Liberty is only good if it calls to the goodness in people. by Mark Vogl
(conservative)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Many Americans cite the preservation of liberty as the purpose of the American government. But I would offer an alternative purpose.
The known world, prior to Columbus, had been mostly a dismal failure. Wars, monarchies, and oppression had dominated most lives since humans began to organize into communities. Only Christ, through his appearance on earth to provide a route of salvation, offered both a peaceful way of living and a path for eternal life. For the Christian, we are here on this earth to love God, to be His children, and to seek His will and path for us.
Christianity is a way of life. And Christians understand that it is not a way of life for the hermit, but for the community. Christians embrace liberty as a gift from God because it allows us to develop our potential for His purpose. With liberty each individual can make their own decisions in order to develop the potential and gifts God gave each us. In one sense, living our lives here on earth is like attending a boarding school, where we prepare for the life after we leave our mortal shell.
This is the reason for liberty, and it is the bedrock of American freedom. The earliest American history tells the story of peoples from all over Europe, who risked all on dangerous ocean voyages, to find a place to live their faith in God. Europe had failed. It was a conglomeration of men's earthly concerns where religion had turned into a part of the state, and where monarchs created religions to meet their earthly desires. The Catholic Church had been infiltrated by human weakness.
People from all European nations came to America for a new start, and the great majority of those who came saw God and the Christian faith as the basis for their new start.
Humans, all humans but Christ, are imperfect. Yet, even in imperfection our Founding Fathers saw the need for God in the governance of the people. "Endowed by our Creator" is a public pronouncement of the recognition of the existence of God. In most colonies there was a requirement to prove membership in a church to hold public office. The revisionist history taught today attempting to separate God from the people is the work of Satan.
It’s amazing to read from libertarians that homosexuality is a civil right, sounds a lot like "pornography is a freedom of speech issue." Others propose the legalization of harmful drugs in the same vein of false liberty. If these approaches to sin and the tremendous harm they bring to mankind were not so serious, the proclamations of perversion as a sacred right of liberty would be merely another great teaching example of man's stupidity.
Liberty is only good if it is used for a good purpose. To have liberty, but to use it for evil purposes, to destroy human life as in abortion, to destroy human potential through the use of harmful drugs, to divert economic activity from purposes which are good for society to perversion in the form of pornography or gambling is evil. And, is as evil as the misdirection of human energies by monarch or dictator.
For those without a belief in Christian God, it is easy to see how they would misunderstand and misuse liberty. And if those people have no foundation in human history they might not have any knowledge of the hurt caused by the "tyranny of the majority" when allowed to roam free without constraints.
Politics is about the organization of society and its priorities. Those priorities do not come from politics necessarily. In socialism they do. In socialism, the ideology creates both the political ends and means. But in America, the ends come from the people, the citizens. And for two centuries those ends were shaped to a great extent by the Christian traditions of our people.
In the ongoing culture war, Christians must rise and participate in the system. The First Amendment to the Constitution provides for the practice of religion and the freedom of speech to engage in political discourse. Secularists and some libertarians seem bent on letting Gays out of the closet, and pushing those of the Christian faith into the closet. If that occurs, liberty will no longer be a virtue, but a curse on mankind, where man will be convinced that liberty to do anything is the ultimate perfection. We have enough history to know where chaos leads...
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 6
thumbs so far
The views expressed
in this article are those of Mark Vogl only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Mark Vogl is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Posted By: Mike Blevins
Date: June 10, 2010 09:54:59 PM
Well, most people would say that liberty is good whether it calls to goodness or not. Mr. Vogl, you're certainly entitled to your opinion, but you'll forgive us libertarians if we see liberty a bit differently. You cannot say liberty is 'bad' just because people might use their liberty to do something you don't like. If you (or the church or the government) can take away liberty just because someone has acted in an 'unapproved' manner, then such 'liberty' is not liberty at all.
I, myself, am a Christian--and I guarantee you that I see people all the time who use liberty in ways I don't like. That doesn't make their liberty any less valuable. It's their life and their choice--so long as they aren't hurting another. As for the consequences of their use of liberty? Well, that's between them and the god of their choice.
Like you, I believe the God of the Bible will ultimately have the last say, but in the meantime, I will leave others free to own their own lives. Suggest you do the same.
Posted By: Mike Foster
Date: June 16, 2010 09:11:10 PM
Regarding the mortal world, Jesus said "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.", and therefore IMO any form of Christianity that finds itself at peace and in compliance with "the world" is not following in the footsteps of Jesus.
Is the concept of liberty found in the Bible? Absolutely. There can be no higher form of liberty than that in which each individual is governed, not by mortals, but their own highest sense of Life, Truth and Love.
Posted By: Mike Blevins
Date: June 20, 2010 11:36:23 PM
Well, I'm a Christian. (Yes, that's right. You can be a Christian and a libertarian too) I totally believe that true freedom is found in Christ. That's what He declared, and that's what I believe. Individuals must make their own personal choice whether or not the seek the liberty that is found in Him. What I DON'T believe is that Christian orthodoxy is to be enforced through government action. (Religious orthodoxy and government force are a terrible mixture--if you don't believe me just read the Gospels) Liberty is liberty whether it takes a form that Christians like or not. I may not agree with every use to which people choose to put their liberty, but it's THEIR liberty. They have the right of ownership over their own lives. They alone should make the decision as to what use their liberty should be placed. It is not for me to withhold it from them. Who am I? And it is not the government's place to be the repository of moral authority. Moral authority? The government? Are you out of your mind? That's the funniest thing I ever heard of! Uncle Sam as moral guardian. That's the fox guarding the hen house, if I ever heard it.
Posted By: Mark Vogl
Date: June 23, 2010 08:58:41 AM
Liberty is not infinite, God is. I presume that libertarians are not endorsers of chaos, that they do see a need for a state, a government. And since we live in a democratic constitutinoal republic, that libertarians do believe in the rule of the majority. Policy must determined in some way, and what I as a Christian propose, is that we be guided by God in making policy, through the Bible, and through prayer. The sad reality is, we live here, we must have rules, and where the rules come from matters. Further, liberty used to harm, whether it by through poor law and policies, or poor individual choices is not good...liberty is not inherently good, only God is inherently good.
Posted By: Mike Blevins
Date: June 25, 2010 12:38:51 AM
You are certainly entitled to that viewpoint, Mark. What you are not entitled to do is make the Bible the law of the land for everybody against their will. The world may not have what you regard as the "right" view of liberty; still, it is their view--and not one that is imposed on them. They will resist unto death anyone they perceive as imposing their view on them.
As a Christian, I believe that I should be guided by God through the Bible and through prayer. Mark, if you choose to do that as well, that is all well and good. More power to you! As followers of Christ, we should seek to spread the knowledge of him through our life testimony as expressed in word and deed. Our lives should be love letters from God to the world, so that men are drawn by his love. (and by an awareness of his coming judgement)
What we must never do is position Christ (seemingly) as a tool of the state and (consequently) the stealer of liberty. (as the world defines it) Unfortunately, many of the actions of the religious right have served to convince the people of the world that Christians are out to enslave them by codifying the precepts of the Bible into earthly laws. This impression only serves to widen the rift between Christ and the lost he is seeking to save.
Unless you want the world to see Christ and the church as oppressors, you must be willing to give them total freedom to make their own choices how to live. Where their choices conflict with biblical precepts, they will reap bondage; but that bondage will be used by God to open their eyes to true freedom in Christ. (As long as Christians are doing what they should by living godly lives before them)
For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 2 Cor. 2:15
No precept codified into law will ever have the desired effect. That is one of the most clearly-defined messages in the NT.
