Prohibitions
When I lived in Singapore a couple of years ago, I loved seeing some of the signs that were posted prohibiting all sorts of things. In fact the Singaporeans poke fun at themselves with all the prohibition signs and fines. You can even buy t-shirts or other souvenirs with them on. Some of the prohibitions seem crazy, but the majority of them are sensible and all of them are there for a reason, namely to protect the public. (By the way, you really don't want Durians on a bus or train - they stink!)
Turning to scripture and the various prohibitions listed there it's easy to see that the majority of them are commands that help society as a whole...
"'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”So rather than seeing these as things that cause us to miss out in life, they are boundaries that help us to enjoy life safely and with consideration to those around us. Particularly, if we do love our neighbors as ourselves then life as a whole is good, right?
Sugar-coating Sin
The trickier things that the Bible says we shouldn't do are things that fall under the general designation of "sins" which can be sins against others (mostly covered in the list above), sins against God (worst of which is ignoring Him altogether), or, more subtly, sins against ourselves (think addictions). In the modern world it's not popular to talk about sin and it's effect on individuals and societies as a whole, but it's still there and still takes it's toll on individuals and society. Ultimately the scriptures paint a terrible picture of sin and its consequences. The book of Romans is particularly clear on this:
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse... They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."Sin does three things: (1) it separates us from God, (2) it sets us against each other, and (3) it enslaves us. There's no way to sugar-coat it, though much of our modern culture tries to glamorize sin, redefine it, or, worse still, ignore it. It's a fallacy that freedom to do whatever you want is the best way to live. In the end the unfettered freedom to do anything often results in you becoming trapped by the very things you do.
Freedom
In his upcoming book "Saving Truth" Abdu Murray suggests that real freedom is not just freedom to do whatever you want, but is made up of three parts: freedom from restraint, freedom for the greater good, and freedom from sin. In order to be truly free, we need all three.
The best news is that we don't need to strive to achieve this freedom alone, but can seek and find that freedom in the person of Jesus Christ. He said:
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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