It is clear from Scripture that one of God's goals for humanity is that we be able freely to choose a relationship with Him. Toward that end, He gave us the Torah which teaches how to have an orderly, just society with maximum freedom.

This series will explore liberty both from an historical and a theological perspective. 

All Scriptural quotes are from the ESV unless otherwise stated.

1 - How Israel Became Slaves
Israel spent some 400 years in Egypt where they became slaves. How did this happen?

2 - God and Pharaoh
During the plagues, Pharaoh had a hard heart and refused to allow the people of Israel to leave. Was it unfair of God to harden Pharaoh's heart and then destroy him and his nation?

3 - Eden
The story of human liberty begins in the first vignette - the Garden of Eden. Why was there a toxic tree in the Garden and what was going on with a talking snake?

4 - God and the Hebrews
During the four centuries that Israel lived in Egypt there is no record of any communication from God until the call of Moses. How did He reintroduce Himself?

5 - Leaving Egypt
After the death of Egypt's firstborn, Israel left Egypt. Getting that many people to abandon their homes and familiar surroundings required some very fine social engineering.

6 - Learning To Trust
The 50 days between the Exodus and Sinai involved a number of trials for the Hebrews. In each of these, God provided for their needs.

7 - The Wedding Day
The encounter between God and Israel at Sinai was intended to be the consummation of a marriage.

8 - Laws
Contrary to popular belief, laws are an essential part of liberty. An excess of laws, however, is destructive.

9 - Testing
Having spoken directly to the people of Israel from the mountain, God appears deliberately to have left them in a 40 day waiting period to see what they would do.

10 - Liturgy
The development of liturgy has a mixed relationship to human liberty. On the one hand it empowers a religious bureaucracy which can become coercive. On the other, it provides schedule and ritual to keep people mindful of God.

11 - Isolation
Civilization can be corrosive to learning to trust God and to be free. God solved that for Israel by keeping them in the wilderness for an entire generation.

12 - Judges
A society where the primary governing structure is a system of judges is potentially the most free. So long as one can get along with his neighbor, the government leaves him alone.

13 - Monarchy
Israel's desire for a king so that they could be like all the other nations was both a flight from responsibility and a dilution of God's plan. He did not want them to be like the other nations.

14 - Spiritual Regimes
God has always been involved with His creation, but effective human liberty requires that He give us room to grow. Biblically we can discern four distinct levels of God's intervention in human affairs.

15 - Responsibility
People like the power that goes with responsibility, but they dislike the responsibility that goes with power.