps a little frustrated or irritated, with the promise that this week we would find God’s balance around this topic.

We said that we were going to hinge our class on three Scriptures:

Phill 2:3
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Eph 4:2-5
2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Gal 3:28
. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Is tolerance, in general, a good and noble ideal? Yes it is.

Intolerance, likewise, is not evil. I remember my father using the expression, "I won't tollerate that in my home." There are many things we do not tolerate and that doesn’t make us egotistical or judgmental.

If we refer to God as “intolerant” don’t be offended. It just means things that God does not allow.

The problem with religious tolerance is that world is trying so hard to be tolerant of others that the culture of God is being diminished, and Christianity is being disenfranchised.

One question to keep in mind, “Can any of this ever diminish God?” No!

We always need to put God first in all of our thinking.

How did God feel about religious tolerance?

Let’s look at a few Scriptures.

Exodus 20:1-7
1And God spoke all these words:
2"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3"You shall have no other gods before me.
4"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Here, in the foundation of the Law, we have the first three of the Ten Commandments.

What strikes you as tolerant or intolerant about God’s commands?

God wanted to be THE God of the Israelites, and the ONLY God of the Israelists. Here He declared Himself as sovereign.

Deuteronomy 7:1-7
1When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations--the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you-- 2and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. 6For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

In this passage, God essentially is commanding the Israelites to do what?

Utterly destroy these other people.

Why does it say (verse 4) that God ordered this assault?

Because they would turn the Israelites away from God. Remember our discussion on Christians needing to be salt and light, that we need to be an influence? Always remember that influence can work both ways.

Deutoronmy 20:16-18
16However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17Completely destroy them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--as the LORD your God has commanded you. 18Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.

In this verse we see the same command again, but we also see what God meant by "utterly destroy." God was so interolant that he ordered genocide so that apostasy is circumvented.

Numbers 32:11-13
11`Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old or more who came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-- 12not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly.' 13The LORD's anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.


Here we see that God even punished those that believed, but not wholeheartedly. We would call them luke-warm today.

God clearly was not tolerant of other religious beliefs.

However there was another class of people called proselytes.

What are proselytes?

They were converts to the Jewish faith. They believed in the one true God.

God not only allowed this, he embraced it.

Among the non-Israelite worshipers of the true God in the OT are:

• Melchizedek
• Job
• Ruth
• Rahab
• Naaman
• Uriah the Hittite
• Ninevites at the time of Jonah's preaching.

God welcomed people from other religions when they were converted to follow the one true God.

So to recap the OT study:

• God is intolerant about worshiping other Gods.
• God is intolerant about those that are luke-warm.
• God always provides a way for those that do not know Him to turn and find Him.

However, things may have changed under the new covenant, after the sacrifice of Christ.

Let’s take a look.

Matthew 22:36-38
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37Jesus replied: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment.

So Jesus is still teaching too wholeheartedly love and honor God. That doesn’t seem to have changed.

But perhaps His example shows us something different.

Matthew 21:12-13
12Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13"It is written," he said to them, " `My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a `den of robbers.'"
Ok, so it’s fair to say that Jesus was not too tolerant of the irreligious.


Mark 7:5-9
5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with `unclean' hands?"
6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" `These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!

Jesus didn’t seem to have tolerance for the luke-warm.

John 4:1-41
1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
This was astonishing considering that women were undervalued and Samaritans were dispised.

10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
Jesus reached out to minister to her about a need she had, the need for water.
16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17"I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
Jesus got her attention with a miracle.

21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
Jesus reaches out to her even though she worships incorrectly!


27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the ChristB?" 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."
32But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."
33Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"
34"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35Do you not say, `Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37Thus the saying `One sows and another reaps' is true. 38I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of his words many more became believers.

Jesus opened the door to someone that was uncharicteristicly approchable (a Samaritan women) and through that door introduced Himself to them.
Finally, we read:
John 14:6
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Not only does He teach that there is one God, he also teaches that there is only one way to that God, through Jesus.
What do we see about Jesus religious intolerance?

• Jesus is intolerant about worshiping other Gods.
• Jesus is intolerant about those that are luke-warm.
• Jesus always provides a way for those that do not know Him to turn and find Him.

So we have seen the same pattern in both God and Jesus.

What about the teaching of the Apostles?

Were they religiously tolerant?

We see Paul writing to the Galatians Church about people teaching alternate religious views.

Galatians 1:6-9
6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Clearly Paul, like God, and like Jesus, had little tolerance for those teaching other than the one true God.


2 Thessalonians 3:11-15
11We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. 13And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.
14If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. 15Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
Here we see that Paul had little tolerance for the hypocritical luke-warm.

Acts 17:16-23
16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

Here we see that Paul was distressed. He was not tolerant, but he was accepting of those that may have hearts to turn to God.
So we see in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, the covenant of the Law, and the covenant of Christ, as well as in the teachings of Paul, the same pattern:

• Intolerance about worshiping other Gods.
• Intolerance about those that are luke-warm.
• Always having a heart for the lost and providing a way for those that do not know God to turn and find Him.

The intolerancewe see in Scripture is born of a love for us and His not wanting us to be the influenced, but to be the influencers.

Before we look at how to apply this pattern I want to get a couple of truths on the table.

Acts 17:24-28
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28`For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring.'

God does not NEED anything from us.

He doesn’t NEED our protection, our support, or our vote.

He desires us but He does not NEED anything from us.

Romans 1:18-20
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

God does not NEED our publicity.

He doesn’t NEED a billboard, or His name on our currency.

He doesn't NEED His name spoken in our pledge of allegiance.

He doesn’t even NEED the Ten Commandments on our governmental buildings.

Without any of the publicity, God makes Himself known so that man has no excuse for not knowing of Him.

Now I want to ask a tough question or two:

• How many of you have seen the Ten Commandments displayed in Missouri?
• How many of you say the Pledge of Allegiance every day?
• How many of you saw the atheist statement at the capitol building in Olympia?
• How many of you have looked at a piece of currency and really truly felt comfort by seeing the words, “In God We Trust?”

Then why do you care?

You may feel a little offended by that question, but it’s important that you understand your own motives for any kind of advocacy.

What should be our motive to stand up against some of these issues?

• Reputation? Because God's reputation is at stake? No, He can take care of Himself.
• Support of God? Because God needs our support? No, He is self-sufficient.
• To prove “them” wrong? To belittle those that think differently? No, that's not Scriptural behavior.

The only reason we should want to advocate for Christianity is because we love God and are called to be the stronger influence.

Session 5 - Christian Advocacy

What did we discuss last week? We continued our discussion on “religious tolerance.” Do you remember from two weeks ago what we saw as some of the symptoms of religious tolerance? We saw that the culture of God was getting diminished, and Christianity was being disenfranchised. This is evident through the issues that make it in to court. These are issues such as the removal of the 10 Commandments statue at the Missouri State Judicial building, or the removal of the words, “under God” from the pledge of allegiance. We noted how those things cause us to feel loss. Last week, we took a look at it from the Scriptural aspect and looked at God’s view of religious tolerance. We then looked at Jesus teaching on the subject and what the Apostle Paul had to say. We noted that in all three cases there was a pattern. First there was a righteous intolerance for any God other than the true God. Secondly there was an intolerance for the half-hearted or the luke-warm. But we also noticed that the heart of God is always yearning for people of any faith to turn and find Him,

We said that we were going to hinge our class on three Scriptures:

Phill 2:3
. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Eph 4:2-5
2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Gal 3:28
. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

As a representative democracy, with officials elected by the people to do the will of the people, the strongest influence makes the decisions. I believe if we were doing our jobs (under the guidelines we looked at last week), we would not have these problems.

How to be an Influence – Christian Advocacy

There is a saying that I have heard that I think is appropriate for our topic today. It says,
“Pray like it depends on God, but work like it depends on you.”

Based on that saying we are going to look at our topic today in two sections, Spiritual Participation, and Physical Participation.

Spiritual Participation

This is a spiritual war, we need to use spiritual weapons.

The first thing we must do is to continually pray – believing

Luke 18:1-8
181Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, `Grant me justice against my adversary.'
4"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, `Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "
6And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Why is it important to continually pray?

God wants us to tell Him what is on our hearts, and as this scriptural example shows, continual prayer, can be effectual.

Why is it important to pray believing?

Prayer without faith is pointless.

The second spiritual weapon is to know the Word.
Acts 17:11
11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

2 Timothy 2:15
. 15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

This is a huge stumbling block for people. They don’t know the Word so they don’t participate because they are afraid of being backed into a corner and trapped into saying “I don’t’ know.” Those words should be an opportunity, not a deterrent.

The third spiritual weapon is fellowship;


Strategize (fellowship) with like-minded Christians.

• Knowing you are not alone will strengthen your resolve.

Physical Participation
Note : None of these are “endorsed” by the Church, they are all here as examples that you might find interesting and useful.
I've left this section as an outline as it will better serve as a guide.
1. Become a part of a cause.
-----a. Strength of voice.
----------i. You may have to step outside your comfort zone to make a difference.
---------------1. There are roughly 5 million Church of Christ members world-wide.
---------------2. There are roughly 670 million Protestants world-wide.
---------------3. There are roughly 1.2 million Catholics world-wide.
----------ii. The more people that speak up, the stronger the message.
-----b. Remember our talk on ecumenicalism though. Don’t align with similar voices but inappropriate motives. Be careful and remember that influence goes both ways.
2. Keep informed – Pay attention to the media.
-----a. Mainstream television stations
----------i. Conservative
---------------1. FOX News – Bill O’Reilly
---------------2. CNN (used to be liberal)
---------------3. CBS
----------ii. Liberal
---------------1. NBC
----------iii. Neutral
---------------1. ABC
-----b. Online Christian News – Use Bing to search for them online.
-----c. Christian Radio – Spirit 105.3
----------i. Advertising dollars spent on companies with Christian values.
----------ii. No un-Christian editorials.
----------iii. It helps you to “Set your mind on the things above…” Col 3:2
-----d. Christian Periodicals
----------i. The Gospel Advocate
----------ii. The Christian Chronicle
-----e. Email articles – These can be a good way to spread the word,
----------i. Whatever you pass on, remember our “checklist” of Christian characteristics from Session 2.
----------ii. Also use http://www.snopes.com/ to verify “most” stories.
3. Provide Support to those that share your values.
-----a. Christian Organizations, Schools, Colleges
----------i. Give Recommendations – Tell people why you support them.
----------ii. Give Time - Volunteer
----------iii. Give Funds
----------iv. Give Encouragement
----------v. Give Your Childs Education – If you are going to send them outside the home for school, it’s better for them to be taught by Godly people using Godly examples.
-----b. Christian companies – No big lists - either they don’t exist or they don’t speak out. Be careful and investigate first.
----------i. http://www.christianlink.com/
----------ii. http://www.christianet.com/
-----c. Christian products

4. Withhold support from those that support values other than yours.
-----a. You can vote with your feet and with your funds.
-----b. Companies – see lists below.
----------i. Most companies support what their employees want them to support.
----------ii. Remember – Influence floats both ways.
----------iii. Even if I wanted to shop at a totally Christian store there would be problems:
---------------1. Most search engines, clothing manufactures, auto makers, snack food providers, cereal manufacturers, petroleum companies, and credit card companies support values I disagree with.
---------------2. I couldn’t use my credit card to pay for my gas.
---------------3. Wait, I couldn’t buy gas to make my car go.
---------------4. Wait, I couldn’t buy a car. So I’d have to dress warm and walk.
---------------5. Wait, I couldn’t purchase clothes. So I’d just carbo-load and produce my own heat.
---------------6. Wait, no snacks or cereal.
--------------------a. I guess I’d have to stumble around hungry and naked until I accidentally ran into a Bible Book Store.
----------iv. I believe it’s impossible to boycott all companies that promote un-Christian values. But we can pick 1 or 2 that makes the news and all ban together and make a difference.
---------------1. Hmmm… which one to pick?
--------------------a. I drive a Chrysler, eat Cheerios, love Pepsi, work for one company, bank there, have my mortgage there, use both the credit cards. It’s tough to be in the world but not of the world.
-----c. Celebrities – Many openly portray non-Christian values. We don’t have to view their movies.
----------i. By the way, what is the difference between non-Christian and anti-Christian values?

5. Raise your voice.
-----a. Express your opinion. It’s a door opener.
----------i. Let your friends and coworkers know where you stand.
---------------1. Perhaps while you are serving them in some way.
----------ii. Companies - you may have to do business but you can always leave a comment card.
---------------1. Please stop promoting _______.
---------------2. Please promote __________.
-----b. Write your public officials.
----------i. Include local government like Mayors, and City Council members.
----------ii. Include State and Federal Governments – see list below.
-----c. Join / Support Christian organizations or advocacy groups that support your view on a particular value. Be careful though as they may not see the same as you on every value. (neither myself or the Church are “recommending” any particular organization) Many have petitions.
-----------i. Citizen Action - http://www.citizen.org/action/ - activist.
-----------ii. Citizen Link - http://www.citizenlink.com/ - activist.
----------iii. League of American Voters - http://leagueofamericanvoters.com/ - activist.
----------iv. Americans United for Life - http://www.aul.org/ - anti abortion.
----------v. Moms Rising - http://www.momsrising.org/ - mothers out to change the world.
----------vi. American Family Association - http://www.afa.net/ - promoting family values.
----------vii. Tea Party - http://www.jointheteaparty.us/home.html - local right leaning activist.
----------viii. Focus on the Family – http://www.focusonthefamily.com/ - Family oriented.
----------ix. One Christian Nation – http://www.onechristiannation.com/ - Christian advocacy.
----------x. The Christian Coalition – http://cc.org/ - Perhaps a tad to the right – very active.
-----d. Sign Petitions – many orgs above have petitions going regularly.
-----e. Vote
Additional Resources:
Contact info for Washington State Officials
List of companies that support Gay Marriage
List of companies that support Planned Parenthood / Abortion,

Session 6 - Issues of Life - Part 1

For the last three sessions we’ve been looking at some of the effects of “religious tolerance” and how it is changing some of long standing monuments to God that we have become used to. We noted that this felt like a loss, and that it was painful. We looked at the way that God, Jesus, and the Apostles treated “religious tolerance” and noted that there was a pattern. The pattern is that God is religiously intolerant. He wants to be our one and only God. He also shows us that He has little tolerance for those that followed Him with less than total allegiance. However, God always has open arms and an open heart for those that are truly looking for Him.


Today we are going to start a two-week session on issues of life. This will cover the span from conception to death and include the use of Fetal Stem Cells, Abortion, Murder, Suicide, Killing by Military or Police, Capital Punishment, and Assisted Suicide.



Remember, we want to remember that we are to be united in Christ, dispite our discussions or topics and we do that by remembering the following three Scriptures:


Phill 2:3
3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.


Eph 4:2-5
2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.


Gal 3:28
28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.


In order to understand the entire scope of these issues, from a purely logical viewpoint, we simply have to understand the answers to three questions:

• What is life?
• When does it begin and end?
• When, if ever, is it ok to take a life?

Does that make sense?

We are going to take at least two sessions, maybe three to discuss this important topic.

I want to start by talking about the word life.

Scripture talks about two general types of life.

What are they? Spiritual life and physical life.

When we talk about “Issues of life” I want to be clear that we are talking about physical life. As human beings we have no power or ability to terminate a spiritual life. We can set the destiny of our own spiritual life but it is eternal and we can’t change that.


The first thing that I would like to discuss is the definition of life.

One dictionary defines life as the ability to metabolize or grow. This is kind of low level and I’m sure when we get deeper into some of the topics we’ll want to talk about when it starts, and quality of life, and more.

For now does this sound reasonable – being alive means having cell reproduction?

This helps to distinguish the “alive” (people, creatures, plants) from the inanimate (rocks, computers, etc.).

So where does life come from?

Genesis 2:4-7
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens-- 5and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-- 7the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

So God gives us life. Without this gift of life, we are no different than the dust of the ground in that we are made up of atoms and molecules.

Who did God give this life to?

Genesis 1:9-27
9And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
11Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day.
14And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day.
20And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day.
24And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Considering the term life, what do you find interesting about this passage?

There is sort of a progression:

• Plants and vegetation are created – but they are not referred to as alive. (vs. 11-12)
• Then creatures, and birds, and fish are created – and they are called alive. They are made seemingly bunches at a time. (vs. 20-25)
• Then man is made in the likeness of God, and as we saw earlier, God gave man life,

So it appears that animals and people have a characteristic that plants don’t. They are called alive.

What is it that makes animals and people different from plants?
What do you think it is?

Let’s look at some Scriptures and see if we can figure it out.

Genesis 9:4
4"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

Deuteronomy 12:20-25
20When the LORD your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, "I would like some meat," then you may eat as much of it as you want. 21If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. 22Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. 23But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. 24You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. 25Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.


Leviticus 17:10-14
10" `Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood--I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. 11For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. 12Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood."
13" `Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, 14because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off."

So apparently this “life” that God gave to both man and animals is the blood that flows within our veins.

As we can see, God allowed man to eat the animals but not the blood, because “life” is in the blood.


So let’s hold those things in our back pocket for now and let’s talk about the next step in our study:


Taking a life.

It’s obvious from our readings of Scripture that man is allowed to take the life of an animal, because he is encouraged to eat them. Now you may argue that there are some animals we are not to eat, but the discussion of clean and unclean animals is out of the scope of our discussion on the issues of life.

Genesis 9:4-6
4"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. ”Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”

Here we see an extension of the idea of “lifeblood” in that man must not take the life of another man.

Why does God say that we must not take the life of another man?

Because we are made in the image of God.

Exodus20:13
13"You shall not murder.


This is the sixth commandment that God gave to Moses on tablets of stone, to pass on to the people of Israel.


Sometimes we get caught up in our understanding or misunderstanding of what God means by the term Murder.


Exodus 21:12-14
12"Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. 13However, if he does not do it intentionally, but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I will designate. 14But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death.


Here we see a repeat of the sixth commandment.

What is the difference though here?

God differentiates between those that kill intentionally and those that kill accidently.


Leviticus 24:17
17`If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death.

Again, the condemnation for taking a human life.


Numbers 35:16-21
16" `If a man strikes someone with an iron object so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. 17Or if anyone has a stone in his hand that could kill, and he strikes someone so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. 18Or if anyone has a wooden object in his hand that could kill, and he hits someone so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. 19The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. 20If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at him intentionally so that he dies 21or if in hostility he hits him with his fist so that he dies, that person shall be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

Here we see the term for someone that intentionally kills another human being,

What are they called? A murderer.

But then read on…


Numbers 35:22-24
22" `But if without hostility someone suddenly shoves another or throws something at him unintentionally 23or, without seeing him, drops a stone on him that could kill him, and he dies, then since he was not his enemy and he did not intend to harm him, 24the assembly must judge between him and the avenger of blood according to these regulations. 25The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send him back to the city of refuge to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

So is it fair to say that when God wrote the sixth commandment, “you shall not murder” He was talking about intentionally taking the life of another human being?

Yes, He even made the cities of refuge so that those that took a human life unintentionally would have a safe haven.

But if the command is not to intentionally take a human life that leaves us with a dilemma.
God’s people partake in this very kind of intentional killing over and over again,

1Kings 18:40
40Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.

Deuteronomy 20:10-13
10When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. 11If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. 12If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. 13When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.


Joshua 8:20-27
20The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising against the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction, for the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the desert had turned back against their pursuers. 21For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from the city, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. 22The men of the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. 23But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the desert where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25Twelve thousand men and women fell that day--all the people of Ai. 26For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. 27But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the LORD had instructed Joshua.

Numbers 21:7-8
7They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man. 8Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba--the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

Scripture is full of examples of men taking the lives of other men, intentionally and seemingly with malice.

Isn’t this murder?

Who was Elijah? A prophet of God.

When Elijah ordered the Israelites to kill the prophets of Baal, who’s authority was he acting under? Who appointed him to order that command? God did.

In the passage we read from Deuteronomy who's words was Moses speaking? On who's authority was the command to kill given? God's.

When Joshua ordered the Israelites to kill the men of AI, who's authority was he acting under? Who appointed him to order the command to kill? God did,

From the Scriptures we looked at earlier it's clear that intentionally taking a human life is called murder and forbidden.
However, it also seems clear that there is an exception to this rule. Killing is not murder if it is commanded by God.

Does that make sense?

When we talk about killing being commanded by God, it’s not always a direct command. God gives people authority to do His will.

He gave Moses, and Joshua, and Elijah authority to command men to kill, and it wasn’t called murder.

But what does that mean to us today?

Romans 13:1-5
1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

If our government is established by God, then is it fair to say that have His authorization? In some senses are they not given the right to be in charge?

What then is the difference between God authorizing Elijah to command the Israelites to kill the prophets of Baal, and God authorizing our government and the government commanding soldiers to fight in a war?

In one sense they are both authorized by God.


Now I have had a lot of comments about repressive governments and peoples right to overthrow them such as America did to England.


I think there are two ways to look at it. The first is that Paul makes no qualification for "good" or "evil" governments in Romans 13 when he says that we are to obey the appointed government. On the other hand if our lives were in danger from evil men, it appears that we have the right to defend ourselves. We need to work like it depends on us, and pray like it depends on God.


Since the Government is authorized by God, Police or Soldiers commanded to take a life are not committing murder.


Human life is precious to God as we are made in His image. Intentionally taking a life is distinguished from accidental killing in that intentional killing is referred to as murder and those that commit the offense are referred to as murderers. The only exception to God viewing this as an abomination is when it is authorized, directly or through elected government, by God.