TRUE FREEDOM VS. FALSE CREEDS
HOWARD SAWYER

One who is truly free is not a free-lancer for freedom does not mean license. But it does mean that I am at liberty to enjoy fellowship with Christians with whom I do not agree on every point. Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free, and if the Son shall make you free, then you are free indeed.” To some brethren this means that one is free to believe only what we believe and enjoy fellowship only with those that we recognize.

Our freedom is being jeopardized by our own creeds, creeds that are in our hearts and mind if not written in a book. The ones who howl “We have no creed” are the very ones who are ready to label you as unsound if you do not subscribe to their way of thinking.

I don’t believe in drawing party lines or in quarantining those who stray from orthodoxy. I have rebelled at putting a strangle-hold on those who dare to be different. Gal. 5:1 says: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ made us free, and be not entangled again the yoke of bondage.” This gift of liberty some brethren would take from us, and what Christ freed us from some would bind upon our necks.

The practice of making laws where God has made none and drawing lines of fellowship that God has not drawn finds it roots in pharisaism. The “holier than thou” attitude is defeating to the liberty that is in Christ. Jesus and Paul would not fit into the circles that men draw around them selves, for they were free of the sectarian spirit. Jesus and Paul were not concerned about those things that men divide over these days.

A plea for Christian freedom is not a call for believing any and every thing. It does not mean that we are to endorse every idea that is promulgated. It is rather an affirmation that we can differ without dividing. We differ on how to care for orphans, participation in the military, and even on the question of future punishment and reward. Then there is the premillennial point of view. Can we not differ in these areas without dividing? Must there be the drawing of lines on those who sincerely hold a different position?

Those who tell me that I cannot enjoy fellowship with a brother who believes in the premillennial coming of the Lord deny me of the freedom that is in Christ. Or if one tells me I can’t believe such a doctrine without being an apostate and headed for that place too horrible to mention he too denies me of the liberty to be my own man in Christ.

If we can differ on the war question or questions about the degrees of rewards and punishments without line drawing, why can we not also on the millennium question? I believe my freedom in Christ allows me to receive those who are premillennial as well as those who are amillennial. — Minister, Highland Park Church of Christ, 1614 Kirby, Chattanooga 37404.