Freedom being a Constraint

As I said in my last blog, I'm reading a book by one of my favorite pastors Tim Keller called, "The Reason for God." I have had the book for a while, but with school being in the way and the amount of reading it requires; it is been put on the back burner for a while. Now that I have had plenty of downtime, I've been able to get in to it quite a bit. The book deals with questions and doubts that skeptics, and sometimes even believers, deal with in the church. What I really like about the book is that it provides a platform to stand your ground as a Christian when you or your beliefs are challenged.

One of the areas of topic Keller deals with in his book is the area of Christianity supposedly limiting personal growth and potential because it constrains our freedom to choose our own beliefs. Keller argues this by saying, "Freedom cannot be defined in strictly negative terms, as the absence of confinement and constraint. In fact, in many cases, confinement and constraint is actually a means to liberation." Keller gives an example - "If you have musical aptitude, you may give yourself to practice, practice, and practice the piano for years. This is a restriction, a limit on your freedom. There are many other things you won't be able to do with the time you invest in practicing. If you have the talent, however, the discipline and limitation will unleash your ability that would otherwise go untapped. What have you done? You've deliberately lost your freedom to engage in some things in order to release yourself to a richer kind of freedom to accomplish other things."

Keller does say that there are certain restrictions and disciplines are not all liberating. He gives an example of a small 125lb male trying out for the NFL as a lineman and how all the discipline and effort won’t help him because he is fighting against a reality that isn’t possible. However, what he’s getting at is that constraints and disciplines only liberate us when they “fit with the reality of our nature and capacities.” Again, another example is a fish out of water – the fish will die if we do not honor the reality of its nature and it is only free if it is restricted and limited to water where it can breathe.

It made me start to wonder how many people work really hard to find something that makes a lot of money, while sacrificing family and love, rather than find something that fits their talents and interests. Such careers can be suffocating that in the long run stifle and dehumanize us. Where’s the freedom in that?

I love this quote from Keller…

“In many areas of life, freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, the liberating restrictions. Those that fit with the reality of our nature and the world produce greater power and scope for our abilities and a deeper joy and fulfillment. Experimentation, risk, and making mistakes bring growth only if, over time, they show us our limits as well as our abilities. If we only grow intellectually, vocationally, and physically through judicious constraints – why would it not also be true for spiritual and moral growth? Instead of insisting on freedom to create spiritual reality, shouldn’t we be seeking to discover it and disciplining ourselves to live according to it?”

Just some food for thought

Keller also ties the freedom of Love with being restrictive and constraining. I’ll delve in to that one on the next blog.