Once when I was working for a Methodist church in Phoenix, in 1980, we had some people in the church who were supporters of the Moral Majority. I wrote a piece for the church's newsletter which essentially quoted this essay as a critique of Falwell and company.
Interesting. Lewis agrees with me on the interpretation of Luke 12:14, whereas Ilion said I got it all wrong.
ReplyDeleteand you dare to disagree with him?
ReplyDeleteOh, Ilion and I agree on most things. Our main points of disagreement are over sola scriptura, the Magisterium, and his tendency to reduce everything to a right/left dichotomy.
ReplyDeleteBut other than those trifles, we're pretty much on the same page.
"Interesting. Lewis agrees with me on the interpretation of Luke 12:14 ..."
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't.
"... whereas Ilion said I got it [] wrong."
Because you do.
Lewis is talking about the very real danger (to men's souls ... and to the witness of Christ's Hands and Feet) of making one's church into an adjunct, mouch less a subsidiary, of *any* political party, whether an existing one or a new one formed around the kernel of one's church. For the latter, one need look only at the various "Christian" parties on the Continent; they're not very. For the former, one need look only at the various "Christian" churches (*) in the USA which are owned by the politicians; they're not very.
You, however, are attempting to shield the leftist "'platform' in politics" (to use Lewis' phrase) from critique by Christian principles.
(*) as see: the USCCB, all "mainline" Protestant denominations, most historically black Protestant denominations
"Oh, Ilion and I agree on most things. Our main points of disagreement are over sola scriptura, the Magisterium, and his tendency to reduce everything to a right/left dichotomy."
1) Concerning sola scriptura, you take an incoherent stance, because you *do* know and believe -- and frequently implicitly affirm -- sola scriptura to be truth ... even as you attempt to deny its truth in your vain attempt to elevate the Mysterium above Scripture.
2) Concerning the Mysterium, any authority it may have (presuming it has any at all) is fully derivative of Scripture. This statement is not me reasoning in a circle; this is me pointing to the odd and self-contradictory fact that even as The One True Bureacracy attempts to subsume the Word of God, it continues to quote Scripture to ground and justify all its claims and pronouncements ... even if it has to mis-quote Scripture to get that "grounding".
3) Concerning "a right/left dichotomy" -- *all* politics reduces to one of two broad categories --
a) whether one desires mostly to be left alone ... and, consequently, is mostly willing to leave others alone; this is rightism;
b) whether one desires mostly to dictate the lives of others ... and, consequently, is mostly willing to accept having one's own life dictated; this is lefttism.
I think events in the next few months will bear out the folly of the moral majority, Trump is the consequence of their cynicism,I blame them directly, now heir heirs are going to put Trump in the white house, because they are willing to sacrifice their beliefs or powers.
ReplyDelete