Freedom to Think

 

Freedom! Millions have died to obtain it or keep it. Without it, what do we have? I’m just asking. Do we have security from fear of retaliation? Do we have the warm feeling of belonging? Do we have a feeling of superiority?From what do we want to be free? And what is worth giving up freedom?

A wise college professor once said that the only bedrock, sure freedom we have is freedom of thought. Now, I see that is under attack. We are indeed free to think or believe what we like as long as it is politically correct. And what is politically correct? Today it may be one thing; tomorrow, it’s another.

I do believe the Lord gave humans a brain for a reason. He intends us to think. We are not robots, I’m thankful to say, yet many times we behave as if we are.

Have you ever noticed the way schools of fish swim? They all go one direction, then suddenly they switch and go the opposite way. They look as if they are many little fish bodies controlled by one mind.

What I hear and see on the news looks mighty fishy to me. For example, there’s the pizza owner in Indiana, a Christian, who may be forced to close her business because of what she thinks, what she believes. And also of the way the news outlets are reporting it. This is called slanting the news, telling it from a certain viewpoint, in this case, the reporters’ viewpoint.

Another animal analogy: chickens. There is a weird and unpleasant truth about a flock of chickens: if one bird is injured, the other birds gang up on him. They peck and peck at the injury until the poor chicken falls. Why do they do this? Maybe it’s because chickens lack compassion or the ability to think. Or maybe the bleeding bird looks different and that makes the rest of the flock uneasy or angry.

Humans don’t have the excuse of not being able to think. As I said, the Lord gave us superior brains with which to reason. We are not to believe something is true because we hear it on television or read it in newspapers or the internet. We are to line it up against reason and see if it passes the truth test.

Freedom! Our last freedom is the freedom of thought. It is a precious, irreplaceable thing. Let’s realize its value and not lose it!

 

Chief Joseph, Champion of Freedom


 

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