A common struggle today in our society is the desire for freedom, or what people believe is freedom, from the laws and regulations put in place. Many people view laws as restricting freedom of expression or what is desired within ourselves. A common conception of freedom today is putting ourselves and our desires first. The person who lives by this idea of freedom does not put others before themselves. This is a universal inclination due to the fall of humanity by our original parents. Author, Fulton Sheed makes the argument that “each new law learned by us increases our freedom”(Sheed 62). This statement contradicts the popular idea that to have freedom means to not be bound by laws, people or anything else. Sheed explains in this statement
…show more content…
Our society today says that freedom is doing what makes you happy and feels good. People believe freedom means no one telling them what to do or give them restrictions. The Catechism contrasts this idea of freedom with something quite different. According to Catechism, freedom is “the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility”(CCC 1731). This means that in our actions we can either choose good or evil. The Catechism also states however, that “there is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to “slavery of sin””(CCC 1733). Freedom gives us the power to choose what we want as the acts “are voluntary”(CCC 1734), but there is responsibility and consequences with what we choose. Freedom is found in choosing the good which leads to the fulfillment which God has created us for: to get to Heaven. Sheed elaborates on this root of freedom further, the reason and will, saying that “Our intellect is to come to the fullest knowledge of the supreme truth- which is God. Our will is to come to the fullest love of the supreme goodness- which is God”(Sheed 64). Sheed states that through knowledge of God from our intellect and will, we come to find freedom. Freedom is more than just doing what feels good in the moment, but choosing what is right and just rather than …show more content…
People today have an opposite view of what freedom truly is. Freedom means seeking and living the truth. Breaking laws is the opposite of seeking and living out the truth. Sheed states that “we cannot break the laws, but if we ignore them, they can break us” (Sheed 62). An example of our brokenness is sin due to the Fall. Man was and is created to be in communion with one another. When Adam and Eve chose to ignore God’s command to not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they broke that communion. They wanted to become like God and not have limitation, but because of this “the harmony in which they had founded themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed… the union between man and woman become subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile” (CCC 400). Man was created in union with one another, but the sin of the Fall has caused a discord among us. Ignoring God’s commandment has caused this brokenness among us. This shows that laws grant freedom to humanity and help us to live and live well. By ignoring the laws, we break ourselves through
Our society today says that freedom is doing what makes you happy and feels good. People believe freedom means no one telling them what to do or give them restrictions. The Catechism contrasts this idea of freedom with something quite different. According to Catechism, freedom is “the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility”(CCC 1731). This means that in our actions we can either choose good or evil. The Catechism also states however, that “there is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to “slavery of sin””(CCC 1733). Freedom gives us the power to choose what we want as the acts “are voluntary”(CCC 1734), but there is responsibility and consequences with what we choose. Freedom is found in choosing the good which leads to the fulfillment which God has created us for: to get to Heaven. Sheed elaborates on this root of freedom further, the reason and will, saying that “Our intellect is to come to the fullest knowledge of the supreme truth- which is God. Our will is to come to the fullest love of the supreme goodness- which is God”(Sheed 64). Sheed states that through knowledge of God from our intellect and will, we come to find freedom. Freedom is more than just doing what feels good in the moment, but choosing what is right and just rather than …show more content…
People today have an opposite view of what freedom truly is. Freedom means seeking and living the truth. Breaking laws is the opposite of seeking and living out the truth. Sheed states that “we cannot break the laws, but if we ignore them, they can break us” (Sheed 62). An example of our brokenness is sin due to the Fall. Man was and is created to be in communion with one another. When Adam and Eve chose to ignore God’s command to not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they broke that communion. They wanted to become like God and not have limitation, but because of this “the harmony in which they had founded themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed… the union between man and woman become subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile” (CCC 400). Man was created in union with one another, but the sin of the Fall has caused a discord among us. Ignoring God’s commandment has caused this brokenness among us. This shows that laws grant freedom to humanity and help us to live and live well. By ignoring the laws, we break ourselves through