Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Jim Wallace Sojourners..........

Dear Jim,
 I'm a huge fan of yours and have always pointed to you as one the the Christians that's a model of a "good Christian". So many people think the idea of a "good Christian" is little more than a bad joke these days. I used to be mad at Bill Maher cause he never had Christian's like you on his show, just super right wing ones. You like Rachel Maddow have really let me down recently though. You can attack the Tea Party all day long but when you then try to say that Libertarian philosophy is anti Christian then I feel you've gone way over the line. I'll go point by point through your recent blog.

You said:

"Libertarian abandonment of the the most vunerable, whether its unborn lives or the poor." 
I am a Libertarian and a Christian and as a Christian I am against abortion. I am also against heroin but that doesn't mean I think its the government's right to tell people whether they can have it not. If we got to keep more of our tax money caring citizens like myself could fund places that would take the unwanted babies and raise them with love and care, giving the parents an alternative to abortion. How dare you say that we Libertarians don't care. All of our money is taken for war and Wall Street so I have scant left to give. And by the way Jim, you say Libertarians aren't holding the Government accountable for their fraud and theft of citizens property, money and their very lives for unjust causes. Have you never seen Ron Paul in the last thirty years? That's all he's ever done!

"An anti-government ideology just isn't biblical."
If that's true then why were all the the Apostles, according to tradition, put to death by the state? Why was Paul and all the other Apostles sentenced to capital punishment if they were so pro government? Government is fallen just like the rest of humanity so why should I have such faith in it when its doing such a crappy job? I am not against the existence of Government, merely its size. Canada's health care bill was 8 pages long. That's a good size for a health care bill, not what we got. Also, Libertarians can't be pro constitution and be anti government. We just want the government to be for the people and not for central bankers and corporate elites.


"The Libertarians' supreme confidence in the market is not consistent with a biblical view of human nature and sin."
Libertarians don't think that the Market is the solution to sin. That's what the courts are for. We also are not stupid enough to think that the Government is the answer to sin either. Everything the Government touches goes bad. Medicare will be bankrupt soon. Social security will follow soon after. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did a great job with the real estate sector. The Federal Reserve has been such a force for good in battling sin and injustice. Listen to yourself man! Like Ron Paul said, the states can take care of BP in the courts. Its no different than if you dump a bunch of pollutants in my yard. I then sue you for destruction of my property. True Libertarians don't think there's no need for a meat inspector but the more the regulatory system grows the more of a monster it becomes. Big Corps. pay off or even install their own in the regulators position. Watch "The Warning" on Frontline. They gave Brooksley Born's job as Wall Street watchdog to a guy from the Fed! Obama did that. When will you realize that its the size of, and corruption of, and not the existence of the regulatory machine that we disagree with. We don't say "no" government, we say "small" government. Elizabeth Warren doesn't need a newly created position, they just need to listen to someone like Brooksley Born when she sounds the alarm in the first place.

"The Libertarian preference for the strong over the weak is decidedly un-Christian."
When Jesus helped people was that the strong helping the weak or vice versa? Who in the hell else is supposed to help the weak but the strong? Again, the more of my tax money that the Government takes from me, the less I have to give to the needy. Jesus said what Caesar does is dealing with a totally different Kingdom than His. For example, while there was slavery in society at that time, slaves were sometimes over their masters within the church hierarchy because what happened outside the church was Caesar's business. but what happened inside the church was God's. Jesus never tried to make the government take care of the poor. He inspired those inside the church to do it. If these modern churches weren't so full of crap then the three the biggest ones in any city in America could get together and end homelessness and hunger in their towns. Do they do it? NO. And they don't even have to pay taxes. Now you're saying the government should take my money do it because you think they can do a better job of it than me. I say, you're crazy.

ob 

4 comments:

  1. Hi ob - thanks for sharing your thoughts ..

    I first encountered Jim Wallis at wapo's "on faith" online forum and as a Christian - I believe we differed in the interpretation of scripture (hermeneutics).

    When he reads Isaiah 61/Luke 4 - he believes it is a call to "social justice" achieved through government imposed equality here on earth and it seems noble enough - but what I read is the announcement of Jesus' intended work on earth - a very singular call to reconcile man with G-d through blood redemption from sin - something noble in an entirely different way ..

    Either way.. libertarian thought has a long and close tie to Christianity. How can I ever completely believe and experience true conversion - if I am not equally free to disbelieve? That's why I hold strongly to the separation of church and state and our Constitution's Bill of Rights - because they allow the freedom of choice. If our present world is temporal and imperfect - shouldn't I have the freedom to determine and set my own course? And as we have free will and our reality is (as yet) undetermined - please, Jim Wallis, don't tread on me or my neighbor ..

    I also agree with your take on the apostate church. One of my favorite CS Lewis quotes is from Screwtape Letters where the senior demon advises his lesser:

    "One of our great allies at present is the church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans."

    : )

    Mylon LeFevre - OLD GOSPEL SHIP

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6vDtEVvvNk

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  2. Hey Oteil, really enjoy your blog. Also, have not kept up with the ABB world as of late but I hope you get the Peacemakers back together! Merry Christmas.

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