Human Freedom

When God created man, He endowed man

with freedom/free-will.

Human Freedom is one of the distinctive

characteristics of man which animals do
not have.
 FREEDOM
Freedom is the most abused and
misused word.

How easily young people use the

word without really knowing what the
word exactly means.
 Freedom is understood by the young as
“doing what I want!!”

It is usually experienced by those, in some

circumstances, cannot exercise their choice of
doing something they most wanted.

The refusal of the parents of the desire of

their children is seen as an obstacle to one’s
freedom.
 Authentic human freedom is a
shared capacity with others in the
community for choosing what is good,
in order to become our true selves -
“Catechism for Filipino Catholics”
Freedom is not absolute. We
are free only to do good and
avoid evil. No one should
stop you from doing what is
good.
 Freedom:
An Augustinian Value
Four Points of St. Augustine's Reflection/Teachings
on Freedom:
1. Freedom must be liberated from Sin through
God’s grace.
2. Freedom is not the capacity of doing what we
want.
3. Man is responsible for the exercise of freedom
4. The Law of Freedom is the Law of Love.
1. Freedom must be liberated from Sin
through God’s grace.
According to St. Augustine, Man is not totally
free. His free will is destroyed and tormented by sin.
Because of original sin, man is inclined towards sin.
Sin is an obstacle to freedom.
Whenever man makes a decision, he is no
longer free because he is influenced and persuaded
by his inclination to what is bad, pride, selfishness,
passions, materialism, sensual pleasures, and
towards what is contrary to God and his own
development and happiness.
 Without help and Grace of Christ, we
always choose what is wrong, and what
harms human person.
According to St. Augustine, freedom
without grace will be a manifestation of
pride, and the person will not be really free
but will become a slave of his own passions
and disordered desires.
“Freedom without the grace is not
freedom but stubbornness”
2. Freedom is not the capacity of doing
what we want.
Some people, especially the young, think they are
free because they can do whatever they want. This
is not authentic freedom but a perversion and false
freedom.
True freedom should enable us to control our own
passions in order to choose what is good and
leads us to God.
For St. Augustine, freedom is the capacity to do good
with the help of God.
“The goal of Freedom is to do good deeds”
-St Augustine
3. Man is responsible for the exercise of freedom
St. Augustine realizes that the human person
is created with a free will by God, and whenever a
person makes a choice to do something or not to do
it, that person is responsible of his action.
According to him, God gave us the gift of
freedom not to sin whenever we wanted, but to be
able to choose always what is good and to reject
what is bad that would harm us.
“Do not use your freedom to sin freely, but
use your freedom to avoid sinning”
- St. Augustine
4.The Law of Freedom is the Law of Love.

St Augustine says that the law of freedom is the

same as the law of love:
“Love and do what you will”
St. Augustine would invite us to love as God
loved us. When we love with this love, which is more
than just a feeling, but giving one’s own life for the sake
of others, we can do whatever we want, since we have
the freedom which is given by love.
“He who serves because of charity is serving
with freedom” – St. Augustine
 Two Aspects Of Freedom
A. Freedom from:
This aspect of freedom tells us of the different
hindrances, for us to establish our self-worth, and true
self-becoming with others in our community.

Interior obstacles like ignorance, disordered

desires, fears, personality defects, bad habits, prejudices,
or psychological disturbances, and exterior forces, such
as violence are threats to freedom.
B. Freedom for / Freedom to:

Choose Good and Avoid

This aspect of freedom is also called
freedom for self-determination towards our
goal, i.e., the Highest Good who is GOD!
 Freedom
Freedom From Freedom To
(Negatives): (Positives):
• Sin • Do good and avoid evil
• Bad Habits • Change
• Laziness • Work hard
• Drugs • Take care of your health
• Ignorance • Study
• Vices • Practice Virtues
• Materialism • God-Centered
• Fake News • Truth
 Freedom is our
capacity to make our own
choices in our actions, and
our ability to live and
manage our lives in
accordance to the purpose
of our Creation, i.e., to be
united with the…
Summum Bonum,
Highest Good.
 The greatest obstacle
to freedom is SIN. True
freedom means being
liberated from sin.
The greatest conqueror
of sin is
Jesus Christ.
He has come in order to
set us free from the slavery
of sin.