By Andrea Guachalla
Have you ever dreamed you were in a concentration camp or escaping from extremist religious groups persecuting you, or about living under a dictatorial government that allows no freedom of speech?
If you live in the western world, or Latinamerica, or any country where you can speak out your opinions without being persecuted, you have probably never or almost never experienced extreme situations where you are persecuted for your religious beliefs, political position, philosophical views, or national identity.
Not so long ago, however, just a few decades before we were born, our parents did experience real lackings and needs, our grandfathers did experience war, and the death of many to starvation and political persecution. In ancient Rome Christians were maliciously persecuted by Emperor Nero, their houses were burnt, they were mistreated and killed. In Latinamerica, our parents, uncles, and grandfathers had to endure subsequent military dictatorships that had them making endless lines to buy bread and milk for ridiculously high amounts of money due to inflation. Fearing for their lives, they had to leave the military come inside the house to confiscate all kinds of guns and books whose possession was not allowed by the government. They had to see family members being arrested and wonder if they would ever see them again. Europe saw the loss of millions of lives to the ideals of German National Socialism: there is hardly a grandparent from the most affected countries who can’t recall losing a family member or a friend or to have experienced hunger as a result of the Second World War.
Examples are endless… For decades, if not centuries, there was no room for speaking up about one’s political views or religious beliefs without being in danger of being killed or persecuted. But even right now we see that in the world.
Christians are targeted, discriminated against, persecuted, and killed in at least 50 countries including North Korea, Russia, Burma, China, and others according to Open Doors. It is known that 13 Christians are killed every day around the world because of their beliefs. Ethnicities like the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China are currently sent to “re-education” concentration camps where they are abused by Chinese authorities, forced to have sterilization and abortion procedures, and are then killed. Universities in Germany, Austria, Sweden, the United States of America, and other countries give no room to students who disagree with the main narratives of feminism, marxism, gender ideology, and other ideologies that are being advanced by the leftist agenda. “Hate Speech”, i.e. questioning what is taught by the leftist education system, can be punished with fines and even jail. Communist countries like North Korea, China, Venezuela, and Cuba keep their population living in misery and dying of starvation and do not hesitate at killing anyone who opposes the regime. Hollywood’s entertainment industry cancels and deplatforms any celebrity or filmmaker who disagrees with their liberal agenda, as it happened to Gina Carano.
And yet, though all of this is in our history and all there is so much injustice is taking place in our broken world, we are still free to speak up in many (if not most) of the existent countries on earth. We may share our opinions and not be persecuted for them, we might differ from political views with our neighbor and not be hated by them, we might speak up our disagreements with one another respectfully, and seek truth and not be killed for doing so. We might share our Christian faith and be rejected, and maybe even hated, but we will hardly be targeted to be killed. Whatever our disagreements are, our neighbors will not secretly plant a bomb in our houses as it happened to so many during the military dictatorships in Argentina.
WE MAY SPEAK UP. And yet… we remain silent. We let the mainstream media educate us, indoctrinate us and dominate the digital world. We are busy complaining about how the education system has become so liberal ideologically, and yet we don’t discuss the issue with teachers, parents, students, and school principals. We complain that universities seem to be intolerant with students and professors who question the Marxist views that are being imparted, and yet we don’t stand up and debate respectfully but firmly during the lectures we attend. We see so many of our classmates being ruined by feminism, intersectionality, and “anti-imperialism”, etc. and yet it is more comfortable to remain quiet about those issues. We see our “Christian” friends being deceived by progressive churches where Biblical doctrines are attacked upfront, and we say nothing, we discuss nothing, we convince them of nothing, we don’t make sure they know the Gospel. We are too comfortable and busy complaining about our imaginary disadvantages and discomforts.
Again: we might be rejected and hated to a certain extent for disagreeing and discussing widely accepted ideologies even if we do it lovingly and respectfully because TRUTH HURTS, and THE GOSPEL IS OFFENSIVE. But we will not be killed as people used to be decades, centuries, and millennia ago. We are still safe. At least in most of the world.
It’s not enough to complain about the state of things in the world or to realize you have been deceived for many years by what TV and school presents to you as facts. It is not enough to know the Gospel intellectually or to see the dangers of false teaching within the church. It is not enough to know. We must use that knowledge wisely and take action, speak up, have discussions, change minds, present facts, reason with others, and, more importantly, it is time to stand fast in the truth of the Bible, and preach the Gospel, preach the Gospel, preach the Gospel. Even if that will win you some enemies. It’s time to shout that the government, celebrities, and scientists are not our savior, and neither is any of us. There is only one savior who can open our eyes to reality and the truth and that is Christ through God’s word and grace.
Let us then be like Christ, the Son of God, who spoke the truth of His Father courageously, even knowing that would bring Him to the worst of deaths and the hatred of men, and yet He did so for our sake. Let us be like Him, who stood before rich men, and government authorities, and hypocritical religious teachers, and He cared not for their economical, or social status, or the harm they could cause Him but He rather cared for honoring His Father by speaking the truth to all of them, knowing it would be taken as offensive. Let us not fear men who can only kill the body but have no power over our souls, let us only fear God who owns our souls and may do with them what He alone pleases (Matthew 10:28). Let us thank Him for the freedom we have in our time to share His truth in wisdom, and let us see the blessings that we often ignore: we have food in our fridge and water to drink, delicacies the Apostle Paul did not enjoy, nor those who perished in the holocaust, or those who are now imprisoned in concentration camps in China. We are allowed to disagree and have discussions without being stoned or killed, unlike Apostle Paul or our savior Jesus Christ himself.
Be thankful for what you have and are allowed to do, I beg you. Speak the truth in love to your neighbor not to honor men, or yourself but to honor Him who is worthy of honor, and praise forever and ever.
References:
- European Union, 2020. Hate speech and hate crime in the EU and the evaluation of online content regulation approaches.
- Forbes, 2021. Disney Drops Gina Carano From The Mandalorian After Controversial Social Media Post.
- Open Democracy, 2021. Safe speech vs free speech: higher education’s false dilemma.
- Open Doors, 2020. Serving Persecuted Christians Worldwide – World Watch List 2020.
- The Guardian, 2020. China has built 380 internment camps in Xinjiang, study finds.
- Vatican News, 2021. 13 Christians killed every day in the world because of their faith.
1 thought on “THE FREEDOM WE ENJOY AND IGNORE”