RedStateEclectic

Happy Easter

Lucky playing with his parents.

Happy Easter to our readers and all my co-blogging friends at RedStateEclectic. Enjoy the music.

 

Incidentally, for some paschal contemplation, you might want to read this post from a very good blog.

Guest Post: Prince of Peace, or God of War?

By Doug Newman

Someone I like and respect made the following comment on Facebook the other evening:

“I’m fairly silent about religion. Why? Because I’m not interested in taking the … liberties and lives, of drug dealers and pornographers. And, I’m not interested in making war on people who didn’t first make war on me. I’m not interested in religions that enlist me to start violent fights.”

It is very sad that the common perception of Christians and Christianity has come to this. Several years ago, I heard a preacher say that “you are the only sermon many people will ever hear.” He was talking about the examples Christians set with our daily lives.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace – Isaiah 9:6. He said “Blessed are the peacemakers” – Matthew 5:9. (No, He is not a pacifist as He preaches self-defense – Luke 11:21, 22 and 22:36.)

He is not a God of power, conquest, aggression and war. He only initiates force one time, when He kicks the moneychangers out of the Temple – Matthew 21:12, 13. Even then, this is not a show of worldly power over Rome, much less the rest of the world.

His “kingdom is not of this world” – John 18:36. Whereas the state exerts power from the top down and from the outside in, Jesus’ Power is exerted from the bottom up and from the inside out – Hebrews 4:12, 13. The King of the Universe came into the world as a helpless baby and washed the feet of the apostles – John 13:5. (I challenge you to contact your town councilperson and ask them to wash your feet.)

She was just re-elected with 72 percent of the vote. Tomorrow, after the gym, I will stop by her house and ask her to wash my feet.

Jesus will not force His way into anyone’s life. He enters by invitation only – Revelation 3:20. How, then, did so many people who profess to follow Jesus become such aggressive promoters of taking the liberties and lives of others, both at home and abroad? True followers of Christ do not do this.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” – Hosea 4:6

The answer is simple: they do not read the Bible like they used to. Hence, they are devoid of any biblical discernment or worldview – II Timothy 4:3-4. They become easy prey for the likes of James Dobson, John Hagee, Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum. So many churches have devolved into political tools for those who would have you think Christianity was a tool for social micromanagement at home and endless war abroad.

Note the cross on her wrist. Could anything be more grotesque and blasphemous?

But aren’t we fighting all these wars as a blessing to Israel? Would Jesus promote the killing of innocents in the name of a political state? Indeed, He gives us a timetable for when “his angels … shall gather together his elect from the four winds”. This comes afterthe Tribulation – Matthew 24:29-31. As I have devoted most of my intellectual energy this week to the scandals at Penn State, I confess I may have missed something. However, I don’t think the Tribulation has happened quite yet.

The world in Jesus time was probably much like ours: full of evil people, evil religions and evil rulers. However, He never initiates force in response to this. Nor does He ever instruct His followers to do so. Instead of being rulers, He would have us influence the world by being servants – Matthew 20:25-28 – and evangelists – Matthew 28:18-20.

So many who claim to follow Christ have drunk the Kool-Aid of force and violence. The tragic result is that so many secular people have a false view of Christianity as a religion of tyranny and war. This is why we must look to the Gospels for the words and deeds of Christ rather than to the example set by so many who claim to follow Him.
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Thunder and Lightening Staying up in the Clouds

Above is a map of Leipzig at the time of Bach. I had the good luck to live and work for a while in Leipzig, which is one of my favourite German cities.

We have had sun, rain, thunder and lightning, and sun again over here in the past two days. This afternoon I was listening to the below on the radio for the first time with a full awareness of composer and storyline:

An Irish blogger explains:

I love this performance they sing it with authority, commitment, and yes passion, watch the boys’ faces as they put everything they’ve got into "Sind Blitze, Sind Donner in Wolken Verschwunden". [Have bolts, has thunder disappeared into the clouds, G.T.] and This is a very active chorus — Jesus has been betrayed by Judas and the chorus is the disciples wondering aloud why the thunder and lightening are staying up in the clouds instead of doing some vengeful smiting. As you watch and listen notice how at 34 seconds into the piece there’s a dramatic pause of a couple of seconds, God however doesn’t take the hint, the thunder and lightening stay in the heavens, and the disciples are not even slightly shy in expressing their displeasure:

The source.

 

Guest Post-Why Very Little Surprises Me Anymore

(Doug Newman has become a semi-regular guest writer here, while maintaining his own blog.  He sends me links to his new posts that might be of interest, and gives us the opportunity to post.  I usually post his pieces, because they’re not only well written, but they approach many of the topics we do, from a perspective that we seldom write from.  Enjoy.  LE)

Why Very Little Surprises Me Anymore

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Food for the Thinkers

By Doug Newman

I don’t know if the above statement is a good thing or a bad thing. However, it sums up where I am emotionally now when it comes to the daily headlines.

In late 1991, I started waking up to the galloping destruction of liberty in America, and I turned my back on the political mainstream. At first, I was merely changing my political positions.

Then, slowly, as a Christian, I realized there was a spiritual shift here. Yes, I am still concerned about politics. However, as things deteriorate in so many ways, I am much more interested in how to represent Christ in a fallen world.

Why do so many Christians continue to praise and glorify an ever increasingly powerful and murderous central government? (At least when their president is in power.) Why are they so desperate for an all-powerful political savior?

Don't you dare think for a second that it can't happen here.

The answers can be found in Scripture. I give you just a small sampling of Scriptures that have influenced my worldview in recent years.

In I Samuel 8:4-20, the children of Israel begged God for a king. He yields to their demand, but warns them that they will one day be sorry.

Proverbs 1:7 – “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Hosea 4:6 – “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

Hosea 8:4 – “They have set up kings, but not by me.”

Amos 8:11 – “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:”

And now on to the New Testament.

Matthew 24:3-4 – “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. “

II Corinthians 11:13-14 – “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

II Timothy 3:1-5 – “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

II Timothy 4:3-4 – “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

This knuckledragger, who actually thinks that Obama is going to pay her mortgage and put gas in her tank, is just one example of how brainraped we have become.

 

Another example is the millions of adult American who profess a belief in Jesus Christ who think that GW Bush is such a Great Christian Man. They are just as easily influenced as these children in the documentary film Jesus Camp. Sometimes it seems as if Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the media that calls itself “Christian” just drag a cardboard cutout onto a stage, and these people bow down as if it were some golden calf.

If you are a non-Christian, please know that I am just as much a sinner as you are. However, there is a God Who rules the universe and Who judges good and evil. The only difference between me and you is that, on October 22, 1986, I invited Jesus Christ into my life to be my Lord and Savior.

And if you are a professing Christian reading this, I implore you to get back into your Bible. See what God has to say about life and about the world around us. Measure everything against the yardstick of God’s Word. Be especially discerning with anything or anyone that claims to be Christian. Do this on a regular basis and see how much clearer your thinking will become.

This is what I have done in recent times. And I think this is why – even though I am no better or smarter than you – I have stopped being as perpetually surprised about things.

This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Could there be a better time to read it and start understanding it?

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Related article: To Sin Beyond Redemption by Pastor Butch Paugh.

Acton Day One Recap

Great day at Acton University. Aside from the many interesting people I ran across, the four classes I had leant me perspectives I hadn't had coming in (which are the best kind of classes.) The 45 minute lectures and 30 minute Q&As are all available on the website for a fee of $2.99 for those interested. 

In the "Rise and Fall of Neoclassical Economics" by Dr. Robert Nelson I learned a lot about what the 'current' economics taught at schools theory is. I've read lots about Austrian economics over the past few years but I was largely ignorant about what the mainstream teaching was based on and Nelson made a compelling argument that it is a sort of religion in its structure. I'm sure his new book, The New Holy Wars: Economic Religion versus Environmental Religion would be a fascinating read.

Dr. Todd Flanders had a wonderful lecture about Frederic Bastiat titled "Christian and Apostle of the Market". It was fun discussing Bastiat's Christian roots, a little of his history, and then reading how he brilliantly whittles down an issue to its essence and show the fallacy of much of yesterday's (and today's) flawed economic thinking.

Dr. John Pinheiro's talk on the Political Economy of the American Founding helped add a little fullness to my vision of what the Founders (Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton) were like. Reading too much of from the Lew Rockwell site will seriously skew your opinion of Hamilton and probably give you just as unrealistic picture of who Jefferson was. Like many things, it is important to understand why the men held the opinions of politics that they did which was in many ways a reflection of the times and how they viewed the world at that time. It is very easy (for me anyway) to view the men as living in a vacuum and writing and debating the virtues of liberty and government without also rounding them out with their flaws and theories. One interesting one is that Jefferson believed that the Louisiana Purchase would allow for people to become more spread out - including slaves - which would diffuse the tension of slavery. The solution to secession was dilution I guess.

The final session was by professor Ross Emmett about innovation and entrepreneurship. This is one of those lectures where you really have no idea what will be discussed and whether or not it will be pertinent to your life or way of thinking. Fortunately, he very compellingly made an argument that our current way of seeing innovation is too simple (and allows for points of meddling from governments). The current thoughts sees innovation as working: creating new product -> commercialization -> consumption -> profit. He argued persuasively that creation and innovation is a complicated collaborative process with an interplay between consumers and creators. Therefore, the question we should ask is not, " What are the features of an innovative and entrepreneurial society," rather, "What are the features of a society which enables people to express love and charity toward others?" The second question, he argues, will naturally lead to innovation and entrepreneurship.

Today: Poverty in the Developing World by Michael Miller. I'm sure this will focus in small part on Acton's new initiative which launches in a few months, Poverty Cure.

Biblical & Theological Foundations of Environmentalism - Dr. Jay Richards

Myths about the Market - Dr. Jay Richards

Development, Microfinance, and Foreign Direct Investment - Aneilka Munkel

Acton University 2011 Begins

Tough blogging with an iPad (apparently you can't hyperlink) so I will jeep it brief. For more info on Acton University go to www.au.Acton.org. This is my third year at Acton Univeristy sponsored by the Acton Institute where you study the intersection of religion and liberty. I can't recommend the conference enough. Not only do you get top notch lecturers but they also attend classes and eat meals with you allowing you tons of opportunities for discussions. My courses this year are: The Rise and Fall of Neoclassical Economics by Dr. Robert Nelson Frederic Bastiat: Christian and Apostle of the Market by Dr. Tom Flanders Political Economy of the American Founding by Dr. John Pinheiro Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Dr. Ross Emmitt That's the first day. So far after the first 2 sessions - well worth the time and money.

Guest Post: Jesus Was Not a Right-Winger

From Doug Newman:

“Take heed that no man deceive you.” – Matthew 24:4

The left-right paradigm is a grand deception that has done indescribable damage to intelligent thought for quite some time. Christians, who are told not to let anyone deceive them, have fallen into this trap as easily as any group in society.

Consider the fact that Hitler was supposedly on the extreme right while Stalin was on the extreme left. Was there any difference between them other than the size of the eight-digit body counts they left in their wakes?

In America, Bush and Obama are portrayed as polar opposites. Their deeds tell us otherwise. We elected “conservative” Bush who would go on to outspend “liberal” Clinton by $1 trillion per year. Then we elected “peace candidate” Obama who continued Bush’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and – let’s be honest – Pakistan, and started a war in Libya and is ramping things up in Yemen.

Recently, an old friend sent me an article by Andrew Sullivan on the contradictions inherent in the agenda of America’s Religious Right (RR). As I don’t pay much attention to the mainstream media nowadays, I don’t know a lot about Andrew Sullivan. However, he makes some very pungent points here.

Sullivan states:

“No, the Americanism now heard on the right is that America was uniquely founded on Christianity, that America is therefore a chosen instrument of divine Providence, and that this moral superiority is so profound that indicting America on any prudential, moral or political grounds is un-American or, if it comes from abroad, evil.”

While I believe that America’s Founding had profound Christian roots, the agenda of the contemporary RR is as far removed from the principles spelled out in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as it is from the teachings of Christ.

Jesus had no political agenda. He wasn’t a left-winger or a right-winger. Nor was He a liberal or a conservative. These are all earthly philosophies, which the Bible warns are doomed to failure – I Corinthians 1:19, 20; II Corinthians 10:5; Colossians 2:4, 8.

It sickens how so many people claim that Jesus would be on their side politically. (I say this as one who was very caught up in the whole RR deal from 1986 to 1991.) Four times, Jesus was offered political power and four times He rejected it – Matthew 4:9-10 and 21:9, John 6:15 and Acts 1:6.

With that, I want to give just a brief summary of the points Sullivan makes.

• Sullivan cites Galatians 3:28 and states that “Christianity cannot be co-opted by nationalism.” The RR has convinced millions of American Christians that they should unconditionally support “their country” as it wages endless war abroad. Well, if this is the case, didn’t first century Christians have a duty to brainlessly support Roman military conquests? And didn’t German Christians in the late 1930s have the same duty to support “their country” as it ran roughshod across Europe?

Hitler, too, claimed that God was on his side.

• Sullivan quotes the Great Commission – Matthew 28:19 – where Jesus instructs His Disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” He does not say, “Bomb the crap out of countries that have done nothing to you and kill countless thousands of innocent Ayyyy-raaaaabs.”

• Sullivan corrects a leftist reader about Christianity and economics. The Old Testament condemns theft and covetousness – Exodus 20:15, 17. Jesus likewise condemns these things in Mark 7:22. True Christian charity is always rendered voluntarily and joyfully – II Corinthians 9:7.

• Sullivan is right: “Torture is, of course, an intrinsic evil, regardless what one calls it.” It is a malignancy on the contemporary church that so many professing Christians condone torture. Good ends do not justify bad means – Romans 3:5-8. The entire point of torture is to inflict so much pain on someone that they will say absolutely anything to get you to stop. The biblical standard for determining guilt, however, is the testimony of at least two witnesses – Deuteronomy 19:15; I Timothy 5:19. Presuming guilt runs contrary to the Golden Rule – Matthew 7:12.

It has been said that torture has as much to do with truth as rape does with making love. Jesse Ventura once remarked that if you gave him ten minutes with Dick Cheney on a water board, he would have no trouble getting Deferment Dick to confess to the murder of Sharon Tate.

Sullivan wraps things up by saying: “By wresting it from its proper context, attaching it to a single nation-state, using it to defend public policies that are, at bottom, anathema to the priorities of the Gospels, Christianists are indeed not Christians.”

The Bible contains the word “king” almost 2000 times. Hence, Christians need to be ever mindful of doings in the political realm. However, the idea that America is an “exceptional nation” has no basis in Christianity. I do believe that America is referred to in Revelation 18, as an economic colossus that was brought to ruin “in one hour” because of its moral wickedness. However, America is never mentioned by name, whereas Persia, Syria and Libya are. This ought to tell you just how unimportant America is in God’s Eyes.

Also, Christians are instructed to “believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” – I John 4:1. Millions of Christians today are so lacking in discernment that they will believe all sorts of madness as long as somebody somewhere calls it “Christian.” Hence the contradiction that those who claim to be “pro-life” and to follow the “Prince of Peace” – Isaiah 9:6 – are the most incessant cheerleaders for – here I go again – unprovoked war, torture, spying, guilt without trial, sanctions and embargoes.

I swear I could probably write a book on this stuff if only I could justify it physically and financially.

If you would like to post this elsewhere, please email me and include this link. Thanks!

Jesus the Libertarian?

There’s a great piece over at LRC by Tom Mullen which is very thoughtful—and relevant—for those who seek to promote liberty while being true to the Christian faith (or perhaps, any faith).

“Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin anymore." (John 8: 3–11)

As we approach the new year with conservatism again ascendant in the political sphere, this story of Jesus’ uncompromising libertarianism seems even more timely than stories of his birth, despite the approach of his celebrated birthday. Nowhere does Jesus admonish “social conservatives” more harshly.

There is an important distinction here. By “social conservative,” I do not mean anyone who disapproves of certain human behavior. The freedom to follow the dictates of one’s conscience was the first inalienable right recognized by the founders of our nation. If one truly believes that homosexuality, adultery, or other “non-conservative” behavior violates the laws of God, it is that person’s inalienable right to disapprove of it, even to voice his disapproval of it, regardless of the anguished cries of the political correctness lobby on the left.

However, no one has a right to use violence against those who engage in behavior that does not harm another person, regardless of whether or not that behavior violates the laws of God. Since all laws are enforced under the threat of violence (as this story also makes wonderfully clear), Jesus makes it clear in this passage that it is not for men to enforce the laws of God. With the exception of cases in which one human being has harmed another, the right to punish the behavior of others is reserved for God.

And then there’s this:

By attempting to use the law to enforce their morality, social conservatives violate the very principles that they say that they cherish most. Social conservatives decry Islam because it attempts to “propagate the faith by the sword.” However, there is only a cosmetic difference between promoting your religious views through acts of terrorism and doing likewise through passing unjust laws against minorities who have no recourse but to obey or suffer violence. In both cases, it is the sword that compels the victim rather than the mind or the heart. Neither can social conservatives rely on the argument that their laws are passed by an elected body representing the people. If that justifies socially conservative laws, then what is their objection to the welfare state?

Be sure to read the whole thing in complete context.  It truly is a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece.

LLE

Mortal Questions

What is the meaning of life?

I suspect, the question needs some differentiation, lest it is asking too much of the canvassed. The question's potential to mislead betrays a certain analogy with the value paradox unresolved by classical economists like Adam Smith: How can it be that something as essential to life as water is treated as being a lot less valuable (having a lower price) in the market than the frippery of diamonds?

The thing is: to all intents and purposes, in our real life decisions we never have occasion to compare the total utility of water with the total utility of diamonds. That is to say, we are never called upon to decide: do we prefer a world without water to a world without diamonds, or vice versa.

We rather probe specific situations in which we find ourselves, and may have to decide: do I prefer in this very special moment of my life a little more water to a little more diamonds (answered in the affirmative by the billionaire dying of thirst in the desert), or would a diamond be more preferable to some water (as is typically the case in a wedding ceremony).

What I am saying is: in a way, there is no such thing as the meaning of life, as an aggregate concept analogous to total utility). There are innumerable ways of leading a meaningful life, representing challenges that alter in nature with the passage of time and the type of circumstances, eliciting a sequence and multitude of (often coexisting) decisions and outcomes that change contextually. 

Having said that, the below mortal questions are very profound, valid, and worth being taken exceedingly serious:

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. [...] I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. [...]

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all.

The source.

While reading and pondering the article, maybe you will enjoy listening to this unbelievably beautiful music:

 

Live Your Life Like ...

... every day was the last day of your life.

This is one of those phrases that everyone not only seems to agree with, but agrees with in a way that makes the proponent of the wisdom stand out as a sage, at least for as long as the echo of these words lasts.

I have always felt that the phrase's message is remarkably stupid.

Imagine, you wake up, only to be told that this day is the last one in your life.

I don't know what I would do. It would depend on my general state (do I have a hangover, have I slept extremely well?) At any rate, my reaction, my way of going about that final day would not be of the natural kind. I know only that much: I would either be unusually calm or unusually active.

What a distorting set of marginal conditions this situation of a final day of life presents you with.

Not a helpful atmosphere to derive wisdom from for a person, I don't think, no matter whether (s)he is expecting to live for another 24 hours or some more decades.

Having said that, the below TED-talk does have an inspiring quality to it. Especially inspiring, to childless me, is the final suggestion about being a good father.

Don Boudreaux has this to say about his father, today, while I miss my dad unspeakably, not out of a sentiment of despair incited by the irretrievable, but of gratitude for the unique meaning to life that familial love imparts.