In the article, “Freedom As God Wants It”, I kept mentioning “autonomous people who make it a point in their lives to help each other.” What does this mean?

These questions will likely arise:
How does a person become autonomous?
Does God really want this type of person?
Doesn’t God just want someone who will obey without question?

Of course, many other questions can be asked but let’s tackle those above in reverse order.

Doesn’t God just want someone who will obey without question?
If that was true, He could have made robots. He didn’t. He could have reprogrammed our thinking. As far as we can tell, He hasn’t. How do I know that? Look around. If He had made us robots or reprogrammed our thinking, then:
1) This sinful world would have no purpose and could be made new at any time.
2) He could remove all sinful thoughts from our minds, regardless of whether we wanted our minds changed or not.
3) He could program us to obey without letting sinful thoughts enter our minds.
4) This world would have remained perfect from Adam’s time to now.
Does He want obedient children? Sure! But that brings in the next question.

Does God really want an autonomous type of person?
Maybe we need to define an autonomous person first. The dictionary states it simply as a quality or condition of having self-government. But this could be any independent control. An anarchist could govern themselves but in such a way that would be strictly self-centered. God realizes that as sinful beings, being slaves to sin, we are not use to exercising self-control in such a way whereby we would also respect others.

While we are in that state of sin, He invites us to accept Him and His form of government. Once we do, He accepts us where we are. Though we were slaves to sin before, He teaches us about right doing as He heals us from the effects of sin.

At the early stages, when we are new Christians, we are happy to be called servants of the living God. As servants, we are trying to focus only on what God wants us to do, nothing else. We start by saying, “God said it, I believe it, and that is all there is to it.” This is fine, but it is just the first step in what God can do for you.

One facet of this process is that we keep our eyes upon Jesus and His example for us. Sometimes we start concentrating so much on the do’s and don’ts that we lose sight of God Himself.

Does God want us to continue being servants? Absolutely not! In fact, as His disciples, we are invited to be His friends, once we know the Father. (see John 15:15)

God wants us to be so settled into the truth that we cannot be moved. (Romans 14:5; Eph. 1:13) This means we must be able to think through all situations as if we had the mind of Christ in us. (1 Cor. 2:16)

So if we have the mind of Christ in us, would we do anything contrary to the laws He has written in our hearts? (Heb. 10:16) If God is healing us so that we can be in harmony with all that He has created, then we will do what He has written on our hearts -- because it is right, not just because God said it. We’ll act in harmony with law because it makes good sense to us, because it is right.

How does a person become autonomous?
God designed us to be autonomous. We were made in the image of God. ( see Genesis 1:27) As God spoke to Adam and Eve, He gave them instructions, one of which was to have dominion over the earth. (ibid. verse 28) This means that God had given His humans the ability to understand the language He spoke. They were enabled with intelligence to rule the earth.

In the beginning, mankind had autonomy, the ability to think and to do, to make choices and to follow through with actions. Since everything that God had created was pronounced “good”, then the original couple must illustrate what God’s ideal is for us -- at least initially.

Since God had not written any laws for them, He must have instilled His universal law of love in their minds. This law had two related parts. (see Matthew 22:36 – 40) Love is selfless in the sense that we consider God and others before we do ourselves. (see 1 Corinthians 13)

Lawrence Kolberg, a noted doctor of psychology, developed a theory based on his study of adolescent behavior. He broke it down into three levels of Moral Development. The majority of the world, (75%) thinks along the lines of the first two levels. The third level is unique in that it is the only level that isn’t directed toward self. It is a mutually directed level he calls the Postconventional/Self-Accepted Moral Principles. This level can be defined as being conformed to shared standards, rights, and/or duties regardless of a supporting authority. Thus he believes that the standards are internal to all within this group, based upon an internal thinking process and judgment regarding right and wrong.

This perfectly describes people who are self-governed to the point where they act mutually together for an orderly society. They disregard selfish rights and consider the welfare of others. In turn, others do the same thing. No one would even want to put another at a disadvantage or push their interests above anyone else’s.

We may ask when Adam’s pre-fall condition changed. A description starts in Genesis, chapter 3 and continues throughout the Bible. Even though God is technically the monarch of the entire universe, Satan claims dominion of the earth. Mankind has basically surrendered control to sin (self-interests). Satan is the father of sin.

All hope is not lost, though, since Jesus confirmed His dominion of Earth when He died on the cross. Jesus wants to help us regain control of ourselves through the Holy Spirit. In some earlier versions of the bible we find the word temperance which newer versions translate as self-control. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance shows self-control as the proper translation. Look up these texts for where it is used: Galatians 5:22, 23; 2 Peter 1:5 – 7; Acts 24:25.

So even though I could add more questions to those above, I will stop at this point and summarize what true freedom given from God consists of. God has given everyone free moral choice regardless of their inherited or cultivated backgrounds. Sin has limited this freedom so that either we become slaves to Sin or Sin has destroyed the ability to think logically or with reason. We can see where the mentally challenged have very little of God’s image left to them but even some of them can still distinguish between right and wrong.

Logic and reason are needed to determine what is true and what is false. Faith or trust is gained from the evidence we find in scripture and what God reveals to us. Without any evidence, we no longer have faith or trust, we have presumption. As we study, pray and reason through the evidence we find, the Holy Spirit will guide us into truth and knowledge as we open up to God. Our trust in God grows.

We are warned to watch out for spirits that may mislead us. If the new revelation we receive doesn’t jive with what all that the bible has given us then we need to reexamine this new evidence. If it directly contradicts any part of scripture we should reject it as coming from a false source such as Satan. If, however, it seems to contradict your understanding of the scripture in some way then it may need more study. Now if there is nothing in disagreement with scripture it may really be from God. Keep it until you discover that the new information is not true.

God gave us these gifts of free moral choice, reasoning powers, and a way for us to have a relationship with Him. We can be His friends. In fact He says we are His friends if we do whatever He commands. (John 15:14) What did He just command His disciples? (John 15:12) How can anyone command love? God does so here. Is this beyond our understanding? Really, even God cannot command love and make it happen because He would then be violating our free moral choice. Love comes from within just as our moral choices should be internal.

Basically all biblical commands are either statements of reality or instruction on improving ourselves. Jesus loved with agape love. That is an unconditional love that even we can understand. He wanted His disciples to do the same but the only way they could do that is if they had already become His friends. That means that if they had the mind of Christ in them this command would be fulfilled. They would love each other as Jesus loved them. We can manifest this love also.

So imagine, if you can, a place where everyone loved each other and loved God fully and would do no one any harm. Would every one be equal? Would every one have fair treatment? Simplistic isn’t it? The answer is yes to both questions for an autonomous person because this type of person would give whatever was available to help that person needing help to be all they could be. Fairness would not necessarily mean exactly the same treatment. A handicapped person may need more help than a person with full capabilities. Fairness would then mean to bring everyone up to the same capabilities if at all possible with the means we have available.

That does not mean depriving everyone of anything they are not willing to give up because that implies that force of law would be enacted. Equal possessions would also not really be equality. What need do I have of a piano if I have no desire to learn music. I currently have no need of a prosthetic device but I’d be willing to help another person get one if it could mean we could be on equal grounds. There would be no jealousy because we would want what is best for each other and would never try to force anyone externally by law because we would willingly do what we could to keep each other happy.

The golden rule fits perfectly in heaven or the new earth because we would have the mind of Christ within us. We would be fully healed from the effects of Sin and Sin would never rise again Not because God forces us to not sin by making laws but because we would do what is right because it made good sense to do right. God’s laws then are statements of what we observe in nature or what causes and effects that occur when disharmony exists.