Welcome back to
the Liberty Insider.
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Before the break
I was winding down
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because I gonna get to
really dangerous territories.
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Yes, it has.
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Talking about in fact I
may not have identified it,
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Charles as well, am I might
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but it troubles than
I think its in England
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in some local Muslim communities
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they have agreed to
allow them to administer
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the community with Sharia law.
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Okay, now identify Sharia law.
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What is that?
What you talking about?
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Sharia law is--
principles of governance
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in Muslim
communities that are based on--
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on a amalgam of tradition,
application of the Quran
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and theological views
that might not directly comes
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from the Quran but it's the--
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just the way
that they administer
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their social and
religious justice.
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Well, on the surface
that seems like a good idea
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as long as Sharia
law does not contradict
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the law of the land
so what's the problem?
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I mean if Sharia law says
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if your neighbor
doesn't convert kill him
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and the law of Lamb
says thou shalt not kill,
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what's the
problem if they do that?
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Well, you're play bit of--
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I'm, I love doing that.
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Well, it's not
worth breaking it down
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because some
elements of it may actually be
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in accordance with the civil.
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Yes, yes.
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And some may be as I
agree just as you say.
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We had articles
in Liberty Magazine
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even over Jewish church law on--
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it's usually not
as in the criminal law
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and that sort of things
but on divorce for example.
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There are a divorce laws
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and principals
of who has liability
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and so on that
the state of ministers
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but in the Jewish system
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this such
interesting things as a gift.
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Where there has to
be a religious allowance
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for the divorced or even proceed
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and so some courts have
even given a nod toward that
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and created a
hybrid and we didn't--
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we don't think that's
necessarily too ideal.
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Okay.
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Its certainly
problematic with the Sharia law
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and I would draw
parallels, I did in the break,
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what about down south
where you have very solid
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Bible believing/Baptist or
something similar community
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they would be very happy
to have religious instruction
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in the public school,
prayers and the whole thing
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and create a sense of
moral and doctoral uniformity
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that crosses
over from the church
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into the community to
the governmental structures.
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Yes.
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And I don't see much
difference between that
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and the Sharia
allowance in England and--
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it's been requested
in some places of the US
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and even applying
largely Jewish law.
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We got be
careful of all of these.
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Yes, you would hope
that in a just moral society
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that its civil
laws would not counter
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the religious laws that
are given in a holy book
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where they do and we
back to religious liberty.
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As a matter of
principle I would disobey them.
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I mean, we don't often say that
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because in the United States,
people of long sense entwined
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the constitution with the Bible,
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they think there is no conflict.
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There might well be
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and they was in the
original constitution
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where it mandated--
it didn't mandate slavery
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but it administered slavery
and mandated the very low value
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to a human being,
percentage of a person.
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A true Christian
should have stood up
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and said I
wouldn't-- I won't go a long
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with these things,
very few did at that time.
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So at the end of the day,
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well, we don't like the violence
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and the political violence
and so on that characterizes
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the Middle East often
in the name of religion.
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At the end of the
day a person of faith
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must be prepared to stand up
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and be counted
not to take up a gun
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and challenge the
authority of the state,
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but if the state
asks you to do something
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that your faith principle,
say otherwise you disobey
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and you take the consequence.
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So the question
is, are you willing
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to back up your
faith with your life?
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Yes, and put in another way
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and this perhaps puts
it in a better context.
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A person of true
faith should be prepared
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to die for their faith.
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A person of false
faith is often prepared
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to kill for their faith,
there is a huge difference.
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What right have I
to force someone else
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and at the ultimate
to take their life away
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because it differs from my view?
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And what did Christ
do? What did Christ do?
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He gave His life.
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He gave His life. He had--
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He had the perfect
ability to take life.
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He could have just
you know, snapped a finger
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and everybody on that hill
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outside that the hill far away--
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Well, He said, I
lay my life willingly.
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Jesus said, you don't take
it away I lay it, I give it.
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Being a Christian is not easy,
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being a Christian is
making hard decisions,
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being a Christian means that
you are willing to die for it.
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Well, in
historically that was the case.
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Being a Christian
is not going to church
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and paying tithe,
than raising your kids
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in the
administration of the Lord
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and saying the right things,
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and watching the right programs,
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and going to the right places.
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Being a
Christian is fundamentally
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more important to
you than your life?
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That's the bottom line.
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We often don't
express it that way
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but when all is striped
away, that's the last statement
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or the last proof of conviction
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and very few people have shown
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that they are
willing to endure that one
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but you know, Paul
in Hebrews 11, isn't it?
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Where he speaks about that,
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people they gave up their lives,
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they were killed,
they were sworn into
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and Jesus says, all for the--
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for the faith
that they had in God.
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And it says "Of whom
the world was not worthy."
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This is a great sacrifice
but it's the ultimate proof
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of your faith not
to kill someone else.
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That doesn't prove
anything either in fanaticism,
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hatred you know, a
lot of negatives come
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from projecting
your faith violently.
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But to live and
even die for your faith
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no matter what
that proves a lot.
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And that isn't easy to
do that type of commitment,
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to create that in your heart,
where you are willing to die.
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That is not easy.
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How do we do it?
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Now we know what the problem is,
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now we know what the issue
is, now we know where should be,
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how do we bring
ourselves to that point
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in a world that says
hey, you need to survive,
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you need to you need to make it
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even though no one else does.
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It is your job to
survive everything
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and stand for what
you believe and win.
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How do you do that?
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That's the biggest test
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and I can give easy opinions
on it from reading the Bible
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but I think,
that's what really proves
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if someone loves their
God has, has principles
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through the ages
most people faced
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with that choice will back off
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because as God said to--
Satan said to God about Job,
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you know, touch his life,
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he will back off
nobody wants to die.
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I mean, I'm
paraphrasing it a little bit
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but the idea is that--
yeah you can be faithful
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when it is just a matter of
you standing in the community
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and you being-- and
you are a wealthy man
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like he is and
things are going well
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but, take
everything away, harm his body
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and then take his life away
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or his life is at
threat most people cave in.
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But we spoke in other
programs about idealism
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and people for communism
would sacrifice themselves,
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people for grand political
causes will do it on occasion.
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Jesus said, you
know, the greatest love
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is to give your
life for another person
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and if somebody
is so internalize
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the principles of heaven,
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so internalized the
possibility of another life,
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so internalize their
obligation to other people
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that to act
wrongly is to let them down
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and your God or
like Joseph, he says,
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how can I do this
great sin against God?
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Then if it came to it,
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to even sacrifice your
life that's the way it is.
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We got to be a
little bit careful on this
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because we have seen on era--
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Or suicide bombers,
we don't want to be--
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We have seen them fly
planes at the buildings.
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And we know regularly
people are willing to put a bomb
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and walk into a crowd.
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That's not giving
your life for a cause.
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No, it is not.
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And no one should--
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I don't think
it's a healthy thing
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to foolishly
give away your life,
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it's a precious thing.
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There's no evidence
in the Bible I read that
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that anybody whether
it's a larger or whatever
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but they thought
lightly of their life.
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They didn't want to die
but if it comes to a choice
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between compromise,
denying God and dying.
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You know, if you have to
die to remain steady so be it.
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Because we have to realize
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that even in our
greatest example Christ Himself,
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there were time is
when His life was spared
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where He walked
through the crowd,
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where He was not
thrown over the cliff
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for the storm did not
sink the boat He was in.
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God does not require
us to go give our lives
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just willy-nilly I mean there--
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there has to be a
time and the place where
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maybe there is
nothing else that we do,
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may be it's either this or--
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but life like
you say is precious
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we need to do everything we can
to protect it and nurture it.
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Absolutely, but circumstances
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have brought many
people to that moment of truth.
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Whether they sort in Jesus said,
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it's a hard saying but He says
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"whoever loves father,
mother, son or daughter
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or anyone more that
me is not worthy of Me."
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And He come to that
because we are not called
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to give up natural affection
but at the end of the day--
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and we talk about religion,
00:10:06.79\00:10:08.53
but religious liberty is the
center of religion above you.
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If it's worth anything,
it's not really a big principle
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if you give it away that easy,
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if it worth anything you defend.
00:10:17.62\00:10:19.93
We need to be willing
to both give our lives
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for what we believe,
and to live our lives
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for what we believe,
both are just as important.
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Years ago I remember
listing with some bemusement
00:10:31.33\00:10:34.73
as a preacher in one of my own
Seventh-day Adventist churches,
00:10:34.76\00:10:40.32
preached very sincerely
but a little erroneously
00:10:40.35\00:10:44.37
about one of the apostles
who faced his moment of truth
00:10:44.40\00:10:48.50
and as the-- as
the preacher said
00:10:48.53\00:10:51.20
as the axe came down
and cut his head off,
00:10:51.23\00:10:54.40
his soul flew up to heaven
and he was safe with the Lord.
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Well, we know that's not true
00:10:58.22\00:11:00.70
but I must admit
watching or hearing
00:11:00.73\00:11:04.99
of such things as
the recent beheading
00:11:05.02\00:11:07.71
of a journalist by
Islamic fundamentalists.
00:11:07.74\00:11:11.11
You get to thinking
about what's going on here?
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Because they belief
that in cutting off the head
00:11:13.25\00:11:15.81
they have struck off an infidel
from any chance of salvation.
00:11:15.84\00:11:20.76
Thanks be to God
no matter what happens
00:11:20.79\00:11:24.74
whether we are martyred
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or whether we
just die a normal life,
00:11:26.86\00:11:29.40
its how we live our
life that determines
00:11:29.43\00:11:32.62
whether we're safe with Lord.
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We're not
plucked out of some fire
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and sent straight to heaven.
00:11:38.61\00:11:40.05
We live our lives
here, we witness here,
00:11:40.08\00:11:43.39
we live before our
Lord and He will redeem us,
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no matter the difficulty.
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For Liberty Insider
this is Lincoln Steed.
00:11:49.83\00:11:52.89