Are we really "free"?

Now why would I put the word FREE in quotation marks?

I feel that it is necessary because our sense of what being free is can be a contradiction, especially here in the U.S. of A.

How so?

First let's look at the Declaration of Independence, and take from the first paragraph the following: When in the course of human events...We hold these truths to be self-evident... they are endowed  by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the  pursuit of Happiness.

I have to admit, that as a patriotic American, this sounds good and righteous.

But if we have to depend on a majority of citizens to conclude that these are, in fact, our rights, whether those rights are decided at the ballot box, or by a majority of judges appointed for life, we are in big trouble.

Majority rule = Democracy?

If that is the case, then Democracy = mob rule.

If one wishes and desires to follow God in this life, in order to be happy with Him in the next, then being "free" can mean only one thing: abiding by the rules of life as dictated by the Natural Law and Divine Law, which include the two great Commandments: love the Lord they God....and love thy neighbor...

But if being "free" means doing what we want, when we want, with little or no accountability for our actions, so long as we abide by the laws "on the books," then is that really being "free"?  I contend just the opposite is true: the folks that fall into that category are not really free at all, but slaves; slaves to their desires, mostly carnal in nature: It is called concupiscence, and can be deadly to the soul.

Let's harken back to the French Revolution, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.  It's pretty high-sounding.  But in that declaration is the following (paraphrasing): I can do what I want without any interference or restrictions, so long as I don't infringe on my neighbors rights to do what he wants without any interference or restrictions.

Think about that for a moment...

It's lunacy!

(The good Lord would certainly look with disdain upon us doing whatever we want without Him.  Remember, we are free under the "chains" of charity, which allows us to do whatever we want -- to please God, that is.)  

Our precious rights don't come from majority rule, but are given to us by God.  It is the job of government to protect those rights, not infringe upon them as is being done to us these days by an overreaching, behemoth monstrosity of a centralized power.

And that centralized power tells us (according to man's law and court decisions) that it is okay to take the life of a pre-born American girl or boy; to snuff out that life for the convenience of the woman or the "health" of the mother.  It also tells us that homosexuals can "marry," or that those who think they are one gender one moment, then another gender the next, can use whatever facilities they choose, regardless of what the common sense laws of decency prescribe.  I'm afraid the list is becoming endless...

As we can see, being free can mean different things to different people, but in the long run, there is really only one freedom; freedom from the slavery of sin.  But who talks about that these days???

Pray for our country..

Gene DeLalla