Often in life we see the concept of freedom. We feel that freedom is intrinsically good. And of course we are right. Freedom is a great intrinsic good.
But too often freedom is thought of as "freedom from" something. Freedom from regulation, freedom from rules, freedom to do whatever we please. And while these things may be fine at times "freedom from" is never a fully Christian view of freedom.
Christian freedom needs to have a sense of "freedom to" do something. Freedom to follow God. Freedom to do good. Finding true freedom in obeying the law.
True freedom is freedom to become who God intend us to be. Freedom from something lacks the compete fullness of a robust sense of freedom.
Showing posts with label Freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freedom. Show all posts
Friday, July 10, 2015
Monday, April 14, 2014
True Freedom
Augustine wrote of the pleasure of stealing fruit simply for the pleasure of stealing it. Often people are pleased to do wrong simply because it is wrong.
You see man is angry against law and there is a part of him which wishes to break law for the sake of breaking law. Man wishes to express his freedom.
You see man defines freedom in having things his own way. He is free if he can do what he pleases and he is never truly free.
You see only under anarchy could man truly be free if freedom is having things each man’s own way. And in anarchy the strong will have their way over the weak so no one can ever be truly free in this definition.
Often freedom is rephrased into an ability to choose. You see even here there are issues.
Man would often choose this car or that house but they belong to another. You see if each person is free to choose than many cannot choose since of a limit of supply.
Really the man who wishes to have freedom in this way is never free. He is always in one way or another outmatched. He cannot have absolute freedom.
Christianity redefines freedom. Freedom is the ability of man to do God's will.
It seems sort of laughable to man that man's freedom is service to God. But you see man was made for this purpose.
I have found that doing God's will often leads to happiness and breaking God's will often leads to sadness. I suppose it is what you would expect if you accept the Christian teaching that God created man.
If God created man to be most free in doing God's will it is not surprising that he also created man to most enjoy doing God's will.
Many people of course say that the church is boring and a place of suffering. It is true in a sense it is a congregation of men who have barely woken from spiritual death and some may still need awakening.
Often we confuse feeble religion or fake religion for the real thing. Feeble religion is real but at a low form. It is often the lowest forms of religion which are critiqued.
It is if we reject music as potentially beautiful upon hearing a sampling of 5 middle school concerts. You see there are very few who get far in the faith.
The way is narrow and we tend to see the masses that are off the path or barely a few miles down it. True deep religion is infinitely beautiful. Shallow religion beautiful but often in many sense painful as well.
You see man is angry against law and there is a part of him which wishes to break law for the sake of breaking law. Man wishes to express his freedom.
You see man defines freedom in having things his own way. He is free if he can do what he pleases and he is never truly free.
You see only under anarchy could man truly be free if freedom is having things each man’s own way. And in anarchy the strong will have their way over the weak so no one can ever be truly free in this definition.
Often freedom is rephrased into an ability to choose. You see even here there are issues.
Man would often choose this car or that house but they belong to another. You see if each person is free to choose than many cannot choose since of a limit of supply.
Really the man who wishes to have freedom in this way is never free. He is always in one way or another outmatched. He cannot have absolute freedom.
Christianity redefines freedom. Freedom is the ability of man to do God's will.
It seems sort of laughable to man that man's freedom is service to God. But you see man was made for this purpose.
I have found that doing God's will often leads to happiness and breaking God's will often leads to sadness. I suppose it is what you would expect if you accept the Christian teaching that God created man.
If God created man to be most free in doing God's will it is not surprising that he also created man to most enjoy doing God's will.
Many people of course say that the church is boring and a place of suffering. It is true in a sense it is a congregation of men who have barely woken from spiritual death and some may still need awakening.
Often we confuse feeble religion or fake religion for the real thing. Feeble religion is real but at a low form. It is often the lowest forms of religion which are critiqued.
It is if we reject music as potentially beautiful upon hearing a sampling of 5 middle school concerts. You see there are very few who get far in the faith.
The way is narrow and we tend to see the masses that are off the path or barely a few miles down it. True deep religion is infinitely beautiful. Shallow religion beautiful but often in many sense painful as well.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Legalism as Antinomianism
Antinomianism is a lawlessness which is found in which faith baptizes the Christian life and no need is found for living rightly. There is a certain truth to Antinomianism in that we are saved only by Christ's work alone and not works.
You see however that the faith that justifies is never alone. Jesus' followers will be "known by their fruit." There is a sort of cheapness to Antinomianism which suggests that one has never really met or loved God.
An interesting form of Antinomianism is Legalism. Legalism expects perfection in life and multiplies rules in great excess. It looks the exact opposite of Antinomianism but it is another form of it.
You see it works like this. Living rightly is based on the way God says not on the way man says.
God says a great many things to mankind and a great deal of rules and principles to his children. But you see the specifics are left blank. We are God's children and he wants us in faith to figure out the details for ourselves.
A great many earthly parents alienate their children by trying to figure out the details of their children’s lives for them. The should often be happy their children wish to live peaceably and do this or that meaningful thing but they instead are upset that their children has chosen "this occupation" or won’t do "that" which is a small thing.
You see our heavenly father is a good father and lets us work out the details. He has commanded us to show love to our brother but has given us liberty to figure out how we should show love to our brother in this world.
Legalism takes away human liberty and is thus opposed to the will of God. It spells out parts of the law in ways God never intended. It attempts to take away human freedom on how to show love or do well.
You see since legalism moves from the personal preference of live and impose itself on others it is sin and lawlessness because it imposes an order in the world that was never meant to be.
You see too creating and teaching many rules is just as sinful and rebellious against God and ignoring all the rules. Because right living is of course based on living as God intends.
Augustine once said "love God and do what you please." This is the spirit of the bible. Of course we need to truly seek to learn from the bible what love is.
Sometimes love is unexpected and what is not loving is also unexpected. We need the structure of love to come from God but the details are left to us. The details cannot come from the church or authority.
You see it is not bad for the church to suggest details of right living in areas which are not spelled out but to absolutize them is the sin. Because the children of God are free to work many not spelled out details out for themselves.
You see however that the faith that justifies is never alone. Jesus' followers will be "known by their fruit." There is a sort of cheapness to Antinomianism which suggests that one has never really met or loved God.
An interesting form of Antinomianism is Legalism. Legalism expects perfection in life and multiplies rules in great excess. It looks the exact opposite of Antinomianism but it is another form of it.
You see it works like this. Living rightly is based on the way God says not on the way man says.
God says a great many things to mankind and a great deal of rules and principles to his children. But you see the specifics are left blank. We are God's children and he wants us in faith to figure out the details for ourselves.
A great many earthly parents alienate their children by trying to figure out the details of their children’s lives for them. The should often be happy their children wish to live peaceably and do this or that meaningful thing but they instead are upset that their children has chosen "this occupation" or won’t do "that" which is a small thing.
You see our heavenly father is a good father and lets us work out the details. He has commanded us to show love to our brother but has given us liberty to figure out how we should show love to our brother in this world.
Legalism takes away human liberty and is thus opposed to the will of God. It spells out parts of the law in ways God never intended. It attempts to take away human freedom on how to show love or do well.
You see since legalism moves from the personal preference of live and impose itself on others it is sin and lawlessness because it imposes an order in the world that was never meant to be.
You see too creating and teaching many rules is just as sinful and rebellious against God and ignoring all the rules. Because right living is of course based on living as God intends.
Augustine once said "love God and do what you please." This is the spirit of the bible. Of course we need to truly seek to learn from the bible what love is.
Sometimes love is unexpected and what is not loving is also unexpected. We need the structure of love to come from God but the details are left to us. The details cannot come from the church or authority.
You see it is not bad for the church to suggest details of right living in areas which are not spelled out but to absolutize them is the sin. Because the children of God are free to work many not spelled out details out for themselves.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
God who is Free
Our society today likes to place God in a box. God can't do this or that or else he is evil.
We like to tell God how it is acceptable for him to be. God must decide to fit into our mold of behavior or we will not accept him.
It is humanities great pride to wish that God must fit into our mold or morality. He is the one who established morality not us.
The reality of things is that God as creator is absolutely free. One of his revealed names means "I am" or "I will be who I will be."
Absolute freedom is the nature of God. We often wish to tell God how he can or cannot run the world.
What is needed is for us to sit under God's feet and learn why he governs the world as he does. When we disagree it is us who is at fault.
Maybe we feel we are in the right, but the reality is the error is in our thinking. Our deceitful hearts and limited minds cannot comprehend the purposes of God.
For a post about the personhood of God see: Personhood of God
We like to tell God how it is acceptable for him to be. God must decide to fit into our mold of behavior or we will not accept him.
It is humanities great pride to wish that God must fit into our mold or morality. He is the one who established morality not us.
The reality of things is that God as creator is absolutely free. One of his revealed names means "I am" or "I will be who I will be."
Absolute freedom is the nature of God. We often wish to tell God how he can or cannot run the world.
What is needed is for us to sit under God's feet and learn why he governs the world as he does. When we disagree it is us who is at fault.
Maybe we feel we are in the right, but the reality is the error is in our thinking. Our deceitful hearts and limited minds cannot comprehend the purposes of God.
For a post about the personhood of God see: Personhood of God
Saturday, June 1, 2013
True Freedom
The world defines freedom as the ability to do what one pleases or the ability to do what one chooses. A lot of Christians define freedom in the same way.
The definition is not terrible, but I do not think it is correct. The reality is that it causes the ability to sin to be part of the nature of freedom.
God in this definition is hard to see as free. Also it in many ways appears by this definition that man is more free post-fall than pre-fall.
The knowledge of good and evil did not make man more free it rather made him a slave to sin.
I have come to the conclusion that true freedom is the ability to do what pleases God. To be truly free is to follow God.
The reality of life is that man was more free when he simply did not know what evil was to a large extent than when man knew what evil is.
A lot of effort is being poured into attempting to teach people the difference between right and wrong. There is some value here, but I believe the frequency of serious wrong doing out of actual ignorance is very low (claimed ignorance is probably more of an excuse than a reality in general).
The definition is not terrible, but I do not think it is correct. The reality is that it causes the ability to sin to be part of the nature of freedom.
God in this definition is hard to see as free. Also it in many ways appears by this definition that man is more free post-fall than pre-fall.
The knowledge of good and evil did not make man more free it rather made him a slave to sin.
I have come to the conclusion that true freedom is the ability to do what pleases God. To be truly free is to follow God.
The reality of life is that man was more free when he simply did not know what evil was to a large extent than when man knew what evil is.
A lot of effort is being poured into attempting to teach people the difference between right and wrong. There is some value here, but I believe the frequency of serious wrong doing out of actual ignorance is very low (claimed ignorance is probably more of an excuse than a reality in general).
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
John Piper Quote on How Jesus Christ Is Refreshing
A bit from John Piper:
"Jesus Christ is refreshing, but flight from him into Christless leisure makes the soul parched. At first it may feel like freedom and fun to skimp on prayer, and neglect the Word. But then we pay: shallowness, powerlessness, vulnerability to sin, preoccupation with trifles, superficial relationships, and a frightening loss of interest in worship and the things of the Spirit."
"Jesus Christ is refreshing, but flight from him into Christless leisure makes the soul parched. At first it may feel like freedom and fun to skimp on prayer, and neglect the Word. But then we pay: shallowness, powerlessness, vulnerability to sin, preoccupation with trifles, superficial relationships, and a frightening loss of interest in worship and the things of the Spirit."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)