Can We Make an Idol of Freedom? (Edited and Revised)

It seems like at the heart of Christianity is the notion of a "kingdom." God is seen as King in Christianity and we are his servants working to fulfill his will "on earth as it is [already done] in heaven." This seems to fly in the face of the human freedom and individualism that we hold high in western society. Can we balance these two things? I am skeptical of this. In fact, I think that it might be very hard to distinguish individualism or personal freedom (speaking in an economic/political sense, not a moral sense) from self-idolatry. It seems like the "kingdom" mindset of Christianity demands a sense of collectivism- that we are seeking the greater good. We are advancing a cause bigger than ourselves. If that is the case, our own individual good is not as important, it has to be subservient to another cause. So demands for economic or political freedom seem to be contrary to our role as Christians.

I don't mean to imply by this that economic or political freedoms are wrong. But I do mean to imply that they are secondary, from a Christian standpoint, to the greater obligations that we have. So for instance, if we can argue that we have a genuine obligation as Christians to care for the less privileged members of our society, to ensure that they are provided for, then our economic freedom is subservient to this obligation. That doesn't mean we necessarily have to completely sacrifice economic freedom, but we also cannot demand freedom absolutely. Likewise, if we have an obligation as Christians to promote justice in this world, then our political liberties are subservient to that demand for justice. This does not mean we become slaves of the state. But we do sacrifice our own prerogatives for the good of others when necessary.

Unfortunately, I get the impression that many Christians feel like we can or should demand these liberties or freedoms absolutely- everything else must be sacrificed to preserve freedom. I think that this very quickly leads us to make an idol of our freedom, perhaps even to make an idol of ourselves. Any thoughts?

What Does It Mean to be Human?

Brief review of what I talked about last week with the youth:

Genesis puts a lot of emphasis on saying that man was made in the image of God. What that means is that man was meant to do the sorts of things God would do, particularly to rule the earth the way God would rule it. However, Adam does not complete this mission. He instead puts his loyalty in other things (and take special note that these things are not necessarily bad in and of themselves) besides God. And this idolatry leads to all kinds of evil spreading throughout the world. For the most part, men have followed in Adam's footsteps. However, Jesus Christ is said to be a second Adam, one who keeps his loyalty where it belongs and makes a way for us to follow him and be the kinds of people we were meant to be.

A unique aspect of our culture from a historical standpoint is the emphasis we put on individuals. Most cultures throughout history have been interested in how their entire society is doing in any given way (economically, politically, spiritually, etc). In modern American society, we seem intently focused on how each individual person is doing and most of the time forget that we are all part of a bigger thing than ourselves. So while this issue is certainly something worth addressing on an individual basis, I want to start by asking a bigger question. In what ways does our society seem to be following in the footsteps of Adam? What are the idols of our society? What are we more loyal to than God?

Then, the more personal question (which I'm not going to make you answer publically unless you really want to), are you personally any different from the rest of our society? Do the idols of our society hold your loyalty as well?