Should Christianity Be Tolerated?
I Samuel 5:1–4
When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.
Treating all religions equally
"Tolerance for all" is the clarion call of our society. We are told that no one's opinion should be belittled. Everyone has the right to think and believe as they see fit. This may sound reasonable at first hearing, but it is a far cry from the early Baptist doctrine of Individual Soul Liberty; the belief that each person is responsible before God for his own understanding of the scriptures and each of us should be free to follow those things we have been taught by the Holy Spirit through our personal study of the Bible. Individual Soul Liberty never taught that all beliefs are equal and should be treated as such without discrimination. It taught that we are all responsible to dig into God's Word and to sincerely seek the truth. And, further, that the government should not impose restrictions on the carrying out of the truths that we have found in God's Word.
This gave rise to the concept of Freedom of Religion. If each of us is responsible before God for holding to the truths of the scriptures, a state-mandated religious liturgy or creed is unacceptable. The state cannot decide what the Bible teaches; it must be determined by faithful study of the scriptures.
Today, we see Protestant Christianity falling from it's prominent place in the United States to a place that is less influential in the affairs of our nation. We are asked to view all religions as equal and to not show a preference to one or another religious viewpoint—at least in the public square. So we no longer find manger scenes decorating the public grounds at Christmas time. We now must have a Santa Claus (deemed less offensive than a baby in a manger) alongside a menorah (for those of the Jewish faith), and Frosty the Snowman (for the atheists among us), and a rainbow cone (for the Gay and Lesbian lobby), and a Buddha (for the Buddhists), and a Tree of Knowledge (for the Baha'i faith and the few remaining Aztecs who now live in the US), and a variety of other symbols that represent everything from Islam to UFO-worship.
In the scripture passage above we read a story about what God thinks about placing worship of the True God equally next to worship of false gods. If you read that passage through to verse 12, you'll see that God struck the people of the land down. He cursed their health and killed many of them. They eventually realized what was up and the people demanded that the ark be returned to Israel.
Could a curse against the US be a good thing?
This brings to my mind a question that sounds a little bit crazy: Should we be open to the possibility that the United States is desitined to be cursed by God? I don't think we should hope for that or pray directly for that, but I don't think we should stand in opposition to that possibility.
Another question is: Should we fight for equal rights for Christianity? The answer to that, in my estimation, is NO. Yes, Christians themselves should have equal Constitutional protections under our form of government. But Christianity as a religion, in other words the worship of Jesus Christ, should not be consider equal with other religions in public displays or in public discourse or in any other manner. Our God is a jealous God; He will not share his glory with another.
Consider:
Perhaps it would be good for the souls of our national leaders and the people of our country for this nation to fall under the curse of God. For God to turn our people over to the lusts of their own hearts, pursuing what is unseemly. For God to send natural disasters against our nation. For God to curse our nation with incurable diseases. For God to allow our nation to be overrun by an enemy. I believe that the first three things have already happened. The final thing has not happened yet, but may soon—if the Christians in this nation don't repent of our wicked ways and seek God's face. Perhaps falling under the full curse of God, though, would wake all of us up to the fact that "every knee will bow" before the Holy God.
The I Samuel passage made it clear that even those who were not God's people understood that God was cursing them. They sought the True God for relief from the curses they were under. The honored God by acknowledging his power and authority.
This is what the people of the United States need to do today. May God grant our nation repentance. Before it is too late.
The remaining text from 1 Samuel (5:6–12):
The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven. [Emphasis mine]