[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] Amazing facts devotion: DOESN’T IT MAKE GOOD SENSE FOR GOVERNMENTS TO PASS LAWS ENFORCING CHRISTIANITY?

[Shelley Duffy]

DOESN’T IT MAKE GOOD SENSE FOR GOVERNMENTS TO PASS LAWS ENFORCING CHRISTIANITY?
June 07, 2021 

Average reading time is about 5 and a half minutes


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One of the great principles of freedom is to worship according to the dictates of one’s own conscience. God doesn’t force people to accept the gift of salvation or to follow His laws. People can freely turn away if they so choose. Guarding this principle once drove the Protestant theologian Roger Williams out of the original colonies! He insisted that every person should have liberty to worship God according to the light of his own convictions. 

The U.S. Constitution explains these rights: “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office of public trust under the United States.” And also, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The framers of our constitution had only to look back into their history to recognize that some of the most cruel wars and persecutions grew from governments who insisted on passing laws to enforce Christianity. 

The Lord knows that people forced to obey laws won’t live them out of a heart filled with gratitude and love. The Bible teaches, “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). Living out of fear of being punished is not how the government of God functions. The Lord desires us to live out of reason and devotion to Him. 

It is the mark of Satan’s government to use force to control individual thought. The devil’s hand has shaped many despots, kings, and rulers to insist people follow laws that determine when, where, and how they must worship. Those who disobeyed were threatened, tortured, banned, and sometimes murdered— all in the name of Christianity. It should never be the role of earthly governments to regulate how people are to worship God. 



KEY BIBLE TEXTS 
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Joshua 24:15


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Shelley Duffy