Faith Venture

We were members of a congregation affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, USA, for about a dozen years. One of the classes I taught focused on Roger Williams, the 17^th Century Baptist preacher who was so upset with the Puritans in Massachusetts combining their church and the government, that he founded a new colony (now state) Rhode Island. He wanted a place for religious liberty.

The founders of the USA were likewise suspicious of state-sanctioned churches. The English government levied taxes on everyone to support the Church of England. The founders didn’t like their tax dollars going there. Religious liberty with no state-sanctioned church was baked into the Constitution.

But back to religious liberty and Roger Williams. That man had a lot of courage. And he determined a direction.

I studied the political concept of liberty (freedom) in graduate school. As my focus turned increasingly spiritual, I appreciated Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. It’s all about how we, you and I, can be free. 

When we live in the spirit, we are free. Not of all constraints, of course. That’s nonsense. But free to live with the fruit of the spirit: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Let us not take our eye off the goal. Don’t go down rabbit holes. Follow Jesus, live in the Spirit, enjoy the fruit.

This entry was posted on July 11, 2025 at 4:25 am and is filed under Freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.