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FREEDOM ... a running commentary

John Paul II:  “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”


Mustard Seeds:  Independence is an illusion for it denies our total dependence on God. 




Galatians 5: 1, 13-15 : For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. ... For you were called for freedom, brothers.j But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.  For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  But if you go on biting and devouring one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.



Romans 7:15-20:  What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I concur that the law is good.  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.  For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.  Now if [I] do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.




Freedom:  What does it actually mean?  It is NOT that we can do whatever we want and there will be no consequences.  It is also NOT that we have to tolerate your sin and mistakes as right because 'whatever is good for you is good for me.'  I may  not have articulated that easily, but freedom is not freedom if you cannot say no.  Yes, we are free to say yes, and we are also free to say no.  Jason Everett speaks to this in his Romance without Regret talk.  If you are a slave to your passions, then you are not freely giving yourself  to another or to God.  We need both the ability to say yes and the ability to say no.

THIS is the freedom that your forefathers came to this country for, this is the freedom that our soldiers are fighting for, and this is the freedom that millions of people have immigrated to our country for throughout the last 236+ years.

Praise the Lord!  Let us continue to fight for freedom and exercise it appropriately!

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