"Freedom"
We Americans sure like our freedom--or at least we talk a good game. The topic is addressed with some regularity in the news media, and makes frequent appearances on television shows and in the movies. It is even cropping up more and more often in casual conversation as we opine, thrust and parry with our friends and neighbors about the latest real and/or imagined usurpations of our rights by an ever-expanding federal government leviathan and its more petite state and local siblings. Although governmental kneecapping of its citizens has always been--and will always be--a valid and fertile point of discussion amongst concerned citizens, I was thinking of addressing here a somewhat overlooked and seldom enunciated dimension of the whole "freedom" discussion.
Our default connotation of freedom is now and has forever been positive. We in this country have always bestowed upon the term the utmost reverence and respect. It is sacrosanct--and not without reason. So many of the first colonizers of this country came here--enduring much hardship and facing great danger in the process--in order to escape tyrannical governments and religious persecution. They came in the hope that they could establish or perhaps reconstitute forms of freedom which many of them had seen distressingly dissolve right before their eyes in their home countries. So this dimension of the freedom discussion I heartily espouse and endorse. But what of another?
There is a popular quote you see these days from G. Michael Hopf, from his science fiction novel, Those Who Remain:
Hard times create strong men.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
Weak men create hard times.
I think I could make a case for an allegorical proposition:
Evil demands freedom.
Freedom begets license.
License begets lawlessness.
Lawlessness begets evil.
One definition of license is "freedom of action." It is also the root of the term "licentious," meaning "lacking legal or moral restraints." Freedom--or license--is a much-coveted state of existence, but it is not without its hidden snares. If our children were to be given freedom without rules they would probably--as they are immature and uneducated--quite hastily do themselves and others grievous if not irreparable harm. Obviously, freedom without a restraining set of guidelines and prohibitions would lead to chaos. I may desire freedom, but if that freedom allows me to kill my neighbor for an injustice I feel I have suffered at his hands, then there is obviously a limit to the bounds that cordon my exercise of freedom.
Starting in the late 1960's, the idea of "free love" began to gain currency in conjunction with the other trinity of hippie emancipation: sex, drugs and rock and roll. Morality of the Judeo/Christian variety has always and everywhere been under assault around the world, but it seemed to confront its most agile and antagonistic opponent in this 1960's temptress of liberation. "Free love" (as with most other "free" commodities one hears bandied about these days with requisite solemnity as being necessary for a just and civil society) is a siren song: It is cookies without the calories; it is gin without the hangover; it is marathon promiscuity without the STD...it is a fairy tale. It seems every new generation in its infancy and immaturity embraces the ideas of Rousseau and Marx--a childish and misguided belief in the altruistic nature of man and his perfectibility under the loving and guiding hand of the all-encompassing state. This is in direct contradiction to the Biblical account which graphically depicts man as selfish and corrupt beyond measure and, without the corralling influence of moral law would, given half a chance, lay waste to everyone and everything within reach as expeditiously as possible (you can reference history to draw your own conclusions as to the veracity of this hypothesis.)
Freedom also doesn't necessarily partner with wisdom. This isn't Abbot and Costello, or Tango and Cash, or insufferability and Cher. Freedom and wisdom seem to have an unequal and inverse relationship: I can think of many wise men and women who lacked freedom, but I find it hard to conjure up many who were able to hold onto freedom without possessing a sizeable portion of wisdom. And history has shown that as wisdom wanes, so too does the ability of a people to hold onto the elusive yields of freedom. As Thomas Jefferson said, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." James Madison proffered this prescient point: "Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as the abuses of power." The allure of freedom obfuscates the perils. The serpent in the garden of Eden used this knowledge to great avail. We tread that same sorry path each and every time we wield our freedoms in the dark; when we sail into the maelstrom with a measure of self assurance for which only ignorance can account.
I had the freedom when I was younger to smoke a pack and a half of cigarettes a day and to drink like the Russians were in Jersey. I was immortal then. I no longer am. And my body has been wracked by the effects of the poor choices I made under the delusion that freedom meant freedom from responsibility. I now know that it doesn't. Noble freedom has cost many lives in its erection and defense. Ignoble freedom costs many more lives in the trenches of depravity and negligence. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, had this to say: "You, my brothers and sisters were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" This is the exact opposite of what the world tells us. Why would we be surprised by that?
All the sexual promiscuity, drunkenness, covetousness, etc. that is promoted to us in our popular culture is liberally seasoned with the spice of glorious emancipation. We swallow it down in deep draughts, becoming inebriated with the pleasures that we believe will follow on the heels of our indulgence--hollow promises of fulfillment and pleasure as we get nearer to becoming gods in our own right--gods who have no need to be corralled by the laws of any other gods. Gods unto ourselves. We believe what our popular culture has told us: learning to love ourselves is the greatest love of all. And that if we follow our hearts, our hearts will lead us to all truth and beauty. The Bible begs to differ: As Jeremiah states: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand such things?" The book of Proverbs tells us: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil."
For those who believe what the world preaches; who believe that our nature is perfectible; who believe that we can achieve true enlightenment and peace by following our own roads and our own hearts, I would only ask them to take a look around. Look at the mayhem. Look at the destruction. Look at the war. Look at the mental and emotional illness. Look at the depravity which we have embraced. I don't understand how anyone can look at the daily headlines and believe that we are perfecting ourselves with the crude and blunt instrument of our overblown narcissism. As a Christian I believe we are fallen creatures on a fallen world. I think the evidence to that supposition is manifest and ubiquitous on all sides. I believe that we have come to believe the lie; that we have swallowed new fruit from the age old tree. We believe we can be like gods. The evidence is in: We cannot. If we continue to believe only in ourselves, then we ourselves will dissolve in our own ignominy. We will have used the freedom which God gave us to dig our own graves. But that needn't be the case. We have been offered a way out. And that way only requires our acknowledgment of the fact that we can't do it ourselves; that we are in need of help; that we have tried on our own and realized the futility of our own machinations. There is One who hears us; who loves us, who can make all things new. But we do have to ask. We need to reach out. And if we do, He promises to come in and sup with us and we with Him. It's a wonderful promise. And it's available to all if we but ask.
Starting in the late 1960's, the idea of "free love" began to gain currency in conjunction with the other trinity of hippie emancipation: sex, drugs and rock and roll. Morality of the Judeo/Christian variety has always and everywhere been under assault around the world, but it seemed to confront its most agile and antagonistic opponent in this 1960's temptress of liberation. "Free love" (as with most other "free" commodities one hears bandied about these days with requisite solemnity as being necessary for a just and civil society) is a siren song: It is cookies without the calories; it is gin without the hangover; it is marathon promiscuity without the STD...it is a fairy tale. It seems every new generation in its infancy and immaturity embraces the ideas of Rousseau and Marx--a childish and misguided belief in the altruistic nature of man and his perfectibility under the loving and guiding hand of the all-encompassing state. This is in direct contradiction to the Biblical account which graphically depicts man as selfish and corrupt beyond measure and, without the corralling influence of moral law would, given half a chance, lay waste to everyone and everything within reach as expeditiously as possible (you can reference history to draw your own conclusions as to the veracity of this hypothesis.)
Freedom also doesn't necessarily partner with wisdom. This isn't Abbot and Costello, or Tango and Cash, or insufferability and Cher. Freedom and wisdom seem to have an unequal and inverse relationship: I can think of many wise men and women who lacked freedom, but I find it hard to conjure up many who were able to hold onto freedom without possessing a sizeable portion of wisdom. And history has shown that as wisdom wanes, so too does the ability of a people to hold onto the elusive yields of freedom. As Thomas Jefferson said, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." James Madison proffered this prescient point: "Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as the abuses of power." The allure of freedom obfuscates the perils. The serpent in the garden of Eden used this knowledge to great avail. We tread that same sorry path each and every time we wield our freedoms in the dark; when we sail into the maelstrom with a measure of self assurance for which only ignorance can account.
I had the freedom when I was younger to smoke a pack and a half of cigarettes a day and to drink like the Russians were in Jersey. I was immortal then. I no longer am. And my body has been wracked by the effects of the poor choices I made under the delusion that freedom meant freedom from responsibility. I now know that it doesn't. Noble freedom has cost many lives in its erection and defense. Ignoble freedom costs many more lives in the trenches of depravity and negligence. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, had this to say: "You, my brothers and sisters were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" This is the exact opposite of what the world tells us. Why would we be surprised by that?
All the sexual promiscuity, drunkenness, covetousness, etc. that is promoted to us in our popular culture is liberally seasoned with the spice of glorious emancipation. We swallow it down in deep draughts, becoming inebriated with the pleasures that we believe will follow on the heels of our indulgence--hollow promises of fulfillment and pleasure as we get nearer to becoming gods in our own right--gods who have no need to be corralled by the laws of any other gods. Gods unto ourselves. We believe what our popular culture has told us: learning to love ourselves is the greatest love of all. And that if we follow our hearts, our hearts will lead us to all truth and beauty. The Bible begs to differ: As Jeremiah states: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand such things?" The book of Proverbs tells us: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil."
For those who believe what the world preaches; who believe that our nature is perfectible; who believe that we can achieve true enlightenment and peace by following our own roads and our own hearts, I would only ask them to take a look around. Look at the mayhem. Look at the destruction. Look at the war. Look at the mental and emotional illness. Look at the depravity which we have embraced. I don't understand how anyone can look at the daily headlines and believe that we are perfecting ourselves with the crude and blunt instrument of our overblown narcissism. As a Christian I believe we are fallen creatures on a fallen world. I think the evidence to that supposition is manifest and ubiquitous on all sides. I believe that we have come to believe the lie; that we have swallowed new fruit from the age old tree. We believe we can be like gods. The evidence is in: We cannot. If we continue to believe only in ourselves, then we ourselves will dissolve in our own ignominy. We will have used the freedom which God gave us to dig our own graves. But that needn't be the case. We have been offered a way out. And that way only requires our acknowledgment of the fact that we can't do it ourselves; that we are in need of help; that we have tried on our own and realized the futility of our own machinations. There is One who hears us; who loves us, who can make all things new. But we do have to ask. We need to reach out. And if we do, He promises to come in and sup with us and we with Him. It's a wonderful promise. And it's available to all if we but ask.
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