Does God Allow Religious Freedom?

God won’t force Himself on anybody. He believes in giving us the freedom of choice. So by those terms, the answer is yes. God does allow for religious freedom—the belief that each person has the right to choose whom and how they should worship.

But! And this is a big “but.” We know that if we choose God, desiring to be one of His people, and wanting to do things His way, the above kind of religious freedom is a no-no to Him. Once we decide to be in His kingdom, He will responsibly guide us into doing the right thing. And the following is one of the strongest pieces of guidance that we will get. So strong, in fact, that it is given in the form of a command.  “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20: 3.

That is God instructing and righteously raising His children. If we choose to be a part of His kingdom, He wants us to know that true religious freedom, without negative consequences, is only found in Him. Outside His kingdom, other gods are allowed to be freely chosen, but choosing them, He is against. That’s because He knows the harmful effects of that choice.

Therefore, because He is a just God, He goes on to say, fairly informing us, “Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.” Deuteronomy 6: 14, 15.

Some will protest this, saying that these commands are of the Old Covenant; that they are part of the Mosaic Law, which no longer applies to today’s New Covenant people. However, the Exodus 20: 3 passage is part of the Ten Commandments. The Commandments are included in the Mosaic Law, but only because God told Moses to write down all he had received from the Lord. In actuality, the Ten Commandments precede and succeed the abolishment of the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8: 10) because they are eternal. Therefore, it stands that if of the kingdom, only our biblical God is to be worshiped.

Though the Deuteronomy 6: 14, 15 passage passed away with the Old Covenant, it still serves as a guiding principle. It reminds us that salvation is only through Jesus.  

The bottom line is that, like God, we can be and should be respectful and tolerant of others religious freedoms. However, as His people and having been made aware of eternal consequences, the right choice is to not give credence to other gods, but to believe in and be committed to only Him.

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