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{"id":364,"date":"2010-05-24T12:03:23","date_gmt":"2010-05-24T18:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raincitypastor.wordpress.com\/?p=364"},"modified":"2010-05-24T12:03:23","modified_gmt":"2010-05-24T18:03:23","slug":"does-paul-think-like-paul-ron-apostle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/05\/24\/does-paul-think-like-paul-ron-apostle\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Paul think like Paul? (Ron, Apostle)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There\u2019s an interesting NY Times article <\/a>from this past weekend that declares Europeans can\u2019t afford their cradle to grave safety net. \u00a0Declining birth rates, longer lifespan, and the migration of manufacturing to the developing world are all contributors to the problem. Change is needed, and it will be a hard pill to swallow. \u00a0I hope we learn from this as a nation. \u00a0Conservatives and Liberals both need to find some political will to make the kind of hard choices, and I hope we can all agree on this: \u00a0We\u2019ve got to stop living beyond our means. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The changes in Europe, though, will come through raising the retirement age and cutting some benefits. \u00a0Don\u2019t expect Europe to lose its socialist bent anytime soon. \u00a0As the former German Foreign Minister declares: \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of national security, of our democracy.\u201d (referring to the socially equalizing nature of the education and health care entitlements that mark European culture). \u00a0The Minister\u2019s point is that political stability has come about in Europe via the accessibility of education and health care for all people, contributing to a large middle class.<\/p>\n

That Obama is trying to emulate this philosophy through expanding the role of government in our lives is the great fear of conservatives. \u00a0Their case seems based in Romans 13, where Paul declares that the purpose of the government is simple, and limited: \u00a0it exists in order to keep people safe by punishing evil doers. \u00a0(Romans 13:1-7)<\/a> This passage says nothing about providing health care for everyone, unemployment benefits, or for that matter, social security, or medi-care. \u00a0This passage is sometimes interpreted as meaning that the provision of infrastructure, police, and an army, ought to be enough. \u00a0Government? \u00a0The smaller the better.<\/p>\n

I understand the view, but is that really<\/em> what Paul is saying? \u00a0While I don\u2019t know the answer, I do know that CS Lewis said something like, \u201cthe worst crimes are committed by people in suits and ties\u201d (can anyone help me find the exact quote). \u00a0 Who is the evildoer?<\/strong><\/em> The guy who breaks into my house and steals my stuff? \u00a0Of course. \u00a0But is the evildoer also the one who knowingly sells tainted beef, or the company who drops health coverage to a sick person on a technicality after years of receiving their faithful premium payments, or the company who creates and sells derivative swaps, walking away with billions precisely because the markets went under? \u00a0Are these not crimes as well? <\/strong><\/em> What does \u201cpunish the evil doer\u201d mean in these cases? \u00a0I fear that the Ron Paulists would argue that the market will take of these things, that if I die from eating poisoned beef, my family will tell people not to buy at that restaurant anymore, and the market will offer punishment enough. \u00a0Do you agree? \u00a0I don\u2019t. \u00a0I\u2019m happy to know that someone is checking to see that eating establishments use clean plates, and keep their hot food hot, and their cold food cold. \u00a0I\u2019m glad that there are regulations that pilots fly sober, and that no single company can buy out all competitors and control an entire industry, or that nuclear power plants can\u2019t dump their waste in rivers. \u00a0These things require government, and their role is Romans 13ish: \u00a0punish the evil doers.<\/p>\n

Regarding entitlements, I\u2019ll only add that when God ran the government (or tried to anyway), provision was made for the poor, and the year of Jubiliee <\/a>pretty much assured that there\u2019d always be a middle class, because of God\u2019s wealth redistribution program that would make any socialist blush. \u00a0Should Christians be encouraging their governments along these lines as well, or only along the lines of Romans 13?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to limit my posts these days to the subject of sustainable faith, but I continue to believe that \u00a0a mature faith is related to our capacity to critique, as citizens of the kingdom, both the political right and left, as we try and help each other work for the good<\/a> of places where we live. \u00a0Towards that end, discussion of the merits and liabilities of various views can be valuable, not as a means of inciting fanaticism, but of increasing understanding. \u00a0I welcome your thoughts.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"