The Church Has the Answers for Those Seeking Freedom
The ancient question, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” lingers over the Church and the current cultural milieu. In other words, if Jerusalem is the metaphorical spiritual center of the universe, what is its relationship with Athens, the rational center of the universe? What is the relationship between reason and revelation? Have we become so ‘mature’ and modern in our thinking that we have outgrown our need for revelatory religion? Isn’t all that is “really real” the material, the tangible, the subjective, the emotive? What then is left for the Church, for the believer in God, for Scripture, for the Lordship of Jesus Christ?
All of this leaves many with the unquenchable desire to be set free from ancient truths, taboos, beliefs, modes of thinking and, ultimately, free from God. The argument goes: “We used to need God, but now that science, modern medicine, and AI have emerged we don’t need God anymore. We have been set free from the need to believe in God. We believe in science, in self, in the State.”
And what will take Christianity’s place? It’s not atheism. It is a new paganism. Or as R.R. Reno has argued, the return of the “strong gods” of antiquity—of mysticism, the dark arts, and scientism. It is a vision of the self as the center of all things: the ability to refashion human nature (e.g., make a biological boy into a girl), or even turn men into gods. This is to play God.
As Christians, such questions leave us fearful, frustrated, confused, and angry. What are we to do if we are set free from the foundations that have undergirded Western civilization, including Christianity?
At the core of the modern pagan project is the age-old desire for freedom, especially the right to be free from God or any claim on us by an objective source of truth. The new paganism is the old paganism with man at the center of all things, where the creature is worshiped and served rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25).
It’s not just that many do not believe in God, per the ‘rise of the nones’ or those who have no religious affiliation; instead, it is that they don’t want God to exist. If God exists, then they are accountable to him. In other words, a person’s freedom to live will be evaluated and judged by God. The modern pagan person does not want this to be true.
Freedom as a Good
We enjoy modern conveniences that free up our time for the things we want to do – read, hike, travel, live as we want, etc. We want good medicine to free us from pain and disease. We want personal freedom without others impinging on our ability to do what we want, when we want, with whom we want, where we want. We want to be free to work, or free from work, or free to think, or free from all restraints, etc. In some ways, there is nothing wrong with these freedoms.
But the kind of freedom that is often pursued these days is dangerous and elusive. It is dangerous because once obtained, it is often misused and abused. Freedom often turns to vice if not disciplined. Freedom is elusive as well. Our modern age has afforded us, if considered in historical context, freedoms beyond what our forebears could have ever imagined. Modern amenities have “freed up” our time for the freedom to engage in other activities. But are we as free as we claim to be, as we want to be?
The modern pagan project (a life without God) offers a subjective version of freedom that often leads us into bondage. We are free to label ourselves as we will apart from a reference to objective, biological reality, yet still do not know our true selves. We are free to believe as we want, yet are often confused when what we believe doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
This is where the Church must offer what only it can offer – true freedom in Jesus Christ, and what that means for the public sphere.
Objective Freedom
True freedom begins by being set free from sin and being set free for a relationship with God in Jesus Christ, reminding us that He is God and not us (Gen. 3:5). The original bondage is the bondage to sin. Made in God’s image, we have stiff-armed God, we have sinned against the One who made us. Sin brought spiritual death, alienation, bondage, spiritual confusion, and a disconnection from reality.
In His infinite mercy, God chose not to leave us in our bondage but sent His Son, the God-Man Jesus Christ, on a rescue mission. He died a substitutionary death, was buried, and was then raised from the dead. Knowing these truths – and the Person of truth – sets us free from sin, death, and future judgment (Jn. 8:31-36). True freedom comes by truth, forgiveness, and spiritual liberation.
Freedom in Christ sets us free from the main bondage we experience – the bondage of thinking we are God (Gen. 3:5). Set free from the need to play God, we can rest, relax, and trust. Rather than a false freedom to play God, we are set free to be our true selves in Jesus Christ. This is what the Church offers to a world in bondage – a freedom from what truly binds us. Such freedom is true freedom and, once experienced, cannot be revoked or replicated.
Horizontal Freedom
But true freedom does not terminate in personal, individual freedom. Personal freedom is not a spiritual cul-de-sac. When a person is set free in Jesus Christ, they long to be free in other ways as well – politically, economically, educationally, and socially. One freedom follows another. This is why anti-Christian and anti-God cultures hate the gospel (i.e., North Korea, China).
For example, America can claim a Christian founding because the earliest settlers desired the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience without unwarranted government intervention. Yet, this led to more than worship; it led to settlement and societal development. It led to the Protestant work ethic because of the belief that God was honored by the use of our freedoms in an effort to build something, to create something, to fulfill the dominion mandate of Genesis 1:28-31. It led to the creation of the greatest nation on the planet. Why? Because America was and is a unique experiment in human liberty and freedom that produces and builds, rather than tyranny, authoritarianism, and an all-encompassing government.
So, America was not a Christian nation in that it was a theocracy like Israel was a theocracy. However, it was (and is) a Christian nation in that its DNA was Christian from the outset. Its founding principles were Christian. Its “bones” were (and still ought to be) Christian. In brief, objective, vertical freedom in Christ led many to seek freedom on horizontal levels, i.e. political, economic, social, educational freedom. This is why the Declaration of Independence states, “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.” The self-evident, God-given truths form the basis of the pursuit of a free society that is productive.
Bound Freedom
The misnomer about freedom is that it is the kind of freedom to do whatever one wants, a type of libertarian freedom unhinged from any spiritual or moral foundations. But this kind of freedom only leads to bondage. Only the disciplined athlete is ‘free’ to run and win (1 Cor. 9:24-27). The undisciplined athlete is crippled by his lack of discipline. So, too, the Christian gospel not only offers true freedom in Jesus Christ, but it is the kind of freedom to do what one “ought to do” rather than what one wants to do. True freedom is disciplined, ordered, and focused. We are truly free when our vices and sins are bound.
This is why a free and prosperous America has expressed that freedom with a disciplined and focused use of that freedom. This version of freedom is under threat because, in America, we have arrived at a day when we want to express our freedoms without responsibility and accountability.
This is why Scripture repeatedly reminds us not to use our freedoms as a cloak for sinful thinking or acting (Gal. 5:13-15; 1 Pt. 2:13-17). Translated in the American context, this principle was taken to mean that a free people are free only to the degree that they recognize the true source of their freedom and that such freedoms must be disciplined, ordered, and focused on what is good, true, and truly beautiful. Gain without work, identity apart from reality, opinions without truth are bastardized versions of freedom.
Freedom wrongly used leads only to bondage. It is understandable then that John Adams, the second President of the United States (1797-1801), noted that our Constitutional form of government was meant for a spiritually grounded and responsibly free people:
And how has God called us to discipline our freedom? Through a concentric circle of governances: 1) self-government 2) familial government 3) ecclesial government 4) local/state/federal government and, maybe, 5) cultural norms that do not reward the misuse of freedom.
There are many examples of misuse of freedom. Sexual profligacy outside of the marriage context is a shallow version of love and a strong form of enslavement. The ability to think freely without objective truth as a restraint leads to the kind of idiocy and insanity that is used to justify all manner of evil. The freedom to borrow money for constructive use gives way to consumer debt, enslaving the borrower. Free exercise of religion permits false doctrine, cultic practices, wayward religions and outright atheism. Freedom of self-actualization can lead from seeking to make the best of yourself down to remaking yourself as a twisted and broken human being.
The Church and Freedom
If we are in danger of losing our freedoms (and probably already have) to the insanity of selfish or undisciplined thinking and living, then what should the Church be doing at this time in American history? Understanding that there is no “neutral public square” where all ideas are equally accepted, the Church must step into the public sphere not as a Political Action Committee, but as the Church, armed with biblical truth and every spiritual tool needed to address the issues of the day (2 Cor. 10:1-6; Eph. 6:10-20). There is no neutrality because Jesus is not neutral in His Lordship over all things. Jesus is Lord not just over spiritual things but over every sphere of life, “whether they be thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities” (Col. 1;15-20). We must reassert ourselves as God’s representatives in the Church and within the public square.
The Church must be clear that the standard for truth (that sets people free, Jn. 8:32) is God’s self-revelation in nature and in Jesus Christ, as revealed to us in Scripture. We must clearly and boldly preach the liberating, life-giving gospel, knowing that lasting cultural change comes only through a change in the hearts and minds of the people of America. While we can and do legislate morality, we cannot legislate personal transformation. This is a work of God. We must live what we preach, modeling disciplined freedom is essential. We must build and disciple the next generation of believers who will then do the same (2 Tim. 2:1-2).
We must continually define freedom as that which fully comes from God and that must be disciplined and focused on what is true, good, and truly beautiful; conversely, freedom abused ends in bondage, criminality, vice, and the lack of human flourishing. We must acknowledge that when people are set free spiritually, they long to be free in other ways and that freedom in life (to produce, work, live, think, and have dominion) must be nurtured and wisely used in order to bring honor and glory to God. The Church must encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of Genesis 1-3 to build what is pleasing to God since the gospel is not just for the Church property but for the workplace.
We must speak and proclaim true freedom in the public square to the political authorities, especially to those who either abuse or mitigate this freedom. This is the freedom that comes from God, that must be nurtured and cherished, that must not be abused by individuals or a godless civil government, and that must be secured at great cost, for freedom is not free.
We must remind all earthly authorities that all authority (Mt. 28:18) comes from God and that apart from God granting that authority, all earthly authorities are illegitimate (Jn 19:9-11). The degree to which earthly authorities honor God, whether they personally believe in the One, True God or not, is the degree to which they and the people they lead will be blessed. As Psalm 33:12 notes, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.” Proverbs 14:34 further declares that “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” And Proverbs 29:2 states, “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
Finally, the Church (and all believers) must remind itself that it is not a ‘side-show’ in the culture. The Church has ceded too much ground to other cultural institutions. This must change. The Church must rise to the occasion and come out of its isolation, not just as another social organization or club, but as the voice of God that speaks and applies God’s revealed and written truth to all areas of life.
Image Credit: Unsplash
I really like this article. It think it gets to the heart of Christian influence and cultural change. We are to be a light in the dark, a city on a hill, an example of the power of Christ against a seemingly empty and meaningless world, someone who lives planted on solid ground against a world of shifting sand. Through this foundation we are to go out and share the love of God that has so meaningfully transformed our own lives with. We could spend time mandating that religious ethics be reflected in formal legislature, but at best this will merely enforce conformity. From the ultimate love of God we are changed and compelled to live righteous lives, the transformation rarely if ever works in reverse, as an atheist/agnostic/pagan forced to live through Christian ethics has little incentive to make the inward transformation. Some will argue that this is still better than nothing, but will righteous action alone be enough to save the non-believing soul? The Bible repeatedly affirms that it is through Christ and Christ alone that we can achieve salvation.
It is a natural temptation to equate the favorable settings in which one grew up with what God approves of. And so we see at least a partial conflation of Western Civilization and Christianity in the above article. Of course that isn’t the only reason for the conflation, the Church’s influence on Western Civilization is another reason. But, going back and adapting a question from a favorite childhood hero of men, we need to ask this question: Was the Church’s influence a friendly influence?
If we look at the fruit of Western Civilization we see a strong tendency to acquire freedoms for one’s own group and the suppression of those freedoms for those outside of one’s own group. Religious freedom in America started that way as, for example, the Puritans sorely persecuted those from other denominations. In doing so, were the Puritans seeking religious freedom or religious privilege?
As we formed governments that sought freedom from the British, how were we treating blacks and Native Americans and even some whites? And so again, were we seeking freedom or privilege for our own group?
And when we examine Western imperialism and colonialism, those two questions could have been asked around the globe. Were we seeking freedom or privilege? And so when we combine that with the above article, are we conflating Christianity with our seeking for privilege?
There is a political freedom and there is a Christian definition of freedom. And so there is more than one definition of freedom and which one is being referred to depends on the context in which freedom is being discussed. Freedom in the Church context, including when we evangelize refers to the Christian definition of freedom. Freedom outside of the Church refers to a political freedom that does not include the Church definition of freedom. And freedom outside the Church applies to a heterogeneous religious community, including atheists. To base our freedom in society on the freedom outside the Church does not replace the Church because the only way that the Church can be replaced is if it is eliminated. But if we insist on the Christian definition of freedom on those outside the Church, we will have not only exceeded the limits that the Apostles recognized in terms of their fulfilling of the Great Commission, we will find ourselves to be ‘lording it over others,’ which was prohibited by Jesus. And the rest of the world and society will see us as seeking privilege, as feeling entitled to rule over them. And Church History not only shows a plethora of examples of that kind of seeking privilege, those outside of the Church will see in us deadly spiritual flaw of believing that we are spiritually/morally superior to them and they will attack us and the reputation of the Gospel and not necessarily because they are rejecting the Gospel. They are rejecting our arrogance. And such arrogance preaches a different Gospel than the one we share from the Scriptures.
Finally, we should note that political freedom has its own checks and balances. The main balance of that freedom is the recognition that freedom without equality is privilege. And so if we don’t recognize the equality and equal rights of unbelievers in society, we will be sabotaging our own efforts to teach how Christian freedom sets people free from sin.