Freedom vs Autonomy
The Bible tells us that true truth (actually, “absolute” truth) leads to true freedom. True truth is defined by God, is embodied in His son Jesus Christ, and the truth that sets us free is found in relationship with Him. The Bible informs my definition of freedom as it does for millions of Christians around the world.
But all true freedom has boundaries that some call standards and values. We erect a fence in the backyard so our children may go out and play. Our airline pilots are licensed for a good reason. When we operate a car, we are licensed as well. We routinely check and service our cars so that we are confident the brakes will work when we need them. That just makes good sense. And, regardless of our political or philosophical persuasions, we all do these things at our own expense of time, and money. True freedom has boundaries.
All freedom requires some limitations, even on college campuses. Even in the creative realm of the arts. I cannot improve upon a section of G.K. Chesterton’s book Orthodoxy, who from his chapter, “The Suicide of Thought,” had this to say:
“All the [freedom]-worshippers, from Nietzsche to Mr. (John) Davidson, are really quite empty of volition. [I]f anyone wants a proof of this, it can be found quite easily. It can be found in this fact: that they always talk of [freedom] as something that expands and breaks out. But it is quite the opposite. Every act of will is an act of self-limitation.
“To desire action is to desire limitation. In that sense every act is an act of self-sacrifice. When you choose anything, you reject everything else…Every act is an irrevocable selection and exclusion. Just as when you marry one woman you give up all the others, so when you take one course of action you give up all the other courses…It is the existence of this negative or limiting side of will that makes most of the talk of the anarchic will-worshippers little better than nonsense.
“Anarchism adjures us to be bold creative artists, and care for no laws or limits. But it is impossible to be an artist and not care for laws and limits. Art is limitation; the essence of every picture is the frame. If you draw a giraffe, you must draw him with a long neck. If, in your bold, creative way, you hold yourself free to draw a giraffe with a short neck, you will really find that you are not free to draw a giraffe. The moment you step into the world of facts, you step into a world of limits.”
And now our American culture has been changed to where it seems we subjugate everything, including true truth, to our own view of personal “will-worship” or freedom. Is it really freedom we crave?
One side in this election is advocating for “freedom” in every television commercial, mailer, and personal contact. It is almost like they own the definition of freedom and are the only side backing it. But the true truth is that it is not freedom they are craving. Rather, it is autonomy.
They want the autonomy to tell you what you should buy and how much you should pay for it. (Price controls, gun laws, electric cars, etc.)
They want the autonomy to tell you that your deeply-held faith and the ability to express absolute truth is bigoted, homophobic, xenophobic, arcane, and not their definition of Christian.
They want the autonomy to observe their chief sacrament at the temple of irresponsible sex: unrestricted abortion. They want the autonomy to deny you the right to know her “boyfriend” is pressuring your fifteen-year-old daughter to get an abortion. And then they want the autonomy to tell you that your tax dollars must pay for it. (See Colorado Amendment 79)
They seek the autonomy to enforce the laws that favor them and ignore those that don’t. Quite literally, they seek a boundary-less national border.
Autonomy has no boundaries. The word itself suggests anarchy and disorder: Autos (meaning “self”) and nomos (meaning “law”). Our post-truth culture seeks self-law, or autonomy—a society without boundaries.
Our culture craves autonomy, not true freedom. As Chesterton reminds us, true freedom necessarily must have boundaries, and it seems our culture does not want to have any boundaries. And if as a culture we do not use values and standards to decide how to organize ourselves with the best ideas, then we are left to decide these matters by who has the most power. This is why elections in our current American culture are not about the best ideas—that’s a smoke screen. What they are about is who gets the power to define how they, and hence we, will live. More on that tomorrow.
The Bible tells us about and leads us to true freedom and away from the yoke of our own enslavement to self-law. Yet people have been led to believe that Biblical rules are arbitrary. They don’t like them. That’s why they turn from the Bible. There are boundaries in the Bible. There are values and standards in the Bible. They think it’s a freedom restricting book, which sits just fine with our great enemy, Satan, who knows that God is the only source of true freedom.
Today, it’s progressive to be autonomous. It’s bigoted to be bounded by values and standards. Is it any wonder we are surrounded by a culture of confusion? And we do not know when the culture stops before it goes off the edge. In our culture’s constant craving for autonomy, in any and every good sounding idea, we become like Gods who do not know what we want—other than power. I cannot think of a worse cultural diagnosis than that.
Make no mistake. Freedom vs Autonomy is on the ballot again this year. This year, as before, I’ll be voting for values and standards and true freedom. I’ll be voting for any candidate that best represents true truth and true freedom. I’ll be rejecting any candidate or ballot initiative that seeks more autonomy—and my enslavement to that worldview—in this already confused culture. And I’ll certainly be voting “No” on Colorado Amendment 79.
I suggest you do so as well.
Tomorrow: On The Ballot Again This Year – Truth vs Power