Religious Liberty
Freedom to Choose
“One of the most foundational of our distinctive Seventh-day Adventists beliefs, based directly on Scripture, is the belief in freedom of choice. Freedom of choice is really the central theme of the great controversy between good and evil...God’s system of government has always been based on His character; after all, ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). Any obedience that stems from force of fear is contrary to God’s principles. The devil attacked the foundation of God’s system of government by claiming that no one worships God out of love, only out of fear. So God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, providing the human beings that he created with the freedom of choice.the choice to obey Him or not.
After our first parents were enticed into choosing Satan.s rulership, .there was no way back to the perfect state of loving obedience to God. But before the creation of earth God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit had formulated the plan of salvation in which Jesus would. (pay) the price for our sins that we may once again have the power of choice.” (Adventist World, May 2011, Freedom to Choose, by Ted N. C. Wilson, President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, page 8)
Jesus died to defend our right to choose whom we will serve in the great battle of the universe. He is now interceding for us now in the Most Holy Place in the Heavenly Sanctuary. The investigative judgement which began in 1844(Daniel 8:14) revolves largely around choices, as the heavenly records of each individual human being.s choice for or against God is being made public in the courts of Heaven. “This is why the Seventh-day Adventists vigorously promote the protection of the religious rights of any person. We want to protect the right of every person to make a decision for God.. We want everyone to be able to have the choice of believing in a loving and powerful God who has provided salvation for each of us. While we wish everyone would know and love the God of Scripture, we don.t force this on anyone. Forcing someone to do even right things goes against God’s will and plays into Satan.s lie about God. God must be obeyed out of love. This is the essence of religious liberty.” (Adventist World, May 2011, Freedom to Choose, by Ted N. C. Wilson, President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, page 8)
To read the article “Freedom to Choose” by Ted N. C. Wilson
To learn more about your religious liberty rights see the links below