2/02/2005 06:51:58 PM|||Joel VandenBrink|||
Today four of my friends, and myself got together to study. We are currently studying the word 'arrogance.' It is hard to say exactly what we are studying about arrogance because we are all over. Trapper is studying it in context of politics and holistic living. Nate is studying it in context of Zen and the Mystics. Tim is doing in idealology study. And Jon is doing a study of Jesus' life and how he spoke to arrogance in culture. As for me, I'm studying the reformation -- or was, or am going to. Or something. But anyway, today we took a slight detour from arrogance and talked around the question of, What is God's definition of freedom?

It is hard to say what conclusive answer we came to, but for the sake of clearning up my own thoughts i'm going to purge my brain into my fingers and type my thoughts.

I am an American, I am a white male American. If there is one 'category' of people in the world that have the most 'freedom' it is the white male American. I've never had to worry about being oppressed, in fact i've been so free from oppression that i've (when I say 'I' I am speaking from a white male American) created a phrase called 'reverse discrimination.' When I haven't had things go my way I've sued, because I can, because damnit I'm a white male American and have been the most powerful category in humanity for the last 50 years and damnit the moment someone gets noticed I'm going to sue to get noticed back. Not only do I want to be noticed but I want to exert my 'freedom' I am free to do what I want. switching gears.....

Yesterday I (now I am Joel, not a white male american...well, you know what i mean) walked into a 7-11 to get some fake energy before 3+ hours of Hebrew language class. I walked to the candy aisle and noticed that the candy aisle was huge, in fact it was so huge it was more than one aisle. Yup, thats right.

10 years ago we had butterfinger, snickers, 3 musketeers, milky way and pay days. Now we have almond snickers, snickers ice cream bar, crunchy snickers, carb control snickers, snickers made with milk from mars, snickers that can sing a song for you. I now have 'freedom' to choose what kind of snickers I want -- this is a new 'freedom' that I didn't have 10 years ago.

Now these two examples might be a little ridiculous but they prove a point (i think). the point, I think, they prove, is that I am not free. I am not free in the sense that God wants me to be. Take for example this:

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey–whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
-- Romans 6

set free from sin so that I can be a slave to righteousness? in other words I am free from sin so that I can be free for God. This freedom isn't my free will, this freedom isn't the ability to choose. This freedom is a freedom to be in bondage to God for the sake of his kingdom. This freedom is being free for God to know that when I die I have salvation and death is but a comma in a sentence of my life. This freedom is essentially dying to the fake freedom that I feel I have. Without this death I am in bondage to something other than God.

this freedom should free me from any fear of dying, from any fear of judgement, from any fear of shame because I am free from these things for God.

so what are your thoughts on freedom? I'm itching to find out because obviously my definition is in the process of being re-constructed.

peace
joel
|||110740085881439151|||freedom and death and life and salvation and love