agrogersDaniel 6:10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
This response from Daniel seems to be an act of deliberate and open defiance. He chose a location in front of open windows to pray fully knowing that his enemies were watching him. To be fair, it seems that this location for prayer was normal for him. However this was still a very deliberate act which he knew to be in defiance of an ungodly law and which would result in swift punishment.
Are Christians called to this sort of open defiance? Is anti-abortion protests an example of such open defiance? Is closeted prayer an insipid response to ungodly laws and one that Daniel would not have chosen? If Christians are forbidden from openly criticizing another religion should they openly defy that law knowing fully that it could land them in the proverbial lion’s den?
I suspect that Daniel’s example is not that different to Jesus’ example. Jesus seemed to deliberately infuriate his enemies by openly defying them. Daniel was miraculously spared. Jesus survived for three years. We would surely see more martyrs and imprisonments if we were to follow Daniel’s example.
