Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For February 24, 2016

Feb 18

To Elliot Clark and his blogpost on suggestions for being or creating 3rd culture Christians where we share the Gospel. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.

Suggestions #2,3, & 5 are very good. Suggestion #4 needs to be fleshed out. That leaves suggestion #1 and that needs to be qualified if we don't wish to spread colonialism with the Cross. For much of Church history that follows Constantine's conversion has been about Christian imperialism and colonialism is an important issue. That points to how the Church has throughout most of its history, been corrupted by the actual or potential acquisition of political power. With the corruption of the Church comes a distorted Gospel message. And that corruption continues to occur throughout the world today.

So how should this affect our teaching of Church history? Should we just focus on doctrines or do we include the Church's on-again, off-again love affair with political power? For while Christianity can be easily distinguished from other religions by its doctrine, it becomes one of the gang of those seeking power. And such is our dilemma in what to teach from Church history.

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Feb 20

To Joe Carter and his blogpost on how liberal economists disagree with Sanders' economic plans. This appeared in the Acton blog.

Here is a fact that is overlooked in the article. While Sanders never explains in detail how he is going to finance his promises, he has made one valid point: other nations are doing what he is promising to do here. So whatever "liberal" economists are claiming, the point is that a lot of what Sanders wants done is being accomplished under different conditions than exists here. And since conservatives, like Carter, harp on the fact that a raise in the minimum wage will mean a rise in unemployment without ever asking why, it is our current economic system and its conditions that need as much scrutiny as the promises made by each of the candidates.

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To Jordan Ballor and his blogpost on 5 theses on taking care of the  environment. This appeared in the Acton Blog.

Theses #1-3 are fine. But #4 has problems. Whether our economic stewardship clashes with our environmental stewardship should examined case by case basis. For much of produces profits and economic growth does hurt the environment regardless of whether short-term profit is involved. 


Thesis #5 misses a point. Fossile fuels are a key concern because of what they put back into the environment. Just because the use of nuclear fuel doesn't put back the same emissions that contribute to the build up of greenhouse gases doesn't mean that we can afford to neglect what the use of nuclear fuel does deposit in the enviornment. Perhaps solar and wind technology should be looked to more than nuclear--though doing so would not benefit corporate America as much as the other technologies.

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Feb 22

To Joe Carter and his blogpost describing the tariffs proposed by Trump and Sanders as taxes on the poor and working class because of the increased prices they would have to pay for some imported goods. This appeared in the Acton blog.

Free trade advocates forget a couple of things here. First, not everyone is starting from the same point. The industries of some nations' are more developed than others. And one of the reasons why some nations have more developed industries is because those industries were formerly protected by tariffs. So now that they are developed, those nations with the developed industries insist that other nations continue to lag behind them because the other nations cannot use the same method of developing their own industries as were used before. Or in the case of the nations being targeted for tariffs by Trump and Sanders, one nation's industries outcompete their counterparts from other nations because they can cut costs by exploiting workers and the environment This is designed to keep nations in a strict caste system that is governed by those who are calling for their own freedom: business elites. 

This brings up a second problem with free trade. Free trade is not free to the nations that participate in it because they are not allowed to make laws that govern how foreign players from the private sector are treating the people in their nation. What is called economic freedom and free trade is nothing more than the continual reduction of social responsibilities for businesses. And what is deemed as reward for this freedom is the bottom line for those businesses because it is assumed that whatever is good for business, is good for all. 

Analogies are only as good as  their  portrayal of the object is complete. So like statistics, analogies that filter information can be classified as lies. Tariffs have never been viewed as a tax on those purchasing the goods as much as on those producing the goods. And when tariffs allow for nations to develop their own industries, then there comes a tradeoff for the higher prices one must pay today for those tariffed goods. That tradeoff can be more jobs for more people that come from developing industries that can eventually compete with the foreign industries of those nations which must pay tariffs. ANd we know what happens when these local industries begin to flourish. As the supply of goods increases, the prices go down. So to use the venacular here, the "taxes" that the middle and lower class consumers must pay now carry with them the potential for those taxes to self-destruct--as well as the elimination of the economic caste system managed by private sector elites. 

So why is it that Carter did not present this tradeoff or the above mentioned use of tariffs in his analogy and artilcle?

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Feb 23

To Sarah Stanley and her blogpost warning against populism in 
general and how today's manisfestations in support for Trump and 
Sanders presents a danger to freedom. This appeared in the Acton blog.

I believe that the writer here confuses freedom and privilege. The main difference is that freedom is enjoyed by all, privilege is enjoyed by some. And those who are in the economic-political axis, and that includes Charles Koch, are gaining more privileges as the rest of us lose more freedoms. 

There is a reason why the writer here doesn't recognize the difference between freedom and privilege. It is, IMO, that the writer here reduces all freedom to individual freedom. Such destroys the concept of democracy. For Democracy involves a corporate freedom where society tells its members how they are allowed to treat each other. Yes, Democracies can go too far in making such rules. But reducing all freedom to individual freedom weakens, if not destroys, democracy for the benefit of the privileged. 

The Citizens United decision simply allows those who have the means to enjoy a privilege that others do not have. The Citizens United decision works to replace the 1-person-1-vote system on which our democracy is based with the free market principle of $1-1-vote. Those who object to populism may struggle to see why such a replacement is so abhorent. It is because such a replacement ensures a rule by elites rather than a democratic rule by all.

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To Michael Dever, Voddie Baucham, and Bill Kynes and their podcast discussion of Christians and politics.  This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.

There are important points to cover here. First, distinguishing being partisan and political in the Church is important especially since politics includes issues of justice and thus morality. So how can one be political without being partisan? It is a matter of the Church being a curmudgeon to all who are in or are seeking power that enables Christians to be political without being partisan. That is because  the Church can speak prophetically when being a curmudgeon and as long as it acts that way to all who are in or seek power, partisanship dissipates.

Also exposing utopias for what they are is another important point. But there is a subtle and sly way of advocating a utopia. That is to brand all attempts to improve the status quo as being utopian. That is because saying that things cannot improve is simply another way of saying that we have a utopia.

Finally the homosexual and same-sex marriage in society issues was brought up. And here, we should note that there is another issue involved besides a doctrinal one. That issue concerns itself with how we will share society with others, not just whether homosexuality is biblical. Of course it isn't, but neither worshiping other God and we allow freedom of religion. So the question regarding laws concerning hmosexuality an same sex marriage becomes whether we will share society with others as equals or will we seek some hierarchical relationsip as being over them.

Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For January 27, 2016

Jan 20

To Elliot Clark and his blogpost suggesting that Christians should read the Quran for themselves. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.

This is an excellent post. I say this because I was taught in seminary that when reading the Bible, one should read the original documents as much as possible. And when we had to deal with various theologians, we read the theologians themselves rather than what others said about them.

The same principle applies here. If we want to know more about what Muslims believe, reading their critics will not help. Reading what they believe will help us better understand their religion as well as enable us to correct those who are make incorrect statements about Islam.

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To Denny Burk and his blogpost review of the movie 13 Hours. This appeared in Denny Burk’s blog.

But the problem with the movie is the scope of the story. The terrorism starts with the attack on the US embassy. And that seems to fit the pro-American narrative on terrorism in general. Terrorism always starts with what they did to us despite our long-standing history of interventions and support for tyrannical rulers in the region. 

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To Devin Foley and his blogpost reducing the sins of our fathers to the current federal debt. This appeared in the Imaginative Conservative blog.

This article epitomizes what bothers me about conservatives. When it comes to explaining the sins of the our fathers, the only concern is debt. Such disregards our history of racism as seen in the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans from the land, slavery, and  both Jim Crows. It also disregards our history of hegemony as seen in our invasions, interventions, and our support for both tyrants and terrorists. With all of that history and the current situation, the sins of our fathers, according to this article, have only to do with debt. Here, a reminder of one of my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quotes is in order:

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

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Jan 25

To Denny Burk and his blogpost on how future generations will judge our generation for its acceptance of abortion. This appeared in Denny Burk’s blog.

I agree with this article except I would add that abortion is not the only pro-life issue for which we will be judged. Abortion is not this country's only social justice problem where life is devalued and threatened by the status quo. Wealth disparity certainly devalues and threatens the lives of both the unborn and born. So do interventionist foreign policies. And how can we defend our way of life when threatens the quality and actual lives of future generations?

There is more than one issue for which our generation will be judged.

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Jan 26

To Joe Carter and his blogpost on the planned parenthood videos and the legal process that followed. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.

We should note that the videos that some of us might have seen were edited. The unedited videos were reviewed and checked by factcheck.org. Their findings can be found by accessing the link below: Just as a spoiler alert, according to the videos, it doesn't appear that the law cited above was broken. That doesn't mean that there is no reason for portesting Planned Parenthood; after all, they do provide services for those desiring elective abortions. The issue here is the content of the videos.

http://www.factcheck.org/2015/07/unspinning-the-planned-parenthood-video/

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To Mike Edmondson and his blogpost giving reasons why politicians should note be allowed to speak from the pulpit on Sunday morning. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.

Seeing that the caveat is the pulpit on Sunday mornings, most of the points made above are good. However, the last point can be taken as reason not to mention the outside world including politics and justice issues--we should note that politics often involves issues of justice. When political and justice issues are banned from being mentioned in the pulpit so that the sheep may be fed, it promotes a certain insularity among the sheep that can border on an Anabaptist mentality. It can also lead us into becoming more preoccupied with ourselves than we already are. Such is not a Reformed approach. Nor is it consistent with the behavior of God's people especially the prophets from the Old Testament. But most important, such an insularity and resulting self-preoccupation prevents us from loving our neighbor as we should.

If we combine the lessons from the parable ofthe two men praying with the idea of being a curmudgeon, perhaps we can arrive at that meets the concerns expressed above. That one of the roles of any miniter's sermon is to address political issues when injustice is being visited on others. Here, the minister should only address how people are being exploited; solutions should not be offered. In addition, the injustices promoted by all political parties should be mentioned so that there is neither support nor implied endorsement of any political party--this addressing the injustices promoted by all political parties falls in line with the lessons taught from the parable of the two men praying.

Since politics involves issues of justice and God loves justice, we can't avoid mentioning political issues from the pulpit, nor should we. But we should be careful to mention and describe these issues so that justtice,, rather than an ideology or political party, is being promoted.

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To Joe Carter and his blogpost on how the minimum wage is cruel. This appeared in the Acton blog.

If businesses work on such the idealistic approach as described in this video, how come we have the working poor some of whom are homeless? And why do we have certain businesses that use gov't assistance programs to subsidize their payrolls? 

In addition, there are mixed results to the raising of the minimum wage and thus we need more time to study the impact of raising minimum wages in our current economic system. Whereas there was an increase in resttaurant work unemployment in Seattle during the first few months of having a higher minimum wage, that trend has reversed (see http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/08/25/latest-seattle-jobs-numbers-disprove-foxs-minim/205155 ) and overall unemployment in Seattle has dropped (see http://www.seattletimes.com/business/local-business/state-jobless-rate-stays-steady-at-53-percent-in-august/   ). Whle a Forbes article sttes that a comparison between Seattle restaurant employment compared with the restaurant employment for the rest of Washington slightly favors the side that opposes raising the minimum wage and that there are 700 fewer restaurant jobs in the Seattle area since the beginning of the increase in the minimum wage (see http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/10/23/checking-seattles-15-minimum-wage-look-theres-the-job-losses/#bc41da25da40 ). But here we should note that these statistics could be used to support an argument for making the minimum wage standard across a whole state as well as an argument against Seattle's new minimum wage. 

But note that with the Forbes comparison comes our mystery in the minimum wage debate: why aren't we  questioning the economic system that gives us an exclusive-or choice between having a job and being paid a livable wage?

In the meantime, the title of this article is rather ambiguous. Is the cruelty of the minimum wage an indication that it is too low? Or is the cruelty noted by Carter found in the mere existence of the minimum wage? Or is the cruelty in the current attempt to raise the wage? Or finally is the cruelty of the minimum wage a parroting of what Chris Rock said about being paid minimum wage:

You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? "Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law.”

Unfortunately, we have some conservative Christians sources who are so unabashadly pro-business in their ideology that they are blind to the human impact of their ideology has.