Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and you have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Romans 6:20-22
Necessity of the Proper Conception of Freedom
There is a limit.
Everyone speaks about wanting peace, happiness and freedom, but on a deeper level, what actually is freedom that regular people call freedom? We can say that freedom is doing whatever you want. But how far does doing whatever you want go?
It has a limit.
We can only live a little beyond one hundred years. Is it freedom if an individual just lives their whole life doing things their own way even against the law? If God didn't give us freedom to do whatever we wished within His principles, what kind of freedom would we have?
A human being cannot live much longer than one hundred years. Is it freedom if I spend that one hundred years going my own way living however I want to my minds desires? If there were no law and freedom to do whatever one wished, what kind of freedom is that? Today, the world of civilized culture has expanded greatly, so is it easy or difficult to do research and study?
Here's an example.
Is it freedom or restriction to to study all day if you do not like to study? Being stuck in a study room all day when you rather be somewhere else is confinement. The question is, even though there are imposed restrictions, we have to see why we have the desire to do it? The problem has been our understanding of the concept of freedom.
Freedom is not doing whatever one wishes.
Then, what does freedom mean to a woman? What does freedom mean to a man? What is freedom for any person?
What is freedom for a family? For a society? For a nation? That is the issue. Can we, as individuals, do whatever we wish? Isn't this how society is being led in our times? People living how ever they want based on their own desires without care for any other individual feelings have led to disastrous results and multiplied throughout history.
If it is freedom to do whatever you want, then when you say you don't want to eat another meal, you will die no matter what because your body lives by a standard of needing food.
That is the reason Western society is perishing. They do not know the definition of freedom.
Do we obtain freedom from our happiness or do we get happiness from experiencing freedom? Which would you whether have? Freedom in happiness. We might think that happiness is in freedom, but we have not been aware that this is not the case. Freedom desires to live within happiness not the other way around.
Therefore, freedom is an action with a directional characteristic. It cannot be a decisive action.
Since freedom wishes to dwell within happiness, it is secondary not primary.
2) The Three Great Principles Freedom Must Have
There is no freedom outside of the Principle.
Just because you have the freedom to choose to stop eating and you decide to do so just because you have chose - this is not freedom. You will become hungry and your body will start to show ill effects and eventually you will die.
When we look at it this way, all the workings of the universe exercise the power of freedom.
The greatest freedom is that the earth revolves on its axis once a day. Also, the moon goes around the earth once a month, and, of course, the earth goes around the sun based on a 360-day cycle.
What if the earth all of the sudden decided that it didn't want to rotate. This means the value of the whole in which it serves would be lost. The logical conclusion is that there is no freedom apart from the Principle. Every entity exists in this way.
When we pursue freedom in a world that forgoes its principles and laws will eventually fail. An elderly person must follow the rules for the elderly. Is it suitable for a 80 year old to date a 20 year old? Everyone would laugh at such a relationship and spit on them when they see them in public. Everything has to coincide with the Principle.
With Freedom Comes Responsibility
Have you noticed that with freedom comes responsibility? You have heard this in the famous comics in reference to power. When we act in a position of responsibility, we should do it for something good and not take responsibility for something bad. All of creation will respect you when you take responsibility for your actions. Also, where you have acted based on responsibility, good results will be left behind.
Aren't these the three great fundamental rules?
Someone might wonder what kind of freedom is there when you have to follow the rules and while catering to responsibility. A teen might not want to be dominated by their parents. They want to to do whatever they wish so they can assert that as freedom.
Let's compare this analogy with the branches and twigs. Does a twig say that it does not want to have anything to do with the branch? Without the branch, the twig would not have protection and cannot manage by itself.
Can anything manage alone? The north, south, east and west have to join in four directions.
If there is a tree-branch facing the east, then there will inevitably be branches facing west, south and north. There must also be buds and roots. It is in such a case that freedom can be guaranteed.
Without this principle, the tree does not grow upright and it will be out of shape. Is the growth of a tree an example of freedom? It is its purpose...to grow. Therefore, there is not freedom outside the Principle - the fundamental rules of the Principle. There also, is no freedom without responsibility. When we act, good results must inevitably come about.
3) The Devil's Easy-Going Freedom
When we look at the behavior of students these days destroying school equipment, breaking things, they can be called villains. They are satan's dogmatists. This is self-indulgence - not freedom as they may think. They may believe that doing whatever they want including harming property as long as they do whatever they feel like doing is freedom. This selfish way of life can only decrease. One only can prosper with the aid of everything in creation. Isn't this true?
As in the world of nature, each of us must absorb nutrients in order for our bodies to grow healthy. But if we deny our bodies the proper nourishment thinking this is freedom, our health will go down and all is lost. That is a big painful problem.
"You must know this: there is definitely no freedom outside the Principle. When fathers and mothers give birth to sons and daughters, those sons and daughters cannot deny the principle of being born as children of their parents, can they?"
Only doing what I want to do and prefer is satan's easy going way of freedom. It is a free action which is based on untruth, unprincipled things and will lead to failure. It is outside the principle.
A person has to accept their father and mother are their origin and must come into harmony with them in order to do so. They must care for each other and not just care for only themselves. To be good to ones mother and father and yourself is freedom.
Should it be acceptable for a woman to say because of freedom, she will do everything a man does even though she was born as a woman. As a woman she was not born with a beard so how can she claim freedom to grow a beard as a man?
Is this the way of the principle for those born as a woman.
Can a woman who has a monthly period, just claim that it is too annoying and she will just give up. Can she just give up this responsibility just because she feels like it.
Each one of us has to adapt to the fundamental principles of womanhood. A woman hast to take responsibility for being born a a woman. She takes responsibility of bearing and raising the children as her breasts get large.
This is freedom. Giving birth and raising children is the highest freedom.
A woman who does not give birth feels that she is only half a woman and is not counted as a woman.
Even if a chestnut burr is big and good, if it does not ripen properly then it will decay. It will not be able to ripen and open and the whole part will fall off and rot. The burr is attached firmly so the chestnut must not decay.
However, the chestnut burrs bearing chestnuts will come to fruition in the autumn. If the burr is carrying a chestnut, the nut should drop off. Before the chestnuts drop, the burr opens up automatically. No matter how big they are, those that don't have fruit will drop off the tree and decay.
When autumn arrives, the ones that are ripe open their mouths and have the responsibility to protect the fruit. It is the Principle. It is Principle based reasoning. There is no freedom outside of this logic. Do you understand?
The American concept of freedom has led to its decay.
We each have to take responsibility in all facets of life. Why? If we give birth to a child we would never say, "Hey, you're free. Grow in any way you wish, do whatever you want." this is a collective responsibility. Because my parents raised me with responsibility, I must do the same for my children.
That is where freedom is.
Return for Tomorrow's Post: Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide
This post was rewritten and taken from the Textbook: The Way for a True Child, Chapter, The Way of True Freedom
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