Conservative Americans often praise the concept of liberty as embodied in the founding documents of this nation. While I understand their intent, I have to ask if we are properly understanding liberty. Liberty, as we know it today, is used as a pretext for every form of immorality, every form of social disease plaguing not only the United States, but all of Western Europe as well. The Leftists tout their liberty to march naked through our streets in support of LGBTQ “rights”, to murder their unborn infants on-demand, to choose their race and gender, and to openly defy and belligerently insult the traditional values of the Western Christian world.
Libertarian conservatives are, by and large, part of the problem, as many of them promote a very similar, if not exact, concept of liberty as the Leftist. A good example is Tomi Lahren, who openly advocated abortion on demand, citing her views on individual liberty. Lahren’s libertarian leaning socio-political views place her in the company of Leftists who, too, share a conception of liberty that is licentious. Another example was the Libertarian candidate for president in 2016, Gary Johnson.
Johnson’s platform, posted at his still existing website, demonstrates his stance on the following:
• Government should stay out of abortion, it is a personal decision.
• Individual liberty demanded support for gay marriage.
• Bakers couldn’t deny making a wedding cake for gay couples, as it infringed on their liberties.
• Prostitution should be legalize for safety.
• Support for evolutionary theory.
• “The God that I speak to doesn’t favor a particular religion.”- June 2016
What emerges from an examination of this popular concept of liberty is that it really is not all that far from the Leftist view. This should set off warning signals, flashing red lights and sirens cautioning us that something is very, very wrong with this picture.
God did not create man to be a libertarian being. We do not have any unalienable right to do whatever we wish, or whatever we think is right in any given situation. We were, however, created with “free will”. This free will is not liberty, it is ability. We are endowed by our Creator with the ability to do what we should, not the liberty to do what we would. If God had created us as libertarian creatures, he would have no basis for demanding certain moral virtues and behaviors of us, and certainly no right to judge us for using our ability to do what we think is right. Ability and liberty are far too often confused.
For example, I know that when I drive my car in an area that is marked 35 mph, I have the ability (free will) to do 75 mph. However, when the police catch me at it I’ll pay a hefty price in the form of a ticket. Why? This is due to the fact that, while I have the ability to violate the speed limit, I am not at liberty to do so.
It is the same with God’s law. Tomi Lahren, Gary Johnson, and all the Libertarians and Leftists certainly have the ability to ignore God’s law and moral expectations for human behavior, but they are not at liberty to do so. God will judge them for every single violation.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”- 2 Corinthians 5:10
“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.”- Matthew 12:36
Misuse of our ability always leads to Moral Relativism and Utilitarianism. Suddenly our decisions in the fields of politics, culture and society are fueled, not by the eternal principles of our Creator, but from mere human reason detached from any sense of the divine and of God’s universal moral demands. What is valuable to the truly libertarian mind (or classical liberal) is only that which serves the ends desired at the given moment. Such a conception of liberty leads to an immoral and decadent culture, which inevitably leads to an immoral and decadent government. No one, no matter what you may think the Constitution says, has a right (or is at liberty) to ignore or violate God’s principles for human conduct. No form of government, not even the beloved Constitution of the United States of America, can declare man at liberty to do so, nor absolve Man of the just punishment of the Almighty. If we are to retain a healthy culture and government, we must also retain a proper conception of liberty and ability. And ability must be understood as that function of the human mind that permits us to choose what is right, not what is expedient, popular, or purely functional at the moment. Ability and reason are, in this sense, inextricably connected. Yet reason must be informed by the only reasonable Source- God. Then we can be assured of true liberty (that from sin), and the proper concept thereof.
source – J. Davila Ashcroft
