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I do believe that we are truly free to do whatever we want (freeze or not freeze...) But I think the big difference is in what we are pursuing. What do we really want? Do we only really want simple freedom to behave any way we fleetingly please? No, I think we have a will and desires that ultimately want something good. There are different levels of quality of living. I can be free to not wear a jacket in freezing weather because I'm too lazy to put one on. But I can also be free to take the time to put on a jacket because I want to care for myself well and be warm.
I am learning about principles. I think principles are ways of living that make life work well. They are ways of life that help us to grow and to have healthy relationships. They aren't necessarily hard and fast rules. There's "give room" in all of them, and how we excercise them in our relationships is unique with each person. It is so freeing for me to learn this! Moses gave us the law, but simply following laws (though there might be some benefit in this) is not really freeing. We can turn off our minds and our hearts. We would just be robots.
Jesus came and fulfilled the law by living out life-giving ways as a human being. He lived a free and alive life. He didn't come and tell us all the rules of living. He allowed people to ask questions and he engaged with them where they were at.
So my friend and I agreed that the absence of the law means that we are free to learn the best way to live life. Ultimately, I believe it's in discovering certain principles to root ourselves in. But discovering these principles is a process that involves using our minds and our hearts, making mistakes, finding out what works well and is life giving and what does not work well and feels like death. We become alive in the process because we can discover that fundamentally, we do want what is good (some philosophies might disagree, but I believe otherwise!)
I think this is a big part of what freedom is- an imperfect journey of discovering ways of living that are truly life giving, not just temporarily, but in a lasting, high quality way.
5 comments:
hey carla - i agree about your pursuit comment. when god saved the israelites from slavery, there is a scripture that says "he brought them out to bring them in". we are brought out of slavery into freedom, and we are freed from something to be free to do something. not free to do nothing, or to pursue frivolity, but to pursue life to the full.
it's nice to see what god's doing in your heart, c!
Thanks Pat (I'm assuming it's Pat?) for your thoughts. I like the story about being brought out of slavery into freedom. There's lots of things to identify with there too- even in the part where the people wish they could go back into slavery where they knew what to expect. Sometimes freedom can also be very scary. There is a constant need to keep imagining the "better" things that lay ahead.
This seems like a rather limited view of freedom as well as grace. Going with the idea that we inherently do good you loose sight of the larger problem of our existence which I would say is corporate sin as opposed to the individual. You can say, "hey we are all good at heart", but you are missing the fact that somehow all these good hearts work together to make allot of bad things. I will drive my car to work today because the emissions that poison the air are such a small amount from my one car but as a whole millions of other kind hearted people add their part and we end up with an evil act. I know thats a rudimentary example but this same concept pours over into many smaller and considerably larger areas as well. So while you may feel great about your freedom just remember that your freedom plus a few billions of others equal allot of evil done to others and our world. So as you learn as you go don't forget the harm you leave in your free good intentioned wake.
I agree that a lot of evil is done in the world as humans act freely. The potential for evil must exist if there is potential for good. It's how we choose to use our freedom that makes the difference.
I think you need to re-read my post... I don't believe in random, thoughtless freedom. But I do believe we are free to pursue the truest desires of our hearts (which is not as simplistic a picture as you have painted) because our hearts ultimately want what is good.
I also believe real freedom means we will make mistakes, but if we were all serious about growing, we would excercise the ability to forgive each other and keep on aiming for what it is we really want.
It does sound like Andrewman needs to re-read your post! I don't recall you saying that we "inherently do good" but rather that we are free to pursue the good as well as the bad, and that at least a part of us wants what is good. This has to be true if we believe we are created in God's image. Otherwise, the only motivation for doing good would be fear of punishment. This is life under the law, life as a slave.
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