The UK Daily Mail reported today that "A religious liberty law firm has taken up a US Marine's appeal case after she was prosecuted for refusing to remove a Bible verse taped to her computer. At the time of the incident in May 2013, she was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina when she taped the slightly altered Bible verse in three different places that read: 'No weapons formed against me shall prosper,' according to Fox News. Sterling, who is now unemployed and searching for a job, was given a reduction in rank from lance corporal to private, as well as a bad conduct discharge." Unfortunately, in a nation whose first amendment supposedly enshrines the free exercise of religion, this type of story is becoming increasingly commonplace. Take for example this story from April 26 by Todd Starnes of Fox News: "The owners of an Oregon bakery learned Friday that there is a severe price to pay for following their Christian faith. A judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) recommended a lesbian couple should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering after Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused to make them a wedding cake. As a result - Aaron and Melissa Klein could lose everything they own — including their home." These are just two glaring examples, but they typify the kinds of assault on the religious freedoms of Christians in the United States that are the precursor to full-blown religious persecution.
No one who claims the name of Christ should be the least bit surprised by the current state of affairs in our country. Jesus speaks about persecution in a very matter-of-fact manner, indicating that it is a natural by-product of following him: "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers (Matthew 5:11)." The Apostle Paul reaffirms the universality of Christian persecution in 2 Timothy 3:12: "Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." The Apostle Peter echoes Paul when he writes to the believers enduring the terrible persecution of the Roman Emperor Nero: "Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you (1 Peter 4:12)."
Thus, if persecution is to be expected, how should we react as believers? Particularly, how should we react as believers who live in a constitutional republic wherein government derives its power from the consent of the governed and the governed are guaranteed the free exercise of religion as a matter of federal law? Herein is where the believer must walk the razor's edge between a response of love and a response of standing boldly for religious liberty. As Christians we must always treat others the way that Christ did: with unconditional love, grace and mercy. However, we must also remember that while Christ always interacted with sinners in a kind and gracious manner, he never failed to confront them with their sin. Christ confronted the Samaritan woman at the well with her marital infidelity. Christ did not condemn the woman caught in adultery but her urged her to "Go and sin no more (John 8:11)." Also, lest we forget, Jesus demonstrated righteous indignation when he overturned the tables of the money changers and drove them out of the Temple with a scathing rebuke: "The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves! (Matthew 21:12)” Too often, we as believers single out individual sins and individual sinners and lambast them in a manner which makes us look bad and Christ look worse. However, if we fail to confront people with their sin as Jesus did, then we also fail to present them with the entirety of the Gospel. Indeed, one cannot understand the Good News unless one first understands the bad news: that we are sinners hopelessly separated from a holy God unless we accept Christ's sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf! Thus, while we must preach the Gospel, we must also realize that it is the Gospel itself which causes us to be persecuted because it is offensive to the world: "So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it's all nonsense (1 Corinthians 1:23)."
Just as we should not cease to share the Gospel, we would be remiss if we did not boldly speak out in defense of religious liberty. We are blessed and privileged to live in a nation where we have the freedom to worship God without government interference. However, we must always remember that privilege is only one side of a double sided coin whose opposite is responsibility. The Bible speaks at length of stewardship, and thus, it is incumbent upon us to preserve the religious freedom which God has bestowed upon us. Some people have told me that they refrain from such battles because when other believers speak out about some of today's hot button issues, such abortion or the battle over the legal definition of marriage, that they are shrill and and strident. This adversarial tone ultimately turns people away from Christ and does very little to further the cause that is being championed. I wholly agree that while the Gospel is offensive, God's people should not be. On the other hand, just because some people aren't playing the game by the rules doesn't mean we should give up on the game altogether. Our religious freedom allows us to worship openly, rear our children according to God's word without government interference, preach the gospel to our neighbors and support missions around the world! The secular progressive Left in this country will not stop in its effort to cow Christians into submission to its worldly agenda. As I noted with my opening examples, this is just a small taste of the battle that rages daily in this country. Thus, we must speak the truth in love and with humility, but we must also fight to preserve the founding ideals that have made this country a beacon to immigrants from around the globe and the greatest missionary sending nation in history. We must safeguard the precious and extremely rare religious freedom that is not enjoyed by the great majority of humanity, for once it has been revoked, it may never return. It is hard to walk the razor's edge, but with God's grace it can be done.
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