I am usually conservative, but run libertarian sometimes. I am decidely Christian. How do I reconcile the two?
Usually I don’t. My beliefs speak to what I believe politically, but not always.
For example, I don’t believe in capital punishment as it is applied today even though I believe capital punishment is Biblical.
Capital punishment is applied too haphazardly for it to be a valid punishment as outlined in the Bible. We take too long to carry it out and too few are put to death for it to be a deterrent.
I don’t believe homosexual unions should be legislated against, even though I believe homosexuality is forbidden by the Christian Scriptures.
When my beliefs and the Constitution clash, I believe the Constitution should take precedence. If I don’t like the Constitution, I can either work to change it or move to a country which more matches my set of beliefs.
I hope that my diary will contribute to more discussion and less name calling about important issues that face us.
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Hello and welcome.
Brian Hibbert (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 3:53PM EST (link)I’m sure you will be able to get some arguments on some of those topics, but today I’m just going to say welcome to RedState.
I will tell you that I don’t find conservatism, libertarianism (small L, not the party as it stands today) and Christianity to be at all in conflict. If there is a perceived conflict, I usually find that it was due to my incomplete understanding of one or another of the ideologies.
Candidate for Trustee of Illinois Central College
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God wants us to be free, to have liberty
Beaglescout (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 6:04PM EST (link)Small-L libertarianism and Christianity are entirely compatible.
After all, God created the universe with eternal physical and moral laws ruling it, and he encourages us to discover and use those laws. It was God’s plan that made us in a way that free markets work to increase our wealth and prosperity. And it is God’s laws, if we follow them, that allow a properly constituted government to help us reconcile freedom and personal responsibility with security.
“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”
Conflict is what you make of it.
phxg (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 4:29PM EST (link)Because if we followed the bible word for word we would be sacrificing cattle and gouging our eyes every other day. What I find important is to understand the situations today as they apply to conservatism (alas what RedState is all about) and develop your approach with those principals in mind.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. –Aristotle
Two things phxg....
Attack Mode (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 6:13PM EST (link)Principles not principals.
Then there is this:
Maybe you didn’t bother reading the New Testament, but in there it talks about all those man made laws that God allowed his people to subject themselves to…also there is a whole bunch in there about a new way to receive forgiveness that doesn’t require any more sacrificial bovine.
Please don’t trivialize the Bible again, I am not asking you to follow it, or even read it, just don’t trivialize or misrepresent it please.
“Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper” Peter Griffin…Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
“I’ll create 5 million jobs from out of unicorn farts and pixie dust” Justatron paraphrasing Obamessiah…yes I love it that much.
My initial reply would have violated the posting rules...
phxg (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 9:05PM EST (link)I make no beans about it; I am not a professional writer and if I occasionally use an incorrect or misspelled word , please, by all means correct me. Your superiority is always a welcome part of my day.
As for your insinuation that I trivialized the bible. When you have kneeled at the side of a 30 year old woman, holding her shaking, blood soaked hands after having had a particularly rambunctious prayer meeting and took the verse about gouging her eyes literally, and succeeded in doing so. When my initial counseling efforts assuaged her internal pain only by reading her New Testament verses.
Or the time I was on scene with a family whose father attempted to sacrifice his first born in the name of God. Trying to explain how a man so well read on the Bible could try to murder his own son.
When you have done that, you can give me an ill deserved lecture about respecting the Bible. Because no where in your reply have you proven that I was incorrect in my statement.
On an entirely related note; for a guy who quotes Peter Griffin in the signature, you sure are wound tight.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. –Aristotle
Psycotics and Bipolar Manics
JHancock (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 9:27PM EST (link)often are hyper religious. They are also hyper enviornmentalists, Obamaphiles, hyper sexual, hyper charitable, irritable, aggressive, the list goes on. Don’t blame tragedies caused by mental illness on the Religion that has helped shape the entire family structure and moral code of western culture.
I don;t go beyond the first responder Crisis Response.
phxg (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 10:32PM EST (link)There is no doubt that these people, while well intentioned in their own mind, had some serious psychological hurdles to overcome. So no blame upon the Bible itself or its’ teachings beyond what people have done in the name of it.
As in these cases I never did find out what became of the individuals, beyond that the woman was petitioned (committed) to the state hospital for in-patient treatment of a yet to be diagnosed psychological disorder. I had to testify in court of my involvement.
Her lawyer actually tried to paint me as an over reacting anti-christian zealot. That was rich.
The father; don;t know other then I was able to get the cops to petition him.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. –Aristotle
Self righteous lecture aside, allow me to respond...
Attack Mode (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 10:09PM EST (link)If you believe you gave an accurate representation of the Bible in the comment I quoted, and that it didn’t merely trivializes what the entirety of the Bible is, then I really don’t have much to say to you.
As far as me being wound tight goes…not really, I just don’t go for comments that in essence treat the Bible as a trivial book of contradictions.
Family Guy can be a really funny show, but when they start bashing on religion I change the channel, no matter what religion they are picking on.
Principle v. Principal, is just a pet peeve of mine…feel free to use Principal from now on…I mean I think it would be just dandy to have a gov’t filled with Principals….then we could just send all the bad guys in the world to detention….;^)
“Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper” Peter Griffin…Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
“I’ll create 5 million jobs from out of unicorn farts and pixie dust” Justatron paraphrasing Obamessiah…yes I love it that much.
I believe "govt of principuls" would be most appropriate...
6eorge Jetson (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 10:32PM EST (link)…as we clearly have neither
nor
I'm not going to get into a "who has a bigger one" match.
phxg (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 10:36PM EST (link)I will leave it that I have seen acts committed that have left me jaded about all religions because our Lord is in our heart, not what one book over another has said it to be.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. –Aristotle
Hi and welcome !
Kenny Solomon (Diary) Friday, January 23rd at 5:45PM EST (link)Arguments…. here at RedState ?………. Never.
Well, to me, being able to reconcile is all in the person, with help from your spiritual guide(s) and as much input as you can take.
For a personal example, as Jewish kid, Christmas time was always a joy to me….. I love the splendor, etc. and especially the reverence shown by one and all. ‘My people’ have Channukah and that’s great – it’s what I grew up with, but I was exposed to everything because my family was like that, plus my Dad’s Sister married into an Italian family….. we all adopted each other…. amazing.
Of course some of the people around me at our synagogue couldn’t understand that feeling of awe for another set of peaceful beliefs and thought I was some sort of crazy person……. but that’s their problem, eh ? Especially because Judaism and Catholicism are pretty close.
One time I was able to attend a midnight mass at a fairly recognizable name church in NY …. wow ! That absolutely blew me away.
Then I got to work two consecutive years as a cameraman for the live broadcasts……. I donated my pay to the kids organization of the church. There was no way I could take money for that. I felt privileged just to be there.
The first year, one of the elder priests blessed me….. then said smiling, “we’ve got you now !” I still laugh thinking about that and know the good Father is with God laughing too.
Cheers and welcome again !