Some Thoughts on Freedom

Over the last few years I've been reading a lot about the period of the American Revolution. I've been curious how the ideas of freedom as the 'founding fathers' saw it, i.e, the individual rights of man as well as a collective political and social freedom, match with what the Bible says with regard to freedom and our rights.

I've discovered through my reading that many of the founding fathers, even those who were professed atheists or deists, saw the definite need for virtue within a society and on an individual level in order for personal, political and social liberty to succeed within the context of a democratic or republican government. Our freedom cannot stand without a sense of social decency and respect for fellow citizens, otherwise we infringe on their freedom. Our freedom cannot be at the expense of someone else. It is a sacrificial freedom, one that gives sacrificially on an individual level as well as a societal level for the good of all so that liberty is maintained. Complete freedom to do and say as we please on an individual and corporate level will be the undoing of a republic. For a democratic republic to work there must be a give and take of freedom for the good of the whole. It requires responsibility and selflessness. These virtues sometimes limit freedom on an individual level but for the whole, freedom continues.

I've been reading through I Corinthians via the Scripture Storyline and have discovered the very same principles laid out by Paul. There was a debate about whether it was permissible as believers to eat the meat sacrificed to idols. In summary, Paul agrees that we have the freedom in Christ to eat whatever meat or to drink what we desire but we must ask ourselves if it is beneficial or helpful to the rest of the body of Christ? Will someone else in the body be bound and strangled by your freedom? The goal is not to do as you please now that you are in Christ but to help the body of Christ to grow in maturity and unity and love and to draw others to Christ. We must be careful with the freedom given to us through grace. We must be willing to give up what we think is permissible for the sake of a brother or sister in Christ. Paul had experienced immense hardship for the sake of the body of Christ and so that some might be saved. Think of what Christ gave up for our sakes! Our focus should not be on ourselves and what we are free to do in Christ but on Christ Himself and be willing to lay down our rights and freedoms so that someone else may be free in Christ and grow to maturity unhindered.

So whether it be for the sake of a nation or for the sake of the body of Christ and a person's salvation, we must be careful and selfless with our freedom. It is not to be taken lightly and not to be had at the expense of someone else's liberty.