| The 4th of July is a great time to consider the concepts of liberty and freedom. In fact, I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to retrace our steps. We are in danger of losing what so many fought and died for. Submitted for your consideration. Freedom needs a definition… it needs boundaries. Absolute freedom (anarchy) is simply chaos and necessarily ends in the triumph and tyranny of the guys with the most guns and control of the media. Yep, true freedom requires order, but an order that respects the image of God in man and does not coerce private opinion or conscience. In other words, true freedom requires the boundaries of law. But the big question is always: Which law? Or rather whose law? By what standard should we… or can we… measure out freedom and limit anarchy? Which law order, if any, is truly compatible with liberty? Once again, we’re forced back to the concept of ontology or “being.” If reality is, at bottom, undifferentiated spirit or impersonal atomistic matter as Classical thought posited, then any talk of what’s right or of “rights” proper is meaningless. “What is, is right” according to the Marquis de Sade. There is no transcendent standard by which right and wrong may be measured, no absolute beyond earthly existence by which we might legitimately say, “This is right, and this is wrong.” Flatly stated… in the absence of any applicable moral absolutes, the concept of human rights is roadkill. We can talk about “rights” granted by society or the State, but this is a chimera. Just another dialectically mythical mix of concepts in eternal tension. Such “rights,” then, are nothing but existential “permissions” for a time and can be taken away as easily as they were granted. |
| This flag, flown by order of George Washington, commander in chief of the Continental Army in October 1775, is a symbol of solidarity, conviction and was meant to be a theological reminder in the fight for liberty. It was an appeal to a transcendent God for justice. Only on the basis of a transcendent Absolute can there be any real talk of right and wrong or of human rights. Liberty, to be anything more than bare, momentary permission from the existing State, must be rooted in an Absolute that stands outside of and beyond all human social order and all created reality. Hence, our Founders’ appeal represented in the flag above. Liberty is meaningful only on the presupposition of the personal Creator God, who both transcends creation and is immanent within it. Bottom Line: A meaningful concept of liberty presupposes the Triune God of Scripture as Author and Creator. For more on this topic, see this video: The Lost Secrets Of Liberty Might want to show the kids. Have A Blessed 4th. of July. |
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