July 28
Freedom is something that is viewed differently from one culture to another. It is a shocking revelation to the Western observer, but some people don’t want us to liberate them. Signs of this cultural discrepancy were graphically conveyed during a march by Moslems in the city of London where they have immigrated in large numbers.
In addition to bearing signs that extolled the virtues of Islam, they also carried shocking messages such as, “Freedom, Go To Hell!” When one considers that the word ‘Islam’ means ‘submission,’ it becomes more readily understandable that there is a great divide between the mindset of the West which has been largely influenced by Christianity and that of the Islamic world.
Our Lord and Savior gave Himself in order that we may be free—free from bondage to sin—and Western thinkers have extrapolated from that the further freedom that men are to enjoy in a political and societal sense. That idea of individual freedom has come to its fullest fruition in the founding documents of the United States of America.
Lest we become smugly complacent in our freedom, however, let us be mindful of the qualification stipulated in II Corinthians 3:17, “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” If we continue to expunge Jesus from the fabric of our national life, the precious freedom we now enjoy will be lost from us.
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