One simple way to think about the second millennium of Western history is from the perspective of two overarching struggles – freedom for God and freedom from God.
Freedom for God antagonisms trace the splintering of Christianity into various churches and denominations. The impetus driving the splintering centered largely on objections to religious authority and corruptions of religious authority. The conflicts played out through various theological and ecclesiastical disagreements as well as political, cultural, and social differences within Christendom.
Although the original religious authority – the Catholic Church – tended to regard such objections as open and hostile rebellion against God’s divine order, the various factions that succeeded in breaking away from the church – and, subsequently, splintering even further – were not fueled by anti-God motivations. On the contrary, the fragmentation of Christianity was motivated largely by the desire to expand freedom for God.
The establishment process involved making physical and cultural space for the new freedom for God manifestations. Old forms were modified or abandoned; new ones introduced.
Those who remained committed to older forms of freedom for God were often excluded or persecuted, but those adhering to the newer forms were granted the space needed to thrive. Despite conflicts and bloodshed, nearly every person in the West remained under some form of freedom for God.
The idea of freedom from God remained anathema – culturally, socially, and politically. Freedom for God did not aim to despiritualize humanity. All freedom for God struggles maintained the sanctity of man as a spiritual being – the understanding that the spiritual aspect of man was an integral part of his humanity.
Unlike freedom for God struggles – which aimed to maintain Christianity in the West and the spiritual aspects inherent in man, albeit in differing ways and forms – freedom from God struggles centered on the longing to banish Christianity and God from Western civilization altogether. The idea was simple. The spiritual aspect of man was a dangerous, superstitious illusion that hindered natural man from actualizing a peak form of humanity.
Freedom from God achieved its first major victory during the French Revolution and eventually went on to conquer the West via Enlightenment principles – liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state – all of which placed the value of non-spiritual human happiness above the value of Christianity. Freedom for God – the firm awareness of the spiritual aspect of humanity – was pushed from the stage of public life and relegated to a matter of private and personal choice.
Western civilization began to transform into a civilization based on the personal autonomy of man and his inviolable natural rights and freedoms. The state, with all of its mechanisms of power, set about carving out a civilization based purely on man’s freedom from God. It not only endorsed this new form of freedom, it eventually demanded it.
The traditional forces of freedom for God resisted and reacted primarily via what became known as the “culture wars”, but the resistance was mostly a rearguard action. By the middle of the 20th century, it had become evident that the “culture wars” were lost.
After two thousand years, the West had managed to free itself from God. Christian churches attempted to maintain some semblance of being free for God, but after the 2020 global totalitarian coup, most revealed themselves to firmly on the side against freedom for God. Western man had been effectively despiritualized.
On the surface, it would appear that the freedom from God side – replete with its humanism, democracy, toleration, fraternity, materialism, and all the rest of it – has won a decisive victory, as evidenced by some traditional/conservative factions of the ever-shrinking freedom for God side that continues to rage against liberalism, etc.,
This is true to some degree. The freedom from God side has indeed won a decisive victory, but this decisive victory is also marks a devastating defeat for all the “natural human” principles upon which freedom from God was built.
Now that Western man has been decisively despiritualized, the freedom from God forces have set their sights squarely on the next task – systematic dehumanization.
This systematic dehumanization involves directly violating all the human rights and freedoms that were once touted as inviolable to maintain the dignity of natural man.
Personal autonomy? Gone. Liberalism, democracy, humanism, progress? All finished. Human rights? The “natural” ones have been axed. Only heinous and perverted faux rights promoted and defended. Religious freedom? You’re kidding, right? Freedom of movement? Just plain "freedom". Whatever. The list is long and sad.
Freedom from God has been toppled by Slavery to the System.
Freedom from God involved the despiritualization of the West, which was a form of dehumanization.
Slavery to the System involves the total dehumanization of the West -- the stripping of all supposed "natural" human rights, values, and freedoms.
Freedom for God – the understanding that the spiritual aspect of man must be regarded as primary for man to be considered fully human – is the only “real” freedom left.
But where does this freedom for God reside? What will it hope to do?
It certainly does not reside in the external forms of freedom for God because these external forms – once utterly inseparable from the very fabric of Western civilization and the Western spirit – have all willingly and actively joined the System, which means they are all willingly and actively pursuing the System objective of total dehumanization.
So where does freedom for God exist now? For what will it aim?
Well, it will have to aim for God, and it will have to do so from freedom -- freedom that does not depend on anything external whatsoever.
It will have to emerge from the recognition that the goal of freedom for God is freedom with God.
But this entails an entirely different way of thinking about freedom -- not as something granted to us from God, but as something we share and have always shared with God.
Freedom for God antagonisms trace the splintering of Christianity into various churches and denominations. The impetus driving the splintering centered largely on objections to religious authority and corruptions of religious authority. The conflicts played out through various theological and ecclesiastical disagreements as well as political, cultural, and social differences within Christendom.
Although the original religious authority – the Catholic Church – tended to regard such objections as open and hostile rebellion against God’s divine order, the various factions that succeeded in breaking away from the church – and, subsequently, splintering even further – were not fueled by anti-God motivations. On the contrary, the fragmentation of Christianity was motivated largely by the desire to expand freedom for God.
The establishment process involved making physical and cultural space for the new freedom for God manifestations. Old forms were modified or abandoned; new ones introduced.
Those who remained committed to older forms of freedom for God were often excluded or persecuted, but those adhering to the newer forms were granted the space needed to thrive. Despite conflicts and bloodshed, nearly every person in the West remained under some form of freedom for God.
The idea of freedom from God remained anathema – culturally, socially, and politically. Freedom for God did not aim to despiritualize humanity. All freedom for God struggles maintained the sanctity of man as a spiritual being – the understanding that the spiritual aspect of man was an integral part of his humanity.
Unlike freedom for God struggles – which aimed to maintain Christianity in the West and the spiritual aspects inherent in man, albeit in differing ways and forms – freedom from God struggles centered on the longing to banish Christianity and God from Western civilization altogether. The idea was simple. The spiritual aspect of man was a dangerous, superstitious illusion that hindered natural man from actualizing a peak form of humanity.
Freedom from God achieved its first major victory during the French Revolution and eventually went on to conquer the West via Enlightenment principles – liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state – all of which placed the value of non-spiritual human happiness above the value of Christianity. Freedom for God – the firm awareness of the spiritual aspect of humanity – was pushed from the stage of public life and relegated to a matter of private and personal choice.
Western civilization began to transform into a civilization based on the personal autonomy of man and his inviolable natural rights and freedoms. The state, with all of its mechanisms of power, set about carving out a civilization based purely on man’s freedom from God. It not only endorsed this new form of freedom, it eventually demanded it.
The traditional forces of freedom for God resisted and reacted primarily via what became known as the “culture wars”, but the resistance was mostly a rearguard action. By the middle of the 20th century, it had become evident that the “culture wars” were lost.
After two thousand years, the West had managed to free itself from God. Christian churches attempted to maintain some semblance of being free for God, but after the 2020 global totalitarian coup, most revealed themselves to firmly on the side against freedom for God. Western man had been effectively despiritualized.
On the surface, it would appear that the freedom from God side – replete with its humanism, democracy, toleration, fraternity, materialism, and all the rest of it – has won a decisive victory, as evidenced by some traditional/conservative factions of the ever-shrinking freedom for God side that continues to rage against liberalism, etc.,
This is true to some degree. The freedom from God side has indeed won a decisive victory, but this decisive victory is also marks a devastating defeat for all the “natural human” principles upon which freedom from God was built.
Now that Western man has been decisively despiritualized, the freedom from God forces have set their sights squarely on the next task – systematic dehumanization.
This systematic dehumanization involves directly violating all the human rights and freedoms that were once touted as inviolable to maintain the dignity of natural man.
Personal autonomy? Gone. Liberalism, democracy, humanism, progress? All finished. Human rights? The “natural” ones have been axed. Only heinous and perverted faux rights promoted and defended. Religious freedom? You’re kidding, right? Freedom of movement? Just plain "freedom". Whatever. The list is long and sad.
Freedom from God has been toppled by Slavery to the System.
Freedom from God involved the despiritualization of the West, which was a form of dehumanization.
Slavery to the System involves the total dehumanization of the West -- the stripping of all supposed "natural" human rights, values, and freedoms.
Freedom for God – the understanding that the spiritual aspect of man must be regarded as primary for man to be considered fully human – is the only “real” freedom left.
But where does this freedom for God reside? What will it hope to do?
It certainly does not reside in the external forms of freedom for God because these external forms – once utterly inseparable from the very fabric of Western civilization and the Western spirit – have all willingly and actively joined the System, which means they are all willingly and actively pursuing the System objective of total dehumanization.
So where does freedom for God exist now? For what will it aim?
Well, it will have to aim for God, and it will have to do so from freedom -- freedom that does not depend on anything external whatsoever.
It will have to emerge from the recognition that the goal of freedom for God is freedom with God.
But this entails an entirely different way of thinking about freedom -- not as something granted to us from God, but as something we share and have always shared with God.
RSS Feed
