| Highlights of Dawn | January 1965 |
The Struggle for Christian Liberty
THE shape of things to come in 1965 is not essentially different from what it was during 1964. True, national elections were held in many countries in 1964, which will not be so generally true of 1965. But none of the festering trouble spots of the world were healed in 1964. Some of them became even worse. A high degree of economic prosperity prevails in a small portion of the world while in other parts of the world countless millions are hungry and more or less destitute. It is said that seventy-five per cent of the earth’s population is underfed. This was true at the beginning of 1964, and due to droughts and floods in China and India, is even more evident at the beginning of 1965.
However, from year to year important changes do take place, and in 1964 one of these was a discussion by the Ecumenical Council in Rome on the question of Christian liberty. For centuries the Roman Church has taken the position that no liberty should be granted for the belief and practice of error, and, of course, to the Catholic Church, all beliefs and concepts contrary to the teachings and practices of that institution constitute error.
This concept has resulted in much suffering on the part of non-Catholics throughout the centuries. It led to the unholy “Holy Inquisition,” to the burning of countless thousands at the stake, and to tortures of other sorts—all in the name of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church. The record is a dark and damaging one, and the excuse for it has been that those outside of the Roman Church, and particularly those who speak out against its teachings and practices, are not entitled to any better treatment.
The discussion on religious liberty at the Ecumenical Council was very enlightening. As noted, it emphasized that the traditional position of the church has been opposed to such liberty. Protestants living in countries dominated by the Catholic Church have known this all along, for through observation and experience they have been aware of the oppressive hand of the church against all except Catholics. Those living in countries where Protestants have been in the majority have not had such a good opportunity to know the real position of the Roman Catholic Church on the matter of Christian liberty, since its practice has varied according to the country in which it has functioned. This fact was emphasized in the discussions at the Ecumenical Council.
The plea that the Roman Church should declare itself in all countries as upholding Christian liberty was led by cardinals and bishops from the United States, with the chief opposition coming from the prelates of Italy and Spain. Those in harmony with making a declaration for Christian liberty far outnumber the conservative bishops who were opposed to it. But the day before the vote was to be taken the conservatives managed to have the vote postponed until the next session of the council, which might not be until 1966. A petition was signed by 1,400 of the liberal bishops and presented to the pope to have this ruling changed, but the pope ruled in harmony with the conservative minority.
What Is Christian Liberty?
The Bible speaks of Christian liberty largely from the standpoint of being free from sin and death, and free from the bondage of the Mosaic Law. To those who believed on him Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Then they answered Jesus, saying, “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” To this Jesus replied, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”—John 8:32-34
In Romans 8:21 the Apostle Paul speaks of “the glorious liberty of the children of God.” But here also the liberty referred to is not one which applies to our associations with other people, but a freedom from “the bondage of corruption”—a reference to the imperfections of the fallen nature; imperfections which, apart from the redeeming merit of Christ’s blood, result in condemnation to death.
On the matter of eating meat offered to idols, Paul wrote, “Meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better [margin, or, have we the more]; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse [margin, or, have we the less]. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.” (I Cor. 8:8,9) Here Paul emphasizes that those mature in Christian knowledge could exercise the liberty of eating meat which had been offered to idols, knowing that the meat had not thereby been defiled, but that he should not exercise that liberty if others were made weak or stumbled by it. The thought contained in Paul’s argument is the need to restrain individual Christian liberty under certain circumstances.
Paul also wrote, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (II Cor. 3:17) Here, again, the reference is to liberty from the bondage of the Mosaic Law, not to the concept of Christian liberty advocated at the Ecumenical Council in Rome. Galatians 5:1 reads, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” This is another reference to liberty from the bondage of the Law Covenant given to Israel at Sinai.
The expression, “Christian liberty,” as used today, is not found in the Bible, although there are instances recorded in the New Testament in which attempts were made to curb the religious liberties of the early disciples. Sometimes these attempts were made by the Jewish religious leaders of that period, and sometimes by the civil authorities. Under the Roman government a great deal of religious liberty was granted. The Roman government protected the Apostle Paul from his enemies of the Jewish faith, and conducted him safely to Rome to be tried before Caesar. But even the Roman authorities restrained the liberties of Christians when it was to their advantage to do so. This is especially true of papal Rome.
After Peter and John had healed a man who had been lame from his birth the people were desirous of hearing their message. The religious rulers said among themselves, “What shall we do with these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.”—Acts 4:16-18
To this attempted restraint of their liberty to preach the Gospel Peter and John replied, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19,20) This is an interesting incident, in that we have one group of religious men attempting to curb the liberty of another group in preaching what they believed to be the truth. The two apostles involved were courageous. They believed that Jesus was their Messiah, and that it was through his name that the lame man had been healed, so they did not propose to allow anyone to keep them from declaring the message of the Gospel. Many times throughout the age those who have taken a stand for truth and righteousness have been persecuted, and their efforts curtailed. The liberty which Peter and John insisted upon has not always been allowed to the faithful followers of the Master.
Denominational Liberty
The situation in the religious world now is vastly different from what it was in the days of the Early Church. Today the conflict is not between true Christianity on the one hand, and paganism and other religions on the other hand. It is now between the many denominational groups, all of which profess to believe in Christ and accept him as their leader, but differ in their understanding of his teachings. To these, the principle of Christian liberty means the right, unmolested, to promote their beliefs any and everywhere they feel would be pleasing to the Lord.
We believe that the application of the principle of Christian liberty under these circumstances is good and proper. Indeed, not to recognize this would lead to much religious intolerance and persecution even as it did during the Dark Ages. Heretofore the position of the Roman Catholic Church has been that no liberty should be granted for the promotion of what it held to be error. Today, however, this principle does not work, for each group considers that every other group of professed Christians is to some extent in error.
So we are glad that the largest denominational group of professed Christians in the world is beginning to see the need for Christian liberty. Perhaps this is in part due to the general increase of the spirit of tolerance which is manifesting itself in such a pronounced manner throughout the Western World. Even the largest church group in the world must find themselves in an awkward position to be saying that since, as they claim, they are the one and only true people of God, others should not have the right to preach their own views, nor to practice their own religion.
Nor should we be blind to the fact that one reason for the growing spirit of tolerance in religious circles is that devotees of religion today are becoming less and less sure that they have the right viewpoint. Unbelief is on the increase even within the denominational churches. The spirit of unbelief which prevails throughout the world is creeping into the church, in the sense that church people are losing faith in their creeds. Moral living is still taught, and a very generalized faith in God. In these and similar non-doctrinal points all agree, so why fight one another? This is the growing sentiment in the churches.
There are still exceptions to this general situation, particularly among the smaller groups. There are those, for example, who still believe that God will eternally torture the wicked. When these hear someone teaching that the judgment day is to be one of probation for the wicked, rather than a time for sentencing them to a burning hell from which there will be no escape, they are resentful, and express the thought that such heresies should be suppressed.
But there is little or nothing these energetic souls can do to implement their desire to suppress the Gospel of love, for the general sentiment of the people is too strong in the other direction. Whether it be in the public press, over the radio or on television, the almost universal viewpoint today is that all should have an opportunity to speak their minds on what they believe, the line being drawn only against attacks on other groups.
However, Christian liberty does not demand that we help others proclaim views with which we do not agree. We are not called upon to hire a hall for the use of those who preach what we consider to be error. Christian liberty simply demands that we do nothing to hinder the other fellow from hiring a hall in which he can present his views. If the Roman Catholic Church goes this far in the practice of Christian liberty it will mean a great change of attitude in many countries. We will have to wait and see.
Right View—Wrong Time
The Scriptures reveal that a time is coming when error will not be tolerated anywhere in the earth. That will be when the kingdom of Christ is ruling in the affairs of men. The Roman church-state system of government has long claimed to be Christ’s kingdom, and for that reason felt that it had the right and the duty to suppress all other religious viewpoints and systems. The evidence is, of course, overwhelming that the Roman Church and its paramour, the civil government, did not constitute Christ’s kingdom, and therefore had no authority from God to suppress, persecute, and torture all who did not support this unholy alliance of church-state government.
Concerning the time when the genuine kingdom of Christ is in control of earth’s affairs the Lord said, “Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph.3:9) Those responsible for the functioning of the false kingdom of Christ throughout the present age were all imperfect, and controlled more or less by selfishness. This will not be so when the true kingdom of Christ is in operation. Christ will be the responsible Head, and the chief controlling One in that kingdom and all his associates and representatives will, like their Lord, be perfect. Through this wonderful arrangement the message of truth concerning God that will go out to the people will be, pure.
The people will recognize this, and being enlightened by the pure truth will unitedly call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent. We read concerning that time that the Law shall go forth from Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-4) We understand that the expressions, “Zion” and “Jerusalem,” in this prophecy refer, symbolically, to the spiritual and earthly phases of Christ’s kingdom. The spiritual phase of that kingdom will consist of Christ and his glorified church; and the earthly phase, the resurrected ancient worthies, who will then be “princes in all the earth.”—Ps. 45:16
The Law and the Word of the Lord that go forth from these divinely appointed kingdom agencies will be pure, and nothing will be permitted to reach the people from other sources which will deceive them, or detract from their worship and service of the true God. Isaiah 11:9 reads, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain [kingdom]: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Untruths concerning God and his will are destructive. They destroy trust in and obedience to God. But in the kingdom of Christ no errors will be permitted to defile and undermine men’s minds, and rob them of their desire to serve the Lord with their whole heart.
Satan has been the instigator of all error. He lied to our first parents concerning the penalty for sin, and ever since has continued to misrepresent God. But we are assured that during the kingdom of Christ Satan will be bound, so that he can deceive the people no more. (Rev. 20:1-2) It will require a thorough process of education administered through kingdom agencies to rid men’s minds of the defiling errors of the past. We read of that time that “they also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.”—Isa. 29:24
One of the titles the Bible gives to Christ and his true church, exalted to live and reign with him, is “that Prophet.” The Apostle Peter, in speaking of “the times of restitution of all things,” added, “It shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear [or obey] that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:23) Those who disobeyed the Roman church-state system of government were usually tormented. This made the spirit of intolerance that then reigned cruel indeed. But this will not be true in the kingdom of Christ. Error will not be tolerated in the kingdom, nor will disobedience of any sort be allowed. But the penalty for disobedience will be death, for “the wages of sin” will then be death, even as it has always been.—Rom. 6:23
The rulership of Christ will result in the downfall and destruction of everything which is contrary to the divine will. Even death itself will ultimately be destroyed. (I Cor. 15:25,26) Satan also will be destroyed following the reign of Christ. The great deceiver of mankind is represented as being cast into “the lake of fire,” which is described as “the second death.”—Rev. 20:14,15,10
The expression, “second death,” does not imply the second dying of all who will be cast into it, although it will be this for some. The thought is, rather, of the second time the death penalty is imposed. The first time was in the Garden of Eden, and the sentence was upon Adam, and by heredity, upon his descendants. The second death sentence is upon all willful sinners individually, such as those who with knowledge and malice oppose the Lord during the kingdom reign; also upon those in this age, who, after receiving the Holy Spirit, become willful sinners. All satanic institutions of every kind will be destroyed in the symbolic “lake of fire.” And then, Satan also will go into the second death.
With all opposition to the Lord and his laws of righteousness destroyed, God will be “all in all.” (I Cor. 15:28) The restored human race will not feel that they have been deprived of their proper liberty, but will rejoice in the true and pure liberty of the sons of God.—Rom. 8:19-22