Freedom of Choice
8 August 2006

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be
free indeed."
John 8:36
	Today in many places across the United States people
will be going to the polls, voting for candidates in
runoff elections. Runoffs occur when there is not a
clear majority between candidates in a party. To win a
runoff usually means they win the chance to face a
candidate in the opposition party in the general
election that will be held after the contestants
engage in some fierce campaigning. It is a great
exercise in one form of the freedom to choose. It is
not perfect, because it is an institution of man, but
it beats hollow the choices offered in some countries
where making the wrong mark on a ballot can be deadly.
	During the election in which we last elected a
President, a person who had been convicted of a
federal felony and consequently lost their right to
vote, moaned to me about how deeply they felt the
loss. People do not usually appreciate the freedoms
they have until they are gone. But as I traveled the
world in the prime of my life I encountered many
lessons in the value of human freedom in the world. It
also taught me to mistrust all governments of man, for
it is an axiom of the human condition that as
governments of men grow in their size those under its
sway find their freedoms diminished. One of our
Founding Fathers expressed just such a sentiment over
two hundred years ago, and a study of history proves
it to be true.
	God is all about freedom of choice. The angels have
such freedom and one-third of heaven chose badly
rebelling against God. Adam and Eve had choice and
lost fellowship with God and their home in heaven.
Every man and woman has the choice about whether to
receive Christ as Savior. And, everyone who does so is
then faced with other choices related to their service
to the Lord. Man’s economy increasingly puts limits on
choices, but God’s plan gives increasing freedom along
with increasing opportunities to choose. So powerful
is the freedom people have in Christ, we find that
even in the midst of men seeking to dominate other
men, they are not able to take away that freedom which
is given by the Son of God. <”><