The Freedom We Value

February 19, 2024

Freedom, liberty is a value we Americans hold dearly. But what does it mean? We all start out with freedom, complete freedom to do what we want or choose that is within our capabilities. But some choices have undesirable or unwanted consequences, which may cause us to lose further freedom, i.e. prison, chains, death – or loss of some capability, i.e. loss of tongue, arm, leg, etc. So, I submit that the freedom we talk about as Americans is the freedom to live life by a set of acceptable standards without incurring the loss of freedoms or capabilities imposed by governments or other groups. I further submit that the standards come from God’s word and from man’s un-seared conscience. The laws of “free” countries are consistent with these “right” and “wrong” or “ought to” standards, and we (law abiding) agree to follow these standards (which in essence are limitations to freedom) and want government to enforce them. So, the freedom we speak of is freedom limited by laws (right and wrong standards) of our country – and of our God – not absolute freedom. Dennis Christian