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2008年02月01日
Good Books:Another Quote by Os Guinness
I am now reading Os Guinness' latest book, "The Case For Civility". As I am not done with it yet I cannot give a full report on it but I would like to share one quote of his and comment on that. When I have finished the book I promise to give a full report.
The quote is, "Religious liberty, or freedom of conscience, is a precious, fundamental, and inalienable human right-the right to reach, hold, freely exercise, or change one's beliefs, subject soley to the dictates of conscience and independent of all outside, especially goevernmental, control."
Now, that is a sentence! I am glad that he also added the phrase, "freedom of conscience" because sometimes the phrase, "religious liberty" can be misunderstood. But what religious liberty is all about is freedom to follow your own conscience. I have thought about the importance of our conscience a lot lately. Following God or the leading of the Holy Spirit often comes down to simply following our conscience. Our consceince is the voice of God in our heart that leads us and tells us what is wrong or right.
There are so many other voices out there trying to get our attention-the voice of human approval, the voices of our friends and family, all the things we see and hear on TV and on the Internet, etc. However, when all is said and done, the only voice we are to folllow is the voice of our conscience.
As I often share in church, I am so thankful that at this point in time, there does seem to be true religious liberty in Japan. We are free to meet together on Sunday and to share our faith together. I believe we need to daily thank God for that freedom that we have and to not forget the prime importance of following the voice of our conscience.
When I finishthe book I will write another report.
投稿者 bethany : 2008年02月01日 06:30
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