On Liberty and Bondage
Introduction There are many who seems to think that having material worship, and ritual, and discipline, constitutes some kind of bondage. They like to quote St. Paul's letter to the Galatians, which reads as follows: Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 5:1 By quoting that verse, they are accusing us of practicing a religion of "bondage", opposed to "liberty", because we have material things and rituals and stuff. If one just takes select snippets without context, it's possible to weave them together to craft just such a narrative. But we ought not: St. Peter says that those who do so, especially taking from the letters of St. Paul, do so to their own destruction. 2 Pet 3:16 Rather, we should seek to understand the whole counsel of God, and rightly divide the word of truth. To do so, ignore the chapter and verse