Fleeing toward Freedom

As we celebrate The Fourth of July, we celebrate the great gift of freedom. News reports of the crushing of protests against the outcome of the presidential election in Iran show us what a nation without freedom looks like.  There is death on the streets as the Iranian government uses violence to intimidate its people – no freedom of assembly, no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press.

Here is what Dr. Walter Shurden writes about the human desire for freedom.

“A casual reading of any kind of history – political, financial, religious – affirms the truth that humans constantly flee toward freedom.

Let Kings, congresses, and governments of any kind and of all kinds pass restrictive laws and watch its citizens flee toward freedom.  The settling of America, for example .

. .. Tie down the human soul to binding creeds, authoritative holy men, or repressive ecclesiastical establishments, and watch the soul flee toward freedom. Roger Williams’ flight from Massachusetts for Rhode Island, for example.

Deprive growling stomachs and thwart hope for one’s children and watch the flight toward economic freedom. The southern borders of the United States today, for example . . .. 

A sub-text, if not a major theme, of the Bible is the flight toward freedom. Exodus! Return from exile! The Prodigal eyes home!

I know! I know! Freedom has to be used responsibly. But that is another sermon for another day. For today, let’s celebrate freedom.”

As we celebrate the freedom we have in America this 4^th, we ask God to show us how to stand for freedom.  God grant that freedom may win out where humans flee toward it, especially in Iran.