Not Silent

Jesus taught that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of our hearts. If our hearts are full of God's Word, that will have an effect in what we speak and how we speak it. Ecclesiastes 5 states:
2 Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few.
3 For a dream comes through much activity, And a fool's voice is known by his many words.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed--
5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
6a Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error.

Our mouths, which can also be applied to online communication, I think - can be used to build up or destroy.  James 3 has quite a bit to say about that.  We can make up our minds to make sure that what we say is consistent with the Savior we say we believe in.  We can rely the Holy Spirit to inspire the words we speak and to enable us to speak them in the right manner, so that in all things Christ is glorified.  We should be courageous to speak His truth, but careful to speak it wisely.

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The book of Colossians, in chapter 4, speaks to the way that we can conduct ourselves in an increasingly hostile climate toward people of faith. Paul writes in that chapter:
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

The phenomenon of what is called "cancel culture" has now become so pervasive that you have an instance of someone being "cancelled" for speaking out against it.  Such is the case of Gina Carano, who was featured in the Disney Plus series The Mandalorian.  Tre Goins-Phillips writes at Faithwire:

For those who don’t watch the series, Carano — a former mixed martial artist — starred as Cara Dune, a character so popular Disney+ was reportedly considering a spinoff series based on her. That is, until the company scrapped the plan because of tweets Carano posted in November, arguing the U.S. needs to “put laws in place that protect us against voter fraud.”

The 38-year-old Carano also reportedly angered Disney insiders when she jokingly listed “beep/bop/boop” as her pronouns on Twitter.

But the final straw was this Instagram post, which has been deleted, which said:

Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers, but by their neighbors — even by children.

Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews.

How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?

Carano believes the execs at Lucasfilm, which produced the series, were looking for a reason to fire her.  A subsequent Faithwire report states:

During a conversation with The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, with whom the 38-year-old actor has signed a movie contract, Carano said Disney made it “very obvious” they were pushing her out.

“I was prepared at any point to be let go because I’ve seen this happen to so many people,” Carano told Shapiro. “I’ve seen the looks on their faces. I’ve seen the bullying that takes place, and, so, when this started, they pointed their guns at you, and you know it’s only a matter of time. I’ve seen it happen to so many people, and I just thought to myself, ‘You’re coming for me. I know you are.’”

Now, let's go back to a portion of the Carano tweet - I have re-written it for relevancy:

...most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where overzealous government officials could easily round up thousands of Christians, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Christians.

Remember over Thanksgiving when public officials were encouraging people to "turn in" their neighbors for violations of COVID protocols?  

The Gina Carano story is not a story of Christian faith, per se, but it is indicative of how powerful people can restrict the freedom of speech of people with whom they disagree. She was not intimidated and paid the price for it.  In an age in which there are attempts to mischaracterize and marginalize Christian believers, we have to be aware of these trends and respond appropriately and Biblically.

As we discussed yesterday, that includes being devoted to God's Word and being in prayer. Out of our private fellowship with the Lord will grow our public witness. And, we don't have to be reckless in the words we choose - we can speak our minds, but we can do so in a manner that communicates well and reflects Christ's character.  We should not retreat into silence, but we can advance the Kingdom of God by being devoted followers of Christ.