{"id":5802,"date":"2016-03-04T22:30:32","date_gmt":"2016-03-05T04:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/?p=5802"},"modified":"2016-03-07T18:57:47","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T00:57:47","slug":"session-2-recap-walker-conscience-and-religious-liberty-why-the-freedom-to-believe-is-the-freedom-to-flourish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/session-2-recap-walker-conscience-and-religious-liberty-why-the-freedom-to-believe-is-the-freedom-to-flourish\/","title":{"rendered":"Session 2 Recap: Walker, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Conscience and Religious Liberty: Why the Freedom to Believe is the Freedom to Flourish\u00e2\u20ac\u009d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Note:\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Grant Blankenship is the Preaching Elder at\u00c2\u00a0Cedar Springs Church<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0in Cedar Crest, NM. He is a member of the Albuquerque Chapter of The Gospel Coalition. This post is a summary of Andrew Walker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message from Friday evening at\u00c2\u00a0Clarus<\/a>, March 4, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Conscience and Religious Liberty: Why the Freedom to Believe is the Freedom to Flourish.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n

In the second session of Clarus ’16, Andrew Walker framed his thesis that\u00c2\u00a0religious freedom is necessary for religious, societal, and human flourishing\u00c2\u00a0by asking five questions:<\/p>\n

1. Is Religious Liberty Biblical?<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Walker, there are explicit and implicit truths in scripture.\u00c2\u00a0 For example, even though 2 + 2=4 cannot be found in scripture it is inherently true.\u00c2\u00a0 Walker said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God made us capable to read and listen and put meaning to what our eyes see and what our ears hear–to think, to reason and to be self-aware.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 And so we must recognize that religious liberty is implicit in scripture.\u00c2\u00a0 Walker proposed that religious liberty is implicit in the 10 commandments. \u00c2\u00a0His reasoned that governments cannot usurp the role of God by dictating things that belong exclusively to Him. \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Institutions, movements and governments cannot determine who God is and how He should be worshipped.\u00c2\u00a0 These kinds of concepts are exclusively the domain of God.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n

2. Why Is Religious Liberty Essential to Human Dignity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

God desires every human to make their own decision about God.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if one is wrong, God ordained that each individual decide on their own to believe.\u00c2\u00a0 The announcement that Jesus is Lord subjects all other authorities under him, but at the same time, no person can be coerced into the Kingdom of God.\u00c2\u00a0Walker qualified this by saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Please understand, this is not to say that all quests to find God are equal. \u00c2\u00a0But we cannot understand who God is for someone else.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> \u00c2\u00a0If we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need a state to back that up.<\/p>\n

3. Then What is the State’s Role In Religious Liberty?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walker showed how Paul explained in Romans 13:1-7 that any government’s role is limited by God. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The ideal government is one that operates within their God-given role.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00c2\u00a0<\/em>Walker explained that the ideal government is one that is neither hostile nor compulsory in any given religion.\u00c2\u00a0 The ideal government would allow any religion to present their beliefs freely and openly in the marketplace of ideas thereby allowing the conviction of religion to rest with each individual man.<\/p>\n

4. How Is Religious Liberty Essential to the Christian Mission?<\/strong><\/p>\n

While its true that the Gospel does not need religious liberty,\u00c2\u00a0Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 mandate to take the gospel into the world assumes a pathway to get there. \u00c2\u00a0If we leave out the Great Commission, then we are missing the point about why Christians should be concerned about religious liberty. Our desire as Christians must be that people would have the liberty to make their own decision without pressure from an earthly authority.<\/p>\n

5. Why Should We Not Give Up On Religious Liberty? <\/strong><\/p>\n

In Walker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final point, he began by saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We must be careful not to romanticize persecution as a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbetter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 form of worship.\u00c2\u00a0 As Christians, we should be willing to die for our beliefs, but we shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look for persecution under the misconception that it makes our faith superior.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Religious liberty is a tool like a machete to cut a path through the jungle of this world. \u00c2\u00a0While Paul taught that we have a heavenly citizenship, he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hesitate to assert his rights as a Roman citizen.\u00c2\u00a0 We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the right to give up the fight for religious liberty.\u00c2\u00a0 At the core of our fight for religious liberty is the fight for individuals to make their own decision about God apart from the influence of worldly institutions.<\/p>\n

If God requires man to make an individual decision about Him, then it is implicit that government should not usurp God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s divine decree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Note:\u00c2\u00a0Grant Blankenship is the Preaching Elder at\u00c2\u00a0Cedar Springs Church\u00c2\u00a0in Cedar Crest, NM. He is a member of… Continue Reading ›<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[68],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5803,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5802\/revisions\/5803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}