Over the past weekend Erin's dad took us to see the film The Sound of Freedom in theaters. If you haven't heard of it it's based on the true story of former US federal agent Tim Ballard. He works tirelessly to put pedophiles behind bars but is irked by the fact that though he has done so much good, he has never actually set any children free; he's only captured perpetrators. Because of bureaucratic restrictions Tim ends up quitting his job to more or less "go rogue" in Columbia to save children from sex-traffickers. His heroic actions there allow him to save over 100 people (55 of which are children) in one mission alone.
The story of Tim Ballard is both heavy and inspiring. It's opens up a window into the evil and gruesome world of child sex-trafficking. As one character in the movie puts it, "Americans don't want to have to think about it, so we pretend it doesn't exist" (paraphrased). It is inspiring to see a man who cared so much for the helpless members of society and boldly proclaimed that "God's children are not for sale." The movie ends with a personal message from Jim Caviezel (who portrayed Tim Ballard in the film) pleading with people to make this move the Uncle Tom's Cabin of modern-day slavery.
So it would make sense that this movie would be receiving praise from all sides of the political spectrum, right? It would make sense that this would give us at least a little something to unite over-- saving children, protecting the innocent!
Well, sadly, it doesn't make sense. This film has received no end of ridicule by the left. It's being called a "paranoid new movie" and "Q-Anon adjacent", a "white savior complex", or "Trump-cult". I even saw one reviewer give a whopping lie that the movie should be banned because it showed multiple instances of child rape, when in fact it never showed anything of the sort because, well, that would be illegal. Why is this movie taking so much heat from the left? What has caused them to get into an uproar over something that at its core is about protecting children from wickedness?
It doesn't take long to figure out that they don't want to protect children from wickedness. Take one look at abortion and you'll see that there is no care for the weakest among us. The culture is all about doing whatever makes YOU happy. You do you, find yourself, take some me time, and any other array of cringey self-indulgence quotes plague our social media lives. It is only logical to say that living in this way makes any standard of morality completely subjective. Driving fast makes me happy so screw the cops that tell me to slow down. Raising a child would just be too much for me right now so I'll abort it. I think I would be happier as a woman, so I'll change my gender. Having sex with a minor brings me joy so... hmm.
With a worldview that says that your standard for morality is subjected to whatever is "best" for you, who is to say that anything is truly wrong? We have fallen pretty far as a nation and world in the short time that I've been alive. Abortion, homosexuality, gender fluidity... the next logical step is legalized pedophilia. If you don't believe it, google "minor-attracted person." There are people trying to get "pedophile" changed to just that.
If we continue down this path that we are currently on, come two or three decades and we will see pedophilia legalized. Of course it will be sanitized with "consent" and lots of bureaucratic language, but that won't change what's really going on. Trans marches have already been recorded as chanting "we're coming for your children." Children's drag shows? Normalization of talking about sexual content with elementary students? Look around people. We live in a world of evil and darkness, and it's not going to get any better by the should-be Christian warriors sitting around with our heads in our hands hoping that we'll go unnoticed. I heard a quote the other day that went something like, "those who want to win will always beat those who just want to be left alone." We have to want to win. But more so than that, we have to believe that we can and will win. We are followers of Christ Jesus, the ruler of all nations. There is coming a day when every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess that he is The King. Take courage and stand up against wickedness.
The Sound of Freedom is a movie with a good message. Thankfully, the outcry of the left against it has only helped fuel the fire behind it and it has done very well, bringing in over 124 million dollars against a 15 million dollar budget. If you are able to stomach a story that centers on the abuse of children, then I say support this film and show the sodomites that not everyone is bowing to their whims.