Now that we are in Christ Jesus (locale) and that defines us as Christians (Acts 11:26 = And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.)
Doesn’t this geography limit us by its boundaries.? In answering this question one looks at the Hebrew Mythology in Genesis 2:1-15 where man is created and put in a perfect environment and he is free to do and be whatever he wants. It is amazing to know that God created us FREE-BEINGS and with the ability to choose over anything. We are choice beings who choose FOR and AGAINST. Our God is a God of independence to the extent that he created us with the capacity to opt to be INDEPENDENT of him (he who actually sustains our being) we had and still have the power to choose against him….and yes we did (Genesis 3 and here we are).
After God had created us with this volitional power because he wanted us to be INDEPENDENT…he realised that our FREEDOM needed a certain ingredient known as INFORMATION and what we see in Genesis 2:16-17= 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.) is not a commandment, a law and neither is it a restriction but rather INFORMATION.
So man was free and not restricted…that is why the danger tree was not fenced but man was given information about the danger. With this we can tell how man is a free being. In fact in one way or another after man chose (not sinned) against God he by default chose against himself and that is why he is not as free as originally he was before he made this choice (Read Romans 7:13-20).
According to international Politics, when third world countries celebrate independence they are not celebrating total freedom but rather good working relations with super-power countries that influence the power and politics. On the other hand also, super power countries (U.S, U.K, RUSSIA, CHINA, all those in EU,) also are never free and independent enough to do what they want with all their artillery (nuclear use)…and neither are they secure despite the defence mechanism they have in place…Terrorists terrorize them, their very own economic systems fail them, they also struggle with immigrants (and immigrants are victims of their power manipulation of other countries). So all of us are not free and neither are we independent.
What then does FREEDOM and being INDEPENDENT mean? Can we enjoy total freedom in this world? Is freedom and independence applicable to our Eco-System where every creature needs the other to survive…How then do we explain the concept of HUMAN RIGHTS where it is argued that one’s rights shouldn’t infringe on the neighbour’s rights…is this freedom or ORDER?
In search of what we have lost, humanity has invented many concepts and practiced them…some are: liberty (statue of Liberty), Democracy, Freedom Fighters, War etc. And one wonders when one country is fighting the other how free is the winner if the looser is not dead (Tutsi vs Hutu, U.S vs Arab World, Palestinian vs Israel war) are these means to freedom and independence effective or they are more captivating and ENSLAVING instead!!?
A certain movie star said in one movie that: WE ARE CAPTIVES IN PRISONS OF OUR OWN CREATION. We the preachers of Righteousness by Faith have told the world that RELIGION is a human invention to control, manipulate and abuse the psychology and the physiology of man. Religion is a slave master…and it is a system of DON’Ts…it is so much about what you SHOULDN’T DO, and when it tells you something to DO it is because of what you SHOULDN’T DO.
Religion is LEGALISTIC, it is a COLONISATION of the mind, thought and actions… religious people think what they are told to think, and do what they are programmed to do…wear a bomb and explode regardless of whether you can defend and explain the act, don’t eat this and that, don’t wear this and that….don’t go to this place, don’t associate with these people, don’t marry so and so, don’t do this and this on this day, etc. Religion gives a false freedom and institutes a false peace in one’s thinking due to its conditioning of the mind.
However, in Religion you always feel condemned and guilty. You are never independent in Religion but DEPENDENT on religion or on the religious leaders…(pastors, bishops, popes, Imams/Sheikhs, etc). In Religion your freedom is given and defined in the doctrines and policies (human inventions) not from the Bible or your individual will.
According to Jesus, he says: John 14:15, 21: If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 15:10: If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. One would ask whether we are free in Jesus Christ if there are commandments to abide by…for you to understand how free and independent we are in Christ we need to find out what these commandments are. To me they are not many…but two: Mathew 22:37, 39 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
I wish I had time and space to unpack this concept of Love on which FREEDOM, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE stems but the point of Jesus here is that we cannot be free and independent if we are not loving, so what sets CHRISTIANITY APART IS LOVE….and that is why we are free and independent. We love God not our religion….we love our neighbours not our relatives.
I wish I could continue….BUT THE BIBLE HAS TWO FUNDAMENTAL CAUTIONS:
1-John 8:32 And ye shall know THE TRUTH, and THE TRUTH shall make you free. …..if you want to know what truth is, then the answer is provided: John 14:6: JESUS IS THIS TRUTH.
2-John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. we cannot be set free by the liberation army, by freedom fighters like Museveni or Mandela, we cannot be declared independent by British or America and assume we are free indeed…or even independent…we are only FREE AND RIGHT if we are set free by FREEDOM ITSELF WHO IS NONE OTHER THAN JESUS CHRIST.
Pr. I.T.WHITE
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 