freedom

I wish I could have written this yesterday while the thoughts were still fresh. it stems from a video shown at church. a couple lines caught my attention.

the video starts out describing aspects of freedom, mostly aspects of our "possessing" freedom, and ends by saying essentially freedom can only be found in Christ (which, of course, is absolutely true). it didn't use the word freedom until the very end, pasted across a background of the cross. the first half of the video, in describing all these aspects of freedom, use pictures of people holding flags and whatnot, people at rallies and so forth.

what caught my attention was a couple particular lines: "we were born with it" and "it is our right".

apparently the makers of this video were talking about Americans and not about Christians. Americans were born with all kinds of freedoms, freedom of speech, freedom of religion (the first few lines of the video talked about this freedom), and so on. it is indeed a right, written into the American constitution, that all Americans can and will be free (the definition of said freedom is open to interpretation, of course).

Christians were born into bondage, namely the bondage of sin. the foundational doctrine of Christianity is that we are slaves to our sin, slaves to this world, and we cannot "do right" or be righteous until Christ saves us out of our sin. we weren't born with freedom, we were born a slave to death. also, and more importantly in my opinion, once a slave to death becomes a Christian, he becomes a slave to righteousness (to use the words of a famous Christian author). our life is no longer our own (which isn't truly "our own" anyway given the sin nature) but instead is dedicated to the cause of Christ. or at least it should be.

many people in America seem to think that freedom in Christ is equivalent with religious freedom, freedom of speech, and the bill of rights. too many well-meaning Christians place a higher value on American values than on Christian values. too many people want to live their own lives in "freedom" without having to answer to anybody.

too many people forget the slave-nature of Christianity. we are called to be bondservants of Christ, not autonomous do-gooders. one will be told "well done good and faithful servant", another will be told "get away from Me, I never knew you".

the cause of Christ does not include the right to bear arms

unless I'm vastly mistaken and this pastor has the gospel correct.

we live in a country that is composed of freedom and "rights". I'm all for taking advantage of a right when it furthers the kingdom of God - Paul did as much in Acts by appealing to Caesar. but, the fundamental nature of Christianity is the sacrificing of ones "rights" - right to self-interest, right to self-promotion, right to egocentric living, even the right to possessions. we are called to be in the world and not of it, and the world holds its "stuff" very dear; but we are not called to be tied down to material possessions. nor are we called to rely on our own strength for protection.

somehow, the cause of Christ has been confused with the cause of American Values. the right to bear arms may be an important one to protect for Joe Blow American, but it is not one a Christian needs to fight for, let alone a pastor.

Christians have become used to their "rights", and I find it unfortunate given that the movement was founded in a culture that denied those Christians their rights. American Christians are comfortable with their stuff, their possessions and rights and status. if I understand the words of Jesus correctly, those who are materially rich (read: rich young ruler w/ possessions, rights, status) have an awful hard time entering the kingdom of God. it's not impossible, but when a person has all they need without needing God, that same person learns to rely on their own strength and not God's (Who is sufficient for us all, btw). God then becomes a crackerjack box toy that a dude can pull out as his ace up the sleeve when he "needs" it.

I own arms. I enjoy hunting. shooting guns is fun, and if it weren't for hunting and for shooting stuff the relationship I have with my dad and cousins would be vastly different. but I'm not going to fight for those. they're a luxury as a Christian, not a right.

and the church shouldn't be viewing them as such.