Human freedom, curse or blessing?

Essentially, at least from the Christian perspective, freedom can be seen as either a curse or a blessing. Freedom was first purchased by Adam and Eve when they ate the forbidden fruit. For that, God casted them out of paradise and hence forth man is condemned to his freedom. Man's salvation is no longer guranteed, in fact it's put in great doubt. So in that sense freedom is a curse, because it was achieved through man's seperation from God.

Yet with the arrival of Christ, one can see freedom as a blessing. Why? Well as it's been said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."(John 3:16).

Christ came to sacrifice his life so that man could find reconnection with God. Yet Christ himself made clear that he was not forced to do this; "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep...No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again."(John 10:11;18). So by his own free will, Christ made it so that man had the freedom to properly choose to be with God. So in this sense freedom is a blessing from God.

So whether or not freedom is either a curse or a blessing almost depends on one's own perspective; which side of the equation that one chooses to emphasize more. Of course the option of accepting one side and denying the other is simply not possible.

However, one thing is clear, whatever the circumstances, man is indeed condemned to freedom - but perhaps more in the way Kierkegaard explained it than Sartre did.