Tag Archives: christianity

A Wet Noodle To A Sword Fight

Posted on by
4

Recently i instigated (rather sarcastically i should add) a logic discussion with someone who by their own admission isn’t a Christian. Now don’t throw up your hands at my insolence just yet. To my credit i didn’t know that at the time as he was making himself out to be a most authoritative and outspoken kind of a Christian. You know the types, the ones who should be able to handle a bit of the confrontation that they so frequently serve up. I was under the impression he could handle a little engagement of logic and doctrine but that didn’t turn out to be the case and so i endured the whining and the slander that for some reason seem to accompany those of the liberal persuasion. If you ever find yourself in that position, here’s a word of wisdom: When entering a sword fight, refrain from going blow to blow on those who draw a wet noodle from their scabbard. (Full disclosure: I have documented all of the public conversations in their entirety and because it was quite a scene if anyone is concerned or would like to bring a charge, i will gladly hand over a copy of said conversations.)

That whole thing got me thinking. First, about the parable Jesus gives of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went up to pray. I was wondering, would it change the essence of the parable if for instance the Pharisee and the tax collector offered each other’s prayers? If the tax collector turned out to be the haughty one instead of the Pharisee? What about if we give the same parable but use a presumptuous ice cream truck driver and a humble pastor? Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems to me that Jesus is taking a shot at an attitude rather than an occupation.

It seems  that Jesus is taking a shot at presumption not vocation. If that is in fact the case, it would logically explain why the humiliated prostitutes and thieves didn’t evoke the same flavor of “truth in love” as the religious leaders of the day. Think of the woman caught in adultery and the thief on the cross propped up next to the religious leaders, quite a difference. But what is the difference? Well there are obviously quite a few so maybe we should think about the similarities. They’re all filthy, condemned sinners who will shrivel from the wrath of God apart from Jesus Christ. While they had different parents, occupations, probably different clothes; they got their jollies differently and yet they were all undeserving sinners. So what is the difference that provoked such distinct interaction.

A telling clue is found in Matthew 9:11-12, “And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Weren’t they all sick? Jesus distinguished not between actual need as all men are in need (Romans 3:23), rather He was distinguishing between those who admitted it and the stiff-necks! In doing so, He even granted the Pharisees their inadequate self-assessment that they were healthy and righteous (Matthew 9:13).

These presumptuous types evoked the same “truth in love” as all the other sinners, it’s just a bit more spicy. We have missed the point completely if we begin to ignore the fact that when Jesus came to save the world and not to condemn the world, He wasn’t making exceptions when it came to the proud and “righteous” Pharisees.

So often we hear people cry foul, “you’re judging me” or “you aren’t being loving like Jesus” “you’re just like the religious leaders who crucified Jesus” and obviously there are times when that may be true but more times than not, those are the fussers who are trying to pay the ref. Obviously the cheaters are going to be unhappy unless they’re winning but that shouldn’t stop us from pulling back the curtains and exposing them to the bright light of truth. But what does that look like? For someone like me, it is easy to question why Jesus didn’t point out right then and there that these jokers were so far from righteousness.

Allow me to quote Francis Shaeffer at length, “At the point of tension the person is not in a place of consistency in his system, and the roof is built as a protection against the blows of the real world, both internal and external. It is like the great shelters built upon some mountain passes to protect vehicles from the avalanches of rock and stone which periodically tumble down the mountain. The avalanche, in the case of the non-Christian, is the real and the abnormal, fallen world which surrounds him. The Christian, lovingly, must remove the shelter and allow the truth of the external world and of what man is, to beat upon him. When the roof is off, each man must stand naked and wounded before the truth of what is. (Christian View of Philosophy and Culture, Francis A. Shaeffer, p. 140)”

Shaeffer goes on to say that for someone like this we don’t come galloping in with a dogmatic statement of the truth of the Scriptures rather the truth of the external world and the truth of what man himself is—a sinner. When this avalanche of truth barrels through it is quite enlightening. Think about Christ’s crucifixion, the religious leaders didn’t take His life, He gave it and He gave it for sinners, that’s you and me. Whether prostitute or Pharisee. Some look at the religious leaders of Jesus’ day and gloat just like the praying Pharisee, “At least I’m not like those religious leaders who crucified Jesus. I make my living as an ice cream truck driver.” These are the guys who handle truth like they handle a wet bar of soap in the shower—the guys who bring a wet noodle to a sword fight.

Stewardship Schmoowardship – D. Wilson

Posted on by
Reply

I have been thinking alot about american government lately and particularly the topic of the “environmental crisis”. Doug says it like it is! I will have more to say about this soon!

Stewardship Schmoowardship – by Douglas Wilson
Topic: Wealth and the Christian

There are many things that are exasperating about the soi disant stewards of the environment, but the central exasperating thing about them lies right at the heart of their claim. This is especially true of Christians who tell us that Jesus requires us to be “stewards of the earth,” and that being green is a spiritual value.

And so it is. The problem is that the greens always turn everything brown. And here is why.

The Greek word for steward is oikonomos, the word from which we get economy, and economics, and all the rest of those dismal words. A steward provides household law; he is the one who keeps track of things, or is supposed to.

“And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward” (Luke 16:1-2).

The ability to give a reckoning, to give an account, is right at the heart of stewardship. Now when modern Christians talk about “stewardship of the earth,” they are almost always talking about cultivating feelings of general benevolence, coupled with good intentions that desire a good and green outcome. This cultivation is expressed by making a law in favor of the contemporary cause de jure, without any regard for what this does everywhere in the system. This is like a bookkeeper who makes an entry in the ledger in one place, without any awareness of the fact that this will affect his columns of numbers everywhere else in the ledger. He eventually turns the page, and is surprised, astonished, flummoxed. He promises congressional hearings, the kind of hearing that is guaranteed always to leave the real culprits alone. This is because the real culprits are the ones holding the hearings, which is kind of convenient, come to think of it. The last thing these people have on their minds is an accounting, and the last thing they are prepared to do is give an actual accounting. But that is what stewardship is.

Apart from a genuine free market, it is not possible to give an accounting. In a nation where the resources (and the environment that contains those resources) are all managed by the government, stewardship is a conceptual impossibility. This is because when the markets are not free, nobody knows the true price of anything. When no one knows the true price of anything, this removes intelligent incentives, and creates a host of perverse incentives. The only kind of stewardship possible is legal, perverse stewardship, or illegal, honest stewardship. Remember, the rule of law is not “making something legal.” The rule of law is a constant, and it governs the refs as well as the players. If refs can change the rules of the game in the course of the game, that is not the rule of law, not even if the ref blew his whistle when he did it.

Imagine a gigantic yard sale, covering five suburban yards. Suppose further that none of those working the sale were allowed to put a price tag on anything, most things were still for sale, and those that were not for sale were put off limits, according to their whims, by about three policemen who were wandering back and forth through the sale, swinging their billy clubs. Now, get a megaphone, stand on a nearby porch, and urge everybody to “be good stewards.”

Hernando de Soto has shown, in his The Mystery of Capital, that Third World nations have plenty of resources, plenty of wealth. It is available and near at hand. What they don’t have is the rule of law, and the attendant concept of clear title. When no one has clear title, there is no basis for the generation of wealth, and no basis for stewardship of the resultant wealth.

What I am about to say may seem a bit radical, so let me begin with a biblical illustration of the principle. The Bible says that a man who does not discipline his son hates his son (Prov. 13:24). This hatred is objective, measured by the results. It is not subjective, that is, it does not key off the emotional state of the father who is doing this awful thing to his son. He is probably a bleeding heart, not a “hater.” But he still hates his son.

In that spirit, with that qualification, it has to be said that environmentalists hate the environment, in just the same way that statists and liberals hate the poor. They talk like nobody’s business. Their phylacteries are wide, and they give lengthy prayers in the synagogues. They are the worst. They tie heavy burdens on the backs of others, which neither they nor their cronies are willing to bear themselves. They are false. They are wrong. They are hypocrites. And Christians who parrot their line are in rebellion against the very idea of stewardship. They hate it; they don’t want to give an accounting of just how it is that they destroy the environment, and bring about the extinction of species. They don’t care. All they want to do is roll their eyes when you come in and ask to see the books. Books? We don’t want books! We don’t want to reckon, we don’t want to count. All we want is a law that guarantees a fine result, with birds chirruping in the trees.

But stewardship looks at the results. A review of stewardship asks to see the books. But these fuzzy benevolence stewards wants an accounting department that never has to add up any numbers. Numbers are tiring. Numbers make my head heart. Numbers aren’t very green. Right. And people who think like that are terrible stewards.

Every resource in the world has a true price. That is the price established for it by the hand of God when men and women are trading peacefully, and not thieving from one another. The legalization of this thievery, which many professing Christians are muddled enough to advocate, destroys the rule of law, and introduces thuggery to the management of the yard sale. They want to make it legal for the cops to club anyone who tries to sell something that would be bad for global warming. Later on, this afternoon, they will be clubbing those who sell items that will accelerate the undeniable threat of global cooling. They don’t care about the results, just so long as they get to club somebody.

end of the world as we know it?

Posted on by
Reply

Just found an article entitled “‘Fusion Centers’ Expand Criteria to Identify Militia Members” on foxnews.com and thought it was pretty interesting in an alarming kind of way.  I submit to you that it won’t be long before christianity is put on the list of “unsafe” organizations to be monitored and labeled as domestic terrorist and national security threats, and the Bible listed as a book of subversive literature.  But hey, don’t worry Jesus was charged and murdered as a domestic terrorist and a national security threat, guess it can’t be that bad.

Some of you may be thinking i sound more like a conspiracy theorist (which by the way is another criteria for you to be monitored and labeled) but history warns us of the consequences, of the path this nation under god (little “g” for government) is on.  It seems as though my thoughts are being confirmed every which way i turn and the above article is just one small piece.  Everything from america’s economic situation being remedied and insured by communist China, one of the major persecutors of the “evil cult” that is Christianity.  To the age-old debate of the question:  ”Is Christianity Good for the World?”  that is rapidly reemerging, one of which was recently documented with prominent athiest Charles Hitchens and Pastor Douglas Wilson at The King’s College.  These aren’t the only examples all you have to do is read or watch the headlines for 5 minutes and you can see.  We must discern the times we live in.  We the church must understand by a revelation of the Spirit of God that our allegiance is not for one second to a flag, seal or sword, but to Christ the Lamb who was slain and Him alone. When we understand this we will not fear the tribulations that are soon coming to the true body of Christ.  In fact He pointedly told us to expect this very thing because they hated Him first!

Let us go in peace and spread the Gospel to the loveless, to the ones who desire nothing more than to irradiate us from their world.  This is our commission, the ministry of reconciliation.  Let us forsake our fleshly desires to defend our patriotism to a man-made kingdom and surrender our entire selves to the work the Holy Spirit desires to do in us in order for that work to naturally flow out of us. This is my prayer.  Amen.