Why Censorship Is Bad
It Robs Us of Our Humanity and It Subverts Our System Of Government
Who we are before God.
God made us for His glory through fellowship in the
form of a personal, intimate love relationship such as that between a toddler and his father.
Adam and Eve fell into sin and we are therefore born in a state of rebellion against God, Adam and Eve’s sin nature having descended to us through natural generation.
God could have rid the world of evil by eliminating us but has instead sent His Son as a ransom for our sins so that He may enjoy fellowship with those who accept Christ’s death on the cross as a propitiation for their sins.
God has endowed all people in this life with a general revelation of Himself.
Special revelation pertains only to God’s word, the Bible. Those who are, upon their justification by faith, saved in Christ are indwelt by God’s Spirit Who in turn reveals the deeper meaning of God’s word for them.
It is God’s will that we all serve Him according to His will, which, in the end, is the true definition of human freedom.
God’s general gifts.
He has given us life. He has mandated government to suppress evil in the world. He has given us civilization by His providential hand. Our minds and emotions are images of His. And He has given us both His general revelation and His special revelation.
Through His general revelation, God has given all people an understanding of Him through the testimony of the heavens and that of the heart.
Also, by His general revelation, God has given us a native sense of right and wrong plus common sense by which, should we in our sinful state not suppress it, we can discern between truth and fiction, between right and wrong.
God wants us to be free of hindrance in our using His gifts in service to Him.
Exodus 7:16 – “ …The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness...’”
God has made us all unique. No two people are identical with each other.
All people have been made for a place of like value in God’s plan for the world.
God wants every person to discover and develop those gifts which He has given them so that they can live fulfilled lives and better serve Him as He would have them serve Him.
Freedom is using our using God’s gifts in service to Him.
When our freedom is made to be destructive by our being in rebellion against Him, God will deprive us of that freedom (That’s why He allows despotism). But He prefers we obey Him and be free.
Government’s God given role in general is to protect our persons and our property (i.e., secure our natural rights). And, consistent with that is the protection of our freedoms to discover our gifts, our freedoms to develop our gifts and our freedoms to serve God using our gifts.
Freedom of conscience is the sine qua non of our system of government.
Because our constitution vests all sovereignty in the whole people, its survival depends on our ability to arrive at the truth with the help of each other but ultimately according to our own counsel.
Of course, we must deliberate before deciding. The Founders knew that there has to be a cooling off period before our safely acting on our opinions. That’s why our Constitution makes getting things done quickly to be so difficult.
Since we are all unique creations of God, we all perceive the world differently. That’s why it takes everybody working together to arrive at the best decision.
After we find out through due deliberation where we come down on an issue, we are obligated to share what we sincerely believe to be right without being deterred by the possibility that we could be wrong. Sincere good will is indispensable.
Censorship subverts our form of government.
There cannot be “democracy” where people can’t know and discuss things.
Having total access to information and to other people’s opinions is indispensable to the working of our constitutional system of self-government.
“Moderating content” obstructs this necessary process of finding things out through discussion and argument using our own native judgement. And censorship deprecates the value of that native sense given us by God.
In practice, people’s going up the learning curve in arriving at truth through sincere deliberation, discussion and argument, should ultimately make them much better than experts. That’s the genius of our originally intended system of government.
Conclusion - Censorship obstructs God’s preferred plan for us.
An ounce of informed common good will is better than a pound of exalted expertise.
None of us has a monopoly on truth.
“Misinformation” as used, is no more than a matter of someone’s opinion.
People who censor us deny God’s authority over us by arrogating to themselves all moral authority.
Human beings are deprived of acting as they are created to be by God when powers use coercion to blind their minds.
Censorship is anti-human.
Censorship is war against God.
Censorship is satanic.