spurly

As a Christian, allowing the Holy Spirit to control one's thoughts is very important.

That's why we have admonitions like:

"Take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ"

"Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence or anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things."

James goes so far as to say that every man is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own lusts - his own thoughts and uncontrollable desires that others may not see.

Yes, we must control our thoughts. The evil thoughts, if we dwell on them to much, will lead to evil action.

However, I don't see how this can be policed. It is something each individual must allow the Holy Spirit to help them do in their own life.

Kevin

Comquirk

To restrict free speech at all is to destroy the its freedom.

Restriction of this speech allows for anything to be restricted as it is all totally subjective. What if Atheistic talk was restricted because the idea of No God might offend sand hurt religious people?

I'me vehemently against hate groups, but they *must* be allowed to have thier say.

philechat

Many branches of psychotherapy actively told people to control their thoughts (such as cognitive behaviorial therapy). The psychologists attempt to direct the attention of the patients away from the self-destructive thoughts such that the patients can gradually leave negativistic thinkings behind. The process, as I know, is not about restriction as much as encouragement to think otherwise. For this type of "thought control" I do not object to.

But to limit free speech or be told that certain thoughts are evil at all time...the act will not only be dangerous, but impossible to accomplish without a significant attention devoted to brainwashing. In this sense much of Christianity accomplished exactly what it does through the threat of hell. But it also causes quite a few instances of neuroses that we are seeing today with all the intolerance, hypocrisy, and obsessions associated with them.