Freedom

Text: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1).

Freedom! What is freedom? What does freedom mean to you? How did we acquire freedom? Do you appreciate freedom? Is freedom important to you? Did our forefathers always have freedom? How did freedom come to mankind?

When we speak of freedom, we are speaking of living without restraints. We still have rules, laws and regulations that are in place to protect us and other people, but these are beneficial for all of us.

Drivers must stop at stop signs, red lights, drive on the right side of road, pull over for emergency vehicles, and so on and if they don’t and they get caught, there is a penalty to pay. Driving is a privilege and not a right and this privilege is regulated by laws.

We have the freedom to cross the county line or the state line without having to produce any type of identification. In other words, there is no “check point.”

We have the freedom to live in the neighborhood of our choice. We are free to pick our vocation or our profession. We are free to attend whatever church we so desire or not to attend church at all. We have the freedom of choice when it comes to voting for political leaders.

We have the freedom to agree or disagree on every day issues. We are free to voice our opinion concerning issues that arise. We are free to express our thoughts in books, newspapers, songs, signs and on the internet.

We have the freedom of choosing a person with whom we would like to share the rest of life. We have the freedom to marry or not to marry, to have children or not to have children, and to educate our children in the public school or private school system or to home-school them.

Our list of freedoms is endless. I would venture to say that there is probably no other country in the world where people have the freedoms that the American people have.

These freedoms did not come easy. Britain wanted power and authority. Their empire included the religious colonies that were established along the Eastern coast of North America. All the colonies and settlements under Britain’s control were established to increase the wealth of the Mother country.

The Mother country wanted to sell more of her products to these colonies than she imported from them. In so doing, she would accumulate more wealth at the expense of the colonies. To make this work, the British government imposed rules and regulations on the colonies. We can see that there was not a whole lot of freedom beneficial to the people of the colonies.

As we know, the first permanent British settlement in North America was Jamestown. This occurred in the year 1607. Then in 1620, the Pilgrims arrived in North America and established Plymouth Colony. After that, other religious colonies were set up.

Since there was such a great distance between the colonies along the shore of North America and the British homeland, control from the Mother country over the colonies was a bit difficult. Because of this, the colonies were able to set up governing bodies within the colonies.

The colonies began to grow and spread to other areas in North America. Over a period of time, the Mother country wanted revenue from the colonies. They began by instituting the Stamp Act in 1765. The colonists viewed this as a violation of their rights and their freedom. Because of the Stamp Act, riots occurred forcing the British government to repeal it. That was wonderful, but the result was the institution of other taxes.

The thirteen colonies decided to fight for their rights and their freedoms which were hampered by the British. The armed conflict began in 1775 and lasted until 1783. This war was known as the Revolutionary War or the American War for Independence.

A formal document was issued in 1776, The Declaration of Independence, which broke allegiance with the British government. The war went on until 1783 when the British government gave up all claims to the United States.

These United States of America will be 233 years old on July 4, 2009. When you think about it, America is a young country compared to countries like Egypt, Greece, China or Rome that have been in existence for many centuries. Egypt, Greece, and Rome are talked about in the Scriptures.

There are some facts I ran across that are interesting. When our third President, Thomas Jefferson died, out 16th President Abraham Lincoln was just 17 years old. Then when Lincoln was assassinated, our 28th President, Woodrow Wilson was merely 8 years old. When Wilson died, our 40th President, Ronald Reagan, was a young lad of 12. When Reagan died, our 44th President, Barack Obama was an aspiring 27 year-old law student at Harvard. (Source unknown except for Obama)