Sin and freedom. Part 1

Sin and freedom

Part 1

Sin is inescapably tied up with freedom, for until we find a way to deal with sin we are not free, but if we can, then we will be truly free. Modern society exalts freedom as perhaps its highest aim, yet I don’t think it truly understands how freedom works, and this is because it has an inadequate understanding of human nature. Many years ago, when I was still a teenager, the Prime Minister James Callaghan gave a speech on education policy. He said that children are like flowers, all that is needed is to give them freedom and they will blossom. It’s a lovely thought – inspiring – the sort of thing we should get printed on a tee-shirt. Unfortunately, it’s not true. If we want to stick with an analogy from nature, it would be more accurate to say that children are like gardens: unless they’re carefully cultivated, it’s always the weeds that grow first. “Aargh, that’s so negative! Why do you have to spoil my tee-shirt!?”. And I agree – this is not nearly so uplifting or positive, but I don’t think it’s pessimistic, it’s realistic.

The only freedom we really have is the freedom to choose who to follow. If we say, “No, I will be myself! I don’t follow anyone!”, we will simply find that we are enslaved by our own weaknesses. And that’s if we can escape succumbing to the pressures of society! What faith gives you is a commitment to follow God, who then gives the possibility of overcoming this immensely powerful opponent, which we have identified as sin. With faith, it becomes a possibility, because God is the only one with the power to counter sin. As so often in the life of faith, the truth is counter-intuitive, and it is in the surrender to obey God, that we discover the freedom to truly be ourselves – if we understand “ourselves” to mean that true or best self – the person that we are when we are not blighted by our own weaknesses, and when we receive the resources to respond positively to the challenges dumped on us through the weaknesses of others.