The privilege of freedom and the price paid for it….

Freedom – the ethos of the Western world and the privilege of many within it.   Yet how many of us truly appreciate it – especially as Christians.   Do you ever stop to thank God for it, and recognise how different your life and walk with Him might be if you lived in certain other parts of the world.   We’ve all heard stories about the persecuted Church, yet how many of us stop and think about them when we can’t be bothered to go to Church on Sunday or don’t want to read our Bible.  

I think we’ve got so blase about our freedom we never give it a second thought, and act as though it could never be removed, thus something we don’t have to contend with or think about.  Yet, in many parts of our privileged Western society moves are afoot to change this in so many different ways it’s quite scary. Apart from all the current talk about global terrorism and the loss of privacy, we see a lot more happening now in the way of removing freedoms from Christians on varying levels – in the US it’s been shown quite dramatically, from prayers being removed from schools to (Navy) Pastors being told they can’t pray in Jesus’ Name in public if in uniform (despite that being their ‘job’!!).  Children are being told they now can’t even read a bible in school in case it offends other classmates, and we can’t have that now can we!!!  Don’t know about you, but I got offended by a whole lot more than the bible, when I was at school.

Have you thought about what it might be like in the not too distant future when that free choice is removed – when you can no longer go to church without a second thought, or decide whether you want to read a bible or not, or indeed whether you want to become a Christian or not. You may think – no big deal, or it wouldn’t bother you, but trust me – it will, if for no other reason than the very fact that it’s not allowed or has become illegal. Because the society that will promote such an ethos, is one where free choice in many areas will most likely have been removed.  Certainly, here in the UK, it is looking very much like Islam may indeed become the dominant force within 2 decades at most (given the current rate of capitulation to its demands), and thus Christians will be under threat of punishment if they don’t desist from practicing their faith, and perhaps a further decade may see life being like it is for Christians in other Muslim majority countries where Christians daren’t even be seen holding a Bible much less talking about it, or preaching, and where coming together to pray “in Jesus’ Name” could be a virtual death sentence or at best, imprisonment.

So the next time you can’t be bothered to read a bible, think on – some day you may live to regret that, when you no longer can find one to be had in bookstores, and accessing it online may be monitored by your Government, and then even if you do have access, you have to hide it or ensure that even your family don’t know you are reading it, as they will report you to the authorities. Think I’ve exaggerating – then you obviously know nothing of the true Persecuted Church (e.g. China) or how Muslims treat converts to Christianity within their own families (UK) or indeed just Christians in their area (e.g. Gaza).   Treat your freedom with perhaps more respect and appreciate just how fortunate you are if you do live in the West, to have it to the extent you do.   Stop allowing this dire culture of political correctness to actually destroy your freedom by allowing minority faiths and those with no faith at all, to trample all over it.   And remember the biggest freedom of all comes from the Gospel (which is why so many work so hard to destroy it!) because Jesus came to set man free from the greatest enslaver of all – sin – and provide us with the inner Joy that can only come from His gift of Redemption and Salvation – all other freedom is transient outside of Him, but that doesn’t detract from its necessity for the wellbeing of mankind.  

Joh 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

The Truth, the whole Truth and nothing BUT the Truth!

Ok – we’re down to this vital topic once more because I feel many of us really need to rethink what we consider the major truth of life to be.   It’s a concept that we hold dear yet few appreciate its basis.   My main reason for writing about this is down a wonderful young Catholic friend of mine who while very religious steadfastly refuses to consider the Scriptures to be the Truth in the sense of being able to accept them as infallible and divinely provided.   Like so many she feels that the Bible has been written by men so immediately that makes everything in it unsound, but also has been translated so many times you can’t trust what’s in it.  However, she’s no problem accepting much of what the RCC puts out about their opinions and views on what the Bible contains.   And she has no answer for me when I ask her how she can determine which parts of the Bible she will allow herself to accept as being true in part – at least enough for her to base some modicum of faith in.

SO – my question thus is – for those like her and anyone else with this view – where indeed do you stop??  If you decide that part of John’s Gospel might be accurate, but you can’t accept some bits of Paul’s writings or Mark’s writings – how could anyone ever state they were a Christian??  How could you determine that what Jesus said was true, or that (even as an RCC) He determined to found a church on anything?   You can’t have it both ways – you either have to determine it’s ALL Truth and you worship a God big enough to ensure that is the case – after all, He calls it HIS Word!!!   Or you determine that He is too weak a God to make sure that what He inspired the writers to write stayed accurate through every translation or even where it may differ slightly that He would use it to His Glory as He intended.   Please note I’m talking about Truth here, not whether scripture should be taken literally or not – there’s a major difference.    There are certain allegories used within scripture but the text usually reveals where those are quite easily on careful reading.

God has stated that His Word is ETERNAL – never changing and always relevant.  And that is so true if you look at how it has been sustained since earliest mankind by the preciseness of Jewish Scribes who took their work so seriously they would destroy an entire manuscript if even one “jot” or “tittle” (punctuation marks) was misplaced or one letter written wrongly so there was no danger of them passing on errors in any way.   There is no other book known to man that has that ability to apply to every generation in its teachings and instruction.  

Jesus also was called the Word – and is most likely the Author of scripture too and thus it is no surprise that He quoted a LOT of what we call Old Testament scriptures in His time on this earth.   He took it seriously and so should we.   He didn’t say that the scriptures were untrustworthy or that His Word would only be of value for a certain period of time.   Nor did he say you should sift through it to choose what parts suited your own perceptions of how you should live your life. 

So why not make reading the TRUTH your New Year Resolution – discover its hidden depths and the awesome way in which prophecies written thousands of years ago are now being revealed to be uncannily accurate in their portrayal of current day events.   Once again, I highly recommend Chuck Missler’s bible studies for helping you discover the immense volume of knowledge contained within the pages of scripture, but for anyone who is not a Christian I would suggest you stick to the Gospels and learn from Jesus first and perhaps you will also discover why so many accept Him as their Saviour as He touches the innermost core of your being and brings you truly alive.   Blessings to all for 2008.