Featured Pastor Resigns as IMB Trustee over Support of mosque construction

I think it's tragic that on the issue of religious liberty, everybody likes to say it's a God-given right.

However, I've never seen anyone quote scripture directly on the issue. In every instance, the quotes are from the U.S Constitution.....

 

https://baptistnews.com/article/imb-trustee-resigns-over-new-jersey-mosque-flap/#.WI0-0MtMHqC

From the article.....

"Publicly supporting religious liberty for Muslims in the U.S. also gives IMB workers credibility when they lobby foreign governments to afford similar protection to Christian minorities overseas, the statement says."

 

One needs to be asking first if it is true, as the CBF spokesman you quote says, that the SBC's IMB has been doing this "regularly" "for many years," because from what RSR presents it seems to be a recent phenomenon within just the last few years:

 

I don't know enough about Islamic jurisprudence, but would imagine that what happens in the Dar al-Harb wouldn't garner any goodwill back in the Dar al-Islam.

 

For sure.

I wasn't agreeing with the IMB, just bringing out a point I hadn't seen in this discussion.

I think they ought to be ashamed of themselves. Trying to jockey for Muslim favor is akin to Abram telling Sarai to tell Pharaoh she's his sister

 

And they oppose God to do it.

 

There's not an easy prooftext for it, but it is a thread woven throughout the teaching of Jesus.

Jesus clearly teaches that the standing of Caesar and the standing of God are different. Caesar has authority on what one can do with the body, but we are created in such a way that no one can control whether or not we worship God. Our calling is not only to worship God, but to engage in that worship by making disciples through persuasion. Jesus taught that his kingdom is not of this world, therefore there are things that are under God's authority that He has not placed under the authority of human governments.

Jesus also taught that we are not to hinder or harm those who are not His. For instance, in this parable:

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (ESV)​

[Jesus] put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘And enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, "Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"
…
Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 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 he 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 the angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.​

There will come a day at the end of the age when the Master will discern who is to be spared and who will be destroyed. Until then, we leave them alone.

 

I agree with you that the standing of Caesar and the standing of God are different.

Jesus said fear not those who can kill only the body but cannot destroy the soul, but fear Him who can cast both body and soul into hell.

My point is that a human government, a secular government, maybe a godless government, might very well impose a ban on Christian worship. The Christian is to ignore any such ban and confess the name of Christ before men. And then trust God with the results.

So any time you have a group of so-called Christians who are attempting to jockey their way into the favor of men, they are clearly not trusting God.

 

Jerome, do you feel like Weaver is lying or misrepresenting the facts?

To prove if it is true, one would need to go back and find amicus briefs filed by the IMB over the course of several years, further back than what rsr cited that would be in the tenure of two IMB presidents (and mostly one). But the fact that rsr only mentioned back to 2011 is not proof there are none further back. Anyone who wants to can go back and search it out. I don't mind being proven wrong on this point, but as it stands I really can't think of any reason Mr. Weaver would lie about it.

And whether or not Weaver is correct, we do see the briefs from 2011 to the present. One could always point out where the hue and cry has been over these, if there has been.

 

Good point. I looked him up online and see that Aaron Weaver looks like a relatively young fellow and has been in the communications department of the CBF about 5 years. So I span of 6 or 7 years may seem like "many years" to him.

I was interested that you can find the amici you mentioned online:
2011 Hosanna Tabor Evangelical Lutheran School
2014 Parsonage allowances
2014 Beard of prison inmate
2015 Little Sisters of the Poor

 

Or perhaps you're wrongly assigning a meaning which he never intended?

Is there any biblical evidence that Paul was right in doing so?

 

My personal opinion and I believe scripture backs me up on this..The church should not involve itself in anything ungodly ever! Supporting anything the Muslims do is ungodly and goes against scripture!

 

So when Mordechai went to Esther, who was talked into influencing Xerxes, was that "clearly not trust God"? So that was wrong?

You say "trust God with the results." God has a habit of using men and women to get those results.


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