Does God Value Liberty?

How the fall and the book of Judges can answer this question.

Does God value liberty?  There are two ways to answer this question. The first is with reason. Evil exists because God values free creatures that choose good (and therefore are capable of choosing evil) more than he values the absence of evil. The fall of man is evidence of this. God created man and gave him opportunity to choose freely. God values Liberty.
 

Confirmation of God’s love of liberty also comes from Scripture. The book of Judges covers the period of time after the Exodus where God rescued the Israelites after “...their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.” (Ex. 2:23).

The rescue from slavery in Egypt is the context of the 10 commandments. The Israelites were now free to serve God and the law provides a summary of how to do that in both your relationship to God directly (Commandments 1-4) and in relationship to other (5-10). This same summary is provided by Jesus.
 
 

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,and your neighbor as yourself.”  Luke 10:27 ESV

 

The value of man's service to God is derived from the fact that it is chosen. God empowers believers to choose what is right. The aggregated result of service to God is (eventual) freedom from oppression that would interfere with your service of God.

Liberty is freedom to serve God, not freedom from God. The natural state of man is un-fettered service to God. We are free to serve God. No King was prescribed when the law was given. The law was enforced by the people and ultimately God was rejected by the people. There was no federal government. The tribes were extended families under self-rule under the law of Moses. 

At first, the tribes would petition one another when in need (Judges 4:4-6;6:35;20:1). However, the tribes did not come to each other’s aid (5:13-18;8:1), instead they attacked each other (8:16;9:1-56;12:1-6;20:1-48), and personal interests became of greater concern than national (11:5-11).

Morality has a relationship to freedom.The immorality of the people yielded immoral leaders. Immoral leaders approve and promote immoral cultures. The result of Judges was a cycle of increased immorality bringing external oppression and loss of freedom. Once the oppression yielded a heart toward God then he would send a Judge (a kind of tribal Warlord) to restore liberty. The cycle continued over and over until we get to Samuel.

We will see from 1 Samual 8 that God did not give up on the Israelites. They gave up on him.

Samuel was the last judge of Israel. When he grew old he tried to make his sons judges. However his sons were bent toward personal gain, took bribes, and perverted justice (1 Sam 8:1-3). The people rejected the leadership of his sons and asked for a King instead like all the other nations (v4).

Samuel feels rejected but God points out that the immorality of the people have caused them to reject God, not Samuel. The deeds they have done since they came out of Egypt forsaking him to other Gods (v8) is also forsaking their freedom and it's responsibilities.

Go ahead and install a King but warn them about the ways of the King who will now rule over them.

What are the ways of a King:

 
Them Us

We want a King like other nations (v5)

Why can't the government provide more? Why can't we be more like Europe?

He will take your sons and use them in battles of his choosing (v10)

He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks for others(v13)

We are in continuous war. Our Constitution prohibits war that is not self-defense and is not declared by Congress (the people) yet we have been in un-declared wars for decades.

He will develop a bureaucratic infrastructure dedicated to his well-being and the development of instruments of war (v12)

 

There have been between 8 and 15 federal employees for each 1000 citizens for the last 50 years.

 

Defense manufacturers enjoy a very cozy relationship with the federal government. Eisenhower, in his farewell speech issued a grave warning about the “military industrial complex” and the inevitable end-less wartime economy.

The expense of which is a drastically high tax rate and a national debt of nearly 20 trillion dollars.

He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and give them to those that serve his interests (v14)

 

 

 

Most of the richest counties surround Washington DC. This is because the fruit of our labor goes to those that serve the interests of the federal government.

We see the fruit of our labors doled out to boondoggle projects, numerous over-sized federal departments, and an ever-increasing welfare state.

 

The federal government owns over 70% of the land in some states divided by several federal departments.

 

Since votes serve the interest of whatever administration is in power, the fruit of your labors are passed out to others in order to curry favors with voters at your expense in what is basically institutionalized covetousness.

YOU SHALL BE HIS SLAVES (v17)

When you work and the fruit of your labor is taken from you involuntarily and given to another then you are a slave. At that point, it is only a matter of percentages that is in dispute.

 

In that day, you will cry out to be free from the oppression of your own choosing but God will not revoke the agreement he made with the King on your behalf (v18). The people refused the advice of Samuel and insisted on a King like the other nations. Thus ended God’s second experiment in liberty.

When the people turned against God, they experienced a loss of freedom (Deut 28:28-29; Judg 2:16-23). An immoral people are not equipped to be a free people and are dangerous as a free people. On the other hand, a moral people do not require excessive laws and excessive laws do not make moral people. When laws increase to bind the evil, they also inevitably bind the good.

The choice still exists for us. We have the same warning before us. When we choose a government that ends up oppressing others on our behalf we will be equally bound when it's oppression turns to us on behalf of others.

Tags: liberty
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Steve SchlichterSteve Schlichter

Steve is an evangelical Christian and has 5 children with his wife, Jenni. As a libertarian, he seeks to demonstrate how the cause of liberty is consistent and necessary in a Christian worldview. Steve is a software developer / web designer by trade but he graduated in Biblical Studies at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.

You can contact Steve by either emailing him or registering on the site and messaging him.

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Full biography

Full biography

Steve is an evangelical Christian and has 5 children with his wife, Jenni. As a libertarian, he seeks to demonstrate how the cause of liberty is consistent and necessary in a Christian worldview. Steve is a software developer / web designer by trade but he graduated in Biblical Studies at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.

You can contact Steve by either emailing him or registering on the site and messaging him.

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