The Thought Police, Jesus and the Ten Commandments
In Washington State, the Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, has requested a bill to criminalize free speech and independent thought. Here are some key findings from the Washington Policy Center.
Key Findings
1. SHB 1333 would criminalize thought
and expression under an invented
category of offenses called "domestic
violent extremism."
2. Attorney General Bob Ferguson
requested the bill in order to prosecute
some people for words and speech,
rather than for violent acts.
3. Under the bill, government officials
would decide whose words and whose
speech would be subject to criminal
prosecution.
4. The Attorney General's office would
increase surveillance of citizens for
perceived violations of words and
speech prohibitions.
5. Citizens would be encouraged to
report friends and neighbors to the
state for officially-banned phrases,
thoughts and expressions.[1]
According to the key findings above, Washington State wants to prosecute some people for words and speech. One person or a group of people judge another by what they say, and they are also determining the intent of their hearts and minds. So, SHB 1333 would create a group of thought police throughout state. Wait a minute, as far as I know, there is only one being, one authority, one governing ruler with the right to judge my thoughts, words, and heart. That person is named Jesus. He is our king, judge, and lawgiver.
Before Jesus, we had Moses.
Check out these Ten Commandments:
"You shall have no other gods before me. (1)
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (2)
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. (3)
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (4)
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." (5)
"You shall not murder." (6)
"You shall not commit adultery." (7)
"You shall not steal." (8)
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (9)
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's." (10)
Look at number 1-You shall have no other Gods before God. That means our worship and devotion belong to Him alone, and God can see our hearts, not man.
Look at number 3- God had already set up some words that he wanted his people to say or not say. He doesn't want his name taken in vain, and he will judge when this commandment is broken. What will he do? The scriptures don't say.
Look at 5- Honor your father and mother. How does one do that? And who is in charge of saying when a person is doing it or not? Well, God will surely know. He says those who honor their parents will be blessed with a long life. Who gives the blessing of long life? God does.
And finally, look at 10- You shall not covet. How does anyone know when someone is coveting? Obviously, only God and the person committing the offense.
The Ten Commandments were the first thought and word police, but God was the judge.
Then Jesus came along and said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’” Matthew 5:28.
Wow, if a man in his thoughts lusts for a woman, he may be committing adultery. How would anyone know if that man was doing the offense except God and the man.?
So Jesus is the thought police. But the difference is that the Lord is giving us the responsibility to our thoughts and words and is the only perfect judge of them, and he sees our hearts.
We also have a constitution that allows us to speak and think freely. What is bizarre and arrogant about SHB1333 and the people with Bob Ferguson who designed this bill want to set themselves up as God to the people in Washington State. They think they have the power to judge words and thoughts. This bill is about control of people who think and speak differently than the progressive left. This bill is about judging people that want accountability in government.
Even God doesn't control his people but gives them free will to obey his word. This bill has no free will, only the will of the government, the government that wants to watch over words and interpret the intent of those words. A government that thinks it can see our hearts and know our thoughts is a government that wants to be God. Email your legislators today and pray that this bill doesn't pass.
[1] https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/library/doclib/Liv-LM-SHB-1333.pdf