According to a recent report on FOX News, a home Bible study is under fire in California. Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary got some friends together at their house in San Diego for a Bible study. However, when the county of San Diego found out, the couple was told they needed to either stop the Bible study or purchase a permit because they had too many people in their home.
Dean Broyles, the attorney who is representing the pastor and his wife, believes that San Diego county is completely in the wrong in this matter.
As Broyles puts it, ” . . . the government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion, and I believe that our Founding Fathers would roll over in their graves if they saw that here in the year 2009, that a pastor and his wife are being told that they cannot have a simple Bible study in their own home.”
How crazy is this that you can no longer have some people over to study the Bible without the government stepping in? I’m not sure how many people they had over but I recall having as much as 80 people in our house at one time during a party. And yes many, if not most, were Christians and I’m sure that “religion” was being discussed.
Of course we don’t live in California but in Phoenix, Arizona. However, we are right next door!
Postscript: According to The Baptist Press, San Diego officials have apologized and rescinded the cease-and-desist order after the pastor and his wife were told they would have to apply for a permit that could cost thousands of dollars if they wanted to continue hosting a small Bible study in their home.
I am wondering just what are our soldiers fighting for? Every day the government takes away one of our religious freedoms. I pray every day for our country and its leaders. We need old tiem family morals back in America. I am praying for Pastor Jones and his wife Mary God bless you both.
San Diego governing body is absolutely insane for upholding such a thing that takes away the rights of a Pastor…or anyone for that matter who loves God…to hold discussions and prayer in their own household. Crazy.
I think we have to be very careful about this. I was very quick to start jumping to conclusions and getting hot under the collar about the injustice of it all.
However, it was pointed out to me that we really have very little information about this and what actually took place and the history surrounding this.
For example, we don’t know exactly how long this has been going on. The interview does not indicate how many people were at this bible study and how many cars were parked all over the neighborhood. It also fails to mention that the catalyst for this was that one of the people from the bible study hit someone’s car. Not that such a thing warrants this type of legal action, but I’m just pointing out what WASN’T shared in the interview.
Also, we don’t know how often, if at all, the neighbors may have asked to do something about the number of people and cars parked on the streets. We don’t know if they’ve been repeatedly asked or whether they refused to cooperate. I would hope that things didn’t go that way, but we just don’t know for sure.
So, lets not hang anyone from the gallows before we know all the information.
Grace, love and peace.