The Christian and Freedom

Freedom means liberty hence the two words are most often used interchangeably. To have freedom or to be at liberty denotes that one is free, a verb of the noun freedom. These are known to every Christian or any religious person. Freedom exists at different levels. We have freedom of association, freedom of speech; freedom implying that one's right and privileges are recognized and are preserved as such. No restriction, no control. However, freedom has a price. Its price is the choice one makes or neglects to make. More grave is the time and place at which freedom is actuated. Walking about nude in the street of a typical African country confers the status of madness on the one that does so. But to take a bath one strips oneself within an enclosure usually known as bathroom. There is freedom of speech. But one is not covered to go about insulting and abusing others without tenable reason, even within tenability there are admissible restrictions. Nor can a Christian or a non-Christian go about slapping others; it would readily be concluded that the person is out of his mind through and through. You're at liberty to cross a highway quite all right, but not such as would get you in the of a moving vehicle. It you get knocked down (God forbid) and you don't die you would have a share of the blame, contributory negligence. And many a great number more. The freedom to serve God is different. It doesn't seem to have immediate repercussions. A person is at liberty to go through life doing all but evil. His punishment will send him to hell on the Day of Judgment. If he does repent even on his death-bed God will forgive him. This is unlike the case of the atheist. The atheist resists every persuasion pointing to the existence of Almighty God. He's cunning enough to have ready-made arguments to counter a reasoned position for the existence of God. If he agrees there is God and when he dies he finds that there is no God, he will lose nothing. On the other hand, if he sticks by his convictions that God doesn't exist and at death he finds that there is God, he will lose everything. By then, it would be too late for him to have a rethink. As a Christian, watch what use you make of your freedom. Shalom. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2556495