Posted on 06/05/2010 6:04:48 AM PDT by Christian_Capitalist
Either Romans address ‘powers’ in the church (since that is the general context of adjacent scriptures) or we have to accept that Hitler, Stalin, etc. were ordained of God.
Libertarians are not trying to abolish government, only restoring the Constitutional government to its limits.
Compare the ‘do not initiate force or fraud against another’ and the Golden Rule and you’ll find a general philosophy that is closer to Biblical principle than any other party.
Amen (pardon the pun).
I don’t want to live under Socialism. Having said that, I want to live under an Oligarchy even less.
I appreciated your post, and I'll try to address some of your specific policy concerns a bit later, but-- {shrugs}, meaning no offense, perhaps the more relevant question is: "What are YOU going to do about it?"
When I was elected Precinct Chairman (well, Vice-Chairman at first, later elevated to Chairman) for my local Republican Party, it was by a total of four votes.
Four.
Only five Republicans in my whole Precinct showed up to the County Precinct elections -- 4 Ron Paul guys and 1 Huckabee guy. Needless to say, we Ron Paul folks just voted ourselves all the Precinct leadership offices. That was it. And that was TYPICAL of a lot of Precincts -- many had even less show up.
If you don't like the direction the Republican Party, get involved at the local level and try to change the direction of the local Party more to your liking. If you and your wife both show up at the Precinct Elections, the two of you could easily end up being half the votes in your Precinct!
The Republican Party will certainly appreciate your involvement, and you'll be able to say that you made a difference for your own convictions. I don't know what "we" can do (especially since I am one of those "Jesus Freaks", albeit of a fairly libertarian bent); but I do know that's something that YOU could do!
Not trying to be "preachy", just a suggestion -- of something that's worked for me.
Best, CC
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I got turned off of politics for a lot of reasons. I’ve gotten to the point where I began to believe “If voting could change anything, it would be illegal.” All we do is keep electing career politicians who use other people’s money to keep themselves in office.
I guess what you’re suggesting is that I take a page from the Hippie Handbook: “Think globally, act locally.”
Like I said, I have no problem with religious people. People are free to believe (or not believe) whatever they want, which happened to be Thomas Jefferson’s view on religion (so I consider myself in good company).
I think that a major problem in the Republican Party, which pushes people to the LP or other movements, is that the Republican Party has become no better than the Dems; full of career politicians who have no concept of responsibility when spending other people’s money who are more concerned with winning the next election to they can keep their power and their cushy jobs. I think that in reality, these guys (Reps and Dems alike) sit in the back room together and have a good laugh at how bad they are screwing us. Politics has become a show akin to professional wrestling: It’s all for show and they’re all friends in real life. They can’t believe that some people still think it’s real.
Clearly, Wallis wants people to be made to "give" what he thinks is appropriate, by compulsion. Therefore, Wallis contradicts the Biblical standard and is therefore an enemy of God.
“Ok....I digress. Where is our place at the table?” ~ tuff_schlitz
Easy.
There are only two VIABLE political parties. Whichever of the two you have any voice at all in is the one you will want to be in power.
For instance, as a classical liberal (today known as a “conservative”), the only political party in which I have any voice at all is the Republican Party. To sit home, vote third party, or anything else, is to vote for a ‘RAT.
_ALL_ the issues (fears) you stated in your post _go away_ when we downsize the Federal Government and make it conform to the limited powers the Framers intended at the founding of this country.
Dictators of all stripes (religious or secular / right or left) are effectively thwarted in their ambitions if they can’t use the arm of a Big Government to do their bidding.
The KEY to fixing all of our problems is to downsize the “one-size-fits-all” federal government.
The ‘RAT Party, including ALL of its members, are Big Government advocates.
If you want to be left alone, you have no voice in the ‘RAT Party.
‘RATS despise and reject republican principles / economic theory because, as you can see, when its implemented, it aces them right out of the picture:
http://mises.org/etexts/austrian.asp
For more, click my screen name.
I agree, Christ say we are our brother’s keeper. “We” does not mean the gov’t is everyone’s keeper, it means as individuals we are to help one another. I believe that means we all have a personal responsibility to help those in need. The only way I can do that is to keep control of my earnings, be involved in my community through the Church and assist those who are needy. The way I choose to help is through charities that are in line philisophically with how I believe Christ wants us to live.
This article is an excellent case study in Liberaltarian propaganda.
It’s a lame attempt to bash Christianity.
What’s next for this liberal moron? Holding Fred Phelps up as another example of Chrisitan hypocracy?
This article is crap.
Therein lies the problem. We’re constantly forced to play the “lesser of two evils” game. Choosing between two piles of $hite based on which one will taste better is still no choice. In the end, it’s a Hobson’s Choice.
Why can’t we have reasonable taxes AND legalized marijuana? Why can’t we have 2nd Amendment Rights AND the right to have sex with the consenting adult of our choice (whether for free or for pay)?
Why can’t we fight against abortion AND teach the young so that the unwanted pregnancies can be avoided in the first place?
I think the government needs to stop making moral decisions for the people (inb4 “Then I guess you would legalize murder because that’s a ‘moral decision’”).
I’ll be glad to dub you FR’s on site go-to expert as to the definition of a “moron”.
Jim Wallis is a liar.
I don’t believe that the Bible tells me to be that which Jim Wallis tells me to be.
I agree so long as what you mean by "social justice" is the enslavement of humankind.
Of course! We even have that same choice when we pick a wife or husband.
That is unless you know any "perfect" people. :)
From the start she presented to the world a frightening thing, the possibility that the citizens of a nation might actually control the levers of power in a state. If she succeeded she would become a “dangerous nation” and a threat to tyranny around the world. Thus the hatred that European nations had for the new nation. None of them even believed that the US could possibly survive. It was a good thing for them that she did.
'The United States did indeed become a dangerous nationdangerous to tyrants, that is. Here is a list of nations freed by herand some of these were freed more than once: France, Germany, Norway, Finland, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Algeria, Morocco, Romania, Kosovo, Panama, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Denmark, Kuwait, Iraq, Egypt, Montenegro, New Guinea, Indonesia, Thailand, Greece, Tunisia, Ukraine, Albania, Hungary, Belgium, Austria, Libya, Korea, Japan, Italy.
'As a comparison, take a look at some of the players upon the stage of the world who are in the news today -- China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela. How many nations have they freed? None. And why should they free any nations? They are not in the business of freedom. They are in the business of slavery.'
*****
Bottom line -- there are really only two kinds of countries in the world: those whose asses we saved, and those whose asses we kicked. And two kinds of people: those who know it, and those who deny it for whatever crazy reason.
I may not believe in God, per se, but I do believe in Karma. What goes around comes around. People who do evil open themselves up to evil in return. People who do good usually receive good in return. I am a believer in the Golden Rule as a rational decision. I don’t want my person or property violated, so I find it illogical to do that to someone else. I guess you could call it self-interested empathy. Christians do good out of self-interest, too (they want to get into Heaven and escape eternal damnation).
My wife’s minister step-dad told me that, even though we (meaning my wife and I) don’t go to church, etc... we are some of the most “Christian” people we know, based on our actions (we’ve been known to take in friends who have fallen on hard times, paid for scrips for a friend who was having troubles making ends meet, things like that). I have no expectation of an “eternal reward” when I die. I help people because it’s how I would want to be treated if I were in the same situation. Is there something wrong with me?
The author, Jay Richards, is not a Libertarian. AEI is a well-known Conservative think tank.
It’s a lame attempt to bash Christianity.
The author, Jay Richards, is a Christian.
What’s next for this liberal moron? Holding Fred Phelps up as another example of Chrisitan hypocracy? This article is crap.
This article features Jay Richards critiquing Jim Wallis.
Are you saying that you think that Jim Wallis is right, and Jay Richards is wrong?
I guess you could say that.
Personally, I was thinking "if you're only one man, do what one man can do." JMHO and best regards; I'll write more later.
You forgot to add the "ist" after the word "social."
All RATIONAL humans act out of self-interest. Indeed, not even God requires his people to love others MORE than they love themselves [Matt. 25:35-36]
And what you describe above merely depicts the motivations of a spiritually (and possibly emotionally) IMMATURE professing Christian...ie: a baby in understanding. More mature Christians know that their "good-works" don't EARN them salvation.
Quacks in the Foundation of the West
"....Now, one thing individualism implies -- as we shall see -- is God. Therefore, ideologies that promote individualism in the absence of God (and this includes some varieties of conservatism, e.g., Ayn Rand) are not only intellectually bizarre but frankly destructive and disorganizing. ..."
bttt
Walllis’ accusation of racism is a study in hypocrisy. Go to the Sojourners site and look at the pictures of their staff. All their senior staff are white, almost all of those pictured are white, and almost all those who are not of European descent are Asian (Which our colleges have deemed not to be minorities).
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