Do you think the bible teaches that belief in Jesus leads to freedom?

[Altruistic Muse]

I have just started Alpha course, and one of the initial presentations was about the freedom that faith in Jesus brings you. I would have thought this was an obvious precept of Christianity, but only two of us thought it was the case, and three others said that their faith had given them no freedom... and one stated that he believed the preacher had misread his Bible, and this was not one of Jesus' teachings at all! I was amazed... first of all I stated the obvious answer, of Jesus condemning the Pharisees for being bound to ritual... he contested with the fact that as a Jew He was bound to all sorts of traditions, it was just a few of them that he had disputed... another point which I should have made was that throughout the teachings, Jesus alludes to freedom without stating it. For example "Follow me, and become fishers of men".. this means leave behind all your worldly ties, be bound to me. And "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and i will give you rest..." (my favourite verse by far!), is surely about freedom from fear and anxiety! I was very surprised, I think this course is going to be interesting. At first when I realised that we were all "Christians", I thought man, this will be boring and pointless... but now I realise that the word means very little, and there are so many views on the matter.

 

[Billy]

Freedom from fear and anxiety only in the same way a slave is free from fear and anxiety because his dominus holds all the responsibilities. I find faith and religion in general especially to the abrahamic gods to be very anti-freedom.

 

[the]

On the issue of freedom I dont think the Bible teaches freedom as much as it teaches trading a bad slave master for a good one, some removal of problems for an addition of some hard opportunities... freedom, not in its strictest sense, no. You'd still have a master.

 

[wonkavision]

The Bible says a LOT about the freedom and liberty that can only be found in Christ.

Here are just a few examples:

John 8:34-36
Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
“And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."


Galatians 4:3-7
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.



Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.




There is no question that the Bible teaches that belief in Jesus leads to freedom.

But freedom from what?

Freedom from the wrath of God which abides on all who oppose and reject Christ. Freedom from the guilt and consequences of sin, from the bondage of false religion, from death.....so many things.

Is it freedom in the sense of doing whatever you want?

NO.

As UBER said, it's basically trading one yoke for another.

But it's not a yoke to religious creeds, rules, ordinances, rituals and self-flagellation as the religious hypocrites would have you believe.

It's a kind of bondage you willingly and thankfully and joyfully submit to.

Jesus says, in Matthew 11:28-30,

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

If you think you're free, you're self-deceived.

Whether you realize it or not, you're already in bondage to sin.

You couldn't stop sinning even if you wanted to.

The question is, will you remain in bondage to sin, or come to Christ and be saved?

 

[Altruistic Muse]

On the issue of freedom I dont think the Bible teaches freedom as much as it teaches trading a bad slave master for a good one, some removal of problems for an addition of some hard opportunities... freedom, not in its strictest sense, no. You'd still have a master.

Hmm.. I'd never thought of this, mainly because I've always believed in God so there is no concept in my mind for not having someone else in the driving seat. Although, having said this, is there ever such a thing as freedom in its strictest sense? Even if you don't believe God exists, do you really think you are master of your circumstances? Can you make your life go in a chosen direction and prevent any unforeseen eventualities? Surely this mean that by definition, we're not free...

 

[rawr]

On the issue of freedom I dont think the Bible teaches freedom as much as it teaches trading a bad slave master for a good one, some removal of problems for an addition of some hard opportunities... freedom, not in its strictest sense, no. You'd still have a master.

this. The Bible uses the word freedom, and in a sense you do have it (e.g. 'freedom in Christ') but you still have a master, as Uberrogo said.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

On the issue of freedom I dont think the Bible teaches freedom as much as it teaches trading a bad slave master for a good one, some removal of problems for an addition of some hard opportunities... freedom, not in its strictest sense, no. You'd still have a master.

I think this is true at the beginning of the Christian life, where one swaps a bad master for a good one. But if the spiritual life advances it is no longer about slavery, but about friendship. Relatively few probably reach the point where the Apostles did, where they are no longer servants, but friends (Jn 15:15). Beyond friendship is the union of perfect love, which very few ever achieve.

This is related to something I read once about the three stages of the spiritual life:


Catholic spiritual writers speak of three stages of the spiritual life:
1. The purgative (beginners): The Christian is trying to stop sinning and is beginning to learn to pray. The faith and morals are held arbitrarily (blindly?) and one is trying to practice Christian charity.

2. The illuminative (proficients): The Christian has completely expelled all serious sin (cf. 10 Commandments) from his life; is steadily in a state of grace and does not fall into mortal sin; is regular and at ease in prayer; practices charity habitually; and has gone beyond an arbitrary holding of faith and morals and can see the reality that dogma/doctrine describes. The Christian struggles to 'be a Christian at all times and in all things'.

3. The unitative (the perfect): The Christian is constantly aware of and united in love with God. It is impossible to sin because all other goods/pleasures/etc. are held as nothing next to the good which the soul truly already possesses.

 

[Psychonaut]

,As an ex-Catholic, the only freedom religion brings is freedom from the "tough problems" in life. I left the church in April, and I have times when I want to go back because it was comforting; I was given answers to questions I was to scared to think about because that would mean rethinking major parts of my life, and I accepted them because it felt good. I'm finding out that the answers to the "tough problems" are more nuanced than what I was told, and it's hard but I feel more connected to everything than I've ever felt before. It's hard to explain...

 

[Lerxst]

It's ironic to place "freedom" and "Bible" in the same sentence since the book has been used and re-translated by people who's desire was only to keep themselves in power and the others subservient to them - Catholic Church, Royalty, separate religious factions's leaders, etc.

I'd say the purpose of the book is to remove critical thought and individual opinion from the people who follow it.

 

[acd]

I passed a church marquee the other day that said: "Suffer joyfully."
I think there is a lot of double-speak rhetoric in Christian theology.
The bible indicates believers are free from hell. But it is more of a threat to obtain believers..I don't think that is freedom. .

 

[the]

I passed a church marquee the other day that said: "Suffer joyfully."
I think there is a lot of double-speak rhetoric in Christian theology.
The bible indicates believers are free from hell. But it is more of a threat to obtain believers..I don't think that is freedom. .

Dont even try to resist, in the end you will praise The Party.

 

[muir]

I think that ultimately freedom (in the sense you mean here) is only going to come from you

The bible was put together by the Roman elites at a series of councils. They included 4 gospels into the new testament but excluded over 50 other books....50 OTHER BOOKS!!!

So what qualifies a small elite of the Roman empire living several hundred years AFTER THE EVENTS DESCRIBED IN THE GOSPELS HAD OCCURED who had previously been feeding christians to lions to decide what gets put into the bible and what doesn't?

My opinion on that is that they cherrypicked accounts and edited accounts in order to present to the world a watered down and safe version of christianity that would not be a threat to their power. With the exception of John the synoptic gospels are all pretty similar. Any other texts were deemed heretical and anyone who listened to them was deemed a heretic and punished and/or killed!

If a small elite who want to keep hold of power for themselves are putting together a book for the masses they are not going to want to put out a message that empowers the masses. If there was a message of empowerment for example that the individual should themselves seek to unite with the holy spirit in order to become a christed consciousness then such a message wiuld be suppressed because individuals who are switching on and making up their own minds about stuff are not going to be so easy to control.

Elites want populations they can control and tax; they don't want people to do as Timothy leary suggested which is to: 'turn on, tune in, drop out'

So in my opinion ultimately freedom is going to come from you, in the sense of finding your own truth in all this and standing on your own feet as a spiritually empowered person; part of that process for me is trying to see through the web of lies that the elites weave for us