On Visiting Seattle

For the past few years, the wife and I have been visiting cities that have an MLB team so we can go to a game. Of course we do that once a year because we can afford to go to only one game a year because of the price of the tickets and food. The prices are a shame for they lock out a lot people, including kids, from lower economic classes.

We were originally going to visit Minneapolis this year but things fell through and so we decided on visiting Seattle because neither of us have ever been in the Northwest part of the mainland.

We had a great time in Seattle and took lots of pictures. We visited the Space Needle, rode on the huge ferris wheel, we went through Pike Street Market 2 or 3 times, rode a ferry to visit Bainbridge Island, visited Mount Rainier on a very clear day, and went to a Mariners' game. And so I could show lots of pictures of the places we enjoyed, but the most important picture to show is the one below.

The picture was taken on the side of a building on Pine street. The writing is very clear: 'Without Shelter People Die.' And I've been told that Seattle has a very big homeless population. Thus, when we add 2+2 here, we find that many people die from a lack of shelter.

As visitors, there was not much we could do for the homeless in Seattle. Back home, we donate to a few places that help homeless people. We use to work in a food bank but the combination of a new grandchild along with the pandemic caused us to step back from that. Since then we've had another grandchild. And so now we have been pressed into service of helping to watch the grandchildren. Thus, I am not sure when we will feel free to to volunteer work in helping those in need.

Yes, we had a great time in Seattle and met and talked to some interesting people. We saw some great sites and visited some nice places. I left Seattle knowing that I could be comfortable living in the western part of Seattle. But we should remember that the most important part of any city are the people who live there, especially those who are vulnerable who live in the city  We recognize that fact when we try to personally help the people we can help. But people need more than just help from individuals. They also need the government to step in to help them. That should move us to demand that our politicians support laws and programs designed to help the poor and the vulnerable.

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.