A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way.
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| Preachin's Blog A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way. |
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Monday, October 04, 2004 Thoughts on reading todayOne of the great things about growing up in a free society is the ability to pursue one's interests at his or her own pace and through one's own free volition. Today I was doing some reading in the Bill of Rights and came and noticed that the founders of our nation saw fit to include our most important rights at the outset of the document. Read the Bill of Rights Here! The first amendment to the Constitution, composed in the Great Compromise, is the guarantee of our freedom in a sometimes invirtuous society. We have the right to assembly, speech, press, and religion which no individual, institution, or incorporation can impinge upon. These rights are so foundational for they lay out the cornerstone of a society that can dialogue freely and exchange ideas...whether the ideas are any good or not is up to the participants. The English were a repressive bunch that did everything they could keep the colonists under their feet. How interesting is it that a Baptist led the way in joining with James Madison to champion the freedom of the individual. John Leland has some excellent sermons and writings on the nature of a free society. Separation of church and state is indeed a historical Baptist distinctive at which has at its  root the hope of engendering a free society through religious expression. It is not for the state to decide what form of religion you or I should take, nor is it for any individual to coherce another individual with, but it is the toleration of a great variety of religious expressions that guarantee our ability to meet corporately in groups to give praise to Christ. Now this notion of separation of Church and State has been greatly delued of late by some radical extremists, on both sides. The notion that we can live freely and express ourselves in the assembly is something that has been with Christianity since its outset.
How wonderful is it that we Baptists have a rich heritage of free of expression and involvement in the discussions and debates of our times. In the United States we have unprecedented access to championing the cause of Christ and proclaiming His banner to the nations which meet on our shores. A bold and righteous proclamation of His glorious Gospel must be met with attitudes and actions that warrant our expressions. I thank John LeLand for his efforts to bring us this important distinctive. Of course in his time John Leland had to write under various pseudonymyns to avoid reciprocity of some nature. Yet he still wrote and still stood tall for Christ. We need more John Lelands. Here is a quote from him: posted by Preachin Jesus | 4:18 PM | |
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