“I wish to be free. I wish to be human.”

[Spoiler warning]

“Mom, the movie was amazing! I can’t believe that Aladdin chose to set the genie free for his third wish instead of choosing something for himself.” Those were the first words out of my daughter’s mouth as we walked out of the movie theater, having just watched Aladdin 2019. Well her comment sparked a series of discussions all the way home and inspired me to write this blog 🙂

Freedom. Early during the movie, the Genie expresses his utmost wish to Aladdin: “I wish to be free. I wish to be human.”

Freedom. Humanity. What is freedom? What does it mean to be human? Those must be among the most common questions asked nowadays. Are all humans by definition free as the Genie seems to be inferring?

We tend to think of freedom in terms of physical freedom or captivity, as in being a slave or prisoner.

But is freedom only physical? Was the Genie’s only problem that he was stuck in the lamp? I’ve heard of many prisoners who enjoy a deeper sense of freedom than many who’ve never even seen a jail. So it doesn’t seem to be so much about physical constraints, nor does it seem to be a default human trait.

Allow me to argue that true freedom is found when true humanity is achieved. What? Humanity, achieved? Aren’t we all born human?

I believe that God created us with the potential for true freedom and the potential for true humanity. How we live our lives then determines the extent of the freedom we enjoy and the extent of the humanness we exhibit. Allow me to explain.

When God created Adam, he was truly human and truly free. Unfortunately he was enticed into believing that he can gain more freedom if he ruled his own world. By breaking God’s commandment and essentially telling God that he wanted to be his own god, Adam thought he would find greater freedom.

We all know that this is not what resulted. In respect to Adam and Eve’s decision to live independent of God, the kingdom of God separated from the kingdom of man, and God let us rule our own kingdom. Satan, as is his nature, usurped the rule of man’s kingdom and enslaved him. So we were left in this miserable state, forever separated from God and never attaining the freedom we longed for.

What ensued has been a long history where humans are, age after age, fighting for their rights, for their freedom.

But I believe we are looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place. The solution is not more freedom. The solution is more humanness. It doesn’t take much looking around to conclude that something has happened to humans; the incredible evil that humankind is capable of is beyond comprehension. In our anguish, we often think that a certain atrocity can’t possibly be human and we’ve even coined the word “inhumane” for horrendous acts of evil. It does seem that humanity has lost its humanness.

So what do we do? Can we shut down and restart all over again? Well as much as we’d like to do that, that’s practically impossible. Besides, who’s to say that we won’t repeat Adam’s mistake and be going around in endless restart circles? Restarting a computer with a virus a million times won’t take the virus away. Humanity has been hit with a virus and the virus is like a cancer that seems to be spreading everywhere and will eventually lead to its utter destruction and death.

The Bible repeatedly describes sin in cancer-like terms; “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:14-15). This cancer-like growth of sin occurs in individuals and in humanity as a whole. We are losing our humanness. One of the most researched questions today is the question: What does it mean to be human? We are not only losing our humanity, we no longer even know what it means! And that in our super-advanced 21^st century! Some are even claiming that our very consciousness is an illusion and our supremacy as humans over the rest of creation is an illusion. Where are we headed?

We lost our humanity when we lost connection with the creator of humanity and the only solution that I know possible is the solution that God offers us through Christ who through His life, exemplified humanity in its purest untainted forms and through His death and resurrection, ransomed us out of our cosmos-sized jail of sin. By accepting Christ and uniting with Him in this journey of life, our humanity is restored as we are transformed unto His image. And when our humanity is restored, we experience a freedom that is never constrained by physical constraints. It is then that we can sleep a deep sleep like Peter did in jail, and sing like Paul did in jail, and be so focused on mission like Paul who in the midst of beatings and imprisonments writes, “what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel” (Philippians 1:12), and be so sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance like Paul and Silas who chose not to reveal their Roman citizenship and endure public beatings and be thrown into prison so that the jailer at Philipi would come to know the Lord, he and his household (Acts 16)!

My friends, these apostles weren’t crazy! They just discovered that true freedom is found in true humanity and true humanity is found in the only One capable of restoring our humanity to His original design! The apostles experienced a sense of joy and fulfillment that many who seem to have “everything” long for but a glimpse of.

May we deliver this good news to a world which seems to enslave itself as it seeks freedom and dehumanize itself as it seeks the meaning of humanity.