As the exceptionally prolonged warmth continues to enshroud Berlin, I recently got to thinking again about freedom and faith. My new apartment is just one minute’s walk to the east of where the wall used to stand, so it’s hard not to keep thinking about the lack of freedom experienced here less than 30 years ago. And about those even today whose freedom is severely restricted. Including those caught up in Christianity.
A convicted criminal once told me that freedom is not about limitless options and unrestricted choice but about consciously making a choice to think or to act in a certain way. Hence it is possible to experience greater personal freedom in prison than living as a wealthy person in open society. I can relate to that, in particular when it comes to making a conscious choice to be free from the absurd incarceration of religious faith.
Here are some of the things I used to believe and even had to believe since, without faith, it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6)
That all Muslims go to hell since Islam is of the devil even though Muslims and Christians are undeniably descended from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
When you believe this lie, you no longer see the human being in the foreground, but you see first the religion. A reason for going to hell. Polarisation and separation are immediate. You feel superior and any compassion is trumped by the need to see the demonised Muslim saved into the kingdom of the one true God.
Freed from this lie, you can see straight away the fellow human being in the foreground. There is commonality and compassion. You see beauty in ashes and value the enrichment of multi-cultural diversity.
That a man is the head of a woman, just as Christ is head of the church.
When you believe this lie (if you are a woman), you have to accept an inferior position in a relationship with a man and you are prevented from taking the ultimate responsibility for your decisions. You are not free; you are bound by the chains of crass sexual discrimination and demeaning chauvinism.
When you believe this lie (as a man), your sense of superior authority gives birth to a condescending attitude towards women and obscures the benefits of female wisdom. You are likewise not free: you are robbed of the riches of genuine debate between the sexes, the need for fearless compromise and the power of joint decisions.
Freed from this lie, you can appreciate and honour the multi-faceted differences of the opposite sex. Equality is no longer just a word. It is experienced and lived out in real life.
That you need to give very generously to God and His church.
If you believe this lie, you give away well over 10% of your net income each month and you give even more when the prophecies (men claiming to speak the words of God) start to flow about revival (millions of people becoming Christians), the need for larger buildings and multiple services. All of which turn out to be lies for which no subsequent apology is made.
Freed from this lie, you can make informed choices about how to spend your income, investing it in what really matters, especially helping others. Judas Iscariot, the poor soul predestined by a loving heavenly Father to betray Christ and go to hell, was largely right when he pointed out that money given to the church would be better spent on helping the poor.
That you cannot live out your sexuality if you are gay.
If you believe this lie, you are condemned to a life in which you either a) pretend to be straight, marry and live a fake life, b) cultivate hypocrisy by endlessly trying to hide your addiction to masturbation and pornography with a cloak of purity and self-sacrifice, or c) live a fruitless life of celibacy, denying the very essence of who you are. Whether you are gay due to nature or nurture, your sexual orientation not only defines you, it is you. Repressing yourself is the ultimate form of human incarceration.
Freed from this lie, you can accept yourself, and even rejoice in who you are. You can love and be loved. You no longer have to be fake. If you are true to yourself, you cannot then be false to anyone else. And that is the ultimate experience of freedom.
“Walls that run through cities start by running through human hearts, built by religion and maintained by misguided faith.”