Freedom is a great concept. And for most of us, it remains as that.
Just a concept.
An ideal that we want, that we fight for, but something that hardly anyone actually experiences in this life. Us Canadians celebrate the incorporation of our country on July 1st. And you Americans of course celebrate your independence on July 4. Freedom from Britain. Freedom from the man. We can do whatever the hell we want now! Right?
Well, I just bought a piece of land recently and guess what? I’m not free to do anything on it without a government issued permit. I can’t build my house, garage or anything else without permission—on my own land! In fact, I can only build a certain amount of structures and am flat out not allowed to build anything on certain parts of my land. Know what else bothers me? Speed limits. My motorcycle can easily do 250 kph, but I’m only allowed to go 110 on the major highways.
I don’t feel very free. Poor me.
There seems to be a lot of government interference in this country of mine.
It’s interesting going to a country with very little government interference where people are indeed allowed great freedom. I’ve been to Haiti numerous times. There aren’t a lot of rules there. And the rules that exist are rarely enforced for lack of resources. You can build whatever and wherever you want if you are so fortunate as to own land, as is obvious by the random and chaotic streets of poorly built structures throughout Haiti. You can drive as fast as the potholes in the road will allow. There’s little or no traffic control, so you are free to enjoy a one hour commute through Port Au Prince…covering three whole kilometres. Employers are free to underpay their workers. Thieves are free to break into your home.
Hmmmm…doesn’t feel like freedom either. I don’t think that freedom can be freedom if it becomes a zero sum game. My freedom is no longer your freedom if it tramples over your freedom and vice versa.
What then is true freedom?
In John 8:31-36, John recollects this story of Jesus—someone who was living under oppressive Roman occupation whom most of us would not consider to be very free: “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word (Logic—way of thinking)*, then you are truly disciples (followers)* of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
*My explanation of terms in brackets
Jesus doesn’t seem to conflate “freedom” with the ability to do whatever we please with no one telling us we can’t do it. This freedom Jesus speaks of seems to have everything to do with not being held down and controlled by sin. If you have read a previous article of mine called “What’s So Bad About Sin?”, you will be familiar with the idea that sin is not a failure to measure up to God’s moral perfection. Sin is when we reckon ourselves to be less valuable than God says we are. It’s when you believe what the church has told about yourself—that you were born morally depraved and separated from God. It’s when you believe what your parents or teachers have perhaps told you—that you will never measure up to their standards—that you will never amount to anything in this world. It’s when you believe what perhaps your friends and coworkers tell you—that you just aren’t good enough.
When we privilege the voices of others over what God has already said about us, we lose who we are. We aren’t free to live like who we really are.
Sometimes when we feel like we aren’t good enough, we can latch onto substitute ideas as to who we are. We can end up believing that we are what we do. It’s really tempting too, especially if you are good at what you do. You may “gain the world”, but you just may lose your soul—who you really are in the process. Though you may appear free and successful in this world, you have lost your freedom and are enslaved to the false idea of the image you are trying to project of yourself.
If I am a successful businessman, I don’t want to be seen as a failure. I cannot afford to! As soon as I am perceived as such, it has a very direct effect on my financial success. I have become a slave to my success and have traded my freedom for a false image and the temporary financial luxuries that come with it. Poor people are no better off as they are often stuck in a mentality of failure and won’t even bother attempting great things. In the religious world, people who are known to live by high moral standards are terrified at the idea of being connected to anything or anyone immoral and are not free to be around people of low moral standards. They are enslaved by their own sense of morality. On the flip side, people of low moral standards already think of themselves as failures and just like the poor person, won’t even bother to try to behave well as they believe they can never change.
Who am I really? The writers of Genesis had a very healthy idea of human identity. They recognized that there is only one source of life and love in the universe. That this source (God) is good. That nothing besides good can possibly come from this source (including us) and that we are in fact made in God’s image (we are an expression of God). Evil and non-freedom only exist when we refuse to participate in the reality of who we truly are.
It’s really quite impossible for anyone to experience true freedom until they believe the truth that Jesus presents to us. That being, that God is good and by extension—not by any virtue of your own, but by the virtue of the one you are an extension of, you are good too.
I wonder if the more we let go of the false images and expectations of ourselves, that maybe personal freedom to do what we want becomes less interesting and attractive? I’m not sure. I know I’m not there yet.
As we celebrate freedom this weekend, don’t settle for celebrating a cheap knock-off version. One that depends on an us vs. them dichotomy—one that needs to be a zero sum game. I don’t think that there’s actually a lot of free people out there. Let’s introduce freedom to the world around us by treating others with dignity, regardless of who they are or what they have done.
It’s time to free those enslaved by the religious and cultural ideas of success. This weekend, let’s begin to participate in the continuing work that Jesus started—in taking away the sins of the world, bringing true freedom!