What Does Freedom Of Religion Mean To You?

What it means to me is that we are free to worship God any way as we please as long as we do not stray from the Truth. Christianity is not a religion made by man regardless of what some may think. Our 'religion,' if you will, is acceptable to God.

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, [d]“Take, eat; this is My body which is [e]broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:29

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins ]and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:10-12

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-39

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

This is what Christianity is all about, a close relationship with God and with one another. It is not a stiff-necked religion as some would think it is. There are those stiff-necked religious people who call themselves Christians but their hearts are far from Him. Then there is us who True Believers in Christ whose hearts are after God's own heart. God has established this covenant with us before the foundations of the earth. This is what freedom of religion means to me.

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SW-User

Reading the OP it is the same sad old thing.

"Freedom of Religion" defined purely according to a particular time-conditioned theology of salvation. Such definition declared as the [i]only way[/i], the [i]only[/i] truth declared and instituted by God.

Such does not speak of the "truth that sets us free".

Sad.

GodSpeed63 · 61-69, M

@SW-User [quote]Such does not speak of the "truth that sets us free".[/quote]

Why do you say that?

SW-User

@GodSpeed63 Simoly because I rarely see freedom in the posts here of the "born agains" (or whatever they want to call themselves) No real evidence of the fruits of the spirit. I [i]do[/i] see such evidence in others now and throughout history, people of diverse faiths and beliefs, throughout all our worlds Faith Traditions.

[i]Those who have eyes to see, let them see[/i]

Zen master Dogen:- "We are what we understand"

Those who seek to restrict "truth" or the Spirit only to those who share their own conceptual belief system are blind, not free.

GodSpeed63 · 61-69, M

@SW-User [quote]Simoly because I rarely see freedom in the posts here of the "born agains" (or whatever they want to call themselves) No real evidence of the fruits of the spirit. I do see such evidence in others now and throughout history, people of diverse faiths and beliefs, throughout all our worlds Faith Traditions. [/quote]

The truth has set us free. There are religious people who claim to be Christian, and there are real believers in Christ, of who are you referring to?

[quote]Those who have eyes to see, let them see[/quote]

11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the [a]mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15
For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I [b]should heal them.’

Matthew 13:11-15

Religious people as well as skeptics will not understand the Spirit of God.

[quote]Those who seek to restrict "truth" or the Spirit only to those who share their own conceptual belief system are blind, not free.[/quote]

39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

John 9:39-41 The Pharisees were the religious lot at the time when Jesus walked the earth.

SW-User

@GodSpeed63 Your presumptions are so obvious. Come down and join the rest of us.

GodSpeed63 · 61-69, M

@SW-User [quote]Your presumptions are so obvious. Come down and join the rest of us.[/quote]

That is God's Word. Are you saying that God is presumptuous?

SW-User

@GodSpeed63 No, I am saying that YOU are presumptuous in identifying yourself as "one who sees", the "real" Christian.

GodSpeed63 · 61-69, M

@SW-User [quote]No, I am saying that YOU are presumptuous in identifying yourself as "one who sees", the "real" Christian.[/quote]

God has opened my eyes to the Truth and you want to shut them?

SW-User

@GodSpeed63 All testimonies are unique. We are all unique human beings - as said, every hair on our heads has been counted. But one thing becomes apparent - this is that many are handed down an image of God built around a particular theology, a particular Biblical hermanuetics. This is accepted, assimilated. Then, according to the concepts/theology handed down, they make their peace with such a God.

This is a totally pointless exercise. That human being, without genuine Grace, will merely trust in their "assimilation" of a set of concepts. In effect, their "works".

As Meister Eckharthas said:- [i][i]They do Him wrong who know God in one particular way - they end with the way, not God.
[/i][/i]
(Oh, and please don't quote back that Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life" as this will simply demonstrate that you don't understand Eckhart's words)

We are asked to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling. Not anyone elses. The one Source is totally beyond all time-conditioned concepts and theologies. Such a Source works in time, but is not [i]of[/i] time.

To be honest I am tired of seeking dialogue with those who identify their own particular theology with ultimate Truth. Those who dismiss any other, all other Churches, as "apostate", who rarely know anything at all about any other of our Worlds great Faith Traditions. Such often resort to such verses as "not many wise are called", thus making a virtue of ignorance.

Thank you for your testimony.

GodSpeed63 · 61-69, M

@SW-User [quote]Oh, and please don't quote back that Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life" as this will simply demonstrate that you don't understand Eckhart's words)[/quote]

I'd rather believe what Jesus said than 'what's his name' said.

[quote]We are asked to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling. Not anyone elses. The one Source is totally beyond all time-conditioned concepts and theologies. Such a Source works in time, but is not of time. [/quote]

According to you, is salvation free or not? Do we enter the kingdom of God by works or by grace?

SW-User

@GodSpeed63 Your contempt for what you have no knowledge of is noted. Very much in contrast to how wisdom is lauded and praised in Proverbs.

Yes, I have found through Pure Land Buddhism [i]exactly[/i] what it means for salvation to be pure gift.

Maybe at sometime you could actually seek to address the points I have made (quite frequently) as to why many who subscribe to Protestant Reform Theology actually subscribe to, and rely upon, "works".

But no, you avoid doing so. Or perhaps you are simply unable to comprehend?

PS Just to add, your response "I'd rather believe what Jesus said" simply demonstrates your lack of comprehension. No one is disputing what Jesus said.