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Jesus Christ spoke often of the freedom humankind would find through him. But exactly what is the freedom that He promised His followers?
by Ranier Salomaa
ith the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent lifting of the iron curtain, Eastern Europeans jubilantly celebrated the freedom they had long been denied.
However, some of the first "freedoms" to be exercised in these formerly communist countries were indulgence in pornography, prostitution, drug abuse and organized crime.
Some people, needless to say, have erroneous concepts of freedom.
Theologically, some feel a similar sense of freedom in not observing what they feel are "Old Covenant" practices. They feel free from the law. They feel that the burden of the law has been lifted, and they are no longer under bondage. They believe they are free from "Jewish ordinances" and that Christ did everything for them, setting them free from any practices except a nebulous obligation to "love" God and their fellowman.
False freedom prophesied
Scripture warns about false promises of freedom. One such warning comes from Peter: "For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
"For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: 'A dog returns to his own vomit,' and, 'a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire'" (2Peter 2:18-22).
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