In a speech by Bill Federer I was reminded of the unique ways in which the Christian world view balances freedom and responsibility.

1. According the Christian world view, rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are granted by the Creator rather than on human authority alone. Therefore we are accountable (responsible) to Him.
2. According to the Christian world view, we are made in the image of God and have every reason for equality. Therefore we are responsible for our treatment of others.
3. According to the Christian world view, we may be encouraged to govern ourselves from within before it becomes necessary to be governed from without. Therefore we are responsible for ourselves–in every word, thought, action, attitude and motive.

Truly freedom is not the license to do as I please. It is the power to do as I ought. Picture living in that kind of freedom and imagine for one instant YOUR lifetime lived entirely upon the power to do the things you know you ought to do. God gives us that power in Jesus Christ.

Our founding fathers stated their definition of liberty often. Even Plato, though he failed in many ways to live up to it himself, said that “self-conquest is the greatest of victories”. Edmund Burke who from England objectively witnessed the French Revolution, made this summary statement “But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly …”

Therefore, as long as our freedom remains and there is life in our limbs let us take seriously the words of another man who was an eyewitness in the first churches both of the fruits of liberty and the grip of license. Paul wrote: Brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another (Galatians 5:13).