Our Two Freedoms

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – The Declaration of Independence

“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1

The Declaration of Independence provides man freedom on earth from tyranny.

The Bible provides man freedom on earth from sin.

The Declaration of Independence provides a temporary freedom.

The Bible provides eternal freedom.

The freedom of the Bible is the foundational tenet of the Declaration of Independence. It is so stated in the document, “…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” I believe that the Founding Fathers understood that if this document drafted had not adhered to a divine absolute truth, separate from man’s fallibility, then the test of opposition that surely lay before this new nation would not be overcome. And that the experiment of democracy would very likely fail at its birth.

Indifference is the greatest threat to freedom…

When we are indifferent to those oppositions to our freedom. When we look the other way when challenged, assuming that our freedom is intact; that is when freedom is on its way to being lost. When a faction of Peoples ask for tolerance yet offers none in return, then freedom is in jeopardy. For tyranny is born of tolerance; in this circumstance freedom is lost.

Indifference toward prudence opens one to loss of personal freedom. One who drinks his first beer gives no thought to the possibility that a door to alcohol dependence may have been opened. One whose curiosity draws him to view pornography may find that an unintended habit may ensue, resulting in an unrealistic and skewed view of others. No longer seeing that every person deserves to be valued, one soon sees himself as valueless. The fantasy then becomes the dark reality. Misused freedom leads to enslavement.

A nation that sought, fought and paid the price for freedom in blood will lose it and dishonor the memory of those who sacrificed by not guarding it against indifference.

Individuals have relinquished their freedom from sin, purchased by the act of Deicide, through a lack of respect for evil’s power by not prudently utilizing their God-given common sense to avoid the surrender to that power.

Freedom once acquired is not guaranteed. It necessitates a constant prudent vigilance; energized by an imagining of what would be the fate of our lives or souls should we let down our guard.

The choice before God in creating the world lay between creating a purely mechanical universe, peopled by automatons, or creating a spiritual universe in which there would be a choice of good and evil. Praise and blame can only be bestowed on those who are masters of their own will. It is only because you have the possibility of saying no, that there is so much charm in your character when you say “yes.” – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen