Comments Which Conservataives Block From Their Blogs For April 1, 2020

March 29

To Gleaves Whitney and his blogpost that tries to recognize the demands of the healthcare and economic implications of the current pandemic. This appeared in the Imaginative Conservative blog.

One positive feature of the article about the current crisis is that the writer, Gleaves Whitney, recognizes that there is more than one reality that must be addressed by the government's response. That is unlike the President's response to climate change which only recognizes some short-term financial realities.

With the current approach, it seems that the healthcare resources reality is trumping all other concerns. Why? Because even with the current measures, our heathcare system, as well as the realities faced by our public servants, are so massive that further measures in terms of trying to limit the spread of the virus are being demanded without concern for our economic realities.

There is an uncovered economic reality that we need to be vigilant about. That is whether the economic measures being taken to soften the economic impact are going to compromise the future of social safety nets like Medicare and Social Security. For it would be an easily sell to provide needed immediate relief to those without jobs without telling us that they are bankrupting Medicare and/or Social Security in order to do so

Finally, we should note that the bulk of the response to the economic fallout of the recession of 2007-2008 fell on Barack Obama's shoulders, not those of George Bush. Bush's presidency expired before most of economic fallout was felt by America.

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March 31

To R. Scott Clark and Carl Trueman for Clark’s blog and its partial quoting of an article written by Trueman for the First Things blog. In that quote, Trueman talks about how Christianity isn’t there to fight against the plagues as much as to fight against the comforts that numb us to our sinfulness and position before God. Clark’s post appears in Heidelblog.

Source of cited article: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/03/deaths-delayed

So it isn't part of the Church's job to 'fight against physical plagues? It isn't our job to help those affected or contribute in whatever way we can to help and heal people? Is it also more important for us to preach fire and brimstone against enjoying comforts that God has provided for us?

When one reads the article, Trueman makes some good points about not assuming the reasons for the pandemic. However, this quote alone indicates an opportunism in using current events to preach about man's sinfulness and position before God. And in that sense, we are extracting out of the Gospel God's love and compassion for us in the preachers of the Gospel if not in the message itself. Religious opportunism gives way to manipulation. And reliance on manipulation to convert people is not the same as reliance on the Spirit to give new life at the hearing of the Gospel.

This one-sided approach to what Christianity battles against portrays God as being more punitive than He is compassionate. It isn't that God isn't punitive, it is that God uses both blessings and  pestilence to get our attention. Both show our dependence on Him. And his blessings show His love for us and his plagues and other forms of trials are there to help us to change. If the balance in preaching about the the two is significantly in line with Trueman's  statement about Christianity not being there that much to battle against the trials, then our treatment of unbelievers during times of great suffering might also cause us to misrepresent God and the Gospel since we too may not be fighting against what causes suffering of others .

It seems to me that, for many of us, God uses the comforts that come from His blessings as much, if not more, than the trials to show our dependence on Him for everything. And He has so blessed many of us with those comforts because He knows that we are weak. At the same time, we should be aware that for others, God has given them many more trials than He has given us. And part of that is so that instead making treasures on earth out of the comforts He sends our way, that we share share those comforts with others to teach about God's love.