Shouldn’t there be limits on individual freedom? People can’t just do whatever they want without consequences!
Question 37 in Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded
This question is from Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded, launching June 2026 in paperback, PDF, and Kindle. Subscribe to this Substack so you don’t miss updates, previews, and the launch announcement.
As Christians, we know that sin has consequences both in this temporal life and in eternity. A person who diligently works to provide for future needs will usually receive favorable consequences from his actions: he and his family will eat! Labor is often unpleasant, but it brings the joyful reward of the harvest. “May those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves” (Ps 126:5–6).
A person who is lazy and irresponsible will eventually be both humbled and hungry (Prov 10:4, 13:4; 20:4). The sin of idleness is not just something that has consequences for the idle person. Scripture warns that failure to provide for one’s family members, especially one’s own household, is a denial of the Christian faith (1 Tim 5:8).
There are many other vices that are currently treated as crimes by the state: activities related to drug and alcohol abuse, prostitution, gambling, and so forth. As Christians, we should counsel our brothers and sisters to avoid polluting their bodily temples. We should encourage wise stewardship instead of frivolous frittering away of the resources with which God entrusts us. But the Bible does not teach us to use violence to exhort others to good works. Indeed, strict, external enforcement of rules about touching, tasting, and eating forbidden things does not help to restrain sensual indulgence (Col 2:16–23). Using violence for reasons other than responding to violent aggressors is not a proportionate response to wrongdoing (Lev 24:19–21).