Being A sermon by Rev Fr Peter Obele Abue PhD.
So good we are talking about freedom of choice, right after Valentine’s day.
The book of Sirach 15:15-20, especially verses 17-20 clearly spells out the fact that God has given us humans, freedom to choose what we desire. “Before everyone are life and death, whichever they choose will be given them. Immense is the wisdom of the Lord; mighty in power, He sees all things. The eyes of God behold his works, and he understands every human deed. He never commands anyone to sin, nor shows leniency toward deceivers.” This same God commanded us in the scriptures “You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery (cf. Ex 20).”
In America today, for example, there is this great divide between those who say they are “Pro-choice” and others who refer to themselves as “Pro-life”. The argument gets hot each year in January as both parties fight over the famous Roe vs Wade controversy. But let’s think about it for a while; what really does it mean to be Pro-choice and Pro-life?
Those who argue that freedom of choice permits them to choose to do whatever they like (with their bodies), say that no one can impose judgment on what they choose to do.
The question is: does that freedom make your action(s) reasonable before God?, since you also claim you believe in God. Read your bible and notice how Jesus differentiates the old and new understanding of these injunctions versus your right to choose to do what you like. He clearly says he has not come to wipe out or water down these injunctions, but to re-enforce them (Mt 5: 17).
Jesus shocked his listeners by saying that even the mere contemplation of these acts is sin (Mt 5: 17-37). Why then would anyone argue that he or she is free to interpret these laws according to their own whims?
When God created man and endowed him with freedom, he meant that we should use that freedom towards enhancing the created order, not to re-create our own universe through erroneous thinking, causing more confusion.
Today, we circumvents all these commandments with the excuse of freedom of choice, in order to create caveats that will permit us to do “whatever we like”. Today, we have all kinds of disjointed ‘freedom’ fighters: gay right activists, animal right activists, etc without a thought on what appeals to common sense of to the law of God. The truth remains thus: You cannot choose to do wrong and call it freedom of choice.
The arguments will continue but the truth will always prevail and truth needs no defense.
Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is strictly that of the author, Peter Obele Abue PhD, and does not represent Theluminenews, its agent or the organisation the author works for/with.