What I was hoping to show Andrew is that even absent Biblical restrictions or other moral code don'ts, is that no one is truly 'free'. Not free from death, fear, disease, pain, sorrow, disappointment, uncertainty, etc.
Coming to faith in Christ will bring some additional moral restrictions in behaviors purely hedonistically pleasurable, but also can bring even greater freedom from fear of death, worry, uncertainty, includes the comfort of the Holy Spirit, great hope in the eventual future, make sense of this crazy world, etc.
It is an exchange. The best deal ever!
As Zig Ziglar pointed out accurately that (in pre-GPS days) no sailor was 'free' to roam the seas without being an absolute slave to the compass (charts and sextant). Nor can the most mighty railroad locomotive do any work without being confined to the rails. Freedom, as it is often portrayed, is an illusion.
Humans can operate at all only proportionately as they surrender themselves to law. Would you live in a high-rise that was built by someone who ignored the building codes because he cherished his freedom to build it as he liked, without reference to gravity, physics, and the laws of nature? Would you buy CDs or listen to music where the composer ignored all the classic laws regarding harmony, rhythm, and melody? Contrarywise, if someone was intimately connected and followed the building code to the letter, but like a talented musician within those confines was allowed to express himself with freedom and architectural skill, the result is one of beauty and a reflection of ones true personality and the only viable expression of true potential.
It is the same for a Christian. Only as a Christian is truly surrendered to the principles and moral ethics that make up the laws of God's kingdom, can he truly reach and attain to his true potential as a child of God. That is the true abundant life. Wisdom is knowing that in and of ourselves, we are incapable of coming into any harmony with God's commandments...but that is where grace comes in. It's always grace. It has always been grace. All we need do is surrender our own independence, and give Christ what belongs only to Him...full and complete authority to do in us what He is fully entitled to do as Creator.
I’ve knocked up a few dog boxes over the years. A building inspector would not have been impressed but the dogs loved them. Set me loose on a larger project however like a house and it will soon become apparent that I am not even vaguely familiar with the laws and principles that govern design, architecture, carpentry, engineering or any other associated trade. I would be quite hamstrung by my lack of familiarity and knowledge.
A skilled tradesman however, through his knowledge, experience and obedience to the the laws that govern the building trade can erect a house that is safe and habitable, and he may also add his own personal touches to enhance it’s appearance.
The same with music. One who keeps to the laws of harmony, rhythm, and melody may add personality to the music and the result is pleasant and acceptable to the ears.
But put someone like me in charge of building a house who doesn’t understand and therefore cannot obey the appropriate laws and you will end up with a leaky house that will inevitably fall over in the first wind. Put me in charge of a concerto and you will finish with punk rock.
All walks of life are the same, and are governed by law. Trade, commerce, sport, entertainment, politics, society as a whole. All have laws.
Why is it then that so many Christians balk and doubt when it comes to the kingdom of God? Why is it that so many Christians, when challenged regarding the laws of God as in the Ten Commandments, start making excuses and claim some theological reasoning why they are no longer valid? Shall not God have laws also to govern His kingdom? Yet so many claim that Christians are exempt, or ‘free’ from the laws of God. Shall the Creator of the universe, who placed such awesome natural laws in place to govern the physical (eg gravity), then choose to dispense with laws to govern the spiritual? Shall the powers and rulers of this world legislate law to govern society yet the God who allows them to rule have no law?
I would like to suggest that God’s laws are as valid and as binding ,even more so, than any other law. Even more so for the Christian who claims God as his Father. As can be seen from the examples above, familiarity and obedience to law, enables us to express ourselves with true freedom. The more familiar and experienced we become, the better the craft we practice, the greater the skill we are able to employ. In whatever trade are hobby or pastime we apply ourselves to, if we obey the laws that govern those particular areas of our lives we can then add our own personality to them and we are then leading a more fulfilled, ordered, purposeful and complete life.
Jesus promises an abundant life to all who love and know Him. This abundancy can only be fully realised as we obey the laws of God that He has put in place for our good, and our welfare.
True freedom comes only within the confines of law, outside of law freedom becomes chaos, disorder, lawlessness, and in the spiritual realm, death.