I need some help here.
We’ve been talking rebellion at my house all day. It started with family scripture study this morning. We read Alma 61:15 where Pahoran tells Moroni to temporarily leave the war in the hands of Teancum and Lehi, who will conduct it “according to the Spirit of God, which is also the Spirit of freedom, which is in them.”
I was so struck by that verse. The Spirit of Freedom is the Spirit of God. Wow. The desire for liberty comes directly from the Holy Ghost. Although I understood that agency is central to the Plan of Salvation before, I had never thought of it in quite those terms. I felt myself swell with gratitude for the blessings of living in free country and of having access to the fullness of the gospel. I reflected on the miraculous circumstances that led to the formation of this country and the coming forth of the book of Mormon. I was ready to hum The Spirit of God and recite the Pledge of Allegiance simultaneously (and if you’ve ever tried to hum and talk at the same time, it isn’t easy). So instead I started a discussion.
I drew this response from the ten year old. “Isn’t freedom just wanting to make your own choices? To do what you want to do? And isn’t rebellion the same thing? So is the Spirit of God the Spirit of rebellion?”
Um, no. So we backtracked. We reviewed the Plan of Salvation. We talked about the eleventh and twelfth articles of faith. We talked about following the Holy Ghost and about the kinds of freedom and bondage that result from different choices. The girls journaled about freedom and rebellion. And because we happen to be studying American history, we even read about and discussed Patrick Henry’s famous “Give me liberty or give me death!” statement.
At the end of the day I still don’t think she gets it. Some of that is maturity. These are abstract concepts with subtle distinctions in meaning. But some of it may also be that she has absorbed a cultural emphasis on keeping commandments, and that to her obedience feels like the opposite of freedom. And that’s an issue that plenty of adults also struggle with.
So help me. How have you experienced the Spirit of God as the Spirit of freedom in your life? And how would you explain that experience in a way that a ten-year-old could understand?
While freedom and agency (the LDS definition of agency) may not be the same thing, something that may help would be to talk about why “free agency” is not really about our freedom to choose right or wrong, but our freedom and RESPONSIBILITY to choose correctly, to make the right choice.
Young people get caught up in the “I can make my own choices because I have my free agency” thing all the time. Elder Oaks is the one who most recently reminds us that using our free agency means choosing the right, not choosing the wrong. (rebellion.)
Hmm. It sounds like you already thoroughly covered why making wrong choices essentially enslaves us.
Maybe giving her some real life chances to see this for herself would be the best teacher. Well, actually, she probably has her fair share of this already when she decides to “rebel” against family rules, chores, responsilities, etc. Perhaps using her own daily choices as teaching moments would help her. Or, giving her more latitude in her choices for a short time so that she can experience a true loss of freedom for the “rebellious” choices she makes.
This is fascinating, Angie.
What if you change it to “the Spirit of God is the spirit that allows freedom”?
To me, that’s more what the scripture you’re referencing means. I don’t know that your daughter will get that nuance… but that’s what the phrase means to me: The Spirit of God is the Spirit that permits us to freely choose… and also to deal with the consequences of those choices.
It’s the spirit of freedom, with all that that implies: the beginning choice and also its results.
I’m afraid I’ve never been much of a rebel, but this is interesting to think about. I would guess that defining “rebellion” as a consistently negative concept may be the hang-up. Your daughter has correctly identified the similarity between freedom and rebellion. The morality of rebellion depends on what we are rebelling against, rather than the action itself. If an act that is classified by man as “rebellion” is sanctioned by God, then it is not a negative act. And conversely, if an act that is sanctioned by man transgresses God’s laws, then that rebellion is negative. Perhaps talk with her about instances in history where people have rebelled, both “positive” (Rosa Parks, signers of the Declaration, people who helped Jews under Nazi rule) and “negative” (pop culture trends, criminal acts, etc.) and talk about the morality of each rebellion.
It seems to me that freedom is moving toward according to higher law, and rebellion is moving away from at the denial of higher law. Freedom requires abiding laws to be able to maintain it, whether they be the laws of the land or natural laws.
Rebellion on the other hand can be expressed in one great thrust off of the roof to rebel against the constraints of gravity. For a short time it can be liberating. Thump! But then again, rebellion can be moving toward, in which case, when properly applied according to higher laws, it brings freedom.
I like the thought from the scriptures, thank you. The spirit always moves us toward, I believe.
I want to go to a top 10 law school, become a famous law professor, and retire at 45 to see the world. But poor choices I made in high school and college, which mostly were of the “I knew better and did it anyway” variety (with a smattering of “I’ll get around to it later” — you can’t retire at 45 if you graduate from college at 26,) have made that impossible. The Spirit encourages us to make choices that keep our options open, keep our dreams alive, etc. Dumb stuff like going to bed early and getting your homework done every night not only gets you better grades and happier mornings, it also builds character, making you into the kind of person who can, say, hack it at a top 10 law school.
The extended application to spiritual matters is generally left to the reader in the scriptures, so I’ll do the same here. ^_^
I really like how applicable Sarah’s example is to your question about how to apply this to a ten-year-old: We have the agency to become whatever we want to become, but there are definite steps we cannot skip to reach some goals. If our current wishes take us further from our larger goals, we are using our agency poorly, and it will doubtless shape our future.
Great discussion!
Thanks for the interesting comments! On the homefront things are looking up. Since my daughter is a very visula learner I had her draw pictures of people feeling the spirit of rebellion and the spirit of freedom. the difference was striking in the colors used, the appearance of the lines, the shading etc. I asked her if she understood any better and she said, ‘Well yes, I can see this!”