Last week the minister at the Clarksville Church talked about the Book of Gensis in the bible and several passages that he interprepated to discuss the realm of freedom in our lives. I disagreed with him on some points, but as a whole found his discussion to be quite interesting. Below are my thoughts. The minister cited the following passage from Gensis 2:15-17 then later Gensis 3:1-7. Quoting the first section:

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take of it. And the Lord God Commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any three in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die".

Ultimately what the bible is saying is that all individuals are free to do whatever they want to, as long as it's the right thing to do. We must set a moral compass of our own on good and evil and we must maintain it's dignity through our actions. If we believe something is wrong then we must work through human means to change it, not only to serve ourselves but ultimately to serve god. Likewise, if we believe something to be good we must to have it preserved and extended. Politics are ultimately the domain where us humans can live up to god's own work.

Freedom is the ability to choose whatever is ultimately right and will best serve us as individuals. We are ultimately free, but we must be careful how we use that freedom. Quoting the second section:

Now the surpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the women, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The women said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" "You will not surely die,." the serpent said to the women. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

This next section looks at the preversion of our freedom in contemporary society. It suggests that too often the message of freedom gets mixed up and personal responsibility and morality is replaced by mere proceduralism. What is right or wrong is replaced by law that ultimately limits the individual's freedom. Freedom becomes increasingly distorted until it's a way to sell war and killing in a far off land, or a method to market products. Instead of doing what we believe to be just, we too often do what is economical.

The bible does not define freedom exactly, and these words are much up to the individual's description of them. My ideas vary slightly from that of the minister, but I still respect his opinion and belief on their meaning, and I hope that the good book will continue to help us as a society find answers to the many difficult problems we face today. Freedom is not something neatly defined, but a concept that changes and changes us as individuals.