What Does It Mean to Be Free? | 5-Minutes Videos | PragerU

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Transcript:
What Does It Mean to Be Free
Presented by Sean McDowell

What does it mean to be free?

When I pose this question to my students, here’s the answer I typically get: “Freedom means doing whatever you want.” Sometimes they’ll add “as long you don’t hurt anyone else.”

If we look closely at this answer, we will see that this is not freedom at all. Doing whatever you want — even if you don’t hurt someone else — virtually guarantees that you won’t be free. It’s much more likely that you’ll be imprisoned, either by your own desires or someone else’s.

It doesn’t take more than a little reflection to realize that doing whatever you want is a bad way to live. What happens if you eat everything you want? You’ll get sick, become overweight, and lack energy to do the things that a healthy person can do. That makes you less free.

What about the twenty-something who lives at home and plays video games all day? That might be fun for a while, but for the long term? He’s totally dependent on his parents. He has no freedom. He lacks real meaning and the sense of purpose that comes from work and ambition. And he’s not exactly making himself a compelling candidate for the opposite sex.

One day, he wakes up and he’s 30. Yeah, maybe he worked a few jobs here and there, but there’s no family, no career, no sacrifice for a greater purpose.