Monday, May 05, 2008

Freedom and God

I love liberty. I have a passion for being free. I want to live my life anyway I choose, as long as I don't hurt or interfere with anybody else, and I want others to live their lives as they choose, so long as they don't hurt or interfere with anybody else, including me. If I want to paint my house a different color, I should be free to make my decision. If my neighbor wants to move and sell his house, and another person wants to buy and move in next to me, I have no right. That decision is between my old and new neighbor, not me. And the government has no right to tell me what color my home ought to be, or what kind of neighbor ought to live in my neighborhood. In fact, the only role of government (in my utopia) is to secure each individual's rights, and the people have carte blanche on what their rights are (as long as our "rights" don't imply another's obligations). That is the epiphany of liberty.

I also love the Lord. I love God, His Son Jesus, and the Bible is God's Word. Even though I found libertarianism recently (in '02), I was a Christian as long as I remember (I was saved when I was 8 years old). As the definition of Christian means (literally) "like Christ", I follow the famous initials, WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?; if Jesus would do it, then I would do it too). I follow the Ten Commandments, and all God's teachings through the Bible. And (in Matthew 22:37-40), the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all of my heart, sole, and mind, and the second is to love my neighbor (i.e., mankind) as myself, and I obey God's scripture. The Bible is just like a user's manual for my life. But, in reality, obeying God's teachings are irrelevant. The only thing God asks of you is to let God come inside your heart, confess your sins, and He will save you. And I did that when I was 8.

Did I sin after I have been saved? Unfortunately, yes. In Romans 3:23, all people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, including me. The only man who didn't sin is Jesus, and Jesus died on the cross for our sins, past and the future. So if you confess your sins, and believe with your heart, God will forgive you. Combining freedom and God, I am a Christian libertarian.

Some will say that "Christianity" and "libertarianism" are an oxymoron. Christians, to them, means teaching God's word, and if someone refuse to obey God, those Christians want to force the unbeliever to "straighten the course" (the antithesis of libertarianism). And libertarians, to them, means conservatives who smoke pot, do other drugs, sleep with prostitutes, and do other victimless but immoral behavior (the antithesis of Christianity). In other words, the two don't mix.

But you know what? Jesus Christ is a libertarian! The Lord is an all powerful God Who is willing to permits humanity to turn its back on Him. Is there any better way to show tremendous respect for individual will and free choice than that? The greatest gift God bestows for all mankind is the gift of free will.

Do you remember in Matthew 19:16-22, and again in Mark 10:17-22 (et al), as Jesus was walking down the road, a young rich man approach Him and said is there anything he can do to inherit eternal life. Jesus answered the 1st thing is to know and follow the Ten Commandments. The young man replied he did that and will do that; what more? Jesus answered again and said to the man to sell his belongings, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow Me. Unable to part with his possessions, the young man walked away sad.

What did Jesus do to the young rich man? Remember, He fed 5,000 men and women with five loaves of bread and two fish, walked on the sea, healed a girl from death, cured the sick, and made a deaf-mute hear and speak plainly. Do you recall the two greatest commandments are to love God and our neighbor. But the young rich man turned his back on his neighbor. What was Jesus' reaction? Did he cause the money to float in the air from the man to the poor and needy? When the rich young man was asleep, did Jesus cause his wealth to disappear and reappear in the arms of the poor?

On the contrary, when the young man made his choice, Jesus simply permitted it and then live with it. Isn't this what liberty is all about? Each person is free to love God...or not. He is free to love his neighbor...or not. If the government is permitted to interfere with the choices by coercing people, through fines and imprisonment, into loving God or their neighbors, then it diminishes God's gift of free will.

It all boils down to this: all mankind are endowed by God with unlimited freedoms, and all governments want to take their freedom back; different degrees with different governments.

The basic principle of libertarianism is not anarchic. There are real limits. My freedom will end where yours begins. Neither the community nor I have any claim whatsoever on your property or your life.

And what about the Christian element? Christianity is integral to the core philosophy of libertarianism, as without the spiritual core of its demand for individual liberty and personal responsibility, libertarianism has a tendency to devolve into simple utilitarianism, which eventually leads to the very collectivism it was conceived to oppose. Christianity is timeless and so provides the inexhaustible spring of moral refreshment that is necessary to any political ideology that hopes to resist corruption over time.

The link between Christianity and libertarianism is very simple. The Christian moral philosophy includes the libertarian principles that it is wrong to initiate violence and it is wrong to steal. Christianity is, therefore, a libertarian religion. Since Christians accept the premises of libertarianism, they should, logically, reach the same conclusions about the morality of government. If it is morally wrong for a Christian to steal or to initiate violence, it should also be morally wrong for a Christian to advocate, condone, recommend, approve, or authorize someone else committing these crimes in his or her behalf. So it is morally wrong for a Christian to advocate, condone, recommend, approve, or authorize government taxation, punishment, legislation, war, or violence of any kind. The only role of government is to secure people's unalienable rights. The rest is voluntary interaction with each other--there is no government.

To love Christ and to love liberty; that is what it means to be a Christian libertarian, and that is me.

4 Comments:

At 5:39 AM, Blogger jacob123 said...

hi guys i am very youngest person and i don't believe in god but everytime i want freedom which is really so important for my life .
Conveyancing

 
At 8:04 AM, Anonymous Kurt said...

It's refreshing to find someone who is a Christian but who doesn't believe in legislating righteousness, that is, making one group's morality the law of the land.

 
At 8:40 AM, Blogger Antonia Krause Portrait Artist said...

I agree Kurt. I'm not a christian and that's my right just like it's someone else's right to be one, but no one has the right to impose their beliefs on anyone else.

 
At 8:41 AM, Blogger Antonia Krause Portrait Artist said...

I agree Kurt. I'm not a christian and that's my right just like it's someone else's right to be one, but no one has the right to impose their beliefs on anyone else.

 

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