I’m working on a school newspaper article with some friends and we seek to make the claim that God liberates man (as opposed to the popular viewpoint of atheism that God/religion “enslaves” the mind).
I’m curious how we should argue this from a non-theological perspective as this article is aiming towards an atheistic/agnostic/deist audience.
I’m working on a school newspaper article with some friends and we seek to make the claim that God liberates man (as opposed to the popular viewpoint of atheism that God/religion “enslaves” the mind).
I’m curious how we should argue this from a non-theological perspective as this article is aiming towards an atheistic/agnostic/deist audience.
I have no idea if it’s even possible to discuss God without introducing a theological perspective. I suggest you focus on the agnostic/deist audience who are open to the idea of God rather than the atheists who deny His existance.
The word “sin” isn’t particularly popular today, so you might want to list some specific acts that most would agree are wrong. For instance, most people will say they oppose murder. If someone is “free” to murder, others are *not *free to live. If all followed God’s moral law “thou shalt not murder” we would be liberated from murder. Most also oppose theft of large items; again if people followed the moral law “thou shalt not steal” our society would be free from theft.
Moral laws that some people find “oppressive” actually help to make and keep our society free. Many of our forefathers gave their lives to fight for freedom so that future generations might have the opportunity live free. When anyone fails to follow God’s moral laws, someone pays. Freedom is not cheap–it comes at a price.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ gave His life so that we might have an opportunity to know true freedom–the freedom not to sin. Those who repeatedly choose wrong over right become slaves to their bad habits of sin. Sin enslaves; God liberates us from sin.
I’m working on a school newspaper article with some friends and we seek to make the claim that God liberates man (as opposed to the popular viewpoint of atheism that God/religion “enslaves” the mind).
I’m curious how we should argue this from a non-theological perspective as this article is aiming towards an atheistic/agnostic/deist audience.
This could be difficult for you to do, because the NT repeatedly speaks of Christians as “slaves” of God: Paul does this constantly. Luke 4 does by contrast present Jesus as a liberator.
If I had to write your article, I think I would say something such as this: we are never entirely “our own man” in this life; there are always obligations to others, always commitments of some kind. We are never free of them. What Jesus does, is give us inner freedom, by making us his slaves - and the more fully anyone belongs to him, the more free that person is. Freedom comes from not being free - this would be a lie as politics, but it is true in morals & Christian faith. And Christian love is the supreme expression of this total self-commitment. The more we commit ourselves to others in His love, the more fully integrated, the more complete, we are.
So freedom is full of paradoxes - & IMO you could do worse than say that.
I’m working on a school newspaper article with some friends and we seek to make the claim that God liberates man (as opposed to the popular viewpoint of atheism that God/religion “enslaves” the mind).
I’m curious how we should argue this from a non-theological perspective as this article is aiming towards an atheistic/agnostic/deist audience.
The liberation is twofold as I see it.
-God liberates man in teaching man his own human identity, his purpose and his destination. Faith among other things is defined as trust/ feeling safe.
He also liberates man by drawing man close to Himself, so that man knows both who God is, and stands in relationship with Him.
There is a sort of rootlessness today among the young especially. They don’t know who they are and therefore also unaware of their purpose or where they are going. The try to live in a void, but it creates anxiety and misguided attempts to fullfill the God-sized hole within every person.
God liberates man. However, the ones who misunderstand God or believe Him to be someone very different than He is, are often continuously in slavery. False religions or philosophies are an example of this.
Liberty from what? Sin, insecurity; being ruled by aspiration of power, safety or pleasure. God frees us from bondage. Ultimately He frees us from a life and death apart from God, who is everything Good. As the Bible says: The Truth sets us free.
I’m working on a school newspaper article with some friends and we seek to make the claim that God liberates man (as opposed to the popular viewpoint of atheism that God/religion “enslaves” the mind).
I’m curious how we should argue this from a non-theological perspective as this article is aiming towards an atheistic/agnostic/deist audience.
LutusCars.
If you make this article, do not forget to admit that religion can be used wrongly. I would suggest you say these things first in the article. For instance, that people who are psychologically weak or children with great imagination have suffered from the fear of hell and punishment in an unhealthy way.
In the end after you have made all the good points I think you could point to one of the many scienctific statistics that prove that religious people are more integrated and happy people (eg. their marriages are often more successful that non-believers’ and they live longer too) than people of no faith.
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All the best with the writing, anyway 