1. What condition of things must exist before there can be religious persecution?
Before there can be religious persecution there must be a union of the civil and religious forces,—church and state must be united. The church must get control of and use the power of the state before she can punish those who dissent from her doctrines, dogmas, and dictation.
2. To whom are all accountable in religious things?
“Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.” “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Rom. 14:4, 12. See also 1 Cor. 7:23.
3. Therefore, when men attempt to control us in religious matters, what have we a right to do? Ans.—To dissent.
Liberty vs. Toleration.
4. What is the meaning of the terms tolerate, tolerance, and toleration?
Tolerance—“The act of enduring.”
Tolerate—“To suffer to be or to be done; to allow or permit negatively, by not preventing.”
Toleration—“The allowance of that which is not wholly approved. Specifically, when contrary to or different from those of the established church or belief.”—Webster.
5. What does toleration imply?
(a) An established religion.
(b) The right to dictate in religious things.
(c) The allowing of that which is not approved.
(d) The right to prohibit and compel. See note .
6. What kind of rights do we exercise in worshiping God, working on Sunday, etc.? Ans.—Natural or inherent and inalienable rights. See note .
7. Can the state give men rights which inhere in the men themselves?
To give to men their natural rights is not in the power or province of the state. It has no such rights to give. Rights come from God. The Michigan Sabbath Watchman, of June, 1892, failed to comprehend this when it said: “The only legal right the Seventh-day Adventists have to do secular work in shop, in house, in field, or to run their presses, etc., in their publishing concern on the Christian sabbath, is a right given them by this state on religious grounds only.”
8. From whom do such rights come? Ans.—From God.
9. What is the province of the state? Ans.—To protect men in their rights.
“To protect liberty of conscience is the duty of the state, and this is the limit of its authority in matters of religion.”—Great Controversy, p. 201.
“Government exists for the protection of the persons and property of men.”—Macaulay on Mills’ Essay on Government.
10. How are governments controlled? Ans.—By majorities.
11. Where do the majority stand on religious questions?
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” Matt. 7:12, 13. See note .
A Wresting of Scripture.
12. What scripture is sometimes cited to show that we are under obligation to obey whatever laws men may make?
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God.” Rom. 13:1.
13. What would such an application of this scripture imply?
To say that because we are told to be subject to the higher powers we are therefore bound to obey every law that men may make, would imply that if the state commanded men to murder, they would have to do it; or to steal, they would have to steal; or to lie, swear, dishonor parents, or worship idols, they would have to do all these things. Every person knows better than this. It is evident, therefore, that there must be some limit to human legislation and the duties which men owe to civil governments.
14. What must we therefore conclude? Ans.—That there is a limit to the rightful authority of the powers that be; that they have not a right to require men to do wrong.
15. Who was one of the “powers that be” anciently, and what did the Lord call him?
“Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.” “And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.” Jer. 25:9; 27:6.
16. What did Nebuchadnezzar erect in the plain of Dura? and what command did he make respecting it?
“Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits; he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.” “Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up; and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Dan. 3:1, 4–6.
17. Was this command contrary to the law of God?
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Ex. 20:4–6.
18. Who refused to obey the king? and in what words did they address him?
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter; if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Dan. 3:16–18.
19. Was this anarchy, or a resisting of the powers that be?
Anarchy is a disregard for all law. To disregard unjust laws that transcend the rights of conscience is not anarchy. The most loyal and patriotic can do this. Neither is it resisting the powers that be to disregard such laws. The resistance spoken of in Rom. 13:2 is a rising up against, or a resort to forceful means. This no Christian will do. He will firmly refuse to comply with laws that violate his conscience, and submit to whatever consequences such a course may entail. “Christ’s ambassadors have nothing to do with consequences.”—Great Controversy, p. 609.
“Conscientious men are not the enemies but the friends of any government but a tyranny. They are its strength and not its weakness. Daniel, in Babylon, praying, contrary to the law, was the true friend and supporter of the government, while those who, in their pretended zeal for the law and the constitution, would strike down the good man, were its real enemies. It is only when government transcends its sphere that it comes in contact with the consciences of men.”—Fairchild’s Moral Philosophy, p. 185.
20. How did God interpose, and set the seal of his approval to their course?
“Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.” Dan. 3:28.
21. What are we to conclude, therefore, respecting the “powers that be”? Ans.—That they have no right whatever to intermeddle in religious things.
22. When Daniel by a Medo-Persian decree was forbidden to worship the God of heaven, what did he do?
“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” Dan. 6:10.
23. What argument did his persecutors bring to bear on the king to secure his condemnation? Ans.—That it was the law, and must be enforced. Verses 13–15. See also note .
24. How did God show his approval of Daniel’s refusing to obey the law?
“My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.” Verse 22.
25. What prohibitory command did the Jewish Sanhedrin place upon the apostles?
“But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” Acts 4:17, 18.
26. In direct conflict with this, what did the angel of the Lord command them to do?
“But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.” Acts 5:19, 20.
27. What religious Roman laws existed in the days of the apostles?
The following was Roman law in the time of the apostles:—
“Worship the gods in all respects according to the laws of your country, and compel all others to do the same. But hate and punish those who would introduce anything alien to our customs in this particular.”
“Whoever introduces new religions, the tendency and character of which are unknown, whereby the minds of men be disturbed, shall, if belonging to the higher rank, be banished; if to the lower, punished with death.”—Neander, Church History, vol. 1, sec. 1, part 1, div. 3, par. 2.
28. What did the great commission which Christ gave to the disciples require them to do? Ans.—Ignore these laws of Caesar.
29. Why had they a right to do so? Ans.—Because the Lord was first to be obeyed, and Caesar had no right to make these laws.
30. In any case, therefore, of conflict between the laws of men and the word of God, whom should we obey?
“But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 4:19, 20; 5:29. See note .
31. Mention the four examples in this lesson which show that obedience to civil governments is limited to civil things.
