Freedom of Thought

Although we very often hear of the various rights and privileges that we have here in America, such as freedom of religion and freedom of speech, something that is not often mentioned is our freedom of thought.

Many people look to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution as the documents that gave us these rights, but the fact is that they were only created to protect these rights. Men everywhere have always had these rights, not granted to them by any earthly government, but by God. This is the premise of common law, the foundation of which is, in simple terms, that there is a Higher Power than the government, and the job of the government is to discover the law and enact it, insofar as it does not encroach upon the rights and morals given from above.

Having said this, our freedom of thought has been given to us by God, who has also given us all other freedoms. It may be pointed out that this freedom is not expressly set out in the Bill of Rights, but most likely the reason for this is that the writers did not see fit to include it, seeing that it is a freedom that cannot be taken away anyway.

This is the unique characteristic of freedom of thought. We may think whatever we want, about whatever we want, and no man can take this away from us. Let us not take this as a license to think on evil or sinful matters, however. God has given us the ability to make choices for ourselves, and He will not prevent us from taking the wrong path. It is up to us to believe the truth. May we never take our freedom of thought for granted, and let us use it to our advantage in glorifying God.