Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For May 7, 2014

My apologies go to the Imaginative Conservative Blog for listing some of my comments posted to their blog as being blocked when they were not. This has occurred from the beginning of this series of blogposts. This was an honest mistake on my part stemming from changes they made in how they showed  whether a comment was to being considered. At the same time, it is my fault because the mistake was due to a lack of thoroughness on my part. Each post that was listed as blocked but was not now has a note immediately below it. Again, my apologies to the Imaginative Conservative Blog for my carelessness. 

May 1

To Matt Smethhurst and his blogpost on the importance of knowing the councils and the heresies. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition blog. 




This post is a good start in telling us what to study in church history, but there is another side of the coin which must be considered here. Being a christian is not just a matter of having right beliefs, it is also a matter of having right actions. Though in a different way than heretical beliefs, our false works can show our faith to either be false or to bring discredit to God. And we don't have to travel far in Peabody's Way-Back Machine or travel around the globe to see such examples.

Back in Civil War times, we had Christians who defended, in more ways than one, slavery. I've talked to Conservative Christians in today's world who defend business's use of sweatshop labor. We should note how American Christians of the past not only defended but took part in the ethnic cleansing of America's indigenous people. And we have American Christians who give automatic support to America's interventions and network of military bases. We should also be aware of how the Puritans once persecuted and even martyred Quakers. We need to ask ho are today's targets of Church intolerance.

Of course once we start our time and location travels, we should note the religious wars in Europe, the burning heretics and witches at the stake in Geneva, centuries of European anti-Semitism, European colonization of other countries which included the preaching of the Gospel by colonizers and oppressors.

I know that orthodoxy and heresy are important subjects to study. But we can't be content with them so as ignore orthopraxy and past abusive behaviors practiced by the Church. We could find that a more complete study of Church history better equips us to be faithful to spread the Gospel better than a partial history.


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May 5

To Ray Nothstine and his blogpost about an interview with Russell Moore on religious liberty. This appeared in the Acton blog.


There is a problem with Moore's interview. That problem is though he recognizes the dangers of secularizing culture armed with state power and the power of the state to say to Christians that they must bake cakes for same-sex weddings, he seems completely unaware of religious cultures armed with state power and the power of the state to deny same-sex marriages. In other words, it's not the power of the state that is the issue, it is who is in control of culture. Take the issue of same-sex marriage as an example. While Moore complains about a strong state dictating that Christians must go against their religious convictions by providing services to same-sex marriages or paying for contraceptives in Obamacare, he seems to have no qualms over a state that is strong enough to deny same-sex couples the right to be married because such marriages are wrong according to Christianity. 

For as long as Christians seek a privileged status for Christianity in society, it will show itself to be an enemy of democracy. That is because in a democracy, rule belongs to everybody. But when a group has a privileged status, rule belongs to some. And that is what our culture war is about. For it seems that the secularization of culture equals the loss of the privileged status for Christianity and thus, according to many of my fellow Christians, the loss of religious liberty. And the more we protest this loss, the more we discredit our faith for at least being so very disingenuous. 

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To Joe Carter and his blogpost calling Seattle's raising of the minimum wage foolish. This appeared in the Acton Blog


Let's see how many of those predictions come true and then look at why afterwards. For, will raising the minimum wage be found to be harmful simply because it was raised too much or too little?

But in the meantime, let's look at some current, tolerated foolishness. For example, it's foolish to only pay attention to unemployment numbers while ignoring how many of those employed are working for poverty wages. And it  foolish it is to allow many corporations to pay workers poverty wages and depend on gov't assistance to subsidize their payrolls while doing all they can to avoid paying taxes.

I find it odd that only the employment rate is being looked at by those who oppose raising the minimum wage or the minimum wage itself. Well, maybe not odd. The lack of concern with keeping the minimum wage current with the cost of living does show one's loyalties.