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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
