Articles
Religious Freedom
I thank God that I was born in a country where we enjoy religious freedom. Many of the original settlers of this land came in search of the freedom to study God’s word for themselves and be directed by what they believed to be right in His sight. The state-enforced religion from which they sought escape had become intolerable and much more political than spiritual.
But man’s fierce pride in his freedom and independence sometimes overreaches its bounds. We need to look at our religious freedom from God’s view. Does religious freedom mean that, before God, man may choose how he wants to serve God? Does religious freedom mean that God is pleased with all the religious choices man makes?
The answer to these questions can be summarized like this: man is free to choose to obey God and serve Him. Man is not free, however, to legislate to God or for God. Consequently, when man begins to pick out a church that suits himself or follows traditional man-made religions or what feels good believing that God has given him that right, he had better think again.
Jesus said: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide [is] the gate and broad [is] the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. “Because narrow [is] the gate and difficult [is] the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). He also said, “Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). God requires us to know His will and obey Him. There is only one road that leads to heaven, Jesus Christ. We may choose that way or the others–THAT’S our freedom of choice.
