Liberty?
Liberty
noun, plural liberties.1. freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.
2. freedom from external or foreign rule; independence.
3. freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc.,according to choice.
The liberty in view when the Statue of Liberty was erected was number 1 and 2 definitions. But number 3 is a dangerous freedom. The freedom to do as we please often leads to destruction, depending upon what we please to do. Those who please to always do the right thing can be blessed by liberty, if they actually know and do the right things. But those who chose liberty to pursue human wisdom, to do as they please without moral restrictions, destroy society.
The secular humanist story is that mankind can make things glorious through human wisdom and caring for each other. The present focus seems to be on equal distribution of wealth,, and casting off the Patriarchy of dominion by men. The thinking may be that since men have made such a mess of things, it is time for the women to take over.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/e/eller-myth.html
In fact, women have some advantages over men. The Bible pictures Wisdom as a woman. And Mary, mother of Jesus, has a unique role in human history. We all owe our lives and being to our mothers. And Israel is pictured in the Bible as the wife of YHWH.
Historically, Jewish and Christian culture has been respectful of women. Men were commanded to lay down their lives for their wives, and to love their wife as Christ loves the Assembly of believers. And men were commanded to be loyal to their wives for life.
But mankind's rebellion against Biblical morality, and determination to do what is natural and what feels good, led to the so called Sexual Revolution of the sixties and seventies.
http://time.com/3611781/sexual-revolution-revisited/
The secular humanist story is that mankind can make things glorious through human wisdom and caring for each other. The present focus seems to be on equal distribution of wealth,, and casting off the Patriarchy of dominion by men. The thinking may be that since men have made such a mess of things, it is time for the women to take over.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/e/eller-myth.html
In fact, women have some advantages over men. The Bible pictures Wisdom as a woman. And Mary, mother of Jesus, has a unique role in human history. We all owe our lives and being to our mothers. And Israel is pictured in the Bible as the wife of YHWH.
Historically, Jewish and Christian culture has been respectful of women. Men were commanded to lay down their lives for their wives, and to love their wife as Christ loves the Assembly of believers. And men were commanded to be loyal to their wives for life.
But mankind's rebellion against Biblical morality, and determination to do what is natural and what feels good, led to the so called Sexual Revolution of the sixties and seventies.
http://time.com/3611781/sexual-revolution-revisited/
I was a teenager when Elvis came on the scene, and my father once threw a stick of stove wood at me for my failure to obey his command to stop singing "You Aint Nothin But a Hound Dog". My mother had died a few months earlier, and she would have not approved of my singing either.
Once mankind rejects Biblical morality, Pandora's box is opened, and celebration of diversity, celebration of perversity, and celebration of the human condition runs wild. But there comes a time of reckoning. Society is now intent on stamping out unwanted interaction between men and women.
Nothing much has been said about women on women, nor men on men, as it would be embarrassing to the perversity promotion, the LGBT movement. The big push is to put down the Patriarchal society, and to put women in charge. The feminist movement on steroids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Book_of_Communism#Estimated_number_of_victims
The Holy Spirit gave Paul some instructions about the husband-wife relationship.
This is the message from our Creator. He knows what is best for us. In the end, the discussion should be about the Bible vs human wisdom. Secular humanism led the sexual revolution, secular humanism leads the perversion parade, and now is leading the movement to reject Patriarchy. It is a Battle. Decide which side you are supporting, the Bible or human wisdom.
True liberty comes from being in Jesus.
Once mankind rejects Biblical morality, Pandora's box is opened, and celebration of diversity, celebration of perversity, and celebration of the human condition runs wild. But there comes a time of reckoning. Society is now intent on stamping out unwanted interaction between men and women.
Nothing much has been said about women on women, nor men on men, as it would be embarrassing to the perversity promotion, the LGBT movement. The big push is to put down the Patriarchal society, and to put women in charge. The feminist movement on steroids.
Women’s March, Washington, D.C.
A crowd filling Independence Avenue during the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., January 21, 2017.
It is a good thing that sexual immorality has finally gotten a bad name among the liberals. It was them, along with L. B. Johnson, who promoted it (sexual immorality) in the sixties. They paid women to not be married, and pushed marriage to the back of the stage. Finally there seems to be agreement that sexual impulses should be restrained. Maybe we can return to Biblical concepts of ethical behavior? Sexual immorality destroys society.
And wealth redistribution has found its way into the fray. Put women in charge, and they will take away money from the wealthy men and give it to the needy.. It seems like a good idea, on first impulse. Jesus had plenty to say against the wealthy of His day, and even told the Rich Young Ruler to sell all that he had, and give to the poor. And the first century community of believers shared with each other, unselfish and caring. But the sharing was voluntary, not managed by the secular government.
Redistribution of wealth by the secular government has never worked out well in the history of the world. Almost one hundred million people were killed by various methods including disease and famine by the communist governments of the twentieth century..
Individual liberty and economic freedom seem more aligned with prosperity and blessings. Putting secular government in charge of our lives is a sure kill of individual liberty. Secular government is a very poor manager. And the idea that it is wrong for people to become wealthy by providing valuable services seems certainly misguided.
Men have historically been the heads of families in the Bible tradition, and women have been the nurturers. Wealthy men played prominent roles in the Bible history, men like Abraham, David, and Solomon. Wealth is not a problem if wealth is used for good purposes. Patriarchy has a biblical basis. Man was created first, and the woman was made as a suitable helper. God's will was for man and woman to be united, and to be loyal to each other for life.
The Holy Spirit gave Paul some instructions about the husband-wife relationship.
Wives and Husbands
Eph 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
This is the message from our Creator. He knows what is best for us. In the end, the discussion should be about the Bible vs human wisdom. Secular humanism led the sexual revolution, secular humanism leads the perversion parade, and now is leading the movement to reject Patriarchy. It is a Battle. Decide which side you are supporting, the Bible or human wisdom.
True liberty comes from being in Jesus.
Romans 8English Standard Version (ESV)
Life in the Spirit
8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.[a] 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Heirs with Christ
12 So then, brothers,[e] we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons[f] of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Future Glory
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Victory in Jesus
