Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Samuel Thomas
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000139
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00:22 Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
00:24 This is the program that brings you news, views, 00:27 and discussion on religious liberty events 00:30 in the United States and around the World. 00:32 My name is Lincoln Steed, Editor of Liberty Magazine. 00:36 And on this program I have a very special guest, 00:39 Pastor Samuel Thomas. 00:42 You've had many jobs including being Pastor 00:46 of the Church near 3ABN's Headquarters. 00:48 Indeed. Here in West Frankfort, Illinois. 00:52 I want to talk to you today about magazines. 00:55 And of course you are gonna light up 00:56 like a Christmas tree because, you know, 00:58 I edit Liberty Magazine but at the moment 01:00 you have a very special responsibility 01:02 for another magazine. 01:03 That's correct. "Message Magazine." 01:04 That's correct. As director of marketing 01:06 it's been my pleasure to promote a magazine 01:09 that upholds values and promotes current issues 01:13 for people within our metropolitan centers. 01:15 Good. Now, you know, I freely say 01:18 one of the reasons that I am happy 01:20 to have you on the program, 01:21 not just that I know you and I know your sister 01:23 who used to work with Liberty Magazine. 01:26 But over the years I have looked at Message Magazine 01:29 and appreciated what's there. 01:30 And I have noticed about message, 01:32 but I have also noticed about 01:33 some of our other Church papers 01:35 as well as many other Church related publications. 01:38 They cannot avoid Religious Liberty stories 01:43 from time to time. 01:44 And I see some really great stories 01:46 in Message Magazine, 01:47 commenting on some of the real big 01:50 Church-State issues of the times. 01:52 I think many people-- our membership, 01:54 our viewers probably don't grasp 01:56 our Religious Liberty Issues are all around us. 01:58 Absolutely. And they are embedded 02:00 in many different layers of life. 02:03 Sometimes we want to relegate it 02:05 to just a work place, you know, issue. 02:08 But there are lot of things that have far reaching 02:10 applications on what we do and ultimately 02:13 that affect our liberty. 02:15 Well, if you really think about it 02:16 then almost everything that Church is concerned 02:19 would impacts with society. Certainly. 02:21 I mean, that's the Gospel commission. 02:22 Taking the Gospel to the world 02:24 but the world has its own rulership, its own system, 02:28 and how the Church impacts that is the full story 02:31 of Church-State Religious Liberty discussion. 02:34 Well, when you know the challenge 02:35 Lincoln really comes that so much of religion today 02:38 has taken on the look of the State, 02:40 and it's something that Jesus drew a clear line out, 02:44 you know, between Caesar and obedience to God. 02:47 Remnant of Caesar. 02:48 Exactly. And then even before pilot, 02:50 you know, and his accusers, he gives his true distinction. 02:55 You know, my kingdom is not of this world 02:56 or else my servants would fight. 02:58 So because of that many times the lines are blurred 03:00 and it's our responsibility to bring about a clear 03:04 distinction on what's really involved 03:06 in Religious Liberty issues Absolutely. 03:09 I've had some good discussions over the years 03:11 with a few of the editors of Message Magazine 03:14 and I found them all to be very conversant 03:18 in the target audience. 03:20 And maybe you can speak to them, 03:22 Message Magazine is designed to have a general appeal 03:27 but its target audience is the African-American, 03:31 Black community right? 03:32 That's correct. That's correct. 03:33 And one of the reasons why is because we realize 03:36 that the urban dwellers have different mindset 03:39 and as a result of that they are many influences 03:42 and dynamics that come to bear on their, 03:45 on their view of the World, their view of their community, 03:48 and their view of American values to use that cliché. 03:52 We know that Islam has a strong hold 03:56 within our correctional institutions of United States. 03:59 And as a result of that, 04:01 we recognize that Christianity is viewed 04:04 through very jaded lenses. 04:06 It's not accepted the same way. 04:08 So we have to position Message in a way 04:11 that people are willing to embrace it before 04:14 they can get past the initial distinction of Christianity. 04:19 They have to see common values and common themes 04:22 that resonate with them in the community. 04:25 And I think you put the finger better 04:28 than one of the previous editors did when I discussed, 04:30 you've put your finger on why Message Magazine 04:32 has an application beyond just 04:35 an African-American Black Community? 04:39 It speaks more to communities in perhaps 04:43 a city environment than something like 04:46 Signs of the Times, which is very broad-based. 04:49 This is a missionary magazine, another missionary magazine 04:52 on the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 04:54 I see them as very complementary 04:56 but in some ways little overlapping. 04:58 Well, indeed. And in truth we compliment 05:01 Liberty Magazine as well. Thank you. 05:04 Yes. You are leading me.... 05:05 Yes, well, I have to do that. Liberty Magazine... 05:08 Yeah, you know, where I am coming from, 05:09 because I am not going to leave that 05:10 that just hanging up there. Exactly. 05:11 Well, Liberty Magazine is for thought leaders. 05:15 And Message Magazine is for the general populous. 05:17 One of the distinctions that makes Message 05:21 extremely effective is that addressing 05:25 metropolitan concerns, and always I'm using metropolitan 05:28 and not urban because when people hear urban 05:30 they generally think Black, you know, metropolitan... 05:32 Or in a city, which is in a... 05:33 Or in a city, which is not, you know, quite accurate. 05:37 Well, we've had a couple of opportunities, 05:39 in fact three, where we have distributed 05:40 large volumes of Message Magazine. 05:42 One of things we identified in those distribution processes 05:45 was that people were actively engaged by Message 05:48 whether they were Black, Caucasian, Hispanic, 05:52 and I have noticed that even in my travels 05:54 just giving a gift at the terminal and, 05:57 you know, that kind of thing. 05:58 So I have-it's been, it's been assuring to me 06:03 that issues are what people are looking for 06:06 and if we resonate with issues of the community 06:10 and especially of cities, 06:12 you know, metropolitan centers 06:14 which are again distinctly different from rural society, 06:18 then people have an interest peaked 06:20 and then we have these multiple ways 06:22 of communicating truth which people have a certain 06:25 degree of ambiguity about today. 06:27 Yeah, that's true. 06:28 You know, it used to be said globally 06:30 that we were in a post-Christian era, 06:33 which is true but I think that's little misleading. 06:35 People think a lot about religion now, 06:38 but they don't think about it in the same ways. 06:39 They don't. They have got a very secular, 06:42 non-doctrinaire way of looking in it, 06:44 and I think Message, 06:46 Signs of the Times is the other Outreach Magazine 06:49 of the Church and even Liberty to its select audience 06:53 you can present religion in a very contemporary, 06:56 approachable way, and one the best ways 06:58 is to link at the current events 07:00 and there are some of the most pivotal current events 07:02 of Church-State issues, aren't they? 07:04 Well, they are. It's certainly since 9/11. 07:05 Since 9/11 just almost everything to do 07:08 with the war on terrorism, the security state 07:10 and that has religious implication. 07:12 Well, let me give a compliment to Liberty. 07:14 I've read Liberty and one of the things 07:16 that capture my attention is the fact that 07:19 it prompts a larger discussion. 07:21 And the larger discussion for me 07:23 that I see as a ministry is the issue of creation. 07:27 Because if you don't ascribe to God being 07:29 our father and our creator, 07:31 then a lot of the subsequent issues 07:33 that we are facing today really become 07:35 a spin off, a natural spin off. 07:37 They are more of a discussion point 07:39 if people don't believe that God created us, 07:42 if we believe that we have all, 07:43 we don't have the same view of values, 07:45 of marriage, of liberty, of the right of freedom, 07:49 you know, freedom of conscience. 07:51 We don't have those dynamics. 07:54 You bring up something in private. 07:56 I would love to talk about, 07:58 because it's sort of a prime course 08:00 to the argument or first course. 08:02 And I think many people, yes, have lost the track 08:05 of the argument in favor of God. 08:07 Why there is a God? 08:08 In Liberty Magazine I can't really 08:09 get on that purely doctrinal level. 08:12 We are defending the rights of all people to believe 08:14 or not believe whatever they want. 08:16 But I am always referring to a cosmological view. 08:22 And I do not believe in every society in all times. 08:25 People have had an explanation as to why we are here? 08:27 How we came about? 08:29 It's very important to emphasize that 08:31 and to-in case the United States 08:34 to see that's intact. 08:36 Because then if you are talking about doctorial issues 08:38 or Church-State separation, 08:39 if they don't have this bedrock view 08:43 of how they relate to the God's 08:44 or to the Universe strait, the rest of this is just 08:47 sort of a deckchairs on the Titanic. 08:49 Well, I think to that's our challenge, 08:52 communicating the truth of God's word in relevant terms 08:56 without losing or modularizing the significance of God 09:00 and our relationship to Him because Christ comes 09:02 as a result of God having created us 09:05 and our having an estrangement with God. 09:07 Absolutely. Anyhow, Liberty Magazine 09:10 I think has some common threads. 09:13 I observe with Message Magazine, 09:15 but very different target audience and that's obvious. 09:19 As you promote Message and reach out to the community, 09:23 do you sense that there is a real hungering 09:27 for an explanation of some of these Church-State Issues 09:29 or not just Church-State, 09:31 but issues of conscience relating to society? 09:34 They are. They are, because when we read 09:37 the comments that we receive from Message Magazine, 09:40 the internet, or communication we receive emails, 09:43 it's evident that people have a larger view. 09:47 They do have a world view. 09:48 They do have opinions about government 09:51 and its involvement, and how far they reach should go. 09:55 These dynamics do not always come to the surface 09:58 and the thing that's different between cultures is, 10:00 for instance in Black Culture, 10:02 we verbalized a great deal more, 10:05 what our feelings are and then we walk away from it, 10:07 whereas in Caucasian culture we may see more writing, 10:11 extensive blogs, and that kind of things. 10:13 Yeah, there're some things that are not to be said. 10:14 Yes, exactly! And driving, and come up. 10:16 Yeah , yeah, yeah exactly. 10:17 Well, you get these new answers that come 10:21 and as I travel around we recognized that 10:24 there is this unfolding that once you put the discussion 10:28 on the table then people will began to discuss it. 10:33 They will begin to seek to fair it out 10:35 what's really involved in the core issues. 10:38 And they may not know and the magazine 10:41 gives them a direction, 10:42 it gives them sense of presence 10:43 and purpose and that's important. 10:45 Now let me ask you a serious leading question 10:49 that I want to pursue even after the break. 10:53 Religious Freedom Issues of course 10:55 have a historic basis and our church, 10:59 the Seventh-day Adventist Church 11:00 is always referring to the reaffirmation. 11:03 Of course, Christian story goes way back 11:05 to Christ Himself and by extension 11:08 it's the whole story of God's dealing 11:10 with man in the Bible. 11:13 But in a very real way the United States seems to me, 11:18 you can't separate religious freedom 11:20 for the developing views of freedom in general. 11:24 And it strikes me. It always struck me. 11:27 The black community in the United States 11:29 must have a little different take on freedom 11:33 in general and religious freedom in particular. 11:36 And that is true, that is true. 11:38 You will find within the black community 11:40 whether it's African-American or Caribbean black 11:43 or Korean black, African black. 11:45 There is a commonality of tolerance. 11:49 They are variables to that. 11:51 So I don't want anyone viewing to think 11:53 that this is a wholesale rule of thumb, 11:56 because you can find tribalism. 11:57 You can find geographic distinctions 12:01 in that kind of thing. 12:02 But overall there is a high degree 12:04 of tolerance and acceptance. 12:07 There is the, the willingness to embrace people 12:11 in their distinction which is why unfortunately 12:13 we see this historical tolerance 12:17 within the Black Church for homosexuality 12:20 and the music arena and that kind of thing, 12:23 because there is and its, you know, they turn away 12:27 from the distinctions of gay-straight. 12:31 We need to talk a little bit more about, 12:32 but after the break. Let's take a break now. 12:35 We will be right back to continue this discussion 12:37 with Pastor Samuel Thomas, representing Message Magazine. 12:42 We are talking about Religious Liberty 12:44 with me the Editor of Liberty Magazine. 12:46 We will be right back. 12:56 One-hundred years, a long time to do anything 13:00 much less publish a magazine. 13:02 But this year Liberty, the Seventh-day Adventist 13:05 voice of religious freedom, celebrates one hundred years 13:08 of doing what it does best-- collecting, analyzing, 13:12 and reporting the ebb and flow 13:14 of religious expression around the world. 13:16 Issue after issue, Liberty has taken 13:19 on the tough assignments, tracking down threats 13:22 to religious freedom and exposing the work 13:24 of the devil in every corner of the globe. 13:26 Governmental interference, personal attacks, 13:29 corporate assaults, even religious freedom issues 13:32 sequestered within the Church community 13:34 itself have been clearly and honestly exposed. 13:37 Liberty exists for one purpose to help God's people 13:41 maintain that all important 13:43 separation of Church and State, 13:45 while recognizing the dangers inherent in such a struggle. 13:49 During the past century, Liberty has experienced 13:51 challenges of its own, but it remains on the job. 13:55 Thanks to the inspired leadership 13:57 of a long line of dedicated Adventist Editors, 13:59 three of whom represent almost half of the publications 14:02 existence and the foresight 14:04 of a little woman from New England. 14:06 One hundred years of struggle, 14:08 one hundred years of victories, 14:10 religious freedom isn't just about political machines 14:13 and cultural prejudices. 14:15 It's about people fighting for the right 14:18 to serve the God they love as their hearts 14:21 and the Holy Spirit dictate. 14:23 Thanks to the prayers and generous support 14:25 of Seventh-day Adventists everywhere. 14:28 Liberty will continue to accomplish its work 14:30 of providing timely information, 14:32 spirit filled inspiration, and heaven sent encouragement 14:35 to all who long to live and work in a world 14:39 bound together by the God ordained 14:41 bonds of religious freedom. 14:54 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider. 14:56 Before the break, I was talking 14:58 with guest Elder Sam Thomas. 15:02 Talking about something that you were vexing eloquent on, 15:07 the connection between Religious Liberty 15:09 and attitudes toward religious freedom 15:11 and the Black experience in the United States. 15:14 Well, I think one of the reasons why 15:17 other culture groups from a distance 15:19 peer into African-American Community 15:22 or to the community of color. 15:24 I prefer that because African-Americans 15:26 and Caribbean Blacks and African Blacks 15:29 see themselves very distinctly, different. 15:32 But the difficulty when you look from the outside 15:34 is that you will see this willingness to accept 15:39 certain or have a tolerance, let's use that term, 15:43 they have a tolerance for homosexuals 15:47 and is even seen in a Church. 15:50 Ministers can make certain decisions 15:53 that are contrary even to scripture. 15:55 And there is an acceptance level. 15:57 You are giving a reason for something that shouldn't be. 16:00 That's correct, and when I am... 16:01 And you're not suggesting that's... 16:03 That's is the problem. Yeah, it's inappropriate. 16:05 Yeah, that's correct. But-- 16:06 That comes because there are more hesitant 16:09 to condemn someone, 16:11 recognizing they have been through. 16:12 Exactly, and see that's the core 16:16 that unless you are able to step out and say okay, 16:19 what has this person been through? 16:20 What is his cultural group experience? 16:22 That makes them more tolerant. 16:24 And we haven't hand a thousand years 16:26 since some of these events. 16:27 We only have hundreds of years, 16:29 and the stories continue to transfer 16:31 from generation to generation. So it's ever fresh. 16:34 One of the challenges that we have to own 16:37 on our side is that, some of these are abbreviations 16:41 of scripture are not tolerable by God. 16:47 So even though we might say that we permit 16:51 or there is a liberty for this expression, 16:54 we must still have that distinction that, 16:57 yes I can't condemn you because this is sin. 17:00 On the other hand God has a standard. 17:02 He has a expectation. 17:03 Well, you know, this is the trick. 17:05 Of course the whole Christian society 17:07 in the United States is facing--and other countries. 17:10 But I see it here in this country 17:12 with the emerging gay rights community. 17:18 We can't accept. We shouldn't Biblically accept 17:21 what they are doing, but how do you condemn 17:23 the sin and accept the sinner. 17:25 Yes, that's correct. 17:26 And I don't think too many people 17:27 of Biblically feels that. 17:30 No, it's... More difficult choice. 17:31 It is, it is. 17:33 But as far as the experiences 17:35 of the Black African American communities, 17:38 please tell me the terminology has changed 17:40 even in the time I have lived in United States, 17:43 that we don't want to offend people. 17:44 But you're right and very few people point out 17:47 the distinction between different communities 17:49 within the non-want cultures because I have noticed 17:54 a very distinct mindset from West Indies. 17:57 Correct. And of course, 18:01 we should remember that there was slavery 18:03 in the West Indies, but it had a different, 18:05 dynamo and I think it changed the attitudes. 18:09 But growing up in Australia where I was brought up, 18:12 you know, I haven't experienced any of these. 18:15 But I was very impressed as a young person 18:17 with the Negros Spirituals, 18:19 is that what they called back then. 18:20 We hardly hear them, but powerful statements 18:23 of people and intolerable situation 18:28 who had discovered with Christianity. 18:30 And they imbued those Christian songs 18:32 with the sense of yearning for a religion. 18:36 And then the one that I preached out recently, 18:38 you know, Go down Moses, Go down to Egypt land 18:41 and tell all Pharaoh, let my people go. 18:44 That's right, that's right. 18:45 You know, that's the Gospel story. It is. 18:47 A release from the bondage of sin 18:49 and here that they were drawing that parallel 18:51 with a state that was not willing to grant them 18:54 the basic human liberties, but as well as that... 18:59 by definition some spiritual restriction as well. 19:02 Well, that's the commonality that exists 19:05 between most people of color, Okay. 19:08 Oppression. Release. 19:10 That allows us to experience the gospel 19:14 in a different way. 19:15 For an example, you may tune 19:17 into evangelical preachers Caucasian. 19:19 In most of the sermons derive the emphasis 19:22 from New Testament scriptures. 19:23 But when you listen to Black preachers 19:25 they are still willing to reach back 19:27 into the Old Testament. 19:29 Or be it not necessarily the correct application 19:33 or interpretation of scripture at all times, 19:35 but at the end of the day 19:37 because they see in the Exodus, 19:38 they see in these various in that overall motive, 19:42 they see that God is working 19:44 in the human experience to provide deliverance, 19:47 which is why the issues of Religious Liberty resonates 19:52 so distinctly within the civil rights movement. 19:56 But unfortunately they want to get some money. 20:00 And then there is this belief that 20:03 because people have rights on the basis 20:05 of color that and race that we don't need to take 20:11 a different view of how we come at 20:14 this matter of homosexuality, 20:16 in God's view of homosexuality. 20:18 Oh! Yeah, I would like to talk about that 20:19 in depth in another program. 20:21 But I want to pursue you this, 20:26 I don't have to characterize it, 20:28 but what we are talking about that 20:29 the Black experience in United States 20:31 that they drew on biblical imagery, 20:34 and the overall self perception 20:38 of the United States beyond rights, 20:40 characterizes American exceptionalism, 20:43 and I think the best argument 20:45 against the Globe American Exceptionalism or is, 20:51 talking about globe, we have President Bush 20:53 at the time characterize it. 20:54 He said God has Blessed America 20:56 and He couldn't have blessed more deserving people. 20:59 Now, that's a peril statement in my view. 21:02 Well, we see, we see... 21:03 No group of human being is inherently deserving 21:06 of God's favor and while there are wonderful 21:09 Christian people and always have been in this country, 21:12 the object lesson that this was not a divine symbol is, 21:17 is precisely the experience of slavery 21:19 and the cruel story you have had that was done away with. 21:24 Well, and also I think it resonates 21:26 more profoundly with you. 21:28 I mean you are able to capture 21:30 that the sheer mockery that that's imbedded 21:33 in that concept because you come from another country. 21:36 But being born in this country 21:38 then as an African-American I can look at it 21:40 and say it too is mockery, 21:42 because I grow up in Jim Crow South. 21:44 So you cannot have this duality of purity, 21:49 holiness, this God breathe perfect nation, 21:54 perfect nation and at the same time 21:57 have all of these abrasions of law and liberty, 22:01 and the pursuit of happiness. 22:02 They just all go together. 22:03 Absolutely, and where I think 22:05 as the genius of the United States, 22:07 and where God has worked his way through human 22:09 and demotist and holding at high ideal 22:11 that it slowly but surely refined. 22:15 And I came to United States in 1966 22:19 which is a horrible dead point probably 22:22 for our viewing audience, switch off. 22:25 I don't remember that year. 22:27 But I came in '66. 22:28 That was right at the tail end 22:30 of the whole civil rights movements 22:31 and within over the '68 22:34 I think Martin Luther King's assassination, 22:37 tumultuous times, very much impressed me. 22:41 But I revisit that now as an editor 22:43 of Liberty Magazine because so often 22:45 when we talk about free exercise 22:47 of religion in United States, 22:48 the point of reference is title 22:50 seven of the Civil Rights Legislation. 22:53 It says you can't be discriminated 22:54 against on the basis of race, sex, religion, and so on. 22:59 That's the bedrock, a defense, 23:01 a practice of faith in the workplace particularly, 23:05 in some ways not so openly 23:07 even it is the first amendment. 23:10 The first amendment it's fine high ideal, 23:12 but in the real world the government worked out 23:14 and legislated on through the Civil Rights Legislation. 23:17 So you know, again all liberties can't, 23:22 are gathered together and Religious Liberty 23:24 we believe is a first liberty, it's often been said. 23:27 And I would imagine the question 23:29 can be posed at this point, 23:32 is there bad liberty? You know, it's... 23:35 Well, it's licensed. Yes. That's another story. 23:39 You know, Paul spoke about that. 23:41 Don't turn your liberty into license, 23:42 and some countries looking at the United States 23:45 even in its practice of religion think 23:47 that it's licensed. Well, we last Satan 23:50 and all of that, they miss certain points 23:52 under the constitution. 23:54 And they look at it as the many religious 23:56 writers in this country. 23:57 They see abhorrent religious behavior 23:59 and think that's an abomination 24:00 and may be legislatively stop it. 24:02 But we need to do what God did right 24:06 in the original creation. 24:08 He allowed man the choice to choose bad, 24:10 choose evil, choose death 24:12 or to choose life in a correct view. 24:15 And so far that's worked for the United States. 24:19 But it is a pretty messy affair, pretty messy affair. 24:21 It is, and it is a tough journey because 24:22 even Moses before he departed in Deuteronomy 24:25 he brings the people to, put before you life and death. 24:28 That's what I was lenient to it before. 24:30 Exactly, and that's, that's really the issue, its choice. 24:33 That's not a word that's highly accepted 24:36 in American Culture. 24:38 Now we really want to dictate what a person's view is, 24:42 so even if we say we say we give you freedoms, 24:44 the freedom is always managed on our terms. 24:48 So they are really freedoms that are super imposed 24:51 under the control or the guys of a true Liberty. 24:55 And only God gives Liberty of conscience to choose. 24:58 And we need to be careful. 24:59 And I am getting back on something 25:00 that I used to have on several years ago 25:03 at the beginning of the post 9/11, leave it there. 25:06 But you know, we were in danger 25:08 and still abusing language loosely, 25:11 talk about freedom, talk about freedom of expression, 25:15 in other ways meaning it. 25:16 For example, there used to be the free speech zones. 25:22 There was a road off there where you could speak freely 25:25 but nowhere else. Did you know that? 25:28 I didn't know that. 25:29 After 9/11 President Bush kept that to higher point. 25:32 They didn't want disruptions to pedestrians who meditate. 25:34 So better mile away. 25:35 They'd rope off to free speech zone. 25:38 So there is a contradiction. 25:39 So is that all the protestors would gather at that point? 25:42 Absolutely, could get arrested anywhere else 25:43 to speak freely but there. 25:46 You know, whether it's talking about political speech 25:48 or religious speech, the issue of freedom. 25:51 It always is. It release people to express 25:53 themselves in their inner most yearnings for a country, 25:58 but of course that other country, 25:59 that far country how we relate to heavenly things. 26:02 And God allowed that even from the beginning, 26:06 in the Garden of Eden, he gave them the opportunity. 26:09 And He said to them that here is what you can do, 26:12 here the boundaries and you can work within that. 26:14 Let me take a moment Lincoln to introduce 26:16 our viewing audience to Message Magazine. 26:19 If you are not familiar with it, 26:20 this is the magazine we are speaking 26:22 about that compliments the work of liberty. 26:25 You can find out more about it on Message Magazine, 26:28 I should say on the web, 26:29 at messagemagazine.org or .com 26:32 And it's great as a gift as a sharing peace. 26:35 Thank you for being a part of this program, 26:37 it's been a wonder that we have a wonderful opportunity 26:39 to having you and we look forward 26:41 to you being with us, next time. 26:45 Religious Liberty is an inexhaustible topic 26:48 for me at least, as I edit Liberty Magazine, 26:51 there is an unending stream of articles 26:53 mostly documenting Religious Liberty in the negative. 26:57 But we need to recognize that something 27:00 very positive exists in relation to Religious Liberty. 27:03 This is what we practice because are already liberated. 27:09 As Christians we know that Christ released us 27:12 from the power of sin. 27:14 When we look around us on the lives 27:16 Religious Liberty front of course, 27:18 on a dynamic to enable all people the right 27:23 to choose the correct destiny 27:25 we must may allow people to disbelieve something, 27:29 to believe something erroneous, 27:30 something bizarre, but it root, 27:33 I believe in Religious Liberty because 27:35 God is the great liberator. 27:38 This is a privilege that is so inherent 27:41 and a proclamation that we need to keep it in mind. 27:43 It's not legal. It's not historic. 27:46 It's not social, and all of these arguments 27:49 and aspects supply very equally, 27:52 but play predominantly and singularly 27:56 when we look at it is the fact that God is the creator 27:59 the liberator and the guarantor of ongoing freedom. 28:06 For Liberty Insider this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2014-12-17