7-6-20<\/p>\n
Another thought? Gee, haven\u2019t we discussed it enough with the protests and riots?Haven\u2019t we put it into context with all the rules about confronting the virus? Isn\u2019t the Fourth of July over? Are we going to debate these things endlessly? Don\u2019t we have<\/em> freedom? Didn\u2019t we end<\/em> slavery?<\/p>\n Well, no; yes; no; yes\u2026 not so fast!!!<\/p>\n Whatever views have been weaponized in these recent controversies \u2013 offensive and defensive \u2013 at the end of the day it is a good thing that citizens consider the value of freedom. Even if opponents characterize each other as using freedom to destroy, or freedom to suppress (the middle ground of debates has been abandoned), freedom<\/em> is the essential matter at hand.<\/p>\n For those us who might confuse the terms \u2013 most of all us, at times \u2013 and to save yourself from registering for three or four college courses, a problem with contemporary society is that we have lost the distinction between freedom<\/em> and liberty<\/em>. Basically, freedom is an internal matter of the mind, a gift from God that is a matter of the heart. We are free from\u2026 fill in the blank; sin, for instance. And we are free to\u2026 fill in the blank; worship, assemble, speak, and publish, for instance.<\/p>\n Liberties<\/em> are what we do with freedom. The Enlightenment thinker Rousseau mistakenly thought that freedoms were bestowed by the state (and not by God) and ten years after his death, the French Revolution erupted, defacing monuments and churches, massacring and beheading people. Significantly, the Revolution\u2019s slogan was \u201cLiberty (not Freedom<\/em>), Equality, Fraternity.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bill of Rights \u2013 the first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution \u2013 carefully recognized<\/em> and guaranteed<\/em> freedoms in America. Since then, and no doubt into the future, liberties have been debated, granted, modified, withdrawn. When slaves were freed<\/em>, they became at liberty<\/em> \u2013 subject to further efforts and guarantees \u2013 to exercise that freedom.<\/p>\n It is a distinction with an enormous and consequential difference. In times like these crazy days, we are reminded that Jefferson said that the Tree of Liberty needs to be watered with the blood of patriots every generation. How that blood is shed, or for what causes, are dispositive questions we ask of Mr Jefferson, yet the willingness to rebel ought to be cherished.<\/p>\n Whether Christians and patriots are as willing to fight for things they believe in, as nihilists are willing to fight for things they don\u2019t believe in, is the question that confronts history right now.<\/p>\n Who the Son sets free is free indeed<\/em>.<\/p>\n John 8:36 records that promise. It is one of those wonderful Bible verses that is short in words but unlimited in meaning. Simple but profound. Every word should be parsed. \u201cWho\u201d? \u2013 a notice to all, without restriction. \u201cSets free\u201d \u2013 as we discussed, all manner of things we might be free from<\/em>\u2026 and we can joyfully consider all we are freed to<\/em>! \u201cIndeed\u201d \u2013 God puts a period on the sentence; an emphasis; a promise of totality; no reservation.<\/p>\n \u201cFree at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, free at last!\u201d Dr King said. Carefully. Free\u2026 to enjoy liberties. History is littered with societies that have confused liberty<\/em> with license<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jefferson, seduced somewhat by some of Europe\u2019s philosophers, did insert \u201cliberty\u201d in the Declaration of Independence\u2019s famous passage, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed<\/em>. Brilliantly crafted needle-threading: Rights including liberty are secured by governments supported by the people\u2026 in order to guarantee God-given rights\u2026 fulfilling Natural Law\u2026 and our Creator\u2019s will.<\/p>\n And \u201cEquality,\u201d unlike a mere slogan and goal of the French Revolution, is addressed as something that is<\/em>.<\/p>\n Next \u2013 as it always has been \u2013 is the question of what a free people will do with their liberty.<\/p>\n We know what anarchists, subversives, and nihilists do with it. What will Christian patriots do?<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n