We Will Not Shut Up
We will not shut up.
That IS what they want. They want us to shut up, and the surest way to silence us is to put a bullet in our mouths. It’s a scary world where journalists are kidnapped, beheaded, or gunned down in their offices. Mayhem, horror, and blood. There is nothing of God here and there certainly is nothing associated with a “peaceful” religion when terrorists kill journalists merely for what they speak.
But more scary than a terrorist's ire is a world where words are aborted before they are spoken for fear of violence. Four score and seven years ago. We hold these truths to be self-evident. I have a dream. For God so loved the world.
See, terrorists are on to something: Words shape history, and the right ones uttered at the right time in the right ears pierce more than bullets. And so those who speak them become targets of regimes for which words—the progeny of thoughts—must submit to the will of whoever holds the trigger. For some, it’s a dictator. For others, it’s a god.
But truly, it’s a war, we just don’t always see it that way because we live in a bubble of time, nearly 240 years of commonly recognized inalienable rights (and freedoms) unheard of in eastern societies. While we western journalists focus on generating words to gently evoke change, they focus on weapons to wrest change, no matter how violently, including shoving a rifle down our throats or hacking off our heads.
We will not yield our God-given rights to free speech to Kalashnikov-toting religious terrorists, cyber space despots, or any other deceived group of zealots who think that threats and intimidation will silence. Why? Why does this get me all worked up? Because a life lived muted is a life deprived of dignity, and a life without dignity is not worth living. Ask any slave. Silencing free expression is an affront to the likeness of God in all of us, who are made in His image. It’s His image in us that gives us dignity, meaning, and free will. It’s His image in us that gives us value. To silence us is to attack the Godlikeness in us.
If you take nothing else from my angry spouting, at least acknowledge that anything that attacks the Godlikeness in you does so because it can’t help it. It’s the nature of demons to attack those whom God values. And He values us a whole lot.
That IS what they want. They want us to shut up, and the surest way to silence us is to put a bullet in our mouths. It’s a scary world where journalists are kidnapped, beheaded, or gunned down in their offices. Mayhem, horror, and blood. There is nothing of God here and there certainly is nothing associated with a “peaceful” religion when terrorists kill journalists merely for what they speak.
But more scary than a terrorist's ire is a world where words are aborted before they are spoken for fear of violence. Four score and seven years ago. We hold these truths to be self-evident. I have a dream. For God so loved the world.
See, terrorists are on to something: Words shape history, and the right ones uttered at the right time in the right ears pierce more than bullets. And so those who speak them become targets of regimes for which words—the progeny of thoughts—must submit to the will of whoever holds the trigger. For some, it’s a dictator. For others, it’s a god.
But truly, it’s a war, we just don’t always see it that way because we live in a bubble of time, nearly 240 years of commonly recognized inalienable rights (and freedoms) unheard of in eastern societies. While we western journalists focus on generating words to gently evoke change, they focus on weapons to wrest change, no matter how violently, including shoving a rifle down our throats or hacking off our heads.
We will not yield our God-given rights to free speech to Kalashnikov-toting religious terrorists, cyber space despots, or any other deceived group of zealots who think that threats and intimidation will silence. Why? Why does this get me all worked up? Because a life lived muted is a life deprived of dignity, and a life without dignity is not worth living. Ask any slave. Silencing free expression is an affront to the likeness of God in all of us, who are made in His image. It’s His image in us that gives us dignity, meaning, and free will. It’s His image in us that gives us value. To silence us is to attack the Godlikeness in us.
If you take nothing else from my angry spouting, at least acknowledge that anything that attacks the Godlikeness in you does so because it can’t help it. It’s the nature of demons to attack those whom God values. And He values us a whole lot.
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