Freedom From Religion (part 2)

In my previous blog, I introduced the Freedom From Religion (FFRF) organization and their polarizing ad campaign. Today I will explore the concept of freedom that the Bible offers and contrast this with what FFRF appears to be offering.

John 8:31-34 describes what I believe to be the real issue of freedom.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”

After his preaching in the synagogue earlier in John 8, some Jews had indeed believed in him, but Jesus called them to actually do something about it and obey his teaching. Instead of following his direction, they proudly claim, “We’re Americans, we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave!” In response, Jesus basically says, “You guys don’t get it. You are a slave to your own sinful nature just like every other human on the planet.”

This is the fundamental human predicament: each of us has voluntarily enslaved ourselves to sin. It might be overeating, pornography, pride, greed, keeping a record of wrongs, drugs, alcohol, selfishness, bitterness, hate, gossip, or any number of things. If we were to take the time to be truly honest with ourselves, we find that each of us could have written Romans 7:14-20.

“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

Later on in the same chapter, the Bible says that I am “a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.”

When Jesus was speaking to the Jews, they were pretty oblivious to their real spiritual need. Surely this new prophet Jesus had something more exciting to offer than rehashing the concept of sin, the “red thread” of their scriptures. Instead, according to Matthew 1:21, Jesus came to “save his people from their sins” (his name Yeshua means “the LORD saves”).

Today, the FFRF would have us believe that religion is oppressing us and keeping us from being fully self-expressed and living powerful lives. In a sense, I fully agree! The Jews who believed Jesus were tempted to leave it at just that: belief. Religion in America today is pathetic and can be summarized as, “Pray Jesus into your brain and then do whatever you want.” Statistically, divorce among believers (true Christ-ians would follow Matt 19:1-12) is just as high in America as for non-believers. If we could eliminate the powerless religion that holds sway over so many, that would be awesome! Imagine if people either completely disobeyed Jesus or obeyed him wholeheartedly. There would then be a very clear connection between Jesus’ teaching and freedom from sin.

I find it very sad that Dan Barker of the FFRF experienced a powerless religion that could not save its hearers in this world. He rightly rejected it. No one in the church in which I grew up helped me with my sin either. Unfortunately, Dan threw the baby out with the bathwater and rejected God along with the religion. Instead, he made himself into his own god by declaring and inventing his own beliefs as truth. Without anything ultimate, he is proverbially up a creek without a paddle:

• What happens when you die? If you go into nothingness, what was the point of life in this world? I began, I lived, I ended. What a tiny game to play for individuals who are literally geniuses!
• Yes, you can set people free from religion, but how are you going to help them deal with sin and the real problems in their lives?
• Without a “common ultimate” or accountability at the end of our lives, where is the grounds for living a moral life and condemning the Hitlers of this world?
• How do I impress values and morals on my children yet avoid being “god” to them when they come of age? What prevents them from inventing their own morality and becoming the next Hitler?

As an intellectual, I have wrestled with each of these questions. I have also looked down on those who were not “broadminded” enough to even ask these questions. At the end of the day, I’ve realized I just need to humble out and admit I need something beyond myself. I have found that my intellectual ability can be an asset, but it can also be a tremendous liability. 1 Cor 1:18-25 explains that intellectualism most certainly can prevent us from being free.

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? There is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength."

For myself, I know I have experienced my limits. Like Nietzsche, I chose to destroy myself and rise again, but it was on God's terms and not my own to become an "ubermensch" of my little Todd-world. On 12/15/1999 my sin and my old life were obliterated in the waters of baptism and I rose with Christ to live a new life as a slave to God rather than a slave to myself. I have learned (the hard way :-) that there is victory in surrender, that God's apparent foolishness is exactly what my "enlightened" intellectual mind actually needs.

You know, I think I’ve convinced myself that I appreciate the FFRF’s advertisements. Let’s get rid of the religion and the powerless Santa-Clausy God that they mock. Those things deserve to be mocked. Like Israel on Mount Carmel, let us slay the false ideas that have led us astray and return to the true God who really can save us from our sin and grant us true freedom from our sin.