The non-believer often accuses the Christian of letting the doctrines of their church control them. What they don't understand is that we gain freedom by choosing to follow the precepts we see as good. "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32) No one tells me what to do. I choose and feel joy and direction with my choices. The following is a quote by C. S. Lewis from Screwtape.
Satan’s aim is the absorption of our will into his, the increase of his own area of selfhood at our expense. But the obedience which God demands of men is quite a different thing. God loves us, and He wants us to be like Him. He wants to fill the universe with us; He wants our lives to be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed us but because our wills freely conform to His. Satan wants cattle who can finally become food; God wants servants who can finally become sons. Satan wants to suck in, God wants to give out. Satan is empty and would be filled; God is full and flows over. Satan’s war aim is a world in which he has drawn all other beings into himself; God wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct.
Satan’s aim is the absorption of our will into his, the increase of his own area of selfhood at our expense. But the obedience which God demands of men is quite a different thing. God loves us, and He wants us to be like Him. He wants to fill the universe with us; He wants our lives to be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed us but because our wills freely conform to His. Satan wants cattle who can finally become food; God wants servants who can finally become sons. Satan wants to suck in, God wants to give out. Satan is empty and would be filled; God is full and flows over. Satan’s war aim is a world in which he has drawn all other beings into himself; God wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct.