A friend of mine asked essentially this question of me in a recent e-mail. He couldn't understand how such a "warm-hearted" person as myself could embrace conservative values. After much thought, I realize that biblical Christianity and conservatism have many aspects in common.
Self-reliance is the hallmark of conservatism as well as Christianity, at least in the physical realm. The Apostle Paul wrote that if a person won't work, he shouldn't eat. Some members of the early churches assumed that they needed to be free of manual labour so they could study the apostles' teachings and the scriptures. In reality, they became freeloaders, taking food and other goods needed by impoverished believers.
Conservatives and Christ's followers believe that charity is an individual's responsibility, not that of governments. The duty of rulers, as Paul pointed out, is to punish evil and reward good. Instead, non-Christian people want the government to decide who needs help and who is merely freeloading. In practice, private charities are more fair and more efficient than government programs.
Conservatives are concerned with law and order. So are Christ's followers concerned with living peaceful lives. Conservatives and Christians want the guilty to be punished and to make restitution to their victims. Leftists, on the other hand, blame external forces for internal mistakes in thinking. History proves that conservative and Christian ideas work much more effectively because they deal with the root of the problem: sin.
Though my How I Was Razed memoir was theological in nature, I did write about how I obeyed the law while others didn't. Contact me about purchasing this wondrous testimony of God's providence.
Showing posts with label conservatism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conservatism. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 November 2015
Friday, 12 November 2010
MY FIRST FINANCIAL REALITY CHECK.
As far as I'm aware, debt is the biggest crisis this world faces today. Governments, increasingly influenced by Marxist notions of redistribution, recklessly tax and borrow to finance activities once performed by hard-working charities. The bigger the bureaucracies of the nations have grown, the more dependent citizens have become on government largesse.The concept of prudently spending finite funds is opaque to socialist rulers but I had no choice but to learn it. From Deliverance From Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School), here is how I found out that there really is no free lunch or treats for that matter.
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During that autumn, I learned the hard way that life did not owe me a living. The weekend supervisor, a loud-voiced, heavy set, middle-aged, authoritarian whom I shall call Mr. Moiarty, took us to the beach one November afternoon. We walked along a road, which ran parallel to the ocean, for a few hours. We finally stopped at a kiosk selling candy and chips.
"Could you buy me one of these?" I asked our supervisor and pointed at the chocolate bars.
"Use your own money; I'm not your dad. This isn't the little kids dorm. You're supposed to buy your own candy. You can't expect people to always buy everything for you, you know," he chided. Mr. Moiarty's rebuke stung. I foolishly hoped some measure of grace would be extended to us and we could have a few more treats than usual but I realized then that I must make do with my allowance and could not expect help from others.
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Deliverance from Jericho contains many more vignettes of what life was like in that government-run institution. These range from poignant experiences of homesickness to hilarious incidents of mischief. Click here to read more about this book and to order it. You may also e-mail me directly for more information.
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