What Does It Mean to Be Free? | 5-Minute Video | PragerU

What does it mean to be free? When Professor of Philosophy @SeanMcDowell poses this question to his students, they typically respond: “Freedom means doing whatever you want as long as you don’t hurt anyone.” But is it really as simple as that? Or is this question more complex and consequential than you might think?

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Transcript:

What Does It Mean to Be Free

Presented by Sean McDowell

What does it mean to be free?

When I pose this question to my students, here’s the answer I typically get: “Freedom means doing whatever you want.” Sometimes they’ll add “as long you don’t hurt anyone else.”

If we look closely at this answer, we will see that this is not freedom at all. Doing whatever you want — even if you don’t hurt someone else — virtually guarantees that you won’t be free. It’s much more likely that you’ll be imprisoned, either by your own desires or someone else’s.

It doesn’t take more than a little reflection to realize that doing whatever you want is a bad way to live. What happens if you eat everything you want? You’ll get sick, become overweight, and lack energy to do the things that a healthy person can do. That makes you less free.

What about the twenty-something who lives at home and plays video games all day? That might be fun for a while, but for the long term? He’s totally dependent on his parents. He has no freedom. He lacks real meaning and the sense of purpose that comes from work and ambition. And he’s not exactly making himself a compelling candidate for the opposite sex.

One day, he wakes up and he’s 30. Yeah, maybe he worked a few jobs here and there, but there’s no family, no career, no sacrifice for a greater purpose. I’ve seen this scenario play out. And so have you.

It’s not pretty.

And is freedom really living without boundaries?

Which is better? Banging on piano keys or following an instructor who teaches you to play the piano correctly? The answer is obvious. Small children bang on keys without restraint. Making music requires discipline.

We can apply this across all of life. Consider the relationship between a husband and wife. They choose to restrict their romantic affections to one another. This provides emotional security for them and their children. In this kind of environment, everyone can operate with a greater sense of freedom because there’s security, trust, and belonging.

This idea — that true freedom is only possible within a framework of rules — goes way back. It’s a major theme of the Bible. You can make a case that it begins with the Bible.

It’s easy to forget that in the Exodus narrative God liberated the Israelites from Egypt not so that they could do whatever they wanted, but so that they would be free to worship Him, something they could not do as Pharaoh’s slaves. Then, in the Sinai desert, He gave them Ten Commandments. What are those commandments? They are a series of restraints, the last five stated in the negative – do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not covet.

Can you imagine what our society would be like if we all followed these simple “do nots”?

Well, to paraphrase my friend Dennis Prager, we’d live in a far better world. Nobody would have to lock their doors. Nobody would have to worry about the faithfulness of their spouse or being the victim of false testimony.

It’s within these restraints that we experience real freedom because, as we’ve seen, unrestrained human beings are not free. They’re prisoners of their own desires.

Let’s take this one step further and consider another question. What’s so great about being free?

The answer, I would suggest, is found — again — in the Bible.

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