Friday, July 3, 2009
Freedom and What We Do with It
Scott Wagoner, pastor of Deep River Friends, N.C. is contemplating freedom and July 4th and wonders, "Is our freedom designed to further our individual rights or does our freedom allow and call us to practice creative goodness for the common good? Are we being good stewards of our freedom?" Any thoughts anyone?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Individual rights are great. We all love the many freedoms that we have, but, we need to be careful that our individual rights don't infringe on the rights of society as a whole. Sometimes the 'me first' mentality is just a little selfish.
ReplyDeleteI remember it being said that " my rights end where your begin" but it seems that the lines are often blurred and sometimes we begin to label certain behaviors and attitudes as rights, when they are not rights but, self serving attitudes of entitlements.
ReplyDeleteI shared in my children's message yesterday where Paul in Galatians said that we are free but not to use our freedom to indulge our self-interests. Rather, the quality of our freedom is measured by how much we use it to serve others and to love others. I understand this at an individual level but I wrestle with how this gets worked out at a corporate and even national level. Can we expect a nation to understand that our freedom is best manifested in loving and serving actions towards others...namely...other nations?
ReplyDeleteI think there are two kinds of freedoms in the United States. Some freedoms, everyone has: the freedom to get a job, watch what you want on tv, even post what you want on facebook! But other (further?) freedoms come from making choices: going to college means the freedom to choose from a wider selection of jobs; managing money smartly means better credit ratings and a chance to buy a house; even living with integrity means people will be more trusting and will likely give you chances in life to do unfathomable things!
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that we should all be able to make choices that will help us have further freedoms, but people unfortunately do not always realize this is possible. We need to be sure that we don't get blissfully comfortable in our freedoms but that we act in ways that will help others relize their freedoms too.
We can do this in service. Our Peace Camp is a prime example, where we can be models to children who might not have the best models, and help inspire them to think larger than just themselves. We can help them realize the possibilities of their freedoms.
We are so lucky to live in a place where we are free to wrestle with our own ideas about who God is and what his will might or might not be. That kind of questioning is what leads us to think about matters of "common good". It then becomes our right to fight for whatever that "common good" is.
ReplyDeleteThus, I think that furthering our own personal rights and the freedom to fight for the common good are closely linked.
When Lynda first presented this question I found it very intriguing, especially as we approached the 4th of July holiday. The thing that I get so frustrated with, in regards to society and the views of what “freedom” is, is that people only accept the freedoms that they agree with rather than the freedoms that we are all entitled to. So often it seems that personal/religious beliefs overshadow what freedom is and who it should belong to. I find this especially prevalent with Pop. 8. So many people and groups disagree with the homosexual lifestyle (and they are entitled to their opinions and beliefs), however they do not separate their beliefs from the rights that all people should have. It seems that civil rights are ok, just as long as they do not clash with their personal beliefs. I find this to be very troubling and a huge perversion of what freedom really is. No matter what our beliefs are, whether we agree with each other or not, I think we should all be respectful of each other and the rights and freedoms that we are all entitled to. As a society I feel we have to very thoughtful objective and ask ourselves “Is my personal belief or viewpoint going to be eliminating rights and freedoms from others?” I think that by asking ourselves this question we are looking out for the common good and protecting freedom for all.
ReplyDelete