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John Conybeare, a seventeenth century English theologian wrote,
"We ought not to be carless and indifferent about the future. But as there are goods in life possible to be obtained, and evils capable of being avoided, so we should provide ourselves with proper means to obtain the one and escape the other....If we neglect our own interest, we deserve the calmaties which come upon us."
(Farrakhan, Islam & The Religion That Is Raping America, By Moody Adams, c. 1996)
"We ought not to be carless and indifferent about the future. But as there are goods in life possible to be obtained, and evils capable of being avoided, so we should provide ourselves with proper means to obtain the one and escape the other....If we neglect our own interest, we deserve the calmaties which come upon us."
(Farrakhan, Islam & The Religion That Is Raping America, By Moody Adams, c. 1996)
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Yep.
Mein Kampf has assumed a key place in the functionalism versus intentionalism debate. Intentionalists insist that the passage stating that if 12,000–15,000 Jews were gassed, then "the sacrifice of millions of soldiers would not have been in vain," proves quite clearly that Hitler had a master plan for the genocide of the Jewish people all along. Functionalists deny this assertion, noting that the passage does not call for the destruction of the entire Jewish people and note that although Mein Kampf is suffused with an extreme anti-Semitism, it is the only time in the entire book that Hitler ever explicitly refers to the murder of Jews. Given that Mein Kampf is 720 pages long, Functionalist historians have accused the Intentionalists of making too much out of one sentence.
Mein Kampf has assumed a key place in the functionalism versus intentionalism debate. Intentionalists insist that the passage stating that if 12,000–15,000 Jews were gassed, then "the sacrifice of millions of soldiers would not have been in vain," proves quite clearly that Hitler had a master plan for the genocide of the Jewish people all along. Functionalists deny this assertion, noting that the passage does not call for the destruction of the entire Jewish people and note that although Mein Kampf is suffused with an extreme anti-Semitism, it is the only time in the entire book that Hitler ever explicitly refers to the murder of Jews. Given that Mein Kampf is 720 pages long, Functionalist historians have accused the Intentionalists of making too much out of one sentence.
You missed my point entirely. The U.S. government is often up to no good, yet we swallow whatever the corporate news media dishes up and we rarely pause to think. If we do, the crowd will shout "conspiracy theorist!"
Perhaps the same mentality applied to Nazi Germany.
Thanks for the ellipsis at the end of your sentence. Snark helps.
Perhaps the same mentality applied to Nazi Germany.
Thanks for the ellipsis at the end of your sentence. Snark helps.
Here are some short excerpts from Mein Kampf which them alone should have raised eyebrows in Germany...
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/kampf.html
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/kampf.html
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Not good but Scripture tells us to render to Caesar etc., and in those days the government was pretty debauched as well.
So, I pay taxes, but God holds accountable how others spend it.
Heck, I'm not even in agreement how some churches spend the offerings...again, they have to answer to God, and so do I.
So, I pay taxes, but God holds accountable how others spend it.
Heck, I'm not even in agreement how some churches spend the offerings...again, they have to answer to God, and so do I.
H
All Christians agree that we are required to disobey laws that require us to sin. Presumably, in disobeying these laws, we are hoping that enough people will disobey them that they are either no longer enforced or that they are changed. This suggests that one of the objectives of this kind of civil disobedience is to change a law (or how it is enforced). This qualifies as a type of political activism -- albeit limited to cases where a law requires us to sin.
But things are rather complicated when we consider when, exactly, it is that a law (or legal/political system) requires us to sin.
For instance, there may be no particular law that requires you to sin, but a system of laws or government that makes you complicit in sin. For example, consider all of the infrastructure, bureaucracies, private corporations, etc., that had to participate in a system that lead to the Holocaust. Many, many people participated in this system. Now, supposing that some of these people had enough knowledge of the nature and ends of this political system, certainly any activities of theirs that constituted a clear, positive contribution to the success of the then-existing fascist, nazi political system would have been evil for them, no? I'm hard-pressed to think that it wouldn't be. So, this may mean that a different kind of civil resistance is required of us. In particular, we aren't just required to disobey evil laws, but we are required to abstain from participation in political systems with sufficiently sinister ends. Practically, this may mean that we would be required to quit certain government or corporate jobs, disregard certain bureaucracies when conducting business, withholding certain taxes, etc., with the aim of bringing down the system.
But things get even more complicated when we consider that we can sin through omission. Suppose, for instance, that we have it in our power to prevent some gross evil but don't. I like the example of a doctor who hears pneumonia in the lungs, yet keeps this a secret and doesn't prescribe the necessary antibiotics to treat it. If the patient dies, the doctor is guilty of murder. Similarly, if a judge is in a position to actively overturn an evil judicial precedent but doesn't, he is guilty of sin. Or if he fails to withhold a marriage license from parties that aren't qualified for marriage, then he sins. A person in Hitler's security detail, e.g., may have had an obligation to take a shot at Hitler when he was vulnerable. So, through omitting to take the shot, he may have sinned. Etc.
The point, here, is simple: If Christians must resist government when government requires them to sin, then the extent of that resistance reaches beyond what most Christians today think of. It isn't just sinful laws that we must resist. It is sinful systems, sinful abstention of opposing evil when it is within your power (and position) to prevent it, and more.
But things are rather complicated when we consider when, exactly, it is that a law (or legal/political system) requires us to sin.
For instance, there may be no particular law that requires you to sin, but a system of laws or government that makes you complicit in sin. For example, consider all of the infrastructure, bureaucracies, private corporations, etc., that had to participate in a system that lead to the Holocaust. Many, many people participated in this system. Now, supposing that some of these people had enough knowledge of the nature and ends of this political system, certainly any activities of theirs that constituted a clear, positive contribution to the success of the then-existing fascist, nazi political system would have been evil for them, no? I'm hard-pressed to think that it wouldn't be. So, this may mean that a different kind of civil resistance is required of us. In particular, we aren't just required to disobey evil laws, but we are required to abstain from participation in political systems with sufficiently sinister ends. Practically, this may mean that we would be required to quit certain government or corporate jobs, disregard certain bureaucracies when conducting business, withholding certain taxes, etc., with the aim of bringing down the system.
But things get even more complicated when we consider that we can sin through omission. Suppose, for instance, that we have it in our power to prevent some gross evil but don't. I like the example of a doctor who hears pneumonia in the lungs, yet keeps this a secret and doesn't prescribe the necessary antibiotics to treat it. If the patient dies, the doctor is guilty of murder. Similarly, if a judge is in a position to actively overturn an evil judicial precedent but doesn't, he is guilty of sin. Or if he fails to withhold a marriage license from parties that aren't qualified for marriage, then he sins. A person in Hitler's security detail, e.g., may have had an obligation to take a shot at Hitler when he was vulnerable. So, through omitting to take the shot, he may have sinned. Etc.
The point, here, is simple: If Christians must resist government when government requires them to sin, then the extent of that resistance reaches beyond what most Christians today think of. It isn't just sinful laws that we must resist. It is sinful systems, sinful abstention of opposing evil when it is within your power (and position) to prevent it, and more.
The rich have always bought politicians who in turn make laws favoring the rich. That was bad enough, but now we also have politicians buying the votes of the poor, thus we have the poor and the rich being catered to while the working man carries the load.
My parasitic brother is three times stronger than the average man yet decided 15 years ago he didn't want to work anymore so he put in for disability and was erroneously awarded it because its another vote for democrats. That's how the game is played. He just bought a house in Florida, fishes everyday, is given more each year than I make working full time and he receives free health care.
My parasitic brother is three times stronger than the average man yet decided 15 years ago he didn't want to work anymore so he put in for disability and was erroneously awarded it because its another vote for democrats. That's how the game is played. He just bought a house in Florida, fishes everyday, is given more each year than I make working full time and he receives free health care.
