Some, like myself, believe that coercion without warrant from Scripture is a very bad thing. For others this category of coercion is largely invisible. It just appears to be part of the way things are. In this installment, I want to explain how unlawful coercion is a very real characteristic of our governmental system, and …
Stuff Inviolate
I have been arguing that property rights are human rights. I have been insisting that it is not possible to love your neighbor without respecting his stuff. I have been saying that the commandment thou shalt not steal presupposes the institution of private property in just the same way that the prohibition of adultery presupposes …
One Sees His Point, Of Course
Sure. Let’s Call It a Contribution.
So I have distinguished the payment of taxes that are owed, and the payment of taxes that is rendered out of a principled prudence. In the former instance, paying taxes is a matter of conscience and in the latter it is a matter of intelligence. When I give my wallet to the mugger, I am …
Floating Lazily Away from the Pulpit
“But the Spirit will fall. The thunderhead will roll in. And when it happens, the work of regeneration will be a gully washer, and lots of ecclesiastics will be pretty upset. But many more of them will be soaked through, and it will become increasingly harder to preach our little floating dust cloud sermons” (Against …
Not Going to Mess Around
“The Spirit, when He moves, will not be like a little zephyr, stirring the gauzy curtains of our theological library. His moving will be more like a massive thunderhead, silver on the top and utterly black on the bottom, coming in from the west, and looking to soak absolutely everybody” (Against the Church, p. 202).
Intention Unmediated
“The distinction between the two was the love of God for Jacob and the hatred of God for Esau — the distinction was in God’s intention, and God’s intention is not mediated. The intention drives the mediation, not the other way around . . . The fact that the gift of faith is not inexorably …
With Arms Quivering
Over at First Things, Peter Leithart interacts with a 2010 article by natural law theorist Jean Porter. At issue was the question of whether or not natural law provides a basis for rejecting same-sex relationships or marriages. Porter thinks not, and Peter finds her reasoning compelling — as far as the natural law limitation goes …
When God Gives the Increase
“The Spirit’s work does not come through the means (the sermon, the sacrament) like water through a garden hose. Rather, the Spirit’s anointing is given on account of the means . . . He meets us where He promised He would, in the Word and in the sacrament” (Against the Church, p. 193).
What Jefferson Wrote
Some might want to think it a shame that in my summary of my position on property, I channeled Jefferson, that noted infidel and skeptic. This is what I wrote: “We are created by God, and it is self-evident that we were endowed by that Creator with certain rights that are inalienable, and that among …