This is the point of Paul's letter to the Romans when he said:
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, [3] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
And this is why the social democratic state is so dangerous. The overweening state takes the liberty to do right or to sin and bear the consequences out of the hands of the people, making them infants. It is the negation of faith as well as liberty.
For I have found that to seek liberty is to seek the truth. For it is truth that makes you free.
The Christian meaning of liberty requires a personal choice to step into God’s light. That requires you be allowed to turn away. So I think you need something close to laissez faire (wrt personal liberties) to enable Christian liberties to develop. It becomes a virtuous cycle – I can do whatever I want, but I choose not to. But you take God out of the equation, and you’re left with doing whatever you want. And while fun, the hangover is inevitable. Which is where we are today.
ReplyDeleteYou know what a hangover is? Your body’s way of telling you that you shouldn’t have stopped drinking.
Sounds like something Obama and Krugman would say, don’t you think?
J
I agree. What you are saying is the true liberty is the right to choose and to choose wisely. And the lesser liberty is the right to choose and bear the consequences. Christianity is a religion of liberty. It’s where liberty comes from.
ReplyDelete