When is hiding who you are permissible?

Actually, they first called themselves Christians in Antioch. Do you think they stopped doing this?

Did they go to pagan temples and pretend to be pagans (I've heard that some believers in Muslim countries go to the mosque)?

According to your post, the end justifies the means. God will be thwarted if we stand for the faith? Will God run out of believers?

 

Hmmm, well, Paul said he was a Jew and did so proudly in Acts 22. And we know he went and visited pagan temples in Athens. Obviously, he didn't worship any but God alone, but he certainly didn't deny his Judaism or avoid steer clear of pagan temples.

 

Okay. It does not seem they rejected it, however. At any rate, this is normally what we believers call ourselves (though I know we have another thread on that somewhere).

This is another issue. Going to a mosque to preach is not the same as going to a mosque to pretend you are a Muslim.

Not if it compromises the truth.

No, I didn't say that. But in the face of persecution, should we hide our faith? That is the issue here.

But you said a few posts above:

So I responded, Will God run out of believers? It is relevant to what you said.

 

Paul's trip to the pagan temples was for the intent of preaching and spreading the gospel. It does not apply to webdog's question.

The example given about Christian Muslem's going to the mosque to hide the fact that they are Christian is considerably different than Paul.

I really believe it has to be considered case base case. Situation by situation.

Example: Do I stop and share the plan of salvation with everyone I see? Of course not. But I am required to do so when I feel that God want's me to.

Too often we try to make a flowchart of Step 1 , Step 2, etc. The Gospel isn't like that. You and I may be in the same city, under the same circumstances. God may want you to stand and may direct me to flee. Or visa-versa. Elijah prayed down fire from heaven, and defeated an army, then fled from Jezabel.

 

But he didn't go to the pagan temples to pretend to be pagan, did he? That was my point about the believers going to the mosque.

 

Fleeing is not the same as pretending to be something you are not. I thought the topic here was hiding your identity as a believer, not fleeing.

 

Good point. It does point out that Paul didn't avoid nonchristian places of worship.

I concur. I don't think you can apply a litmus test to fit all examples.

 

I am not completely sure that they are different in this context. The way I see it, hiding can be a form of flee. Sort of "hidden in plain sight" kind of thing. I understand your point, but at the same time one can find examples in the Bible to at least open up a question or two. The handmaids flat out lied to the Egyptians and yet the scriptures lead us to believe that God was pleased with them for doing so.

There are cases where Jesus told his disciples to keep quiet about things they saw until it was time to reveal them. I would not be surised if God lead someone to keep quit for a time in a highly persecuted land.

 

But hiding your identity and/or pretending to be something you are not are forms of deception. I do not think fleeing is deception. I do not think hiding is just another form of fleeing; you can say that, but I don't think it's true.

Being quiet about something is also not deception. Jesus did not tell them to lie.

There was no "guile" in the mouth of Jesus. Are we not to be like Jesus? Are we not being conformed to His image? Does the Bible not tell us that deception is wrong?

 

You do not see the difference between going to a mosque to preach and going to mosque to pretend to be a Muslim???

 

They are not the same thing at all. One case is preaching the gospel; the other is hiding your identity as a Christian and pretending to be a Muslim.

 

You did not post where this is from.

A reference to Is. 53:9

 

I believe you honestly believe that. I disagree