Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For December 24, 2014

Dec 17

To Lindsey Carlson and her blogpost about the pitfalls of Christmas for parents. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website

Perhaps the most insidious hijacking of Christmas exercised by the world is not the one that replaces Gospel with the world's materialism in the celebration of Christmas, it is the one that tries to create a synthesis between the two. And all one has to do to see the corrupting power of this synthesis is to determine which would upset our loved ones the most. Would it upset them more to go through Christmas without worshipping God or would it be more bothered by going without the giving and receiving of gifts?

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To Jeff Robinson and his blogpost on the discussion/debate amongst some Christian evangelicals about racism. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.

If we go back to Martin Luther King Jr. on racism, we will find a perspective that is no longer used today. According to King, the evils of racism, materialism, and militarism are inextricably linked. And that means that we cannot subdue just one of these evils. Rather, we have address all three if we hope to make a dent into any of them. So if preachers were to follow Piper's charge to address social issues, the issues they will also have to address include materialism and the economic system on which it depends as well as militarism and American Imperialism as well as government spending that goes to the military industrial complex.

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Dec 20

To R. Scott Clark and his short blog quote criticizing Political Correctness. This appeared in Heidelblog.

Didn't PC come in response to prejudice? And if that is so in at least in some cases, to condemn PC without condemning the prejudice it is responding too results in maintaining the polarization that already existed.

Furthermore, isn't condemning PC efforts itself an imitation of PC and thus doing what PC is being accused of here?

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Dec 21

To Bruce Edward Walker and his blogpost on how Fossil Fuels are the solution for poverty. This appeared in the Acton blog.

Unfortunately, the arguments supporting the continued level of use of fossil fuels assume two things: that the current level of use does not threaten the our future; and that the current economic system in which we live has no structural flaws. That our current level of fossil fuel use does significant harm to the environment is beyond dispute. One only needs to check objective data such as the environmental problems suffered in places like China or the rising level of CO2 in the atmosphere along with the rising level of CO2 in the oceans to see how our future is becoming ominous.

At the same time, we have an economic system that revolves around the love of money and the denial of all else. That love of money system might be lifting more people out of poverty but more statistics are needed before claiming that such a system is not causing more harm than good. This is especially true as wealth around the world is consolidating and authoritarianism is on the rise, especially in the West. In addition, while more people are being lifted out of a bare standard of poverty, many people are beginning to approach that level of poverty as well. What is most important here is not a snapshot of where we are, but having the ability to see where we are going. And where we are going with the current system is the continued valuing of money over people and the consolidation of wealth and power.