The quest for a true freedom

In an attempt to encourage the hesitant to avail themselves of the vaccination programme, there are those who argue for the introduction of a ‘vaccination passport’.

Were that to happen, only those who have been ‘double-jabbed’ would be allowed access to certain venues, such as restaurants and nightclubs.

Advocates for such a policy argue that an increase in vaccination uptake will be the best way to ensure eventual freedom from a virus which dies when it has nowhere else to go.

Some, however, see such a requirement as an unnecessary denial of their freedom to refuse vaccination.

Such folk need to consider the true meaning of freedom. Certainly freedom is something which all humans crave.

The defiant cry of the American patriot Patrick Henry ‘Give me liberty or give me death’, finds in echo in the hearts of all who live under oppressive regimes

Yet freedom cannot mean the absence of all restrictions. In a world where there are no restrictions chaos would come again, and only the powerful and ruthless would flourish.

Civilized life is only possible where appropriate restrictions are in place.

I am not free to drive on whichever side of the road I care to choose. The law which means that I, and all other road-users, must drive on the left side of the road, provides freedom for us all to travel in safety.

Likewise, while I have the right to free speech I am not free to say or publish untruths about someone else. My freedom is limited by legitimate concerns about the reputation of others.

As has been said, ‘Obedience to law is liberty’.

The Bible is a book about freedom. Its early chapters focus on the cry of Hebrew slaves for deliverance from Egyptian oppression, while it also records how, centuries later, the descendants of those slaves found themselves captives again and were again delivered.

One New Testament writer knew one of the greatest threats to human freedom. He mentioned those who ‘all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death’ (Hebrews 2;15).

The fear of what lies beyond this life is very real. On his death-bed, the short-story writer, O. Henry, asked for a candle because, he said, he was afraid to go home in the dark. Jesus, has freed us from such fear.

Jesus ‘has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel’ (2 Timothy 1;10). That was why, later in that same letter, Paul was able to write, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing’ ( 4; 7-8).

What greater freedom could there be than that?