this is what the Catholic church teaches:
Jesus is the way the truth and the life
the church is in persona christi.
it has a government. that government is the largest in terms of people governed and oldest on the world. the essence of the church government is a concept called subsidiarity. this is why it is also the most efficient government man has ever known.
it is polylingual, multicultural.
And entirely voluntary. It uses moral authority to persuade, not violence to compel.
The family is in persona christi. It is voluntary too, although some families are run like states, so they introduce violence.
The state is not in persona christi. In fact, it is rejected by God himself.
See
In particular: this section
1 Samuel 8
New International Version (NIV)
Israel Asks for a King
8 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders.[a] 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead[b] us, such as all the other nations have.”
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. ”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
The state is predicated on violence and compulsion. It is not voluntary. See that last sentence?
A king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
There was occasional violence before 1 Samuel 8 but this is where the endless violence started.
Human desire, contrary to God’s will, is to get someone else to fight our battles,pick up our tab, for everything from transportation to housing to education to health care.
The free market, grounded in natural law, does this, but you must take responsibility for your own battles. You cannot pass them off to others. This is the heart of the rejection of natural law and free markets.
Weber defined the state as a “a given territory with a monopoly on violence.”
Just because some cracker named Max makes such a definition means nothing, unless politicians worldwide order affairs to the end of the state being that which is a defined as a territory with a monopoly on violence. Well, politicians worldwide order affairs to the end of the state being that which is a defined territory with a monopoly on violence. The people get in return a promise “a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” And free health care, education transportation and housing. How do they do it! Well, they don’t. It costs more to have the state provide it, and it is worse for the process that distributes it. You just do not notice your loss. As JB Say noted, it’s what you don't see that you are missing.
In response to God’s warnings, the Jews said “deal.” Most of mankind has said said “deal.”
But if not violence, how can the state exist? It cannot. It must have violence, or no state. therefore I am an anarchist. Anarchists love government. the game of chess has a government. your Wing Chun club has a government. The catholic church has a government. All work on a voluntary basis. The Amish, the catholics and the wing chun and chess association all use shunning for those who refuse to live under the government.
No state required.
But given that violence is perpetual, how do we face it, if not with state and its permission to use violence, a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”? We cannot just shun an ax murderer. We cannot ignore a Mongol Horde.
The premise is based on a photo, not a video, as Rabbi Lapin might argue. The Golden horde spread quickly because the people they “conquered” were so oppressed by the state that promised people it would “to go out before us and fight our battles.” In time, that got so bad people welcomed the Mongol Hords as a relief. This is how Islam spread, This is how the Qing overtook china. The people escaped to anarchy.
When USA is conquered by invaders, it will be to the ticker tape parades of Americans. We see the films of the French welcoming Americans. There are films of french welcoming the germans too. That is not unique to france.
Thou shalt not kill. Not every lethal threat has to be met with lethal violence. We cannot even desire to kill on our hearts. We may have religious and philosophical nonviolent scruples, but we also have instincts which scruples cannot overcome. An ax murderer finds himself dead in a free market. You need no “stand-your-ground laws” to have what instinct provides. Early. The state spends extraordinary amounts to keep ax murderers and child molesters and rapists alive.
Well, we cannot have people taking the law into their own hands.
Defending yourself instinctively against a lethal threat is not taking the law into your own hands. There are no laws against it. Instinctual violence is necssary and sufficient to protect us. Killing suspects is dicey business. When there is no state, the rules laid out in deuteronomy begin to make sense. But those days are long gone. We have the state, compliments of the event first recorded in 1 Samuel 8, but repeated ad nauseum ever since then.
There are laws against instinctively defending your life against a lethal threat from a police officer. Only the state may kill first without provocation and escape any justice.
How is the power concentrated?
Love of money is the root of all evil. Usury (what we call interest) is forbidden by all religions. the catholic church today forbids it. It is forbidden because it does harm. Paying and receiving interest concentrates power in the hands of the few over the many.
Making money on money, rice on rice, with no risk in participation to the lender is strictly forbidden because it is precisely the game. By concentrating money in the hands of the few, they buy they create the commanding heights, which holds forth that mammon is god.
They say our modern society must have interest in order to have the good things we all have. Nonsense. We can have all of the good things without usury. We get wars and poverty with usury.
They say with PVT that interest (usury) is just because it represents a compensation for losses in lending money, and both parties volunteer to engage in the practice. Voluntary is good. But then, why do we not enforce voluntarily incurred gambling debts?
The problem with usury is moral hazard... 4 & 5th parties pay 3rd parties to protect first parties from second parties. Very diffuse, and when you are assured it is for YOUR own good, you nod your head in vague assent. We like to think of ourselves as for good things and against bad things. When we do not quite understand something, but we are told it is for our own good, we will nod our heads in vague agreement. We often nod our heads in vague assent to the most egregious schemes. (Nodding our heads is something we do before we fall asleep, too.) And important skill to develop is when someone in authority tells you something is good for you, your first reaction should be to ask "why?"
18 year olds foolishly take on student loans. The state enforces the collection and entrapment of foolish 18 year olds. they back it with violence.
If no state violence, then what? Collectively, people would shun disputing parties in a case in which a 21 year old agreed to pay the principle but not the interest on a student loan. (Students were allowed to vote at 18, if they gave up their protection from exploitative contracts at 18). The state makes arbitrary statues of who is guilty or not. The mass of opinion is closer to justice, A real abuser finds he starves to death because he cannot get anyone to give him a ham sandwich. Reform, or no ham sandwich!
If people declined ot pay usury, then there is no means to amass exceptionally wealth. there is no means to accumulate property beyond the natural rights definition of ‘what you mix with your labor.” Free markets militate against exceptional wealth, but they promote innovation and more better cheaper faster of commodities.
When everything you need is affordable, where is the advantage o being rich and powerful? Free markets are not about amassed capital and power, it is about just and rational distribution of goods and services, especially the scarce.
Capitalism is about amassed wealth and power, and thus it is loved far and wide. With massed wealth and power, you can and get moral hazard... 4 & 5th parties pay 3rd parties to protect first parties from second parties. and get others to go out before us and fight our battles.” Nice!
This is why I cannot be a capitalist, and where I part company with the Austrian school. Over usury.
This is what Jesus was offered by Satan at the temptation in the desert. Free food. Safety. Power. Satan was sizing up Jesus, wasn't sure just who Jesus was. This was the first time, but not the last, that anyone whom Satan had tempted declined the offer. Satan began to realize who Jesus was. Satan is a liar, but Jesus knows the truth. Jesus was tempted because Jesus knew Satan could deliver food, safety, power Both Jesus and Satan knew that then. They know it now. Anyone who accepts power is following Satan.
Most economists and theologians point to Romans 13, “render unto caesar” and jesus paying the temple tax as biblical foundation for the state. Their reading of scripture is contumacious. Those must be read in light of 1 Samuel 8. They must be read in terms of love your enemy. they must be read in terms of heaping coals on your tormenters head by turning the other cheek. In the passages cited, the clear and present evil, slavery and taxes for example, are identified, and the way to overcome the evil is explicated. Do not resist. the government over you is condign punishment for your sins. First christianize yourself, and then christianize your government, then there will be no state. the state is to be christianized out of existence, not something upon which to hitch a ride. In the way most bishops are no different than Dan Savage. Both want the state to use violence to advance their preferences, whether in health care delivery or the definition of marriage.
The Southern white slavers could read the Bible and understood it perfectly well. AS Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Ann jacobs, who was there, makes it clear the slavers were very much against, and suppressed reading, and evening hearing the Gospel. Nobody thought the bible supported slavery. No, St Paul recognized great evil, and advised practical, effective means for fighting it. He never advocated joining in.
The Southern white slavers could read the Bible and understood it perfectly well. AS Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Ann jacobs, who was there, makes it clear the slavers were very much against, and suppressed reading, and evening hearing the Gospel. Nobody thought the bible supported slavery. No, St Paul recognized great evil, and advised practical, effective means for fighting it. He never advocated joining in.
Contemporary church/state relations are just that, recent and unusual. For millenia there was an argument over divine right of kings vs divine right of the church. Somestimes the church was up, sometimes down. With modernism the argument between king and church was settled: the divine right of the state.
How can an entity that is not in persona Christi define terms for an entity that is? How can an entity that depends on the state for funding object to the tune it calls? The contmporary church needs the state. Dan Savage does not need the state. the differences at that point are merely a matter aesthetics. It’s all ugly when the state is involved. But in the argument, advantage Dan Savage.
this is what the Scripture teaches. those who love the state obfuscate the clear lessons. When have you ever heard 1 Samuel 8 preached on? Never? Really? is that a coincidence?
Instead we get theologians and economists paganizing christianity by claiming a Christian must pledge allegiance to the state. Blasphemy!
People confuse power and rights. the state has power to do things, like search you at an airport, but not the right. the state is a legal fiction, so it cannot be granted rights. it only has power, as Eisenhower noted, both sought and unsought. And it is only people exercising power.
it is people who have amassed property who control the commanding heights and direct the masses who clamor for a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
Abraham was willing to slaughter his son to appease his God. Abraham proved he believed he was dealing with a god, and then God revealed he was the God. And The God does not want child sacrifice, or the state. Today Catholics send priests to serve in the state military to attend to their children they sacrifice to the state so these christians can have a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” those who pledge allegiance engage in child sacrifice, contrary to the wishes of the God of Abraham.
We have the power to pledge allegiance to the state, but not the right. We have the ability and right to form a government, but not to employ violence. the state and violence are necessarily one. God rejects the state, and Satan has it on offer.
it is one or the other, God or mammon, not both.
No comments:
Post a Comment