Being Enslaved Again?

TRAMPLED LIBERTY

Jesus leveled this charge against his legislators, “They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger” (Matthew 23:4). Paul stressed to the Galatians, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants to one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself'” (Galatians 5:13-14).

Liberty, for many of us, has been redefined as confinement. We are no longer allowed to express our freedom. Outside of our homes and religious facilities, we have become violators of The Constitution. Our liberty is being trampled on deliberately by legislators and judges, which hate Judeo-Christian morals and prefer unrestricted human behavior. To make laws that protect one person against another and then force harmful behavior on others that has caused diseases with no cure is not an act of freedom. The Bible does not stop any one from sinning. It does not legislate morality. In fact, Jesus offered this suggestion, “Let the evil doer still do evil, and let the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy” (Revelation 22:11).

Liberty is being used to endorse the pleasure of the flesh that has already had serious consequences on this nation. Promiscuity has produced fatherless families and overburdened the welfare system and fifty-two million abortions could have helped paying for the retirement of the baby boomers. Laws have been passed that are against what God intended humanity to be. It is not just the secular world that is seeking to please the flesh, but Christians too hide behind grace (Romans 6:1). What is our role as a Christian? Peter and John informed the leaders in their day, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19). Do you legislators want us to lend a deaf ear and a blind eye to what you are doing to this nation?

The Christian duty is defined as “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus regarded this as an amendment to the First Commandment. Love for another person is to be equal to love for God (Matthew 22:37-40). We have taken this to mean to lend assistance to others in need. For instance, we provide medication for wounds that resulted from sexual activity. That may be a noble gesture but it provides no cure. In fact it encourages and prolongs the activity that causes the illness and the disintegrations of the human body and spirit. The Biblical cure begins with warning the person that his activity will result in his/her death (Ezekiel 3:16-21). If we subject our body to immorality and to substance abuses then we step on our own liberty. We enslave ourselves and become a burden to others. Instead of loving them, we hurt them. We subject them to our imprisonment. Our shackles become theirs and love has become apathy.

Genuine love for others corrects and disciplines the neighbor that uses liberty for self-destruction (James 5:19-20). Such love does not want to see anyone perish (II Peter 3:9). It is particularly alarmed at laws a state passes that are of no benefits to anyone (I Corinthians 10:23). To add insult to injury, such laws cause decent human beings to become lawbreakers. Such laws go against everything the Creator has designed (I Corinthians 6:12-20). A young father stood up in a religious meeting and asked the pastor whether God had made a mistake in the plumbing. Over ninety percent in that meeting felt that their liberties were being trampled on by a few. It takes only a few, like two percent in Germany and Russia, to control nations at gunpoint. Of course, we are more sophisticated and have placed our liberties in the hands of legislators and judges to protect us form ourselves; that is, if we do not agree with their decisions. How long will it take our leaders to recognize that bullets are on the way to destroy all our liberties; and that they come form those they seek to protect? When we think of liberty, ponder what Jesus meant? “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you” (Matthew 7:6).