Freedom is a basic experience. It is more vivid and immediate than our senses. Any empiricist who does not believe in freedom isn’t one.

Full freedom includes the ability to choose not to be free.

The problem is, once you are unfree, you can no longer choose to be free again. If you can choose to be free again, then you weren’t really unfree. If you weren’t really unfree, then you didn’t have the choice to be unfree. If you don’t have the choice, in that respect you aren’t free.

For you to be fully free, you need to be able to get stuck in being unfree. Which means that to get unstuck, you need something other than just your own choice to free you. If you can free yourself, you were never unfree. You need someone to help you. Repentance is the choice one makes to ask for help when stuck and not able to get unstuck on your own. Freedom entails repentance.

This person who gets us unstuck must never be stuck himself.

Imagine a road with gravel strewn around. Every time a car hits the gravel the gravel bounces randomly. Over time, all the gravel ends up on the side of the road even though all the bounces are random. Why? Because each time a car hits it, there is chance gravel ends up on the side of the road. But once on the side of the road, there is no chance the gravel will move out again.

Freedom is a road and unfreedom is being stuck on the side of the road. Each time we choose, we are choosing whether to continue down the road or whether to get stuck off it. The only way someone can still have the freedom to choose but never ever get stuck is to never, ever choose to go off the road. To never, ever choose to do wrong. Only such a person can reliably save us when we get stuck. Freedom entails repentance, and repentance entails God.

The only way to use your freedom that is consistent with your freedom is to choose to be the sort of person who never gets stuck. Who never chooses to be unfree. Who is perfect.

Freedom entails deification.


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