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| Thought Police |
“Tolerance is not, in itself,
a virtue. On the contrary, tolerating what is vicious and wicked can be a sign
of moral amnesia brought on by making a god of tolerance” – R.R. Reno, First
Things.
Tolerance is necessary for a people
to live at peace in a pluralistic society.
But tolerance must be defined by limitations. Enforced tolerance doesn’t reveal the true
heart. It simply reveals the heart of
those powerful enough to force others to accept it. The deception is the belief that society is a
better place due to the ‘virtuous’ tolerance legislated by the “Gods of the
Marketplace” (Rudyard Kipling). It’s
like telling your child to take his cough medicine, he may take it, even
without complaint, but you know he hasn’t given his heart to it.
Tom Trinko tells of an old
woman of the Baltic States who had lived under the horrible oppression of both
the Nazi and Communists governments.
When asked which was worse, Nazism or communism, she stated that
communism was worse. “If you did what the
Nazis wanted, they left you alone, but the Communists demanded that you think
what they thought. Essentially the Nazis
merely wished to enslave or possibly kill you, but the Communists wanted to
steal your soul.” (American Thinker, Tom Trinko)
Men lose their minds when
overtaken by the lust for power. The
greed for power can cause men to participate in outrageous acts of
insanity. “Power corrupts the few, but
weakness corrupts the many.” (Macbeth, Shakespeare) There are only a few, drunk on their own
power, who will try to determine how the many are to think their thoughts. In the name of the virtue of the times,
tolerance, we are being told what we are permitted to think about abortion,
pornography, sex, homosexuality and a variety of other issues that have
polarized conservatives and liberals.
True Christians will not get direction on these issues from society, but
from the Word of the Living God.
The First Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law…abridging freedom of
speech.” Our courts have struggled over
the years to define just what is and is not free speech. The recent fuss over Rush Limbaugh saying
derogatory things about a left-leaning law student and liberal activist, Sandra
Fluke, is a perfect example of how difficult it is to draw parameters around
what can or cannot be said. Limbaugh
apologized but his apology was rejected because it was not sincere enough. I know, you are having thoughts of small
children throwing sand at each other in a sand box.
Just when you think things
are beginning to calm down, another character rushes on stage. Gloria Allred, a celebrity ambulance chaser
if there ever was one, spouts her doctrine of politically correct speech by
uttering her shrill cry that Rush Limbaugh ought to be arrested. I know, you are now looking for some men with
white coats to enter the stage of this comedy.
Gloria Allred is insane in her desire to be a part of the
discussion. She knows that her best team
of lawyers would lose to a rank amateur law student fresh out of law school on
these outrageous charges. The government
couldn’t prosecute Rush or anyone else for practicing their freedom to speak.
The irony of it is that those
who insist that conservatives Christians bow to society’s golden idols of
homosexuality and abortion will whip them with the cords of intolerance if they
do not bow. In so doing they expose
their own hypocrisy by violating their own doctrine. Instead of recognizing and respecting the
opinion of their opponents, they call for them to be cast into the fiery
furnace.
Americans are getting a much
clearer understanding of what it might be like to live under Sharia Law where people
are severely punished, perhaps killed if they don’t become a Muslim. Ms. Fluke and Ms. Allred represent a cadre of
liberals determined to impose penalties on those who refuse to bow to their
gods of liberalism. This is selective
tolerance. While flailing Rush Limbaugh
for his name calling, these same accusers declare the young woman who wants to
dedicate her life to being a great mother and a loving wife to be a Neanderthal
idiot. Gentlemanly males who have been
taught to treat women with respect by opening doors for them and using their
greater physical strength, not to harm them, but to protect them are targeted as
chauvinist pigs. Those who refuse to
enthusiastically embrace homosexuality are declared homophobes. Christians have been run out of the adoption
business if they refuse to accept homosexual adoption.
The agenda of the liberal
left has nothing to do with tolerance.
It has everything to do with a lust for power. It is an unbridled desire
to control others. “When we put bits
into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can control the whole
animal.” (James 3:3) Saul Alinsky would be proud of the progress
of the liberal faction in our society.
The progressives, just like the communists, are attempting to control
the masses by determining what they can and cannot say.
Jesus said, “The things that
come out of the mouth come out of the heart.” (Matt. 15:18) The attempt of the
thought police to decide what we can or cannot think reveals an outrageous
attempt to supplant God. They have
decided they are their own source of morality.
They get to choose what is the right or wrong thing to say or
think. They have written their own set
of commandments. They are vigilant and
totally devoted to their cause because they truly believe they are creating
heaven on earth (utopia).
Christians must not “defile
themselves with a portion of the king’s meat” (Daniel 1:8) by blindly accepting
a tolerance and political correctness that is defined by those who discard the
Word of God and replace it with their own moral compass. Christians declare themselves children of the
Almighty and they cannot be stolen away by those who would choose thoughts for
them.
As Christians, we resent
others telling us what to think and say.
We look to Christ to guide us and correct us in that area of our
lives. “With our tongue we praise our
Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s
likeness. Out of the same mouth come
praise and cursing, my brothers, this should not be.” (James 3:9-10) Our speech and thoughts must be governed by
the truth found in God’s word and the very words of Christ himself. True Christians have a great desire to say
the right things and speak the right words although we often fail. We don’t take this lightly because “the
things that come out of the mouth come from the heart.” (Matthew 15:18)
To those who would like to
govern our thoughts and speech, thanks, but no thanks, we already have a God.
Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.
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