Freedom
Freedom
In this section, we would like to present, one after another, certain concepts concerning various matters in spiritual and social life.
We shall begin with the subject of freedom and discuss it together, particularly with our young people.
First: God desires every person to be free
God created man with a free will. At the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, He said to him:
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil… I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life…” (Deut. 30:15–20).
Second: Freedom is accompanied by accountability and responsibility
A person or being who is not free cannot be held accountable for his actions. But where there is freedom, there is also accountability for everything a person does, whether good or evil. He receives a reward for his good deeds, while punishment may be imposed upon him for his wrong or evil deeds.
Adam and Eve were free. God’s commandment was before them, and they could either obey it or disobey it. They disobeyed the commandment, and God imposed a specific punishment upon each of them (Gen. 3:9–19).
The punishment for a wrong committed by a person of his own free will is twofold: on earth and in heaven. A person may escape punishment on earth, but punishment in the world to come remains unless it is removed through repentance (Luke 13:3, 5).
Likewise, the good that a person does of his own free will also has a twofold reward. Even if he receives no reward on earth, his reward is preserved in heaven: “Your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly” (Matt. 6:4, 6).
Third: You have no right whatsoever to absolute freedom
You are free in what you do, provided that you do not infringe upon the rights or freedoms of others, break God’s commandments, or violate the law and public order established for the safety and well-being of others.
For example, you have no right to drive a car in violation of traffic regulations and say, “I am free; I can drive wherever I please!” Nor do you have the right to make excessive noise that disturbs others and say, “I am free to raise my voice as much as I please.” Nor do you have the right to take a piece of paper into an examination and cheat from it, saying, “I am free to use whatever papers I wish.”
Just as you should exercise your freedom without harming others or violating public order, you also have the right—and the responsibility—to exercise your freedom without harming yourself.
For your life is not yours alone. It belongs to God who created and redeemed you, and you also have responsibilities toward the society that cared for you and raised you.
Therefore, deliberately destroying one’s own life is a sin before God and is not regarded as a legitimate exercise of freedom. The same principle applies to a person who harms himself through smoking or drugs. He cannot rightly say, “I am free; I can smoke as much as I wish and take drugs as I please!” He has no right to destroy himself, nor to deprive society of his presence and of the responsibilities he is called to fulfill toward it.
Fourth: The boundaries placed upon freedom are for your benefit, not for your restriction
Their purpose is to prevent you from harming yourself, harming others, harming society, or violating God’s commandments.
A river has two banks. They do not restrict its course; rather, they preserve and direct it.
If a river had no banks, its waters would overflow on both sides, flood the land, and turn it into swamps. Could any river object to having two banks and say, “They restrict my freedom”?
The same applies to you. Your two banks are God’s commandments and the laws or traditions of society. Or we may say that the two banks are religion and upbringing. Both exist for your benefit.
A child who rejects discipline because he considers it a restriction on his freedom, or a young person who rejects the advice of his parents, teachers, or spiritual guides because he regards it as a restriction on his freedom, will inevitably go astray and lose the sound and proper path.
Is going astray another name for freedom, or is it the result of freedom?
Fifth: True freedom is freedom from wrongdoing
A person should be freed from sins and falls, and from bad habits. His heart should be freed from every evil feeling, and his mind from distorted thoughts and every intellectual error.
He should also be freed from submission to Satan and all his agents, from the influence of bad company and corrupting relationships, and from every leadership that seeks to impose its authority upon his will and lead him according to its own desires along a deviant path.
This is the freedom of which Scripture says:
“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Sixth: A person who is inwardly freed from sin can use outward freedom properly
For example, a person who is freed from hatred, cruelty, violence, and injustice can exercise his freedom in dealing with others in a proper way.
But if he is unjust or cruel and says, “I want to exercise my freedom and deal with others however I please,” he will inevitably harm them through his cruelty and injustice, because he has not yet been freed from cruelty and injustice within himself.
Likewise, a person who has not been freed from bodily desires will harm himself and others if he uses his freedom merely to satisfy those desires. While imagining that he is exercising his freedom, he may actually be placing new restraints upon his purity and self-control.
Similarly, a girl who says, “I will dress as I please, laugh as I please, and amuse myself as I please,” and by such behavior becomes a stumbling block to others and harms both herself and them, has not yet attained inner freedom. Therefore, she uses her outward freedom in a way that is harmful to herself and to others.
Likewise, a student who spends the entire year playing, neglects his studies, and says, “I am free,” is actually harming himself in the name of a false freedom and endangering his future because he has not inwardly freed himself from the control of amusement.
Therefore, our advice to you is: Use your freedom for your own benefit and for the benefit of others.
First become free within yourself before exercising outward freedom.
Seventh: Some people discipline themselves in order to attain true freedom
They do not give themselves everything they desire, lest they become self-indulgent, lose control over themselves, and consequently lose their true freedom.
Such a person therefore undertakes spiritual exercises in self-control: controlling the tongue so as not to fall into error; controlling the emotions so as not to erupt in anger and lose acquaintances and friends; and controlling the mind so that it does not wander into thoughts that may cause harm.
He also practices controlling the senses and disciplining the body through fasting and vigilance, keeping it away from harmful desires so that he does not become absorbed in pleasures and bodily indulgence and thereby lose his spiritual life.
Can a person rightly say, “I will live according to my own desires, exercising my freedom,” while refusing to discipline himself and train himself to do what is good?
If he lives in this way, is he truly free, or is he enslaved by his desires?
These are some principles we offer to help you understand the subject of freedom. And we are ready to discuss with you any thoughts or questions you may have concerning it.
