Every day, billions of humans have thoughts that they never act upon or speak out loud. We don’t have a pre-crime bureau, as in the 2002 Tom Cruise movie, Minority Report, where people are arrested, convicted, and incarcerated for their thoughts (or what they “might” do). We generally judge people based on what they do, and not what they think.
All of us have had thoughts that we would never want anyone to know. Years ago, as I was driving to nearby Defiance, I pulled up to the traffic light at the corner of Clinton St and State Hwy 15. The light was red, so my eyes turned toward the drugstore on the corner. As I surveyed its parking lot, I noticed a large dumpster. I thought, “That sure would be a good place to dump a body”! WTF, right? Where in the world did that thought come from? Am I a hopeful serial killer? Not likely. It was just a random thought, likely fueled by my TV viewing habits. Should I have been arrested for my thoughts? Of course not. I have had numerous crazy thoughts over the years; fleeting moments where my thought processes turned dark. As a depressive, I have had countless suicidal thoughts. Should I be arrested to keep me from harming myself? Most people would say no. Most people ponder killing themselves at one time or another. These thoughts come and go for most people, who don’t act upon them. I suspect most of us don’t want to live in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four world; a world where people are routinely arrested for their thoughts by the Thought Police.
Unfortunately, many Evangelical Christians are taught that God does, indeed, judge us for our thoughts. In Proverbs 23, the Bible talks about a ruler, saying, in verse 7a, ” So as he thinks in his heart so is he (KJV). This verse is often mistranslated, misinterpreted, or misapplied, but generally, Evangelical preachers use this verse to say that “we are what we think.” They justify this use or interpretation by quoting the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:27-28:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Jesus said that if a man looks at a woman and lusts after her, he has committed adultery with her in his heart. In other words, Jesus judges a man for what he thinks, and not just for what he does. Just because a man looks at a woman and has a lustful thought, it doesn’t follow that he will have adulterous sex with her. Imagine if this were really true. Most of us would have committed fornication or adultery with countless people.
Talk to people who spent their formative years in Evangelicalism and you will hear how they were taught that they could sin with their thoughts; that just having a sinful thought will bring God’s judgment upon you. Evangelicals are encouraged to fill their minds with Bible verses, prayer, sermons, Christian literature, and Christ-honoring music. And when these methods fail to keep “bad” thoughts at bay, either Satan is blamed for our failure or our “flesh” is.
Were you taught that your thoughts could be “sinful”? Please share in the comment section how this thinking affected you.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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“Minority Report” wasn’t about thought crimes, instead it was based on prognostication. You’re “guilty” of crimes you will commit if you’re not stopped.
I’ve never understood or agreed with the thought=sin. “Sin” to me is more about hurting someone else unnecessarily. Adultery of the heart doesn’t hurt anyone. I’m not sure why Jesus/Jesus playwright (who actually had some good ideas) preached this.
One day everything you have ever done,said and thought will be replayed before Christ. And if your name is not written in the book of life you will be cast into the lake of fire.
Why does everything have to be replayed before God? Doesn’t he know everything, already? And no need to do it on my behalf. I also know everything I did — especially every delicious, satisfying sin. 🤣
God predetermined whether I would be saved from before the foundation of the world. The names are prerecorded in the Book of Life. So, whether I go to Heaven or Hell is up to God, not me.
(takes Book of Life, tears James Kelley’s page out, runs it through a crosscut shredder) 😀
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’ve always been interested in Orwell’s Animal Farm, and it’s “sequel” 1984.
From what I’ve gathered, he wrote both books based on his experiences fighting on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s, against Franco’s Falangist/Facist military coup. During this conflict, the Facist were being advised by Nazi Germany, and the Republicans by the Soviet Union. So atrocities began happening on both sides of the conflict. Both the far right and the far left have their own closet of horrors in history. Having seen in particular the influence of the NKVD (the forerunner of the KGB) on some of the more extreme elements of his own side, he wrote both books to show how a collective oligarchy hijacks what begins as a noble “peoples’ revolt” against tyranny, only to find out that tyranny of their own leaders is often worse than the tyranny it replaced.
This tyranny usually takes the form of falling under suspicion for being disloyal. Revolutionary governments usually execute those who pose an immediate threat (in some cases Catholics, Jews, and minority religious people), political opponents and in the case of the far right Nazis ethnic minorities and the disabled.
Next comes the constant purity tests for those who initially survive the first round of purges. The remaining populace is conditioned to be on guard against any internal doubts, and vigilant against their neighbors too. North Korea is probably the closet state to Orwell’s terrifying vision of 1984- if you doubt this look up what happened to people who didn’t show the proper amount of “grief” during the funeral of their previous president.
In the forward to 1984, it is speculated that Orwell created the fictional government of an alt- post WW II England, Ingsoc (English Socialism) on a blend of English WWII scarcity culture and propaganda, intellectual elitist far left socialism, and Victorian era religious and cultural sexual repression. While it is difficult for modern Americans to envision how a formerly democratic people could embrace such a government, the poverty of post WWII Britain, with food shortages well after the end of the conflict, along with the damage from Nazi bombs which continued to occur with their missle technology near the war’ end, shows how dire living conditions become a breeding ground for this type of societal descent into a Facist/Communist hybrid tyranny. In current times, just look at who Donald Trump appeals to- those who feel they are on the cultural margins of our society, and who do not have the critical thinking skills or education to understand they’re supporting Joseph Stalin version 2.0.
Instead of forcing all public school students to read the Bible, I believe instead both Animal Farm and 1984 should be required reading for all high school students. And then again when they get to college, in case they forgot the lesson from their first reading.
“Just because a man looks at a woman and has a lustful thought, it doesn’t follow that he will have adulterous sex with her.”
Especially if that woman isn’t even married, and is yet single, and you’re still single as well.
Good point, you literalist. 🤣🤣
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
I have always wondered about this – does that mean you can lust after a man and not have any issues?
Yes, IF we take the text as written. 🤣
James Kelley: “One day everything you have ever done,said and thought will be replayed before Christ. And if your name is not written in the book of life you will be cast into the lake of fire.”
Will they be providing popcorn? I don’t think my life movie could even be rated to be shown in heaven except in theaters in the lower side of heaven. In fact, i wonder if god/christ/whoever can watch the movie since such things can’t exist in their presence.
But, since I am an abomination, I suspect your god would put me on the express route to a satan lap dance – just like Lil Nas X.
Mr Kelley, this is a genuine question that I’ve asked other x-tians to answer and none ever has. When you get through those pearly gates, will you be watching and enjoying us heathens screaming in agony for ever in that lake of fire whilst enjoying your eternal reward? Only an obscene monster of a deity would devise that, and command his followers to do that too. Thank zod your horrible god, your so-called loving heavenly father and his instruction book the bible are all a fiction.
James, do you think your god has narcissistic personality disorder with a side of sociopathic, psychotic traits?
James Kelley, I wrote a guest post on this site about that replay at the “Great White Throne Judgment” – it may have been called “This Is Your Life” or maybe it had the GWTJ in the title. You might find it interesting.
Thought crimes – yes, as an evangelical it was all about control – controlling one’s thoughts, emotions, actions, body, instincts, dress, food, media, etc. Everything was supposed to be tightly controlled, and it was expected that punishment would ensue from noncompliance in any way. It was a lot to deal with. It’s no wonder I was depressed, angry, and unhappy AF as an evangelical teen. And my grandma was trying with all her might to control herself too, and she was a depressed,(possibly angry) and miserable middle-aged woman. It’s sad, really.
My daughter told me as far as thoughts go that our first thought on a topic is the result of instinct, past learning, indoctrination, etc, while our next thought is the more rational one developed after we’ve gone through examination and growth (if we’ve put in the work). I don’t think we should be punished for a thought – the thought may require that we look into some belief or idea that we may need to examine, study, correct…..but we should be judged by our actions (and words), not on thoughts that don’t escape our brains.
@James Kelly’s comment about “replaying your life before God”
One aspect of religion is how arrogant and self absorbed it is. That everything you’ve done is of any interest to anyone at all,let alone the creator and sustainer of the universe is the acme of arrogance. I find this common with holy rollers, the believe not only in God, but they are His representatives and agents. The resulting attitude results in personal behavior that is always unpleasant.
The preposterous idea of “thought crime” must be one if not THE most damaging features of religion. I’d submit it’s the most damaging of all. I personally have been burdened with guilt for how I FELT. At some point in my search to make sense of and understand life, some wise philosopher revealed to me the fundamental truth that thoughts are INVOLUNTARY. No one decides to feel like being cruel, evil, or unjust. Anger generates those thoughts with no deliberate intent. In systems of law as in common logic, one is not held responsible for even overt acts that one did not intend, not even homicide. To do so would be illogical, unjust and irrational. Yet there is no other way to interpret the commands of those passages from scripture. If nothing else impeaches the Bible, the concept of guilt for thought does so very effectively.
The thoughts that have run through my mind would curdle milk and strangle screams, and perhaps even scare any omnipotent being that decides to peruse them! That doesn’t mean I would ever act upon any of them.
Is there a kid who hasn’t hated a parent, teacher or other authority figure? Or a green vegetable? (I still can’t stand lima beans!) If James Kelly’s God replays our lives, will such thoughts be considered in that God’s judgment?
As a kid I was deeply terrified that I was committing thought crimes. Somehow, I had to get complete control of my thoughts and prevent “wrong” thoughts from entering my mind. That was impossible. And I endlessly blamed myself for being powerless to stop it.
For instance, in middle school a bully sat behind me in English class and started rocking my desk and calling me names. I hated him. It got so bad I once started crying. He then called me a crybaby. But I was under the opinion that one who hates is guilty of murder, so I was sure that I had to somehow stop hating him. And yet, being human, in that situation, I could not stop hating. And yet, somehow, I made myself the bad guy and condemned myself for hating him. It was horrible.
People sometimes hurt us. And feelings will come naturally when that happens. The clear-thinking person can acknowledge those thoughts and think rationally towards a solution.
I wish I had been taught as a child to love myself, and to work through the various thoughts that come naturally in the course of living. Morbid fear of committing a thought crime is no way to live.
The pastor not only told us that our thoughts were sinful, but that he had the God’s Gift of Knowledge so he knew what we were thinking as well as what we were doing when we singles were away from the church on Friday and Saturday nights.
His knowledge was so spot on that we were sure his goons were following us around with binoculars at night. If any of us stayed too long at someone’s apartment (which was a great sin), he would have a word from god the following Sunday announcing that members of the singles group were involved in immorality. Then he would give a blanket call for the guilty ones to come forward and confess their sins. There was never any sexual monkey business going on, but a lot of the singles went down front and confessed the horrible sin of staying too late to finish a VHS movie like Back To The Future, or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that they had rented from Blockbuster.
The pastor rebuked them sternly for such sins, and before letting them return to their seats, he also warned them about the great sin of watching rented movies from Blockbuster.