In 1952, C S Lewis, wrote Mere Christianity, where he described what free will is and by implication what he believed freedom is.
Lewis maintained that God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go either wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata—of creatures that worked like machines—would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is that happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other…and for that they must be free.
600 years earlier William Wallace, made popular again in recent years by Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart, made this famous speech about freedom.
I am William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my countrymen,here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to fight as free men. Andfree man you are! What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?”“Two thousand against ten?” – the veteran shouted. “No! We willrun – and live!Yes!” Wallace shouted back. “Fight and you may die. Run and youwill live at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now,would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that forone chance, just one chance, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never takeour freedom!
May you this week consider your freedom. May you decide afresh what you will do with this freedom. Embrace the one who set you free, because you are free indeed.
Freedom Reigns
Freedom falls
Like the rain in Spring,
The sun shines through
With life to bring
Freedom reigns
Like a long Summer’s day
With a sunset on fire
To show us the way
Freedom flows
Like the Autumn air
And speaks to us
Of a Greater care
Freedom settles
Like the Winters snow
As it blankets the land
Of the free that we know
So what will you do
With the freedom you live
Will you be brave
With the freedom you give
Another beautiful poem!
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That part of the movie is my most favorite. I have the clip saved on my computer so I can watch it occasionally. It always inspires me.
Very nice post and poem. 🙂
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