Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Charles Mills
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000271B
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00:03 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider.
00:05 Before the break I was winding down 00:08 because I gonna get to really dangerous territories. 00:10 Yes, it has. 00:11 Talking about in fact I may not have identified it, 00:14 Charles as well, am I might 00:16 but it troubles than I think its in England 00:19 in some local Muslim communities 00:22 they have agreed to allow them to administer 00:23 the community with Sharia law. 00:25 Okay, now identify Sharia law. 00:26 What is that? What you talking about? 00:28 Sharia law is-- principles of governance 00:31 in Muslim communities that are based on-- 00:38 on a amalgam of tradition, application of the Quran 00:44 and theological views that might not directly comes 00:49 from the Quran but it's the-- 00:52 just the way that they administer 00:55 their social and religious justice. 00:57 Well, on the surface that seems like a good idea 00:59 as long as Sharia law does not contradict 01:03 the law of the land so what's the problem? 01:07 I mean if Sharia law says 01:08 if your neighbor doesn't convert kill him 01:10 and the law of Lamb says thou shalt not kill, 01:14 what's the problem if they do that? 01:16 Well, you're play bit of-- 01:18 I'm, I love doing that. 01:20 Well, it's not worth breaking it down 01:23 because some elements of it may actually be 01:26 in accordance with the civil. 01:27 Yes, yes. 01:29 And some may be as I agree just as you say. 01:31 We had articles in Liberty Magazine 01:34 even over Jewish church law on-- 01:38 it's usually not as in the criminal law 01:41 and that sort of things but on divorce for example. 01:45 There are a divorce laws 01:46 and principals of who has liability 01:49 and so on that the state of ministers 01:50 but in the Jewish system 01:52 this such interesting things as a gift. 01:55 Where there has to be a religious allowance 01:58 for the divorced or even proceed 02:01 and so some courts have even given a nod toward that 02:05 and created a hybrid and we didn't-- 02:07 we don't think that's necessarily too ideal. 02:09 Okay. 02:10 Its certainly problematic with the Sharia law 02:13 and I would draw parallels, I did in the break, 02:16 what about down south where you have very solid 02:19 Bible believing/Baptist or something similar community 02:24 they would be very happy to have religious instruction 02:29 in the public school, prayers and the whole thing 02:31 and create a sense of moral and doctoral uniformity 02:36 that crosses over from the church 02:38 into the community to the governmental structures. 02:40 Yes. 02:41 And I don't see much difference between that 02:44 and the Sharia allowance in England and-- 02:47 it's been requested in some places of the US 02:50 and even applying largely Jewish law. 02:54 We got be careful of all of these. 02:55 Yes, you would hope that in a just moral society 03:02 that its civil laws would not counter 03:06 the religious laws that are given in a holy book 03:08 where they do and we back to religious liberty. 03:11 As a matter of principle I would disobey them. 03:15 I mean, we don't often say that 03:17 because in the United States, people of long sense entwined 03:20 the constitution with the Bible, 03:22 they think there is no conflict. 03:23 There might well be 03:25 and they was in the original constitution 03:27 where it mandated-- it didn't mandate slavery 03:30 but it administered slavery and mandated the very low value 03:33 to a human being, percentage of a person. 03:39 A true Christian should have stood up 03:40 and said I wouldn't-- I won't go a long 03:42 with these things, very few did at that time. 03:46 So at the end of the day, 03:49 well, we don't like the violence 03:51 and the political violence and so on that characterizes 03:54 the Middle East often in the name of religion. 03:56 At the end of the day a person of faith 03:59 must be prepared to stand up 04:01 and be counted not to take up a gun 04:03 and challenge the authority of the state, 04:06 but if the state asks you to do something 04:08 that your faith principle, say otherwise you disobey 04:14 and you take the consequence. 04:16 So the question is, are you willing 04:20 to back up your faith with your life? 04:23 Yes, and put in another way 04:25 and this perhaps puts it in a better context. 04:30 A person of true faith should be prepared 04:33 to die for their faith. 04:35 A person of false faith is often prepared 04:38 to kill for their faith, there is a huge difference. 04:43 What right have I to force someone else 04:46 and at the ultimate to take their life away 04:48 because it differs from my view? 04:49 And what did Christ do? What did Christ do? 04:51 He gave His life. 04:52 He gave His life. He had-- 04:54 He had the perfect ability to take life. 04:57 He could have just you know, snapped a finger 04:59 and everybody on that hill 05:01 outside that the hill far away-- 05:03 Well, He said, I lay my life willingly. 05:06 Jesus said, you don't take it away I lay it, I give it. 05:08 Being a Christian is not easy, 05:10 being a Christian is making hard decisions, 05:14 being a Christian means that you are willing to die for it. 05:18 Well, in historically that was the case. 05:21 Being a Christian is not going to church 05:22 and paying tithe, than raising your kids 05:23 in the administration of the Lord 05:25 and saying the right things, 05:26 and watching the right programs, 05:27 and going to the right places. 05:30 Being a Christian is fundamentally 05:33 more important to you than your life? 05:36 That's the bottom line. 05:38 We often don't express it that way 05:39 but when all is striped away, that's the last statement 05:44 or the last proof of conviction 05:47 and very few people have shown 05:50 that they are willing to endure that one 05:51 but you know, Paul in Hebrews 11, isn't it? 05:56 Where he speaks about that, 05:57 people they gave up their lives, 05:59 they were killed, they were sworn into 06:00 and Jesus says, all for the-- 06:02 for the faith that they had in God. 06:04 And it says "Of whom the world was not worthy." 06:08 This is a great sacrifice but it's the ultimate proof 06:11 of your faith not to kill someone else. 06:13 That doesn't prove anything either in fanaticism, 06:16 hatred you know, a lot of negatives come 06:18 from projecting your faith violently. 06:21 But to live and even die for your faith 06:23 no matter what that proves a lot. 06:27 And that isn't easy to do that type of commitment, 06:32 to create that in your heart, where you are willing to die. 06:35 That is not easy. 06:37 How do we do it? 06:38 Now we know what the problem is, 06:40 now we know what the issue is, now we know where should be, 06:43 how do we bring ourselves to that point 06:45 in a world that says hey, you need to survive, 06:49 you need to you need to make it 06:51 even though no one else does. 06:53 It is your job to survive everything 06:56 and stand for what you believe and win. 06:58 How do you do that? 07:00 That's the biggest test 07:03 and I can give easy opinions on it from reading the Bible 07:07 but I think, that's what really proves 07:09 if someone loves their God has, has principles 07:14 through the ages most people faced 07:16 with that choice will back off 07:18 because as God said to-- Satan said to God about Job, 07:24 you know, touch his life, 07:25 he will back off nobody wants to die. 07:27 I mean, I'm paraphrasing it a little bit 07:29 but the idea is that-- yeah you can be faithful 07:31 when it is just a matter of you standing in the community 07:35 and you being-- and you are a wealthy man 07:37 like he is and things are going well 07:39 but, take everything away, harm his body 07:43 and then take his life away 07:45 or his life is at threat most people cave in. 07:49 But we spoke in other programs about idealism 07:53 and people for communism would sacrifice themselves, 07:58 people for grand political causes will do it on occasion. 08:01 Jesus said, you know, the greatest love 08:03 is to give your life for another person 08:05 and if somebody is so internalize 08:09 the principles of heaven, 08:11 so internalized the possibility of another life, 08:14 so internalize their obligation to other people 08:18 that to act wrongly is to let them down 08:21 and your God or like Joseph, he says, 08:23 how can I do this great sin against God? 08:25 Then if it came to it, 08:27 to even sacrifice your life that's the way it is. 08:31 We got to be a little bit careful on this 08:32 because we have seen on era-- 08:35 Or suicide bombers, we don't want to be-- 08:37 We have seen them fly planes at the buildings. 08:39 And we know regularly people are willing to put a bomb 08:43 and walk into a crowd. 08:44 That's not giving your life for a cause. 08:46 No, it is not. 08:48 And no one should-- 08:49 I don't think it's a healthy thing 08:51 to foolishly give away your life, 08:53 it's a precious thing. 08:54 There's no evidence in the Bible I read that 08:56 that anybody whether it's a larger or whatever 08:59 but they thought lightly of their life. 09:01 They didn't want to die but if it comes to a choice 09:04 between compromise, denying God and dying. 09:08 You know, if you have to die to remain steady so be it. 09:12 Because we have to realize 09:13 that even in our greatest example Christ Himself, 09:16 there were time is when His life was spared 09:19 where He walked through the crowd, 09:21 where He was not thrown over the cliff 09:23 for the storm did not sink the boat He was in. 09:27 God does not require us to go give our lives 09:31 just willy-nilly I mean there-- 09:32 there has to be a time and the place where 09:35 maybe there is nothing else that we do, 09:37 may be it's either this or-- 09:39 but life like you say is precious 09:40 we need to do everything we can to protect it and nurture it. 09:43 Absolutely, but circumstances 09:46 have brought many people to that moment of truth. 09:49 Whether they sort in Jesus said, 09:51 it's a hard saying but He says 09:53 "whoever loves father, mother, son or daughter 09:56 or anyone more that me is not worthy of Me." 09:58 And He come to that because we are not called 10:01 to give up natural affection but at the end of the day-- 10:06 and we talk about religion, 10:08 but religious liberty is the center of religion above you. 10:11 If it's worth anything, it's not really a big principle 10:16 if you give it away that easy, 10:17 if it worth anything you defend. 10:19 We need to be willing to both give our lives 10:23 for what we believe, and to live our lives 10:26 for what we believe, both are just as important. 10:31 Years ago I remember listing with some bemusement 10:34 as a preacher in one of my own Seventh-day Adventist churches, 10:40 preached very sincerely but a little erroneously 10:44 about one of the apostles who faced his moment of truth 10:48 and as the-- as the preacher said 10:51 as the axe came down and cut his head off, 10:54 his soul flew up to heaven and he was safe with the Lord. 10:58 Well, we know that's not true 11:00 but I must admit watching or hearing 11:05 of such things as the recent beheading 11:07 of a journalist by Islamic fundamentalists. 11:11 You get to thinking about what's going on here? 11:13 Because they belief that in cutting off the head 11:15 they have struck off an infidel from any chance of salvation. 11:20 Thanks be to God no matter what happens 11:24 whether we are martyred 11:26 or whether we just die a normal life, 11:29 its how we live our life that determines 11:32 whether we're safe with Lord. 11:34 We're not plucked out of some fire 11:38 and sent straight to heaven. 11:40 We live our lives here, we witness here, 11:43 we live before our Lord and He will redeem us, 11:46 no matter the difficulty. 11:49 For Liberty Insider this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2015-02-05