Honor Code

At one of the world's finest military academies, which graduated several leading military generals of the world, the Honor Code reads, "A cadet does not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate anyone who does."



This Honor Code is so stringent that even one violation at any time during the four years of study, requires the automatic expulsion of the guilty party.”

Laws don't have the power to make you perform; they only have the power to show your failure, to show how needy and sick you are.

Where can you find freedom from the laws which you cannot meet, often break, which oppress you? Perhaps, you are saying, "I want out." I am in the wrong environment.

If you have been reading these blogs, you know that I have a single comprehensive answer to the feelings and facts of spiritual imprisonment that you face and feel.

It is God’s Son.

The Law and Bondage

Let us take the world famous, Ten Commandments. They ask you to love the true God with all your heart, soul and strength. Not to make images of the true God; not to take his name in vain; not to steal, or covet or commit adultery etc. Like in other religions, these laws have certain characteristics about them.

One, religious laws are a Unit. "If you attempt to keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, you become guilty of all.”

Two, religious laws could sustain you together, but not individually. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.


So, if you break one of the commandments, you are just as bad off, as having broken all of them.

Third, laws constrict you as long as you are in their jurisdiction. Unless you get out of their jurisdiction you have no hope but to stay under them.

There is a key to getting out of bondage.

Freedom and Responsibility

Freedom is not the license to do whatever you want to do, it is the always the ability to have chosen otherwise. So, if you chose to do right, you could have chosen to do wrong. Of course, if you have chosen to do wrong, you could have chosen to do right. Entire justice systems are built upon the principle that you are a responsible, moral creature.

The problem however, is that we have taken what is moral responsibility, and assumed a moral responsibility for our own happiness and salvation. We want to be our own saviors. So, we begin to dictate ways in which we or other humans can achieve satisfaction in life and eternal salvation.

The whole religion enterprise of human beings is an attempt to find salvation on human terms. And since you can never achieve true perfection, this kind of self imposed salvation can only lead to eternal bondage.


But there is Someone who can set you free.

I Want Freedom

At a nearby University, they have been teaching a 15 year-old female chimpanzee named Washoe to talk using sign language with simple recognition. Since 1966, this chimpanzee has learned 140 signs. Recently, the project directors decided that Washoe was prepared now to "conceptualize." In plain language, instead of imitating some human's words, the chimp would express thoughts of her own.



Now, understand, Washoe is a pampered animal in the University's laboratory--well fed, physically comfortable, safe from harm. She had security. And yet when she was able to put words together on her own into a phrase, these were the first three. She has said them again and again repeatedly--mimicking us humans. "I want out!" "I want out." "I want out."

The human spirit longs for freedom. It doesn't like constraint and restriction. Only it feels constrained by obligation--obligation to others, to God, to ourselves, to our religions, cultures, and morals. When you feel obligated you will never be free.

The Penalty and the Payment

The parable is told of a just and benevolent king who noticed that money was missing from his treasury. He called for the culprit to confess and receive his punishment of 50 lashes with a whip.

The person caught was the king's mother. He was a just king, so he wouldn't change the sentence. His men brought his mother before him. She was guilty. He announced the sentence. The crowd gasped--because a woman, the king's mother would be lashed.



It was just then that the king did the unmentionable thing. He disrobed, took of his royal clothes, stepped to the punishment chamber and took the 50 lashes as the crowd moaned.

The standards could not be changed. Because he was loving, he took the punishment on himself.

The Bible says that God’s Son was the One who took what you deserved. You need to accept his provision for your penalty. And then you shall be set free from the law prison.