Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The Supreme Court has recently decided to uphold a conviction against a Florida man which found him guilty of possession of Child Pornography images on his computer after he went to an on-line chat room and advertised that he had them to an undercover secret service agent posing as “Lisa-n-Miami”. Quoting from CNN’s article; but which I’m sure would be on every major new service:
“Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said Congress’ latest attempt to deal with this “threat” was legally “successful.”
{…}
“Child pornography harms and debases the most defenseless of our citizens,” he said. “This court held unconstitutional Congress’ previous attempt to meet this new threat, and Congress responded with a carefully crafted attempt to eliminate the First Amendment problems we [earlier] identified.”
Never mentioned, not once, which didn’t surprise me in the least, was any reference to God. So, what has God got to do with the 1st Amendment? Time to get back to basics; “Rights” come from God whereas entitlements, exemptions and powers are man made. Governments do not grant its citizens rights; our Constitution was an attempt to protect God given rights FROM government.
I’m letting the phone ring off the wall as the complaints come in regarding separation of church and state as pertain to God given rights; don’t waste my time. Those who wish to tangle up in another extended verse on that subject will have to wait; I’ve already said my piece and haven’t altered my opinion, not willing to step back even a little.
My line of thought regarding any right given to mankind by our Father in Heaven, the Lord, our Creator; call Him what you will, is fairly simple. I’ll use some scriptural references; those so inclined have already left, regarding anything scriptural as of no value.
“And he said: Thus saith the Lord God—Cursed shall be the land, yea, this land, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, unto destruction, which do wickedly, when they are fully ripe; and as I have said so shall it be; for this is the cursing and the blessing of God upon the land, for the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.” Alma 45:16
The Lord has not given us rights to justify transgressions or sins against that which he has already acknowledged as sinful. There need not be an entire listing of sins in order to understand what falls into the sinful category. A recent news article related how the Catholic Church had added to the list of known sins; but my understanding would be that such was not necessary since anyone in tune with the Spirit would know right from wrong; even a little child knows right from wrong.
Most of us are familiar with the original Ten Commandments, some would even know how the Lord was tempted as recorded in the Book of Matthew, chapter 22, starting in verse 36; but you could go up a couple of verses to verse 34.
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
You’ll find the Lord doesn’t go into great detail about what is sinful; leaving the fine points to each of us to determine. It’s interesting how so many of our Father in Heaven’s children have hardened their hearts to such a degree as would consider pornography as artistic license or more simply put, right is wrong and wrong is right.
“Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20
Now, back to the Supreme Court ruling, and for that matter, the entire false premise that laws against pornography violate the Constitutional declaration contained in the 1st Amendment, “abridging the freedom of speech”. There is no way to justify corrupt and debased intentions such as sexual misconduct as a God given Right; either in act or in the spoken word. Neither can there be a justification to engage in criminal activity and claim protection under such a condition.
Going back to CNN’s article:
“A coalition of free speech and commercial interests were supporting Williams’ constitutional claims, including the Free Speech Coalition, online media retailer Amazon.com and National Coalition Against Censorship.”
So, who are these folks who wish to include child pornography under the protection of free speech, the ones that call themselves the Free Speech Coalition? I looked them up on Google and found they are the trade association for the adult entertainment industry; not so surprising that a group of smut dealers would hope to sway the Supreme Court in favor of permitting Child Pornography as artistic expression.
Amazon.com has repeatedly stood firm on its determination to distribute child pornography, calling any attempt to ridicule such sales as censorship rather than acknowledge certain material as patently offensive and remove them voluntarily. I wrote my thoughts on this subject last February, Amazon.com – Pedophilia is Objectionable.
The National Coalition Against Censorship claims to be a grass roots organization with the goal of protecting the public from government censorship when in reality they are a left wing element intent on removing any semblance of morality from our society through consistent attacks on anything which limits our downward decent into the gutter.
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
There is a reasonable and prudent time for local, state and federal agencies of government to use censorship; not to silence a political foe, rather to protect society from agents of the Devil himself. I wish to remove child pornography as a form of entertainment for those deplorable enough to seek such a level of depravity while taking advantage of the innocents in their charge.
My thoughts regarding this most recent Supreme Court decision center more around the deception or ploy to use a God given right to justify contempt of those standards which are in conflict with God’s commandments. With God given rights come the responsibility to adhere to God’s laws of conduct; something which the Free Speech Coalition, Amazon.com and National Coalition Against Censorship would rather not bring to the table. If our society fails to recognize the difference between freedom of speech and rebellion against God’s laws then we deserve the destruction which surely will follow as we forfeit the blessing and protection of our Lord.
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