Freedom Of Speech In The World And In The Church

Everybody says they believe in freedom of speech, but usually they mean you are free to say anything as long as you don’t say I am wrong.

For example, in our American society almost all atheists believe in freedom of speech – One should be free to spout off any dirty word (Eph 4:29) or immoral concept (Gal 5:19) you want, even on national TV in front of children, but if one chooses to speak up for God (Matt 10:32-33), that is a violation of separation of church and state.

The gays think everybody should have freedom of speech when it comes to everything LGBTQ, but one shouldn’t be free to say homosexuality is a sin (Rom 1:26-27), because that is hate speech. One should be able to go into business selling any kind of sexual perversion they desire, except one shouldn’t have the freedom to abstain from selling cakes for gay weddings (II John 10-11).

Denominational churches are very flexible also. They teach everybody is saved no matter what their doctrine is (John 8:31-32). The only exception to that is if you don’t believe everybody is saved no matter what (II John 9). In that case, we shouldn’t have anything to do with you.

And when it comes to brethren, they will allow you to preach on any Bible subject you want, as long as you don’t press the truth on something considered controversial by the brotherhood (Acts 20:20,26-27,31, Ezek 3:18). That might cause trouble (I Kings 18:17-18), so you should be blocked from preaching (Luke 6:26). Outstanding preaching is correcting those who are not in the pews in front of me (II Tim 4:3).

Many congregations today seem to be requesting – “Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things.” (Isaiah 30:10).  Notice this illustrative quote – “Five years after Bronson Ostic joined the Church of Christ in Jerome, Idaho, he volunteered to preach to the congregation until they could find someone else. Thirty-five years later he was still serving as the congregation’s minister. ‘If you don’t cause any ripples you get to keep preaching if you want to,’ Ostic says …” (The Daily Spectrum, Saint George, Utah, – Aug 7, 2010, p.21).

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