종교자유에 관한 영어 설교전문 존그라츠박사-대총회 종교자유부장 2013년 11월 2일 서울영어학원교회 제목; 호각소리를 들을 수 있습니다 We could hear the whistle Sermon on Religious Liberty Seoul We could hear the whistle Text: John 6: 66-67 “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve: “Do you also want to go away?” Introduction Million people and among them a large number of young students like you, would give everything they have, to be here this morning. Why? Not because you, not because me, because the freedom we enjoy in this country. We pray together, we sing hymns, we worship our God. Just for that, million people would give everything they have to be here with us: - Without trembling about a possible raid of the police, like in Azerbaijan, in Kazakhstan; - Without asking themselves if a bomb is going to blow up and kill several of them, like in Iraq, like in Egypt; - Without risking of being attacked and butchered by a group of religious fanatics like in Orissa, India, like in Northern Nigeria.. . What a privilege you and me have to live: In a country where, religious freedom is a founding value; In a country where, the law protects us even if we are a minority; In a country, where we are free to have, according to our conscience, a religion, to change a religion, to have no religion. “The greatest good of the people is liberty. It is to the state what health is to the individual,” wrote Diderot the French philosopher. Why? Why? Why? I travel around the world to promote and defend religious freedom. I meet government’s officials, Ambassadors, religious leaders … With our team we organize congresses, symposiums, festival of religious freedom, religious Liberty Dinner, Meeting of Experts … We train our leaders. We explain our members, why we are defending religious freedom for all and everywhere? It happens that some members express their misunderstanding about our ministry. They believe we should not oppose persecution. Those who are persecuted don’t think like that. They dream to be free to worship God and to share the good news. Others think that Evangelism is enough and we should not do anything else. Their definition of evangelism is very narrow. I agree evangelism is the priority. But they don’t see that evangelism is tightly dependent of the liberty you have to preach. Why do we have so many evangelists and so many ministries dedicated to evangelism here in South Korea? It is not the case in North Korea or in Iran. What makes the difference? Two words: Religious Freedom! If you believe Evangelism is the mission of the Church, you must defend the freedom to evangelize. Some others are more practical. They say that according to the prophecy, we should be persecuted anyway. Why are we fighting against? We should welcome persecution. You may believe you need to be persecuted to become a better Christian. It is ok! But don’t create problems for your brothers and sisters, where they have freedom. Contact me and I will give you a few good addresses. You will have 100 % chances to be persecuted there. Go! You don’t need to buy a return ticket. You will stay there longer than you expect. If you believe it is not appropriate to defend religious freedom. My question would be: What about health, justice and poverty … Why, are we trying to help people to have a better and longer life? It is just a question of months or years. At the end all will die! Let them die, then, we will go to Heaven. What about poverty? Jesus said: “You will have always poor with you!” Welcome to the poor. Please don’t change anything in the society. Don’t try to have more Justice, more generosity! Why? Jesus said: “you will have always the poor with you”. Make sure they are here. Everyone can understand It makes no sense to say that. A God’s value and a Gift We are promoting and defending religious freedom because it a God’s value, It is a sign of the Kingdom of God and we are first citizens of His kingdom. It is also a gift from God. He created us with the freedom to choose. It is a gift for all human beings, not just for Americans or Europeans or Brazilians. Of course, religious freedom is an essential human right. You could read it in article 18 of the universal Declaration of Human Rights and in many other documents and constitutions. “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion ...” It is the foundation of the system of values of the democratic countries. But I think we shall miss the most important point, if we don’t go to Jesus. Did Jesus practice religious freedom? Yes of course but why? Jesus is our model John 6:67 “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve: “Do you also want to go away?” Jesus is our model; He has never forced anyone to follow him, even when he needed the support of all his disciples. In the chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, Jesus is speaking clearly about his mission. Many of his disciples are disappointed. They don’t understand his message: “I am the bread of life …” “I have come down from heaven.” … If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever: and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” What is he talking about? People who were following Jesus were interested by the real bread but not by the bread of life. They wanted to have a better life. They want to get rid of the Romans who oppressed them. They wanted to be free, to eat every time they needed and to save some money for their children. “Jesus, Could you do that? Yes you can, we know you can.” “About the eternal life, it is not an emergency? We will see later on and anyway, we have the temple and the Priests.” Jesus we ask you to seize the power in Jerusalem and everything will be perfect.” That was not what Jesus said. Then a large number of His disciples left. Those who believed: They cannot change the world without imposing their will; without oppressing or killing those who disagree with them, are no longer interested. In his speech on the bread of life, Jesus gave the purpose of his mission and he showed the methods he will use to accomplish it. He will not be a new Alexander the Great, a new Caesar. He will not follow their way. He is different. He comes from heaven. He is the son of God and He gives his life for our salvation. He is the King, but his kingdom is not from the world. It is from heaven. For many observers at this very moment, Jesus had just spoiled all his chances to become the King of Israel. They think He will be a dreamer for sure, may be a prophet, nothing else. He was leading them to the wrong direction. They decided to leave him. They left! How Alexander the Great or Caesar would have reacted? We know what they did in such circumstances. They killed those who wanted to leave them. Can you imagine, just before a battle the generals asking their troops: “Now I would like to know how many of you want to stay? How many want to leave? You are free”! No way! If you leave, we shot you. How did Jesus react? He looks at the twelve and say: “Do you also want to go away?” Jesus took the risk of losing his small troop. Why? He believed that every human being has the right to choose. He respected their choice. He knew that, if he forced them to follow him, he would have betrayed his mission. Of course Jesus could have impressed. He could have performed great miracles. He could have called the celestial army. He could have opened a window on heaven to convince them. He did not. Why? He did not want to impose his will on their free will. That is religious freedom. Jesus practiced religious freedom in every step of his ministry. It was part of his living message: Don’t impose what you believe to others even if what you believe is the truth. Religious freedom is the core of our God’s character of love of. It is the core of the Gospel. You may ask: Is it really? If it is the case, why the Christian message, which is a message of love, peace and justice, has been for centuries corrupted by the use of violence and persecution? Why God and the religion have been so often high jacked by religious fanatics? What did happen? There is no order to kill or persecute anyone in the New Testament. Christians were persecuted until 313. They suffered so much for centuries. What happened? Christian leaders ceased to take Jesus as their exclusive model. They forgot his question to His disciples: “Do you also want to go away?” They forgot the Kingdom of Christ. They chose to build the Christian Kingdom They followed Caesar way: “You have no choice!” Follow me or die!” Remember 313 In 312, the day before the battle of the Melvin Bridge, the young Constantine, proclaimed Emperor by his army, marched to Rome. He was already known, as his father, as a protector of Christians. The story tells, that he saw the sign of the cross in the sun. He decided to paint it on the shield of his soldiers. He won the battle and of course for the Christians, it was a great miracle. After three centuries of persecution the new Emperor of Rome was on their side. A few later, in 313 Constantine and the other Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan. It was the first official document on religious freedom. They agreed to: “… grant to the Christians and others full authority to observe that religion which each preferred; … who wishes to observe Christian religion may do so freely and openly without molestation.” Imagine the Roman Empire being faithful to this edict. It would have changed the history of the world. But a few decades later, in 380, by the Edict of Thessalonica, The Emperor Theodosius the Great made Christianity the religion of the Empire. Caesar became the king of Christians. Heretics and Pagans were persecuted. The Christian kingdom took the place of the kingdom og God. In this alliance between the Church and the Empire, the religion of Christ lost its soul. Religious freedom was no longer appropriated for the new power. When a religion is associated to the power of the state, the temptation to persecute those who disagree is very strong. Every time we lose the vision of the Kingdom of God, Caesar becomes our king and Caesar doesn’t care about religious freedom. Caesar uses the power to get more power and to keep it. My Kingdom is not of this world When Jesus had to stand before Pilate, he had no power, no army to defend him. In a very short confrontation between the symbol of the powerful Roman Empire, and the powerless king of the kingdom of God, Jesus made no compromise. He is faithful to his speech on the bread of life. He is not a defeated king. He is the king of a new world. His kingdom will have the last word. “If my kingdom was of this world, my servants would fight … but now my kingdom is not from here.” John 18:36 No one is forced to believe him, to follow him. In the tragedy of the cross every actor made their choice and took their responsibility. Jesus respected their freedom. We are Disciples of Jesus We believe in religious freedom because we are disciples of Jesus. We are citizens of his glorious kingdom. It is a free citizenship. Everyone is invited but no one is forced to come and to worship God. God loves us and He wants to build a relation of love with us. There is no love without the freedom to love. Persecution bears the signature of the Evil. In the book of revelation chapter 13, we see the enemies of God in action. Religious freedom is not in their program. Persecution, discrimination, humiliation is their favorite methods. They persecute God’s people; they put a mark on them and killed them. Revelation 13:15 “…all who refused to worship the image (of the beat) to be killed.” We are on the other side. We are on the side of hope, on the side of the truth and religious liberty. The question is what could we do? On the map of the world we could see the increasing number of countries where there is no religious freedom. The increasing of violent intolerance chocks us. According to Pew Forum, 75% of the world population lives in such countries. What are we doing? We are doing many things and in some ways Adventists are recognized as the “Champions of religious freedom”. Not enough! We have organized the largest congress with 900 participants and with more than 40,000 attendees, the largest world gathering for religious freedom. But 200 million Christians live in countries where they are discriminated or persecuted. Several of them are sentenced to death for the crime of apostasy because they became Christians or for the crime of Blasphemy because testified about their Savior. Asia Bibi a Christian mother has been accused of blasphemy in 2009. She was sentence to death. She is still in prison. The Governor of her Province who took position in her favor was assassinated by his body guard in January 2011. A few months later a Minister of the government of Pakistan defended her and challenged the law on Blasphemy. He was assassinated too. I have contacts with a mother who became Adventist in watching our TV programs. She lost her job, her husband divorced, she had to leave her house and her children and pay a fine. She tried to get a lawyer, but no one accepted to defend her. They are afraid to be assassinated in defending a woman who became Christian. In spite of that she shares her new faith and gives Bible studies. In her country, the government is planning to pass a law on Apostasy. If it happens she will become a criminal and may be sentenced to death. Middle East was the cradle of Christianity for two thousand years. In the Middle Age Christians were still the majority there. Their contribution to the Arab civilization is extremely important. After the World War II, their number decreased but now they are disappearing. They were 1.4 million in Iraq in 2003 and today they are between 700,000 to 500,000. It is a sign. What can we do? 1. We have to preach the truth! 2. We have to defend and promote vigorously and with a strong determination religious freedom for all and everywhere. It will be far more efficient to fight against religious fanaticism than any other method. 3. We have to follow Jesus method with love and non-violence, but conviction. If we don’t do it, we don’t deserve the freedom we have in this country. Edmund Burke wrote: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” You remember what Martin Luther King Jr said: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Could we hear the Whistle? In a letter to our President Ted Wilson, Congressman Frank Wolf quoted the German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer who was executed by the Nazis. He wrote: “A railroad track ran behind our small church and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars!” Week after week the whistle would blow. We knew the time the train was coming and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the train came past our church were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more. And Bonheoffer concludes by these words: Years have passed and no one talks about it anymore. But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me all of us who called ourselves Christians and yet did nothing to intervene.” Ellen White wrote that we are not doing the will of God if we stay sitting doing nothing to defend freedom of conscience. We have organized the largest events of religious freedom in history and many other things but all we are doing is a drop of water in the Ocean of intolerance. We use to say Religious Freedom is in the DNA of Adventists, but the truth is if we did not have the General Conference, the Division and the Unions, it means the Church Administration supporting us; religious freedom would have disappeared from our activities and from our values. The Former Moderator of the European Conferences of Churches said in a book published in France: “I admire the Adventists for their work in favor of religious freedom.” The “World “recognizes our work. We are invited by secular universities, we have the best think thank of experts formed of non-Adventist professors. But we could do far better. The defense and promotion of religious freedom offers us great opportunities. We can play a major role in building bridges between people of goodwill from different beliefs. There are people of goodwill everywhere. We have to find them and to work with them. Lincoln Steed and I went to Ambon in Eastern Indonesia just after the religious war between Christians and Muslims. 8000 people were killed there and so many churches, houses, schools were burned. We met Christian leaders but also Muslim leaders. They all welcomed us. We heard stories about Christians helping Muslims to rebuild their Mosque and Adventists hiding Muslim families but also Muslims protecting Churches during Christmas. One of the best defender of religious freedom was the United Nations Special Rapporteur: Professor Abdelfatha Amor. He became a good friend of mine. He was a Muslim. In all the events we organize we make sure that people from different religions are invited. Why? We defend religious freedom for all not just for us. It is a gift from God for all human beings. I am sure that in all our Universities we have students who care about those who are persecuted. We should have: Vibrant Clubs of religious freedom in every Adventist University and college. We should have: Every year a beautiful freedom Concert … It won’t be a revolution in the traditional activities, but it would show to the world the kind of values we cherish and who is our Master. If you do something here in PUC, like a club, you will be the first Club of Religious Freedom and you will make history. I can assure you that the members of this club will make a difference in their community and in their country. Those who are defending values when they are students will play an important role later on in their country. There are full pages to write in the book of religious freedom and you can write your pages. In the history of the world God does not want you to be observers. He went you to be actors, to make history. One of the most moving moments in my ministry was to see stadiums filled by people who said: “We love religious freedom, we want to keep it. Thank you God and our country for religious freedom!” When I began to work for religious freedom, the first meeting I attended we had 25 people representing several churches. My colleague’s seems to be satisfied about the good discussion we had. But I was not about the small attendance we had. Religious freedom is for all people and we need as many people as possible to say they love it. Everywhere they got this vision, they made history! I pray that PUC become a champion of religious freedom, defending the value Jesus practiced. The value, which is the core of the gospel and which is so embedded in the history of America. “Do you want to go away” said Jesus. And Peter and the apostle decided freely to stay. And Peter said: “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of the eternal life!”
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 07:24:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015