Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2014

4 | Cedarville Magazine Ringing True Religious Freedom Summit Challenges Attendees to Stand for the Good of All On October 9–10, 2014, Cedarville University hosted its first-ever Religious Freedom Summit. The two-day event featured some of the top minds defending religious freedom in the United States and around the world. At Cedarville University we stand for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ. Consequently, one might wonder why we would host a conference on religious freedom. After all, there is no chapter and verse in the Bible that declares religious freedom a necessity. In fact, Scripture tells of three Hebrew children thrown into a furnace, of a man named Daniel thrown to the lions, of Steven who was stoned for his belief in Jesus Christ, not to mention the annals of church history that are filled with those who were persecuted for their faith in Jesus. Should we as 21st-century Christians expect anything different? While we must be willing to die for our faith, we certainly should not seek it. Rather, we should seek and contend for an open marketplace of ideas where the Gospel can be clearly presented and embraced. I believe Scripture provides a framework for supporting such an environment. Perhaps the most well-used passage in discussions concerning religious freedom is the “Parable of theWeeds” found inMatthew 13:24–30, followed by Jesus’ interpretation of the parable in 13:37–43, which states: The Bible and Religious Freedom by Thomas White “He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.’” In the parable, the master refused to gather in the weeds for fear of rooting up the wheat. In the age in which we live, both weeds and wheat must grow together. Once Jesus returns, this worldly realm with its principalities and powers will end and the weeds and wheat will be separated. For the moment, two kingdoms exist — one spiritual and one worldly. Until death or the second coming of Jesus, force should not be used to destroy the weeds because we know that by the miraculous grace of God, some weeds may be converted to wheat. While the parable of weeds provides something of a foundation for religious freedom, that foundation needs further construction for a comprehensive understanding. The Spiritual Kingdom Scripture teaches repeatedly that believers must present the truth of the Gospel. Jude describes it as contending “for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), a defense that deals primarily with spiritual matters. Contending for the faith comes in the form of a compassionate articulation of ideas and not with