FREE WILL OR FORCE
By Colleen Donahue
God uses man’s governments and their leaders to keep peace in the land. And when there is peace it means people have the greatest chance of hearing the gospel. It might surprise us, but Jesus didn’t come to change the kingdoms of this world. He came to build the Kingdom of God – one person at a time. He changes a heart and that person in turn begins to change the society around them. Christ’s change is always an internal movement from the inside out and the ground up.
We are misguided when we think that we will keep or change our society for God by belonging to a political party we feel espouses policies that align with God’s way. You see, God values our free will. Therefore, whenever laws are enacted to change a moral situation from the top down, it may produce a temporary solution but not a true and lasting change.
Anything forced ceases to be Christian. Force and punishment lead to resentments and then a searching for how to get around a law. It drives people to underground desperation instead of into Jesus’ arms.
Jesus called the Scribes and the Pharisees “sons of hell” because they were living for God by their own man-made rules and doing it all in their own strength. Our alignment with political parties to change society by force of law is turning God’s people into “sons of hell” (or Christian nationalists) – looking nothing like Jesus that the world desperately needs to see.
