Know This--That Every Soul Is Free…

There seems to be an inborn desire in men to have others think as they think, and to believe as they believe. All of us are pleased when others share our views. Certainly in some respects it would simplify living and avoid many contests of will and of force if men were to share common convictions concerning the major issues of life. And certainly there are some basic principles of morality, of justice, of right, and of truth concerning which all men should think and believe alike. But sometimes we are liable to become intolerant, to become resentful of mankind in general and of individuals in particular, when their thoughts are not in accordance with our thoughts. We are sometimes prone to set ourselves up as the measure by which all things should be appraised, and to judge all men by our standards and from our viewpoint. But we will never find anyone who thinks just as we think in all things. Moreover, no mortal man has ever been known to be right in all that he thinks. Therefore, so long as we are mortal and fallible, some divergence of thought is a safeguard against our own limitations and fallibility. Assuredly, there is nothing wrong in and of itself with the desire to have other men think as we think. But there may be much wrong with the methods sometimes used to bring this about. We are justified in moving men by persuasion, by reason, by conversion, by “patience and long-suffering,” but not by deception or coercion. To force a man in his thoughts and convictions is a violation of man’s free agencyeven though we feel sure our way is the right way. The forcing of the mind is a practice which even the Lord God does not impose upon His children, much as He would like them to believe and to observe those things which He has commanded them for their own soul’s salvation:

“Know this, that every soul is free
To choose his life and what he’ll be;
For this eternal truth is given,
That God will force no man to heaven.

“He’ll call, persuade, direct aright,
And bless with wisdom, love and light;
In nameless ways be good and kind,
But never force the human mind.”