By Demetrius Moffett

 

I’ve been noticing here lately that people have been taking the liberty of “freedom of speech” very liberally.

Just because we have the liberty or right to say what we want does not give us a license to say what we want without consequences.

Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or sanction.

The term “freedom of expression” is sometimes used synonymously but includes any act of seeking, receiving, and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.

In expressing our opinions and ideas, we need to wrap them with wisdom.

Over the course of my life, I’ve heard people saying things about others and when the rebuttal is expressed, the excuse “I was joking” is given as if that makes what was said excusable.

If we are not wise with our words, our statements could result into slander. Slander, an oral defamation, in which someone tells one or more persons an untruth about another which untruth will harm the reputation of the person defamed. Slander is a civil wrong (tort) and can be the basis for a lawsuit.

In a lawsuit, “I was joking” is not a good defense or reason to slander someone’s name.

In a season to where social media is giving a platform to just about anybody, I pray that we will use wisdom and compassion.

We are slandering people.

We are especially slandering our political and religious leaders and representing the body of Christ in a way that if I were not a believer I would truly question if I would want to become one.

I implore us before we say, text, type or tweet our next response to consider what Christ says in Matthew 12:36-37 “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Slandering is becoming to comfortable and casual. Jesus is listening and every idle word we speak will we will have to give an account for. In response to giving account for why we said what we said, I would hate for someone to be sentenced to hell because they responded “I was joking.”

Don’t let your freedom of speech cause you to lose your life. Hell is no joke. Jesus is listening.

 

Demetrius Moffett is Senior Pastor of Orange Church of God, 1911 North 16th Street in Orange.