Freedom

Due to controlling a virus from spreading we are currently facing restrictions on freedoms that we would normally enjoy. Apart from a few conspiracy theorists this is seen as acceptable as long as it is a short-term measure. Elsewhere in the world some of these freedoms do not exist. Advances in surveillance technology will allow regimes to repress freedoms and increase controls even more.

Freedom is one of those feelings sourced from deep within us. It is essential, something we strive, even fight and die, for.

We see China today as a place where there is a lack of freedom. One man already has near total control of 18% of the people in the world. However, it is not enough. He wants to control more lives, seemingly everyone if possible. This is a modern form of slavery on a massive scale.

There is a layer of life that, in many places like China, dictates how we live. At their whim some people arbitrarily decide what is the right way to live and impose this on others. By definition they are also deciding what is the wrong way and similarly impose that, often by exclusion. Objectors in China disappear.

Being free includes freedom to think, to speak and to act. In China, you are not allowed to do or say anything that offends the ruling Chinese Communist Party. They are also attempting to influence people’s thinking as well.

Provided that people follow the party line and keep their views to themselves, other aspects of life continue. However, unless they are the few in control, deep down everyone there will know they are not free. Life becomes a lie, through forced actions or inactions.

Freedom becomes complex when we come into contact with others, as one person’s freedom can impinge on another’s.

There have been political groups known as anarchists that have tried to remove any system of rule or authority. However, as the name suggests, this results in anarchy, chaos. For a semblance of order, there appears to be a need for frameworks, structures with procedures and rules.

In all aspects of society and the way we live there are frameworks and rules to follow. This also applies within religions and churches. A person or people agree the framework and rules, and require others to follow them.

At the start of his ministry Jesus said he was going to set people free. He was quoting Isaiah and to explain the comprehensive nature of the release, repeated the message three times in three different ways, to release those who were imprisoned by external restrictions (captives), those suffering from physical restrictions (the blind) and those under mental pressures (the oppressed).

The people at the time of hearing this message were focused on their national situation. They were ruled by a Roman empire, using local officials called Herods. They wanted their own self-determination through their own representative, not puppet leadership. At that time, Jesus did nothing to address this type of freedom. If anything, he warned about revolt against these rulers. He tended to ignore, and avoid, them and did not even confront, or argue with, them when arrested. The freedom he gave was despite these external restrictions. The freedom from external oppressive rule was only going to happen in resurrection life.

Jesus frees people from their personal restrictions whether physical or mental. The immediate impact of the cross was freedom from sin that binds, and ultimately from death with entry into resurrection life.

Jesus points to the Kingdom of God being the total expression of freedom. This therefore differs from all the systems of rule practiced by every nation on earth. He is pointing to a way of living that allows freedom. We need to model this. How?

The start of humanity came with an instruction from God not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but to eat from the tree of life. This is where the trouble started. Ever since, humanity has been gorging on the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Freedom arises from eating from the tree of life. Jesus did this and enables us to live this way.

We seem to feel most comfortable living within communities and frameworks developed by humanity and trying to influence them more towards good and away from evil. Society is dominated by it. Every nation lives by it. Most churches and religions are based on it, including Christendom and every denomination. Our debates seem to focus on what is actually good or evil.

God demonstrated this approach by introducing the Old Testament Law. It provided a legal system that identified what was good and what was evil. This requires a form of justice that equates to an eye for an eye. Today, for example, we have the Human Rights Act that has the same aims, providing freedom within a context of trying to address the impact on others.

The underlying aim of any framework including rules is to actually to restrict freedom, to establish control, to provide stability, and therefore to remove any risk of change, nobody rocking the boat. The person, or persons, in control want to maintain that control. Thus they act, not to give people freedom, but to maintain the status quo. The Pharisees did this, interpreting their religion in Jesus’ time.

All our current systems, whether political or religious, are analogous to the Old Testament Law. Jesus showed that there are problems with this as it brings death not life. It builds on what eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil produces. It removes freedom.

Jesus’ message was not to live by the knowledge of good and evil but by eating from the tree of life, i.e. the Holy Spirit. His message is this radical. Instead of learning the rules or deciding whether something is good or evil, he wants us to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying and walk with him.

Paul got annoyed with the church in Galatia when they reverted back to a way of life that was framed by the Law.

Sadly through history the church falls back into a familiar framework rather than hearing and responding to the Holy Spirit. It is more comfortable having a familiar framework than the Holy Spirit.

There is a whole branch of thinking that we can end up following, whether knowingly or not, called Christian ethics (or moral theology) that debates what is good or evil. When Jesus was asked about good and evil, what is right and wrong, he did not answer. He did not live that way. It never entered his thinking. He always ate from the tree of life. His thought process when making a decision was not what is right or wrong, but what does the Spirit say.

Leaders (whether secular or religious) set up systems that aim to bring comfort and familiarity to most, avoiding and excluding the few with awkward differences. People tend to gravitate towards a type of framework that suits them, whether through the way they dress, speak and otherwise live. These systems fall short of how God wants humanity to live, how to enjoy it’s full potential.

We can end up removing another’s freedom because it cuts against our view of what is right or wrong, good or evil. People are excluded because of their expression of freedom such as how they talk, dress, or live. Currently, this gets highlighted by how people decide to express their sexuality.

We grow up with a need for freedom. It arises from deep within us. It comes from the Spirit that God put into our beings. We instinctively know we have lost that freedom because of its removal. Jesus deals with this. He wants us to be able to make our own choices in life.

When I have heard preachers speaking about freedom they give a clear description of how Jesus brings this freedom about, through his own death and resurrection, releasing any chains that bind.

However they invariably then go on to talk about ‘freedom into…’.

There is no such thing as ‘freedom into’. This is nonsense. There is no freedom into. It is always freedom from. Jesus does not perform a trick, pretending to make us free whilst actually transferring us from one prison to another (with better wallpaper and amenities). 

Freedom is freedom, full stop. All sorts of freedom from. Then just free. Jesus sets us free. It is up to us what we then do.

The trouble is that we are insecure and need to control our surroundings. Often prisoners on release become insecure. They prefer the familiarity of the prison walls and routines. Immediately you now have lots of choices to make, of how to live.

Paul writing in the letter to the Galatians recognises that they are making decisions that in effect are putting themselves back into prison, living within a familiar framework for life set out by the Old Testament Law. Paul reminds them that they are free from it. They need to make their own choices.

Paul does give them some advice. He advises that they walk by the Spirit. In other words, when making important decisions on what to do with our lives, we should hear what God thinks we should do, hear what He speaks through, and then rely on the Holy Spirit.

We feel deeply about how others impinge on our freedom of choice but where we disagree with others’ decisions we tend to try to curtail them. We use religion or church practices or beliefs to do this. We see church as how people should behave, whether in dress, speech or life, whereas it is often just someone’s own views or their interpretation of the bible. Instead, we need to see the Holy Spirit in people. 

Jesus brings freedom from any religious practice or requirement.

There are many topics that make us uncomfortable. They involve choices that we may not make ourselves and therefore are ones that we may not wish others to make. Abortion could be an example of one of these.

The pope (and therefore Catholics), together with evangelical Christians have generally decided that abortion is wrong, that it is a form of murder, that God must think it is wrong and therefore something to oppose. They therefore see this as a legitimate form of restraint, to deny the choice of a person, the removal of freedom.

Abortion is a medical procedure that is relatively safe and provides a potential choice for removing a foetus from a woman’s body. The woman has a serious choice to make. Whatever the choice, it will have a life-changing impact. There may be good reasons either way.

A careful look at the bible shows that it does not clearly state that this is murder. In the bible, life begins with breath, when the spirit enters the body. It also ends with breath, expiring. The bible also makes it clear that responsibility for any decision ultimately rests with a person and not any environmental factors. 

Therefore, abortion is purely a decision for the person carrying a foetus in their body, to make. It has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else.

As many have, it is easy to fall into deciding what we think is right and wrong, what is good or evil, what other people should do. This is eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God said not to eat this fruit.

Instead, God wants us to eat from the tree of life. When there are important decisions to make, to choose to hear Him and follow His guidance and walk by His Spirit.

Are we trying to apply laws or rules within frameworks that make us popular or fit in when making decisions, or are we responding to what the Holy Spirit is saying? The Kingdom of God is about freedom. The picture of the new heaven and earth does not have a framework, only the light of ‘the Lamb’ and the tree of life.

Background

Genesis Chapter 2

Luke Chapter 4

Galatians Chapter 5   

Revelation Chapters 21, 22