Liberty vs. Security: No Conflict!
Benjamin Franklin said famously: "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."
The Early American sage was certainly seeing clearly when he recognized that security can only be fleeting if liberty is given up. He might better have said: "They who give up liberty for security end up losing both."
But it is interesting that even in Benjamin Franklin's day a false political question must have been arising which during the 20th Century proved to be agonizingly hurtful as the world views hurt. The question was whether people should give up some degree of their liberty in order to enjoy a greater degree of security ... as if the two were separate experiences.
Communist countries experimented: "We'll find out the answer! We'll attempt giving away all liberty in exchange for the hope of total security. We'll see what happens." Each such experiment became a disaster as the world sees things. Both liberty and security were equally and inevitably lost in political tidal waves of pain, suffering, and death. These wrong-minded experiments did, of course, give a clue to the answer: liberty and security are indivisible. Liberty is the only state of being that produces real security.
But some human beings are slow learners, wouldn't you say? For example, so many political activists in America continue to try to elect their loyal party comrades so they can continue experimenting with legislatively taking away liberty and offering "security," "insurance," and "safety-net" programs. American politicians say, "We are not Communists! Our methods are different." Big difference! Both liberty and security are lost, but at a slower pace. Pain and suffering continue to increase, but more gradually.
As with all foolish human mistakes, the history-making misery caused by Communists in the 20th Century could have been avoided. Likewise, future disasters already set in motion by American politicians in the 21st Century can be avoided. It is only necessary to see that liberty and security are two sides of the same coin. Security cannot be experienced by tossing liberty in a wishing well.
But how can this law of the universe be clearly seen?
Jesus hints at it in the Holy Bible:
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? (Matt. 6: 24-26)
Jesus turns our attention away from man-made government and affirms that God is our safety net. God, not mankind's government, is the true provider of security. Not human laws, but Divine Law and Divine Grace constitute our insurance policy.
Well-meaning politicians who probably think of themselves as "do-gooders" are not the solution, but the problem. They actually create scarcity by believing in scarcity, teaching scarcity, and for the purpose of perpetuating political power ... preaching scarcity.
Regarding our choice to see as Jesus would have us see (prosperity) or to see as politicians desire us to see (scarcity), Jesus Christ in his revelation for the 21st Century A Course in Miracles, explains: "This world you see MUST BE DENIED, for sight of it is costing you a different kind of vision. YOU CANNOT SEE BOTH WORLDS. For each of them involves a different kind of seeing, and depends on what you cherish. The sight of one is possible because you have DENIED THE OTHER." (ACIM Chap.12)
In the same chapter, Jesus assures us that if we quit believing in a world of scarcity we will find we have everything we ever need: "Only the Holy Spirit KNOWS what you need. He gives you all the things that you need have, and will renew them as long as you have need of them. He will take nothing FROM you, as long as you have ANY need of it." (ACIM Chap.12)
It doesn't take a college professor to see, then, that to have an abundance of everything ever needed one needs only liberty ... only the freedom to follow the Holy Spirit's guidance as heard inside.
But let's imagine the Holy Spirit would have guided you to bring a wonderful new invention to mankind, or teach struggling families how to produce, or bring healing to someone ... would have guided you ... if not for the burdens of taxation (theft) and rules made by politicians (slavery). How many great aids to mankind's prosperity are not invented, how much production is shut off, how many healings never occur ... because of government intervention in people's lives? We can only feel an inkling how glorious life would be for everyone if politicians stayed out of the way and let people live by their spirit.
Listen inside to the Voice of the Holy Spirit. You'll hear that politicians actually destroy both welfare and liberty with government programs imagined to provide "social security," "universal care," and "safety nets" ... not to mention how they distract attention and focus from the real care provider.
Old Ben Franklin just didn't express it forcefully enough to get the point across, wouldn't you say? It was left to Jesus to say it this way:
"What worry can beset the one who gives his future to the loving hands of God? What can he suffer? What can cause him pain, or bring experience of loss to him? What can he fear? And what can he regard except with love? For he who has escaped all fear of future pain has found his way to present peace, and certainty of care the world can never threaten. He is sure that his perception may be faulty, but will never lack correction. He is free to choose again when he has been deceived; to change his mind when he has made mistakes."
Le s s o n 194
“I place the future in the Hands of God.”
"...nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)
Click below for more information on A Course in Miracles Light Sessions:
Holy Instant Christian Fellowship- Salt Lake City
