Is Christianity Slavery?

[Music] why would anyone want to be a Christian don't you lose all Freedom instead of doing what you want you have to conform to the strict rules God lays out for you how could anyone enjoy that these are thoughts Skeptics have about Christianity and they seem to think we've given up all freedom but Paul says in his letter to the Galatians that we have freedom in Christ how can this be how can Christianity be Freedom the truth is we Christians actually find more freedom in Christ than living without him this is because freedom is a

little more complex than how we traditionally think of it the philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote a paper called two concepts of Liberty where he points out there are two different types of Freedom which he defines as negative freedom and positive Freedom the first sense is what we commonly think of as Freedom it is what we were able to do within our capacity or how many options we have available to us for instance I am free right now to put down this microphone and run through the streets I am free to go to the kitchen and binge

until I puke I have several options available to me this is what we commonly think of what it means to be free it is when we are free to do as we please unrestricted or freedom from restrictions but there is a better sense of Freedom which he calls positive freedom and this is what humans truly try to obtain positive freedom is what we are free to become it is the freedom to become something better or to find your fun fundamental purpose which gives you a passion and a reason for living so to illustrate right now

you are most likely not free to be a rich businessman but if you wanted that to be your purpose you would dedicate your life to it restrict yourself to focus on obtaining the goal work hard and use valuable time then you would experience positive freedom of becoming something better and being filled with a purpose but to get there you would have to surrender and restrict all sorts of negative freedom to some of your friends who prefer to give their Wills to more negative freedom and live in the moment it may seem to them as if

you're a slave to this new purpose you're trying to fill but for you you would be experiencing a better sense of Freedom one in which you are being filled with a purpose and meaning becoming something better that fills you with satisfaction and a better sense of life and when you earn the sense of positive Freedom you also find yourself with more negative Freedom available than if you had never constrained yourself to become someone with more knowledge control and skills in this sense bettering ourselves also frees us from ignorance less rational desires and slavery to short-term

gratifications positive Freedom carries us to a better life with better freedom from lower desires and better fulfillment in fact we are all trying to obtain positive freedom in some way growing into an intellectual and mature person gives us more freedom than we would have had if we had never restricted our negative Freedom available to us a college graduate is more free than a high school dropout and we all desire to become something better and obtain a purpose that liberates us to a higher sense of life whether we DED dedicate ourselves to a career a cause

a passion a family member or a spiritual Quest we are all seeking out something to liberate us to a better sense of freedom and fulfillment even if we are looking in the wrong places there is something in all of us seeking freedom and purpose and something greater than what we are now just having negative Freedom doesn't give us what we desire and is why we seek a higher sense of it but what Christians come to find is trying to earn this purpose will never work when we try to find purpose and experience a deeper freedom

in something we have to work for it it takes time and dedication however what we find is it is never quite enough if you build your life on a career it will give you a sense of purpose and positive freedom but you have to keep working at it to keep advancing a sense of fulfillment is never quite there because there is always more to gain or more room to grow you become a slave to it because there is never a finishing point just a consuming desire to keep advancing and proving yourself if you try to

find positive freedom in a cause or a passion it will will give you a sense of accomplishing something but it will not fill you with the Assurance you need that you are more than just a disposable asset a purpose and a cause like a career is built on how well you do in it or how well it progresses and if it begins to fail you or you fail at reaching it then you have lost the very thing you were living for and your worth with it and what about finding fulfillment in a loved one like

a spouse or a child the one thing we have to face is they are human as we are filled with shortcomings and will never be as perfect as we want them to be when we end up putting all types of Standards on them they can never live up to and we will either lose them or have to face that they did not live up to the standard we desired trying to find purpose in the love of another or in living through your child will have to face the inevitable consequences that they are not selfless or

made just to be there to fulfill you putting your highest purpose in another imperfect being will only yield back imperfection what we have found as Christians is no matter what you seek it will never fulfill you with the Assurance you need because you will either fail by your own shortcomings or it will fail to meet what you truly need but for Christians we have found positive freedom in Christ instead of having to earn it through work or sacrifice it has already been paid for us instead of having to work at it and deal with our

own shortcomings and inability to ever be good enough the love of Christ is freely given and paid for instead of trying to find love and freedom in an imperfect being we have found freedom in the only perfect being who knew we would never be able to find true fulfillment and freedom if it was based on what we did we would always fall short and never be fulfilled and satisfied if it had to be based on our works which is why he willingly came and went to the Cross to defeat our sins he lived the perfect

life for us and in his love we find fulfillment knowing we don't need to earn it or work for it but instead know that we are loved for who we are through his sacrifice we are made whole without our own shortcomings getting in the way or holding us back freedom in Christ takes away the slavery want us to deal with elsewhere because because there is nothing that needs to be earned so we are not a slave to our own works or effort but freely given love and fulfillment as we are what this means is instead

of trying to find positive freedom in a passion a cause a career or another human being we've already been given a purpose and freedom in the only perfect being as Christians instead of using others as a means to an end for our own fulfillment we can rest on Christ's love and Assurance we can do the good without the need to use it as an underlying motive to fulfill us we can love as Christ loves us so when Skeptics say they want to liberate us from the slavery of Christianity what they don't realize is what they

are offering is not true positive freedom for us but a return to a place where we saw ourselves as lesser enslaves to self-gratifying or unfulfilling desires although they may think they are liberating us in a positive sense to become something better Christians have found true freedom in the love and knowledge of Christ that fulfills us in a way that nothing else ever will or can so is Christianity slavery quite the opposite there is true positive freedom and purpose found in Christ which fulfills us with the Assurance of love and acceptance the love of God is

freely given to us and this liberates us from seeking it in places we can never earn it we have already been gracefully given acceptance by God we don't need to earn it or prove our worth like one would have seeking it elsewhere and this has liberated us and equipped us to use our lives to spread this message of Hope and freedom being given the love and freedom in Christ we have been fulfilled in a way that nothing else ever can and gives us what we need to truly make this world world a better place without

using that as an underlying motive to try to fulfill us doing the good no longer becomes a means to an end but the end in itself when we as Christians truly surrender to Christ we are free to seek the good in this life and dedicate ourselves to making the world a better place without the need to use it to fulfill us true freedom is in knowing Christ and what he has done for us nothing else will ever fulfill you or even compare your Set Me Free Your Life set me free set me feel me free

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