In the motion picture, The Patriot, Mel Gibson's character is contemplating whether to join his neighbors in the Revolutionary War against England; whether he wants to risk his life and property to gain freedom.
His concept of freedom, and his desire for it, leads him to say, "Would you tell me please, Mr. Howard, why should I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man's rights as easily as a king can."
I get a similar feeling from Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody":
You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody
Even Jesus has a car in this train of thought:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24 NIV)
Truth is...When Jesus said that the truth would set you free (John 8:32), he meant you would be free from the tyrannical rule of sin. Paul put it well in Romans 6:19-23...
I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
