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| == Hillsdale College ==
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| Man was created to be free.
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| But men are often entangled in the rudiments of bondage because they are willing to settle delusions and believe a lie for their personal benefit. <Ref>2 Thessalonians 2:11 "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
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| Romans 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.</Ref>
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| But we should know that it is the truth that sets you free.<Ref>"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32</Ref>
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| To be free is to be freed not only from the lies of the world but to tap into the very life and source of truth itself. In the universe we find the patterns of the Creator but the creation of the Creator is merely a reflection of His existence. It is not the Creator Himself.
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| Science the study of the universe.
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| We all have opinions but the Creator's opinion is the Truth.
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| We may approach the truth but we are not the Truth
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| The universe is a manifestation of that Truth.
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| To study the of God should be a quest to know the Truth.
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| Only an individual may embrace the truth. If a person wishes to seek and embrace Truth they must first be willing to embrace the truth about ourselves.
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| The study of Genesis may help us to understand the truth about our relationship to God and to others.
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| Genesis speaks of an ''the unmoved mover'' setting the universe in motion with his breath.
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| The relationship between God and man is on an individual bases but the relationship of man with God is revealed through man's relationship with the rest of creation.
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| The Greek Aristotle said nothing is in the [[soul]] that does not come through the senses.
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| * Is that true?
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| * Does revelation come through the senses?
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| ** If it comes from God, ''the unmoved mover'', then the answer is no because revelation is written directly on our hearts and minds.<Ref>Although, revelation comes from ''the unmoved mover'', the creator outside of creation, it may be assumed that the revelation I receive can only come to you through the senses.</Ref>
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| To believe that we can know the God of Truth through study alone or through our our senses is form of [[idolatry]] where we worship the creation and not the Creator.:Ref>Romans 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.</Ref>
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| The Roman idea of the individual includes personhood. Personhood is at least the quality or condition of being a person. A person as opposed to an individual is a member.
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| ----
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| "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.-- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
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| "no man was ever created free and no two men [were] ever created equal"... "The comity<Ref>An atmosphere of social harmony</Ref> of peoples in groups large or small rests not upon this chemerical notion of equality but upon fraternity, a concept which long antedates it in history because it goes immeasurably deeper in human sentiment. The ancient feeling of brotherhood carries obligations of which equality knows nothing. It calls for respect and protection, for brotherhood is status in family, and family is by nature hierarchical."Richard M. Weaver Ideas Have Consequences (1948),41-42. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971. ISBN 0-226-87678-0
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| "This means nothing less than that he will be forced to be free; for this is the condition which, by giving each citizen to his country, secures him against all personal dependence." Jean Jacques Rousseau, Book 1, Section 7 of the Social Contract.
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| "In order then that the social compact may not be an empty formula, it tacitly includes the undertaking, which alone can give force to the rest, that whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be compelled to do so by the whole body." Jean Jacques Rousseau
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| Rousseau is suggesting that a Social Contract, binds all individuals as persons with certain duties and obligations. Within those bonds there is freedom. The majority, through the power vested in the State, will force the individual person to abide by the common compact in the form of laws established in a legal system. In other words the individual person will "be forced to be free" within the bonds of the State to which he is a member.
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| Rousseau was of he opinion that "In this lies the key to the working of the political machine... without it, would be absurd, tyrannical, and liable to the most frightful abuses."
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