Conservative evangelicals don't want government support for our faith, because we believe God created all consciences free and a state-coerced act of worship isn't acceptable to God. Moreover, we believe the gospel isn't in need of state endorsement or assistance. Wall Street may need government bailouts but the Damascus Road never does.
Interpretation
True faith should come freely, without government influence or coercion.
This quote emphasizes the belief that authentic religious faith should arise from individual conscience and conviction rather than being imposed or supported by governmental authority. It suggests that genuine worship and belief in the gospel do not require external validation or assistance, contrasting the needs of financial institutions with the innate and autonomous nature of spiritual faith.
In practice
During a sermon, to discuss the importance of personal faith without government influence.
For too long, we’ve called unbelievers to “invite Jesus into your life.” Jesus doesn’t want to be in your life. Your life is a wreck. Jesus calls you into his life. And his life isn’t boring or purposeless or static. It’s wild and exhilarating and unpredictable.
When we adopt—and when we encourage a culture of adoption in our churches and communities—we’re picturing something that’s true about our God. We, like Jesus, see what our Father is doing and do likewise (John 5:19). And what our Father is doing, it turns out, is fighting for orphans, making them sons and daughters.
Ultimately, the transgender question is about more than just sex. It's about what it means to be human.
I hold that without truth and nonviolence there can be nothing but destruction of humanity.
A lawyer’s either a social engineer or … a parasite on society … A social engineer [is] a highly skilled, perceptive, sensitive lawyer who [understands] the Constitution of the United States and [knows] how to explore its uses in the solving of problems of local communities and in bettering conditions of the underprivileged citizens.
Today, the degradation of the inner life is symbolized by the fact that the only place sacred from interruption is the private toilet.
Life without Liberty is like a body without spirit. Liberty without thought is like a disturbed spirit.
Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.
The great decisions of government cannot be dictated by the concerns of religious factions. We have succeeded for 205 years in keeping the affairs of state separate from the uncompromising idealism of religious groups and we mustn't stop now. To retreat from that separation would violate the principles of conservatism and the values upon which the framers built this democratic republic.
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