Are we really as free as we believe?

In the 1800's, the world was a rapidly changing place. For the first 1500 years after Christ, the church and state were inseparable. You couldn't have one without the other. And then the Reformation came along, with the Enlightenment close on its heels.
Before these two ages, the freedom that comes through believing(slash buying indulgences and going to mass and doing penance and going to confession for the remission of your sins) in Christ had been enough for people. The church was the culture, and the culture was all the people knew.
But after the Reformation - and especially after the Enlightenment - freedom through Christ wasn't enough. Everyone had it in their heads that they ought to be "as free as possible."


"Liberty in numerous ancient settings meant more than the mere notion that an individual may choose a course of action. Liberty was typically tied to nature... ...Freedom was noble and important because a person could pursue the goal of living up to their nature or potential. Social barriers restricting a person's progress should be removed when possible."*


It was with this type of liberty in their minds that the Thirteen Colonies declared independence from England. Unfortunately, like so many other things, this definition of freedom has been buried under the sands of time.


"People today often understand liberty apart from nature. They do not wish to be free so they can become a good version of what they are; they think freedom is being able to choose what they want to be. On a similar note ancient understandings of human...happiness [was] tied to...becoming good, not just feeling good. Aristotle, for example, would think it odd that our contemporary culture [has] satisfaction in feeling good [instead of] being good."


As is (very) evident in today's culture, living up to one's full potential is most definitely not the norm. The majority of people, I feel confident in saying, are only concerned with their own pleasure, in getting "satisfaction in feeling good instead of being good." This brings up an interesting question... are we really as free as we believe?


"Alexis de Tocqueville, a visitor in the United States, during the nineteenth century, issued a warning in his classic study, Democracy in America. In the United States, he said, neither aristocracy nor princely tyranny exist. Yet, asked de Tocqueville, does not this unprecedented 'equality of conditions' itself pose a fateful threat: the 'tyranny of the majority'? In the processes of government, de Tocqueville warned, rule of the majority can mean oppression of the minority, control by erratic public moods rather than reasoned leadership."


Sure, the Constitution gives us the freedom to choose our own leaders, to peacefully protest, petition, to practice whatever religion we want (but who reads those stuffy old documents anyway?) - but if the majority of people want to go down the wrong path, the minority who know the right way often get pressured into going the wrong way too. If they do stay strong and take the right path, there are hard feelings and anger involved from both sides.
A great illustration is C3P-O and R2-D2 from Star Wars. After their escape pod crashes on the planet Tatooine in A New Hope, C3P-O wants to go one way, while R2-D2 wants to go another way. They end up getting into an argument and storming off in opposite directions.
So it is with the Christian who tries to take the straight and narrow path in a crooked and wide world. More often than not, the majority's voice will let out such a deafening roar, that the minority's voice - and with it, their rights - are drowned out.


Normally, the majority is just the majority because one person said something with enough force that everyone else thought, "Hey, this guy knows what he's talking about! He must be right!" They don't do their research, they don't look deeper, they don't look at motives. They just follow the crowd.
The minority, on the other hand, are usually the people who know the most. They are aware, attune to the things going on around them.
Unfortunately, not only does the minority have the majority to worry about, they also have the leader of the majority - that strong voice - to worry about. Usually a public figure, someone with authority. And that leader, for whatever motives, tries to crush the minority out of his plan. It has happened over and over and over again in history.
Just look at the papacy in the Middle and Reformation ages. Someone would get an idea contrary to Catholic doctrine and start sharing it with others. The Catholic church would get nervous for one reason or another, and they would condemn the person and his followers as heretics, and try to annihilate them. Sometimes, the people were actual heretics. Many more times, they were people who had started to examine the scriptures, or started to read the early church father's writings, and discovered that they said nothing about indulgences, confession, and mass as a way to be saved, or as a way to heaven.
Eventually you had people like John Calvin and Martin Luther who made enough of a difference that the Church couldn't do much about it and that's how we get so many denominations nowadays and complete separation of church and state.


We need people like the Reformers today. People who will stand up for freedom. And not just freedom to do what feels good. Freedom to become the best that we can become.


Slowly, without even realizing it, our freedom to live up to our potential is being taken from us. Instead of being taught to think and reason, children are being taught that school is a huge bore and that instead, they should go out and party and experiment with sinful things in order to "find themselves" (but don't worry, the government will take good care of them). 
The past few generations, and the current one, and the next ones, are being taught to do what feels good, rather than what is good, which is, I think, a huge reason why we don't have men like Martin Luther any more.
Standing up for what's important is difficult. It's hard. It's painful. It's excruciating. It's uncomfortable. It always has been and it always will be (if you need examples just look at the martyrs from the first three centuries AD, or the Reformers, or missionaries to anti-Christian countries today). The Bible even promises us that we will be persecuted... 1 John 3:13 says, "Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you."
In today's culture, being uncomfortable is a bad thing. Adversity and confrontation is frowned upon.
Well, sorry to break the news to you folks, but being uncomfortable and facing adversity and confrontation is what makes a person grow. The world would like to have you believe that humans can achieve perfection on their own, but that's a lie. As we become more isolated through our electronics, as we stop confiding in each other and sharing hard things, as we stop discussing and talking about things, as we bury our feelings, we're not getting rid of the problem, we're just making it bigger; we're becoming lonelier and lonelier.


Freedom is not free.


It costs. It often costs things we're not willing to give up. Comfort, safety, time, even friends or family sometimes. But do you know what comfort, safety, time, and sometimes friends and family cost?


Eternity. And not just eternity by itself... Eternity with the Creator of the world.


Believers, the Bible says "the truth shall set you free"; one of the most important steps in becoming free is to educate yourself, and then do something with that education, even if it's hard, even if it's uncomfortable. We can't "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:16-20) without getting out feet wet, can we?


Thoughts? Questions? I'd love to hear from you. (GASP! Maybe even get a debate started in the comments! *dramatically puts hand to forehead* Oh no! Not conflict!)


*All quotations taken from Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley, 4th edition, chapter 36 "The Restoration of Fortresses," edited slightly by me.

Though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire. -Thomas Paine

Thank you to all our soldiers, past and present, for the freedom I now enjoy. I cherish it, and what you've done not only to give it to me, but to protect it as well. 

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

-Thomas Paine

Free at last. (Or are we?)

"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, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
-Excerpt from The Declaration of Independence.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath of affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or navel forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in the any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnessed in his favor, and to have the Assistance of the Counsel for his defense.

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court  of he the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The enumeration and the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

- The Bill of Rights (first ten Amendments).

I'd type up the rest of The Declaration, and the Constitution and all its Amendments (because everyone could use a refresh of the rules around here) but I doubt many of you would stick around to read it.

 

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Take a moment to contemplate how much freedom has been won for us. But never forget that freedom is NEVER free.

Freedom is not Free

By Abbey

6/28/12

(Written for the ceremony where I received my dog tags.)

If there is one thing that I have learned in the history class I just completed, it is that freedom is NEVER free. Whether it be a free sample of food or the freedom of a nation, someone is always paying the price.

In an age where we rely on our government to supply our every need and want, I have to ask, what is wrong with us?

Our Founding Fathers fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy today. They shut themselves up in a hot room during the summer months to bring us our Constitution.

The Civil War was a war fought about freedom.

During World War 1, men were "privileged to spend their blood for the principles that gave the United States of America birth and happiness," as President Woodrow Wilson said.

If we had not joined World War 2, who knows what foreign occupation we would be under now.

Thomas Paine said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."

So much blood was spilled to bring us so much freedom. Why, then, do we not show our gratitude?

I recently returned from a long historical trip with my mother. We went to such places as Boston; Philadelphia, the birthplace of America; and Washington DC.

Over and over again in these places I witnessed children disrespecting the very places where our freedom was won.

They did care that they were standing in the very room where the Declaration of Independence AND Constitution were signed. They did not care they were holding the exact handrail George Washington did as he ascended to his bed every night. They did not care to learn the history of our nation and the Constitution which has made us who we are.

Is this the future our Founding Fathers intended for us? A nation of people who don't care about anything important, just so long as the government is taking care of them?

What happened to, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

What happened to, "We the people."

Our freedoms are slipping away. If we want a change, we must make it ourselves, not rely on others to do it. I am willing to die for my freedom if it comes down to it. What are YOU willing to do?

My debt of honor is to educate myself and others of that very point: that freedom is never free.

It's not the best thing ever written, but I didn't have much time to edit it as I wrote it about an hour before the ceremony!

But it nicely fits my thoughts together in a coherent way.

Right now my family and I are watching live footage from Washington DC where they are having a big 4th of July celebration. And we're watching it on our new TV! Our old one had something wrong with it and had annoying lines on the top of the screen... So now we have a new TV. And we bought a blu-ray player so I can FINALLY watch the Tintin DVD special features!!!! =D

To quote my mother, "I feel like such a loser.... Everyone else is at the store to shop for 4th of July BBQ supplies... We're here to buy BBQ supplies, but not for a party."

So yes, we are not attending any big parties. We probably won't even see any fireworks. O.o Unless we climb on the roof.

Is it strange that I can remember EXACTLY what I was doing last year on 4th of July? My mom and I were visiting my grandparents. They were at a party while Mom and I stayed at their house and watched StarGate SG-1. If you think I have a good memory now, just wait for what I tell you next. I can remember which episode we were watching!! People, it's a 10 season show! I remember the most random and strange things. I can remember these two guy's Bdays from my church because I saw their Bdays mentioned in the bulletin once a long time ago.

Anyway, not the point. The point is that I was watching the SG-1 episode where Sha're's son was visiting and Daniel Jackson has this whole elaborate vision of himself taking over the world.

I also remember pausing this particular episode to look outside and catch a glimpse of fireworks.
I wonder if I will remember this particular 4th of July? Probably, because I'm blogging about it. :P

Anyway... I don't really have anything else to say, except HAPPY 4th OF JULY! =D