Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For April 8, 2020

April 5

To Fr. Dwight Longenecker and his blogpost on how he wants the post-pandemic world to fall in line with his idealistic wish list. This appeared in the Imaginative Conservative blog.

The article is full of wishful thinking. If only society can be what he wants it be. For some that means that we would all live in Mayberry with Sheriff Taylor and Deputy Fife keeping watch. I believe that the author is the kind of person such a lifestyle appeals too.

Economically speaking, the kind of life described above would sustain whatever recession or depression that would result from the quarantine. So unless we change from a capitalist economy that relies on growth and consumption, what the writer wants not only isn't going to happen, but shouldn't happen.

In addition, small isn't always beautiful. The response that the gov't needs to make isn't small. The  necessary supplies needed to take care of the health care needs of the nation requires some things to be big. The military will always be big. Some of the very things we cherish from the recent past are big. Our population is big and its most basic needs are big.

And sorry, but our vacations have been wonderful. That includes flying to far off places, being tourists, and even taking a cruise. Great vacations depends on location and we have gone to some wonderful places.

But the writer is not the only one who has idealistic dreams of life after the pandemic. I dream that the pandemic motto: "we're all in this together' will last past the pandemic. But who are we kidding? Our communities, cities, states, nation, and the world are full of many people, 7.8b to be approximately precise, most of whom are different from us. And that points to the real problem that we had before pandemic: how do we share society, as well as the world, with those who are different as equals? Unfortunately, what the writer wants is for the post-pandemic new world to consist of a majority of people who are like him.

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April 7

To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost quote of William Perkins’s statement on how our good works are of no value to our justification before God. This appeared in Heidelblog

Though true, that good works do nothing to justify us has been misused to make some of us self-absorbed?

Are good works necessary? They are not necessary for being justified and that is because both God's standard for righteousness and His provision for us is way beyond our means.

However, good works are necessary to express love for others and also God. And so in that sense, good works are absolutely necessary. It is important that we serve those we love. And since we are commanded to love everyone, we are commanded to serve everyone as God served us. In fact, not loving and  serving others is a reason why we need to be justified outside of our own good works.

All of the above needs to be mentioned when addressing the issue of whether our good works can be used to help justify us lest we think that our faith in Christ is just about us.