Should our faith be kept private?

Nonsense...

More nonsense.

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" (Eph. 6:1, NASB). The biblical principle here is that we are to obey those in authority as long as what they are commanding/doing is "in the Lord." If they command us to do something, or are doing something, that is obviously outside God's moral will (fully revealed in the Bible), we are under no biblical obligation to obey. The English Governmet had established laws requiring equal representation for all British citizens in Parliament. The American Colonists (Brithish Citizens) repeatedly begged the Crown to be represented in Parliament. The Crown refused to abide by its own laws. Thus, the Crown was not abiding by its own governing laws and thereby lied to its citizens. Therefore, the citizens were under no biblical obligation to continue to obey the Crown and pay taxes without representation.

 

Shout from the mountain tops - appreciate the images but do not worship, pray with God in private, not that I am saying never in public, a time and place for everything

Matthew 6:5-6: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret...."

9 35Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.

14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town."

 

OH MY GOODNESS!!!:laugh:

What did Jesus tell His disciples? "Render unto Ceaser..."
What did Paul tell the ROMANS? "Be subject unto the higher powers..."
What did Paul exhort Titus? "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to OBEY MAGISTRATES, to be ready to every good work."
What did Peter exhort his audience? 1Pe 2:13
¶ Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
1Pe 2:14
Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
1Pe 2:15
For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
1Pe 2:16
As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
1Pe 2:17
Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

You get the idea. Or mebbe you don't?

Oh.. I FOUND that Bible principle that makes it OK to rebel against authority...:applause: 1Sa 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

How silly of me. It was there all the time.(insert rolly eyes here)

Ya' can't take one command to children and attempt to circumvent the whole of Scripture with it.
Jesus, Paul and Peter all lived during the time of some of the worst rulers in history. Yet not one of them ever gave permission to OVERTHROW any government. Scripturally, we were dead wrong.
But ain 't God good? He has had mercy on us for lo these 225 years now. Kinda like when He had mercy on Isreal for such a long time while THEY were in idolatry, (i.e. stubborn) huh???

Let GOD be true.

 

2Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

Since we are to submit to authority in EVERY way always, if the government came into your home and told you to cease spreading the Gospel, you would?!? What if they told you to murder your family? If you don't, are you then a witch and an idolater?

 

No need to shout. Obviously you are a little sensitive in this area, eh?

Asking a question about sharing the gospel is calling into question a direct command in Scripture. However asking about vocalized prayers and symbols of Christianity are totally different, because we are not commanded to pray outloud nor are we commanded to pray in public. We can and it's okay to do so, but it's not a requirement. Nor are we ever commanded to have relics of our faith posted anywhere.

These are two totally different areas. You are talking about commands and non-commands.

 

My bad - crow tastes yummy if cooked right :laugh:

That's true to an extent. If it is a direct violation against a direct command of God then I would agree with you. However there is no direct command that we pray outloud at a football game or at a graduation ceremony or what not.

I personally like that it is done, epsecially where I live in Texas.

However, when a big deal is made and a case is taken to court and the court rules that what was being done was not allowable then we need to just go on about what we are doing and not disrupt the event.

The reason being is that we are not commanded to pray out loud and in public. If it is permissible then fine, but if not then pray to yourself. They can't keep you from praying.

What does that look like to the person that filed the suit and others in that community that aren't Christians? It looks like Christians in rebellion. It doesn't matter if that was the spirit or not, that's what it looks like to outsiders. Therefore we are putting a stumbling block up in front of folks that is unnecessary.

Christians are fighting the wrong battle. Our battle is not with flesh and blood, but our battle is spiritual with a spiritual enemy. The enemy in that case was not the boy that filed the suit, but the spirit behind that suit. Our fight is not with the government. Even if all the laws were passed that Christians want passed it's not going to make people live better.

We must get in the right battle and fight the right foe and realize that the battle is really already won if we will just die to self and allow the Spirit to live in and through us.

My apology again for the CAPS comment!

 

I was going to say the same thing but you got to it first.

I am glad 1611jim wasn't in Nazi germany or he would have killed all those jews.
Also, GWB is in rebellion right now in Iraq because the local gov there doesn't aprrove us being over there terrorizing them.

Oh, and did I mention those rebellious Hebrew Midwives?

This is basically the same thread we are having over in politics:

http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=30025&page=7

 

You sir are the idolator, if there is one in that you have placed the government higher than God.
Without an acknowledgment that God is supreme and thus sometimes civil rulers must be disobeyed, you then place the government as go (the supreme law) and are guilty of idolatry!


It is very ironic that you have such a name as "av1611jim"

Haven't you ever studied your history?
There would be no "av1611" if it weren't for people like William Tyndale who defied the King to translate the Bible into English.