Freedom Of Speech For The Believer Has Righteous Limits
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(21) Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you— (22) for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.’ (Ecclesiastes 7:21-22); ‘(24) And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. (25) Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, (26) and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.’ (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
Elon Musk took over control of Twitter in 2022, which was marked by promptly firing the executive staff and having Tesla software engineers coming in to do an inspection of Twitter’s data, causing a great disturbance within the journalistic community as Musk has pledged to have Twitter remade into a ‘marketplace of ideas’. Many seem to be under the impression that free speech is equal to ‘safe’ speech, or the removal of ‘hate’ speech, but Musk (rightfully so) is going ‘old school’ and allowing more dialogues with what many consider ‘hate’ speech to be discussed in the open.
Curtailing ‘hate’ speech is not what free speech is, as ‘hate’ speech is subjective and depending on who is in power can be 180 degrees out of sync with what many would consider as ‘hate’ or ‘safe’. For example, we Believers consider the Bible ‘safe’ and pornography ‘hateful’, while those currently in power within the secular realm believe the opposite. Musk appears to want to have all speech, within reason, accepted as it was before, where we should be able to ‘agree to disagree’. Having Twitter more open to have the viewpoints of the political right displayed without censorship, and continue to allow the viewpoints of the political left also displayed, this should help in a re-balancing of the reverent power held currently by the left and shift it toward the center, where both sides need to tone down the rhetoric in order to find that balance..
The return of free speech, at least with Twitter (or ‘X’) is a great thing to happen, but remember the Lord is in control; He will continue to be in His Glory whether we are free or not. While it is more favorable for us to speak out for the Lord in a freer environment, we should never let men restrict us from praising Him or sharing His Gospel message with others. The early church members like the Thessalonians didn’t, and thus Paul praised them and asked God to bless them for their obedience of Faith. Share the Word freely, and do not be afraid – regardless of whether or not we are ‘permitted’ to share or not. Fortunately, at least on ‘X’, it appears we may not have to be as concerned of that obstacle as it once appeared. Other social media platforms are not as open, unfortunately.
What does the Bible say about free speech? Well, simply it says that there are going to be things said that we’re not going to agree with. The majority of the world is not saved, and those who are not saved do not have the same set of morals we who are followers of Christ do. Even within the church, we all have various opinions and perceptions based on our generation, the location where we grew up, what and how we were taught and our life experiences. There are going to be times when someone will say something that may go against our grain of thought and like nails on a chalkboard it will irritate us to no end.
In Ecclesiastes 7, things are often said that either misconstrued or are said under stress or emotion. We all do it in some form or fashion, and while the cursing may not be, er, cursive, it may still be derogatory. (For example, “The ‘commie’ told the ‘nazi’ to shut up.”, says the heathen atheist.) We may not like what someone says against our viewpoints, but we should attempt to educate rather than resort to insults or mutter about their ‘nonsensical’ view. They may be doing the same thing to you when your back is turned, and if you hear what they said about you, should you be mad at them essentially having the same feeling about you and your opinions?
2 Timothy 2 gives us instructions on how to proceed; when we have someone who disagrees with us, we firmly but in kindness provide them feedback on why they are incorrect, or at least allow them to provide the opportunity to explain why they think in a different perspective. We show them where we disagree with them, and where we get our belief that we are correct. It is intended that by taking time with them, in firm kindness, that we show them we care about them; that they may eventually repent in the case of sin by being lovingly confronted with the Truth.
Free speech may mean the freedom to say anything and everything, but the Christian only has the freedom to speak the Truth in a Righteous manner, with control of the tongue and tone of what is said.
