True freedom
Part 3: For the believer, it is crazy to ever desire freedom from God
Let’s see what the believer’s response is to these three elements of freedom that the atheist desires.
The first freedom from God’s scrutiny and judgement assumes a negative view of God, who makes you feel bad. Ditching such a God does make you feel better. (We must be aware of the possibility that, even if God was a miserable, restrictive sort of person, if his judgements were just, then ditching him may be making you feel better, but only by giving up on justice.) Nevertheless, the atheist has a picture in their mind of a negative God, and so ditching him is for them a good thing. However, believers have a positive view of God, who makes them feel good. For them, ditching God is a disaster that impoverishes their lives. The price for losing any sense of scrutiny, guilt and shame is to lose the sense of being loved, guarded and guided. For the believer, these positive feelings overwhelm the negative. And, in fact, the “negative” feelings are not negative in the sense of someone unjustly harming you, for the believer accepts- gladly accepts – that feelings of guilt are justified. It is a good thing because it accurately reflects the person’s reaction against their own action, and keeps them anchored to a moral judgement that is very sound, very principled, very inspiring. The only way to lose that guilt would be to give up on the high values that they love. Even more important, the “negative” feelings are not just dumped on the believer by a vindictive God to punish them, the feelings are themselves readily ditched through the loving forgiveness offered by God. So, there is a positive solution readily to hand, and one that cements a supremely positive relationship.
It is true that the believer is dependent on another to make them feel good again, as they receive God’s forgiveness, but this is not experienced as submitting to a domineering master, but as being embraced by a loving parent. A relationship which was supremely precious to the believer has been damaged by their failure to live up to God’s standards, but now all sorrow, guilt and shame is washed away in the reconciling and forgiving love offered by God, and everything is alright once again – including the erasure of guilt. When we considered the atheist, we recognised that they may have no power to make recompense and, ultimately, just had to resort to forgiving themselves – as it were, writing off the loss and harm because nothing can be done about it. Yet, for the believer, God does have power to put things right. Now, we do notice that a key image for believers is of the parent embracing a child, and the atheist loved the sense of independence of not relying on anyone. I think this is simply where there are different foundational values, and we have traced back the atheist and theist value systems to one of their core values in each case. All I will say is that, for the believer, the relationship with God is simply a reality in their experience; they are not shying away from standing on their own two feet. In practice, the sense of being held in the strength and love of God empowers believers to do far more in their endeavours to change the world than they would ever have dared to do if they had thought they were on their own. Moreover, it does not seem wrong to believers to own the superior worth of a person such as God. They are not submitting to an alien or oppressive power; they are not refusing to make their own decisions: they have simply discovered a power and wisdom greater than their own, which it is their delight to turn to for guidance.
Spiritual Devotion 