Which is easier to get: freedom from or freedom to? That is, is it easier to be free from bad things or to have the freedom to have and to do good things? On the world scene, both “freedom from” and “freedom to” may feel hard to come by. Political laws may seem to trap people in injustice, while material laws trap them in sickness and injury. And even if we have “freedom from”—say we have all the political rights in the world and are simultaneously wealthy and enjoying good health—humanly speaking, there is no such thing as an unlimited “freedom to.”
A good example of this can be found in the Declaration of Independence, the 250th anniversary of which is being celebrated in the United States this year. The Declaration demanded freedom from tyranny, and insisted on each individual’s freedom to have life and liberty, and to pursue happiness. Note that this last would imply that happiness is something we may not already have. God has given us the right to pursue it, the Declaration states, but no one can guarantee that we’ll have it, either now or in the future.
But did God give us the freedom merely to pursue anything good? Or has He, in reality, already given us every truly good thing? A century after the Declaration was signed, Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, went well past the sense that God only gave His children the freedom to pursue happiness. She insisted that God gave each of us the right to impart it, right along with truth and health (see The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 165).
