 |
| Happy 4th of July! Freedom pizza :) |
Lately I’ve been lax on processing my thoughts to post-on-the-internet
levels of organization. I’ve been meaning to write about one particular
conversation from a few weeks ago, and there is no more fitting (or ironic?)
day than this July 4th: let’s chat about freedom.
Occasionally we eat lunch with a local friend who works with
PLC (and thanks to his well-known father’s name, allows us to have visas. I
think that means that the government believes our last names are all Hassan). He
was born here, but spent time in Europe, offering an interesting mix of
East-West perspective.
“Freedom is a good thing, I think,” he told us, upon inquiry
of his thoughts about America. “But also, freedom will destroy the world.”
I’m incredibly thankful for our country, but do not consider
myself intensely patriotic. I’m not a fan of barbeque chicken, rodeos, or baseball.
Nevertheless, I prickled a bit hearing his critical words.
“I will explain. Because of freedom, women in America are
treated like a t-shirt…you change whenever you want. No respect.”
I would say that the most common stereotype of Muslim
culture I’ve heard is that of abused, disrespected, imprisoned women. I am sure
that that is a tragic reality for some women here and I don’t dismiss it, but I
hadn’t ever placed it next to a critique of a closer-to-home alternative. Could
he have something of a point?
“Just because you have the freedom to treat women with disrespect,
it doesn’t mean you have to. Don’t you think the problem is the bad choice, and
not the freedom itself?” I asked.
“No, the problem is the freedom.”
I wanted to argue, to defy the stereotype of American
relationships, to remind him that people in this culture can also disregard commitment
even if they’re not “free” by law or society. And what about the truth I’ve
always been told, that love means so much more if you have the freedom to choose
it?? It’s not my country that tells me that, but my faith!
I stewed in my begrudgingly respectful silence for a while,
until I realized:
My local friend defines “freedom” very differently than I
do.
According to my ridiculously oversimplified knowledge of
Muslim theology, anything and everything that happens in the world does so only
by God’s decree. His Law dictates how the world should work, and any ‘freedom’
outside of it opposes His will. By that definition, freedom is automatically synonymous
with sin. In my American mind, freedom is synonymous with choice.
So although we disagree on some of our views about how the
world works, and what words we use to describe it, I think our local friend and
I agree on more than it seems. We both value commitment, we both know that sin
(whether you call it a wrong choice or freedom) destroys the world, and we both
desire to live as God intends. He is thankful to live in a country that
encourages God’s Law, allowing religion and politics and career and life to
overlap. I am thankful to live in a country (and with a Savior) in which I’m free
to make choices that can glorify God.
There are pros and cons to both situations, but I cannot
believe that only one is a pro and one a con. Sometimes all this mind-opening and
perspective-broadening is exhausting! Who knows? Maybe next I’ll have to admit there are pros and
cons to even baseball…
No comments:
Post a Comment