Speak now or forever lose your freedom of speech?

Sure, you've heard these common phrases:

• "You have the right to remain silent"
• "Speak now or forever hold your peace"
• "Better to remain Silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt" -Abraham Lincoln

These phrases might not be as familiar, but very fitting:

• "The older I grow the more I listen to people who don't talk much" -Germain G.Glein
• "The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid." -Author Unknown
• "The true genius shudders at incompleteness-and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be." -Edgar Allan Poe
• and the list could go on and on and on...per Google!

So much nowadays we hear people talking about losing our freedoms.  This and that and the other violates Freedom of Speech.  Freedom of Speech this, Freedom of Speech that.   What does the US Constitution say? 

• Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression 12/15/1791

Sure this is all fine and dandy, but there should still be limits.  People should be taught when to speak and when to listen.  In other words, when to shut up!  I believe we (the people) have taken this, as with many other things, to the extreme.  There is a time and a place to speak and a time and a place to listen.  I feel this is something that is being lost through the generations. 


What does the Bible have to say about speech or lack there of? 

• Proverbs 17:28 (NIV) - Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.
• Proverbs 17:28 (NLT) - Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent....I like this one!
• Job 13:5 (NIV) - If only you wold be altogether silent!  For you, that would be wisdom.
• Job 13:5 (NLT) - If only you could be silent!  That's the wisest thing you could do.
• James 1:19 (NIV) - My dear brothers and sister, take note of this:  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
• and there are more...take a look at Genesis to Revelation in the good ole B-I-B-L-E

So why am I saying all this?  Sure I like my freedoms just like the next guy.  But, there is a time and a place to say or not say certain things.  One is not losing their freedom of speech just because they choose to be silent and not say anything when they so easily could blurt out something.  Is it okay for me to say someone is fat? Or someone is ugly?  Or someone is poor?  Or someone is . . . you fill in the blanks here.  Point is, sure there are overweight/underweight people.  There are (what the world calls) ugly people.  There are (what the world sees as) poor people.  How does God see us?  That's the question we need to be asking.  Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. . . . . " Verse 27:  "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."


When we speak and say someone is fat, we're calling God fat.  When we speak and say someone is ugly, we're calling God ugly.  When we speak and downgrade those less fortunate, aka (by the world's standards) poor, we're saying God is poor.  The list can go on and on. 


I'll repeat the title heading, "Speak now or forever lose your freedom of speech!"  NO way, sometimes (most of the time) it's best to just leave well enough alone and remain silent.  What do you say?  Which way are you going to go?  Speak now and be a fool?  Or are you going to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry; not caring if our 1st Amendment right is being trampled on? 


I'm choosing the latter and listen the best I can.  Remember, there is a time and and place to say certain things.  Many times things are better off left unsaid and look like a fool than run your mouth and be a complete duffas! 


Little bit of a different post that I normally do, but it's just something that was laid on my heart and running through my mind.


Until next time . . . .