Western society historically values the freedom of speech. The 1st ammendment is an expression of the innate right that humans have right to voice their values. Does this right derive from a biblical perspective or is it something that we arrived at thru other means.

We all value freedom of speech but where does it come from?

Steve Schlichter will be arguing that the freedom of speech is derived from man's delegation of the image of God and from biblical principles. He is an evangelical Christian and has 5 children with his wife, Jenni. As a libertarian, he seeks to demonstrate how the cause of liberty is consistent and necessary in a Christian worldview.

Gregory Richardson will take the position that while good, freedom of speech is not a Biblical principle per se.  Greg is also an evangelical Christian for over 40 years, he is happily married with 3 "children."  While a passionate lover of politics, he believes none of the 3 leading parties accurately encompass the Christian belief system. 

https://zoom.us/j/92716378185?pwd=UXVReWxISE5GUEQ2bVFTdVdYMXhzdz09

Violence is a tool. It is not a hammer or screwdriver that goes in your toolbox for everyday use. It is a tool of last resort. It is behind the glass broken only in extreme circumstances. What are the appropriate circumstances? We always want to avoid violence but there are circumstances when violence is necessary.
 

The Qur'an and hadiths of Islam teach that violence is an appropriate tool for the propagation of religion. In contrast, the Hebrew conquest of Canaan was a period in which God-ordained violence occurred but the purpose of the conquest was not to gain converts. Later, Jesus and the entire New Testament make it very clear that violence must never be a tool for the Church to spread Christianity or the gospel message.   This brings us to the question of self-defense.

The internal evidence of the NT shows an immediate expectation and acceptance of the writings of the apostles. From the Church Fathers, we can see that the sub-corpus of the 4 gospels and the book of Acts were accepted extremely early and exclusively. The letters of Paul were copied, transmitted, and read across the entire population of Christians including his personal letters and the sub-corpus of Paul’s 13 letters were assembled together. Even heretical and gnostic writings confirm the early existence of the gospels in that it is the gospels that they mimic and never the other way around.

The New Testament did not drop out of heaven. It was authored and published in the same manner as any other book. 2 Pet 1:21 describes how men were carried along by the Holy Spirit like a boat is carried along by the wind. They were not replaced by God but he managed the process. There is no angel whispering in a cave to one person in the Christian view of inspiration. We have multiple attestations with historical veracity of the public deeds and words of Jesus, his apostles, and their followers. We have overwhelming evidence that the 4 gospels, Acts, and 13 epistles of Paul were immediately received, copied and disseminated. This includes Greek copies as well as near immediate translations into other languages.
 

Muslims are taught that the Bible has been corrupted. The King James Bible is often marched out as the origin of the corruption of the English Bibles that we have today. This article explains how the English Bibles we have today are not dependent on the King James Bible. In fact, they are translated from a very ancient source.