{"id":54867,"date":"2014-09-19T00:07:29","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T07:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=54867"},"modified":"2014-12-28T21:06:36","modified_gmt":"2014-12-29T04:06:36","slug":"first-they-came-for-the-bloggers-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/first-they-came-for-the-bloggers-and.html","title":{"rendered":"First They Came for the Bloggers and…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Hey! Waitaminnit! That\u2019s me!<\/p>\n

Reader Joe Wagner writes:<\/p>\n

I stumbled across an old post of yours where someone was defending Cliven Bundy by saying \u201cfirst they came for the rancher and I said nothing.\u201d We all know the quote that comes from. Is it just me or does it sound morally relativistic? Like we should evaluate things based solely on concern for ourselves?<\/p>\n

So I wrote a short piece<\/a> defending the Moral Law against Godwin\u2019s Law. Hopefully it\u2019s okay that I linked to your post.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s true that we are obliged to defend the Moral Law whether it is in our immediate interest or not. But lots of souls are so filled with torpor that you can no more start with disinterested love of the God than you can demand that a baby eat a sirloin steak.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst they came for the Trade unionists\u2026 etc.\u201d is no, first and foremost a warning for the future but a record of the past: a rueful reflection that says to us \u201cThose who do not learn from history will be doomed to repeat it.\u201d It is directed not to fully morally awake living saints, but to people so sunk in selfishness that the only moral appeals they can respond to initially are ones that say \u201cIf you don\u2019t help this guy, the same terrible thing is coming your way next.\u201d It is akin to an very imperfect act of contrition: not nothing, but not all that great either. The hope, of course, is that the person will one day grow past needing t be beaten with sticks in order to be good and will active seek the good of the other with true agape. But Jesus, not being proud, is willing to stoop down and meet us selfish sinners where we are, thank God.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey! Waitaminnit! That\u2019s me! Reader Joe Wagner writes: I stumbled across an old post of yours where someone was defending Cliven Bundy by saying \u201cfirst they came for the rancher and I said nothing.\u201d We all know the quote that comes from. Is it just me or does it sound morally relativistic? Like we should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-54867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mailbag"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst They Came for the Bloggers and...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hey! Waitaminnit! That's me! 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