True Freedom

On Sunday, 9/11/2011, the tenth anniversary of the terrorist acts against the US, all across our nation, church services held some type of memorial to remember the events of that tragic morning. No doubt many of the pastors in those churches spoke about the freedoms we enjoy in our country. For example the freedom to worship God in public without threat of violence or imprisonment. Congregating in a church building at a set time is a freedom many Christians around the world do not have. Owning a Bible is a crime in many other countries. In our country the average household has several. Telling others about Jesus Christ can be punishable by death in many countries, yet we can stand on a street corner and preach or walk up to total strangers, hand out a tract and tell them about Christ. We can invite our neighbors over for a Bible study without fear of them turning us into the authorities and then being arrested, tortured or even executed. Yes, in the United States of America, we enjoy the freedom of religion.


The week prior, my wife and I were in Texas with our son Kyle, who was there speaking to various churches trying to raise support for his church back in Maple Ridge, Canada. He was scheduled to speak at a couple of churches on Sunday, 9/11. My wife mentioned he should say something about the freedoms that we have in our country. My son's reply struck a chord in me. He said what he'd like to preach about, but would only do in a church he wasn't seeking support from, was that we have the freedom in our country to ignore God, to turn our back on God, to deny the existence of God. And he's absolutely right. In our country we don't have to worship a god, whether the true God of the universe or some false god. We don't have to pray five times a day facing a certain way, making sure our bowing is in synchrony with everyone else around us. In our country it's okay to use the name of God in vain. It's okay to violate religious rules. Oh, and it's okay to not do any of the things mentioned above, like owning a Bible, meeting in a church building at a certain time, talking to others about Christ, or inviting our neighbors over for a Bible study, even if we ARE Christians.

In many countries, a person must profess a certain religion or risk being ostracized, tortured, beaten, even killed. And if the person does profess that religion, if they don't carry out the rituals perfectly, or obey all the rules, they can also be punished, even imprisoned. But not in our country. We can live our lives totally oblivious to the Truth, even blaspheme the God of the universe and not suffer any consequences. At least not from our fellow countrymen.

And yet, there are many people in our country who would take away the Christian's right to worship our God the way we feel led to. There are organizations that think any public expression of faith is “unconstitutional,” and would deny our rights to assemble in public or express our faith in public. These same organizations tend to align themselves with political ideology that would take away many other freedoms, ideology that says our government should tell us what to do, how to do it, and regulate every aspect of our lives. What these anti-religion organizations don't seem to take into consideration is that if they are not careful, the pendulum may swing too far their way and they many find themselves forced to behave in certain ways. Like many other countries, one predominant worldview could prevail and even be mandated. Then, we'll become just like those other countries.

And if Christians are not careful, we many find ourselves in the above situation because we take too much advantage of our own “freedom” to live our lives as WE want to live them. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:23, “All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful.” We can legally live our lives as if Christ doesn't really make a difference. We can gather on Sundays, sing worship songs while thinking about what we'll have for lunch, listen to a message while texting our friends, shake some hands, act all “Christianny” and then live the rest of the week just like everyone else. This we can do in our country. This we have the freedom to do. At least so far, the government will not imprison, torture, or execute us for this. We have this freedom. But is this a freedom we really want to take advantage of? Is it a freedom that we should take advantage of? It may be lawful, but is it helpful when we Christians live life the way we want to live, rather than how God wants us to live?