“We relish this concept of unfettered freedom. But, of course, it is absurd, even for a secularist. For whether we choose to admit it or not, we “brought nothing into this world” (1 Tim. 6:7). Everything in our lives is derived and gifted. We are not the inventors of the world nor of our lives. And though we struggle to understand and even master our own DNA, it remains a primary component of our destiny, a genetic memory of the history of our coming into being across the ages. To be told that we have some portion of DNA contributed by Neanderthals reminds us that even such obscure ancestors are “selves we have received” through our genetically traditioned existence.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“Life always involves choice, which…is a sign that we have free will. Only when and because we humans have actual choices between good and evil can we humans be said to be free. Our choices matter – if God had created us as automatons/robots then we would have no choice but would do as we were programmed to do. We would not be truly human. So even the choices created by dilemmas between science and religion, are opportunities for us to use our free will. In that sense such choices are not bad but rather reveal what it is to be human and to be a creature of faith and love. Only when love is real and involves a choice can we be human. If everything and everyone was lovely and loveable, we would have no choice but to love them. As it is, we have to choose to love others. We cannot be human, but only automatons/robots if evil is not tempting and desirable. We cannot truly love unless we are able to see both good and evil in others. So, when ‘standing between two trees’ which require us to choose one, we are experiencing what it is to be human and we realize choice is a gift from God.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“Freedom, therefore, appears to present man with “two” ultimate possibilities: either to annihilate the “given” or to accept it…if he is still to maintain his freedom in accepting the world, he can do this only by identifying his own will with that of God. Is that conceivable? Christianity throughout the centuries has tried to conceive this in terms of obedience of man to God. It has failed because it has been unable to maintain freedom in and through this obedience. Man has felt like a slave and rejected the yoke of God. Atheism sprang out of the very heart of the Church and the notion of freedom became prominent again. There is more than “obedience,” or rather something quite different from it, that is needed to bring man to a state of existence in which freedom is not a choice among many possibilities but a movement of love…There are, therefore, two aspects of Christology, one negative (redemption from the fallen state) and another positive (fulfillment of man’s full communion with God; what the Greek Fathers have called theosis). Only if the two are taken together, can Christology reveal human destiny in its fulness.” (Metropolitan John Zizioulas)
“The historical Jesus, the anointed of God, confirms by His existence that God is free from his divinity, and for that reason can also without change or alteration exist as a human being, free also from the limitations of humanity, as His resurrection from the dead testifies. His freedom from existential limitations is not a necessary property; it is a fact of free will, the mode of love, a mode of divine existential freedom ‘grafted’ (Roman 11:17) into human nature, given as a potentiality to humanity’s existence.” (Christos Yannaras)
“Sometimes the journey to freedom is slow, producing the desperation needed to embrace the truth that leads to freedom.” (Neal Lozano)
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