Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Sunday, April 06, 2008 11:10:57 AM
If we view church history as the Providence of God as fulfilling His New Covenant promises, this might help us be more tolerant of our RC friends who join us in the fight for life and for the family. Persecution of the early church lead to the spread of the gospel outside of Jerusalem and Rome, even so in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries persecution of the church lead to the spread of the gospel to the New World and to the advance of liberty among men away from the tyranny of king and pope...
‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’
As children of the Reformers we know that God works all things after the counsel of His own will, and according to His will persecution and the blood of martyrs provides fertile ground for extending His kingdom. So well did our forefathers in the faith learn the lesson of religious tolerance that they embodied their belief as law in the first amendment.
Now we know the origin of religious tolerance has to do with recognizing that God alone has authority and power in the realm of conscience. So it follows that intolerance springs from the view that men have power over the conscience of other men. This wickedness is what leads to persecution. Crimes against the conscience are more grievous than crimes against the body.
‘Let goods and kindred go; this mortal life also.
The body they may kill. God’s truth abideth still.’ [Martin Luther]
So let us continue to speak truth in love, and pray more and more for the grace of God to be made known among all men.