Religious Liberty - Questions Answered

Religious Liberty Questions Answered

1. What is essential to extensive religious persecution? Ecclesiastical control of the civil power, or a union of church and state.

2. Under what terrible deception did Christ say men would persecute His followers?
"These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." John 16:1,2.

"The state cannot afford to permit religious liberty. We hear a great deal about religious tolerance, but we are only tolerant in so far as we are not interested. A person may be tolerant toward a religion if he is not religious. . . Intolerance means fervor and zeal. The best the state can do is to establish a limited religious liberty; but beyond a certain degree of tolerance the state cannot afford to admit the doctrine."- Monsignor Russell (Catholic), quoted in Washington Post, May 5, 1910.
"The church has persecuted. Only a tyro in church history will deny that. . . . We have always defended the persecution of the Huguenots, and the Spanish Inquisition. When she thinks it good to use physical force, she will use it. . . . But will the Catholic Church give bond that she will not persecute at all? Will she guarantee absolute freedom and equality of all churches and all faiths? The Catholic Church gives no bonds for her good behavior."- Editorial in Western Watchman (Catholic), of St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 24,1908.
"The Inquisition was a very merciful tribunal; I repeat it, almost a compassionate tribunal. . . . A man was only allowed to be racked once, which no one can deny was a most wonderful leniency in those times."- Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Aug. 29, 1896.
"We confess that the Roman Catholic Church is intolerant; that is to say, that it uses all the means in its power for the extirpation of error and sin; but this intolerance is the logical and necessary consequence of her infallibility. She alone has the right to be intolerant, because she alone has the truth. The church tolerates heretics where she is obliged to do so, but she hates them mortally, and employs all her force to secure their annihilation."- Shepherd of the Valley (St. Louis, Mo.), 1876.
This erroneous position has been well refuted by Lord Macaulay in the following words: "The doctrine which, from the very first origin of religious dissensions, has been held by all bigots of all sects, when condensed into few words and stripped of rhetorical disguise, is simply this: I am in the right, and you are in the wrong. When you are the stronger, you ought to tolerate me; for it is your duty to tolerate truth. But when I am the stronger, I shall persecute you; for it is my duty to persecute error."- Essay on "Sir James Mackintosh."
Benjamin Franklin well said: "When religion is good it will take care of itself; when it is not able to take care of itself, and God does not see fit to take care of it, so that it has to appeal to the civil power for support, it is evidence to my mind that its cause is a bad one."- Letter to Dr. Price.
John Wesley gave the following Christian advice: "Condemn no man for not thinking as you think. Let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment, since every man must give an account of himself to God. Abhor every approach, in any kind or degree, to the spirit of persecution. If you cannot reason nor persuade a man into the truth, never attempt to force a man into it. If love will not compel him to come, leave him to God, the Judge of all."

3. Who is responsible for the present State Sunday laws of the United States?
"During nearly all our American history the churches have influence the States to make and improve Sabbath laws."- Rev. W. F. Crafts, in Christian Statesman, July 3, 1890.

NOTES.-"These Sunday laws are a survival of the complete union of church and state which existed at the founding of the colony." -Boston Post, April 14, 1907.

4. Why is a national Sunday law demanded?
"The national Sunday law is needed to make the State laws complete and effective." -
Christian Statesman, April 11, 1889.

5. Since the Sunday sabbath originated with the Roman power (the beast), to whom will men yield homage when, knowing the facts, they choose to observe Sunday,instead of the Bible Sabbath, in deference to compulsory Sunday laws?
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey." Rom. 6:16.

NOTES.-"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church."- Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today," page 213.
The conscientious observance of Sunday as the Sabbath on the part of those who hitherto have supposed it to be the Sabbath, has, without doubt, been accepted of God as Sabbath-keeping. It is only when light comes that sin in imputed. John 9:41; 15:22; Acts 17:30. See reading in Chapter 174. of this book.

6. What does Christ say about our duty to the state?
"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Matt. 22:21.

NOTE.-The Sabbath belongs to God. Its observance, therefore should be rendered only to Him.

7. What is Satan's final deception?
"And he doeth great wonders, so that
he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." Rev. 13:13.

8. How is Daniel 7:25 being fulfilled?
"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.."
Daniel 7:25

Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV, p. 153: "The Church ... after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the third commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's day." Salvation History and the Commandments, p. 294, 1963 edition, by Rev. Leo. J. Trese and John J. Castlelot, S.S. describes it in these words: "Nothing is said in the Bible about the change of the Lord's day from Saturday to Sunday. We know of the change only from the tradition of the Church - a fact handed down to us from earliest times by the living voice of the Church. That is why we find so illogical the attitude of many non-Catholic, who say that they will believe nothing unless they can find it in the Bible and yet will continue to keep Sunday as the Lord's day on the say so of the Catholic Church."

"The Catholic Church transferred the observance from the seventh to the first day of the week. ... The Catholic Church deemed it more fitting to appoint this day, rather than Saturday, the festival day of Christians." This Is Catholicism, 1959 edition, John Walsh, S. J., p. 325.

"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ, Himself, hidden under the veil of flesh."
http://babylonmysteryreligion.com/Library/reformation/library_pope_claims.htm

"The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth (emphasis added)...by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth".
http://babylonmysteryreligion.com/Library/reformation/library_pope_claims.htm

9. Does the Catholic Church claim to be able to establish festivals of precept?
Reverend Stephen Keenan's A Doctrinal Catechism, P.175 Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority."

"Reason and common sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Satirday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible." The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893.

God simply gave His {Catholic} Churh the power to set aside whatever day or days, she would deem suitable as Holy Days. The Church close Sunday, the frist day of the week, and in teh course of time added other days as holy days." Vincent J. Kelly, "Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations", Pg 2.

"Protestants...accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change...But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in accepting the Bible, in observing the Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope." Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950.

"We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." Pope Leo XIII, in an Encyclical Letter dated June 20, 1894.

"Not the Creator of the Universe, in Genesis 2:1-3, but the Catholic Church can claim the honor of having granted man a pause to his work every seven days." S.C. Mosna, "Storia della Domenica", 1969, pp. 366-367.

"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ but he is Jesus Christ Himself, hidden under the veil of flesh." The Catholic National, July 1895.

"If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God o the Sabbath Day. In keeping Sunday, they are following a law of the Catholic Church." Albert Smith, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, repling for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920.

"We define that the Holy Apostolic See (the Vatican) and the Roman Pontiff holds the primacy over the whole world." A decree of the Council of Trent, quoted in Phillippe Labbe and Gabriel Cossart, "The Most Holy Councils," Vol. 13, col. 1167.

"It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest (from the Bible Sabbath) to the Sunday... Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the (Catholic) Church. - Monsignor Louis Segur, "Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today", P. 213.

"We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." Peter Geiermann, CSSR. "A Doctrinal Catechism" 1957 edition, p. 50.

10. If the Bible is the only guide for Christians, what day should they keep holy?
Cardinal Gibbons, The Question Box, p. 179, "If the Bible is the only guide for the Christian, then the Seventh-day Adventist is right in observing the Saturday with the Jew. ... Is it not strange that those who make the Bible their only teacher, should inconsistently follow in this matter the tradition of the Catholic Church?"

Understanding the Catholic Faith, John A O'Brien, p. 13, 1955 edition, states: "The Bible does not contain all the teachings of the Catholic religion, nor does it formulate all the duties of its members. Take, for instance, the matter of Sunday observance, attendance at divine service, and abstention from unnecessary servile work on that day. This is a matter upon which our Protestant neighbors have for many years laid great emphasis; yet nowhere in the Bible is the Sunday designated as the Lord's Day; the day mentioned is the Sabbath, the last day of the week. The early Church, conscious of her authority to teach in the name of Christ, deliberately changed the day to Sunday."

11. By what activity the Protestants acknowledge the authority of the Catholic Church?
Father Enright, President of Redemptorist College in America: "It was the Holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the first day of the week. And it not only compelled all to keep Sunday, but also urged all persons to labor on the seventh day under pain of anathema. Protestants ... profess great reverence for the Bible, and yet by their solemn act of keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the power of the Catholic Church. The Bible says, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' But the Catholic Church says, 'NO: Keep the first day of the week' and lo, the entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church."

C. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, in answer to a letter regarding the change of the Sabbath: "Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters." Thus, the issues become plain - God says that He is the true God: He has given the Sabbath as a seal of His authority as the Creator of all. By keeping the Sabbath, we recognize His authority as the true God. But the Catholic Church appears and says in effect, "No, don't keep the Sabbath; keep the first day of the week. We changed it, and that change is a mark of our power to overrule God's law and authority."

12. What do Protestants say?
Here is a quotation from Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, the author of the Baptist Manual: "There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week. ... Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament - absolutely not. ... Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers, and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, when adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!" (From a paper read before a New York ministers' conference held November 13, 1893.)

The Presbyterian Christian at Work said this: "Some have tried to build the observance of Sunday upon apostolic command, whereas the apostles gave no command on the matter at all. ... The truth is, as soon as we appeal to the litera scripta (the literal writing) of the Bible, the Sabbatarians have the best of the arguments." Ed. April 19, 1883. The Methodist Theological Compendium states: "It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism ... nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week."

Dr. W. R. Dale (Congregational) in The Ten Commandments, pp. 106, 107, says: "It is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath. The Sabbath was founded on a specific, divine command. We can plead no such command for the observance of Sunday. ... There is not a single line in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday."

The Lutheran position, as revealed in the "Augsburg Confession of Faith", states: "The observance of the Lord's day (Sunday) is founded not on any command of God, but on the authority of the church." Episcopalian spokesman Neander writes in the History of the Christian Religion and Church, p. 186: "The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect, far from them and from the early apostolic church to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday."


Points to Ponder

"And he hath power to give life to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Revelation 13:15, KJV

"The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it".
John Stuart Mill

"The question of enforcing Sunday observance has become one of national interest and importance. We well know what the result of this movement will be. But are we ready for the issue? Have we faithfully discharged the duty which God has committed to us of giving the people warning of the danger before them? There are many, even of those engaged in this movement for Sunday enforcement, who are blinded to the results which will follow this action. They do not see that they are striking directly against religious liberty. There are many who have never understood the claims of the Bible Sabbath and the false foundation upon which the Sunday institution rests."
Testimonies, Volume 5, Page 711


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