The Christian Ear is a forum for discussing and listening to the voice of today's church.
The Lord spoke to churches,“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Rev 2&3
May 25, 2009
Freedom
Americas and Christens have something in common, we were all purchased with shed blood - Freedom is not Free. Do this in remembrance of Me…
1 comment:
Steve Corey
said...
Gail;
-----Because man is both an individual and social being, freedom is a tenuous condition. It is easy to think of it as the right to do whatever one chooses that does not cause damage to another. But since the concept of damage is not exactly concrete, the boundaries of freedom are continually in motion. For example, over the last forty years one group of people have considered the social aversion to their gay lifestyle as damage, while another group of people have seen abortion as quite damaging to the unborn child. Some view burning fossil fuels as damaging to everyone, and as we careen towards socialized health care, many foods that most of us enjoy are going to be fingered as economically damaging. The fact is, when the definition of “damage” is left open for analysis to the Nth degree, everyone’s freedom falls under assault. -----That is why social contracts are important. They are the only way the fuzzy boundaries between individual freedoms and social fabrics will be maintained. They are the only protection the social fabric has from individual freedom, and visa-versa. But an iconoclastic attitude towards social contracts is raging through Western culture. In the 1960’s our social contract regarding decency in entertainment and public life was challenged, and has now been torn apart. Our social contract regarding love and sexual intimacy has been thrashed. The slicing and dicing of our social contract to recognize the sovereignty of God began centuries ago. Now even our social contract regarding the performance of contracts is beginning to show stress fractures. -----I look at Memorial Day with bitter sweet feelings. Since the designation of May 30th as Memorial Day in 1868, there has been so many lives sacrificed to not only keep America free, but also to destroy blankets of tyranny laid upon other parts of the world. I look at those men as better than me, and my thankfulness to them will never let my adoration of them die. But ultimately, it was not freedom they preserved, but the chance to have freedom. Our having that freedom depends upon our willingness to sacrifice ourselves just enough to accept the terms of reasonable social contracts. When I consider the commemoration of the 30th Day of May as a day of memorial to their sacrifice, and now find the terms of that contract altered to the last Monday of May for another three-day weekend, my hope for freedom fades just a bit.
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Because man is both an individual and social being, freedom is a tenuous condition. It is easy to think of it as the right to do whatever one chooses that does not cause damage to another. But since the concept of damage is not exactly concrete, the boundaries of freedom are continually in motion. For example, over the last forty years one group of people have considered the social aversion to their gay lifestyle as damage, while another group of people have seen abortion as quite damaging to the unborn child. Some view burning fossil fuels as damaging to everyone, and as we careen towards socialized health care, many foods that most of us enjoy are going to be fingered as economically damaging. The fact is, when the definition of “damage” is left open for analysis to the Nth degree, everyone’s freedom falls under assault.
-----That is why social contracts are important. They are the only way the fuzzy boundaries between individual freedoms and social fabrics will be maintained. They are the only protection the social fabric has from individual freedom, and visa-versa. But an iconoclastic attitude towards social contracts is raging through Western culture. In the 1960’s our social contract regarding decency in entertainment and public life was challenged, and has now been torn apart. Our social contract regarding love and sexual intimacy has been thrashed. The slicing and dicing of our social contract to recognize the sovereignty of God began centuries ago. Now even our social contract regarding the performance of contracts is beginning to show stress fractures.
-----I look at Memorial Day with bitter sweet feelings. Since the designation of May 30th as Memorial Day in 1868, there has been so many lives sacrificed to not only keep America free, but also to destroy blankets of tyranny laid upon other parts of the world. I look at those men as better than me, and my thankfulness to them will never let my adoration of them die. But ultimately, it was not freedom they preserved, but the chance to have freedom. Our having that freedom depends upon our willingness to sacrifice ourselves just enough to accept the terms of reasonable social contracts. When I consider the commemoration of the 30th Day of May as a day of memorial to their sacrifice, and now find the terms of that contract altered to the last Monday of May for another three-day weekend, my hope for freedom fades just a bit.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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