The book Prologue focuses on the parable of the Good Samaritan as found in Luke 10:25-37 and answers the question, “Who is my neighbor?” as “the one who showed mercy.” This parable of Jesus raises several questions, the first about the necessity of mercy: is showing mercy really a necessity to being a Christ follower? And secondly, about the scope of ministry… does he really mean literally anyone is my neighbor? And thirdly, the question as to the motive of mercy – do we perform it out of duty or does it overflow from hearts of real compassion?

The Introduction unpacks the question, “Who is my neighbor?” further. Keller cites statistics (valid through 1997) of the following groups:

• The Growth of Poverty
• The Homeless
• The Working Poor
• The Children of Poverty
• The Youthful Poor
• The New Ethnics
• The Blue-collar Poor
• Gray America
• The Sick
• The Prisoners

The statistics are overwhelming even though out of date.

Keller concludes:

1. We do indeed live on the Jericho Road (see parable)
2. The church of Jesus Christ must squarely face its responsibility for the neighbors lying in the road (see parable)

“Only the ministry of the church of Jesus Christ, and the millions of “mini-churches” (Christian homes) throughout the country can attack the roots of social problems.”

“Only Christians, armed with the Word and the Spirit, planning and working to spread the kingdom and righteousness of Christ, can transform a nation as well as a neighborhood as well as a broken heart. That is what the rest of this book is about.”

Stay tuned…

Apparently at least one blogger thinks so, and had the guts to quote George Barna’s research to support his assertion! Author and researcher George Barna responds to this assertion in a recent blog post of his own.

First, I found the alleged bloggers perspective offensive and mis-informed based upon personal experience.

Second, I find George’s response and perspective enlightening, especially as it relates to the potential of conventional churches to become “cult-like” – but in a different way than what many would admit is all too common.

I also appreciate George’s perspective on the tendency of people to see what they want to see in research data, and to manipulate it to support their view – as did the alleged blogger. I have read several of the books where Barna reports on his research related to house churches, and nowhere does his data suggest anything close to what this blogger alleges. In fact, just the opposite is the case, which perhaps explains why more and more Americans are finding their spiritual needs and Christian growth experience better met through smaller, in-home meetings or “house churches.” In my opinion, it is a trend that will increase if the conventional church continues to resist making the gospel relevant to a postmodern, post-Christian culture.

George Barna's Blog Website

Click on the banner above to read George Barna’s blog post on this topic.

Want to learn more about the history of the house church, its biblical basis in the New Testament and how it is a viable structure today? Visit The House Church Book website to learn more.

The House Church Book - Cover

I would have to agree with Jay that the answers is “Yes” when “capitalism” is properly understood and practiced. This view is counter to a growing number of young American evangelicals who are buying into the viewpoints of evangelical activists such as Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo, who criticize the “capitalist” system and argue that in a nation as wealthy as America the government can and should take care of the poor.

It was good to hear Jay make a very good point that in order to be a Christian, there is no imperative that one must be a capitalist. Rather, Christians my hold to many different economic and political viewpoints and remain Christian. However, this does not mean that all the possible viewpoints are equally valid. Jay states that he believes “capitalism” rightly understood actually reflects the Christian worldview and values more closely than any other economic system, and that the Christian worldview actually contributed strongly to the rise of capitalism. I agree.

What do you think?

Kindle DX

Kindle for the Mac is also coming soon!

• Common Sense Economics
• The Constitution of Liberty – Frederich A. Hayek
• The Law – Frederic Bastiat
• Knowledge and Decisions – Thomas Sowell

I am currently reading Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity and really learning from and enjoying it! This book is written by three college professors: James D. Gwartney, Richard L. Stroup, and Dwight R. Lee in a surprisingly easy to read style intended for the average person.

Common Sense Economics

Part 1 – Ten Key Elements of Economics

1. Incentives matter.
2. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
3. Decisions are made at the margin
4. Trade promotes economic progress
5. Transaction costs are an obstacle to trade.
6. Profits direct businesses toward activities that increase wealth
7. People earn income by helping others.
8. Economic progress comes primarily through trade, investment, better ways of doing things, and sound economic institutions.
9. The “invisible hand” of market prices directs buyers and sellers toward activities that promote the general welfare.
10. Too often long-term consequences, or the secondary effects, or an action are ignored.

People earn income by helping others.

I found #7 particularly interesting because we often hear in the media and in political discussions that wealthy people exploit others to gain their wealth and that big capitalist corporations are bad, and other broad statements like these. Politicians love to pick on this group and blame all sorts of evil social problems on their greed and selfishness.

However, when you stop and think about it, this view cannot be true. If I want to increase my wealth (as I am trying to do everyday at my business, or you are by working each day at your job) then I have to figure out how to help others in ways that create more value to them. If I am unwilling to do this, my chances of wealth and employment go down dramatically. The only way I can grow my business is to help more people in ways that are more valuable to them.

Even people who are not motivated by a strong personal desire to improve the world around them have to develop skills and perform actions that are valuable to others.

There are big exceptions to this general principle such as we witnessed with the 2009 Bernie Maddof scandal where he actually did become wealthy for a time by exploiting others. However, look at what happened. He was found out and is now paying the consequences. Thankfully, our market economy tends to weed these “bad apples” out and expose them for their unethical and criminal behaviors. Thankfully we have a legal system that generally prosecutes those who break the rules of fairness and who overrun the rights of others.

The bottom line is that I agree with the authors that wealth comes from providing products and/or services that other people value.

Aside from that, I really enjoyed the incredible computer generated graphics and special effects that made the other world (Pandora), otherworldly. The story was interesting too… how these future earth humans could link up a human with a “genetically engineered” avatar version of themselves, one mixed with the DNA of the local world inhabitants. This genetic combo produced some pretty interesting “blue people” avatars (See Jake Sully below).

Neytiri and the Avatar of Jake Sully

The biggest problem I had with this movie was the worldview that the filmmaker “preached” to me during the whole thing. It went like this…

• Humans are bad
• They destroy the environment of their own world
• They move on to other worlds and destroy those as well
• They form evil capitalistic corporations that are only interested in the bottom line
• Humans/corporations do bad things like kill innocent indigenous beings just to make a buck

On the other hand…

• Native indigenous humanoids are pure and near perfect
• The indigenous humanoids may be more technologically “primitive” but they are in tune with Nature
• Native indigenous humanoids are “spiritual” and can connect with the “spirit” of all animate and inanimate things and are therefore superior to earth humans
• They apparently can only do good
• Only humans that understand the value of these indigenous humanoids and work with and for them are noble and worth anything
• In the end the “good” guys (indigenous natives) win against the bad guys (earthlings) through the power of their superior spiritual networking with the planet.

I mean, I love a good “evil vs. good” sci-fi/fantasy epic thriller as much as the next guy… but this kind of overt anti-human, environment-worshipping, nature-spiritualizing preachiness was just too much.

It doesn’t even come close to Lord of the Rings – still the master standard in my book.

Before his death in 2008 from throat cancer, he had became an outspoken skeptic of man-made global warming and wrote and spoke on the topic and environmentalism in general. I reviewed his book, State of Fear in 2007 which deals with the topic of man-made global warming.

This is an interesting video clip where he comments on Environmentalism as a religion through his training in anthropology. I think his perspective is very interesting and informative. What do you think?

• The 4:8 Principle – Tommy Newberry
• The Search for God and Guinness – Stephen Mansfield
• The Survivors Club – Ben Sherwood
• Safely Home – Randy Alcorn
• Deception Point – Dan Brown
• The House Church Book – Wolfgang Simson
• The Blood of Lambs – Kamal Saleem
• The Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver
• Same Kind of Different as Me – Ron Hall and Denver Moore
  

Ideas on Liberty, Religion and Society

A friend recently asked me to put together some resources on the conservative economic and political worldview (especially from an evangelical Christian perspective), so that he could become better informed on this viewpoint. I decided to turn my research and information gathering into a blog post so that others might benefit from it as well. These are all resources that I have used, still use and/or tap into to stay informed on this general topic. You will notice that I shy away from the shrill, reactionary and negative approach of some “conservatives” in favor of a more thoughtful, engaging and reasoned approach.

This post will be updated as I gather more information. Please leave your comments below on additional recommendations!

Newsletters

• Hillsdale College – “Imprimis” (FREE)
• “The Freeman“ – Free E-newsletter of The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)

Magazines

• World Magazine – We subscribe and get the print version – delivered every 2 weeks.
  • Africa Rising – Mindy Belz
  • Minding Africa’s Business – Mindy Belz, Alisa Harris
  • Godly Endeavor – Marvin Olasky
• Christianity Today – We subscribe to the print version, however all content is eventually posted online
• National Review – Founded by William F. Buckley, Jr.
• US News & World Report

Books

• “Money, Greed and God“ – Jay W. Richards
• “Economics Does Not Lie“ – Guy Sorman
• “Human Action: A Treatise on Economics“ – Ludwig von Mises
• “The Search for God and Guinness“ - Stephen Mansfield
• “Infidel“ – by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• “The Law“ – by Frederic Bastiat - This is a relatively short book, dealing with the correct role of government, law, and true justice. It draws on a Christian worldview in terms of private property rights, but is mainly just logic-based. It is a little academic but still an easy read.
• “What We Can’t Not Know” – J. Budziszewski
• “Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity“ – James D. Gwartney (Florida State University), Richard L. Stroup (Montana State University) and Dwight R. Lee (University of Georgia)

Essays-Articles

• “I, Pencil“ by Leonard E. Read - This short essay explains how the coordination needed to make a simple pencil is its own kind of miracle. Example of what society can do without a central planner.
• “Imago Dei and the Fall: The Implications of Two Christian Doctrines for Economics” - Lecture by Dr. PJ Hill, Professor of Economics at Wheaton College - My son Marshall saw Dr. Hill give this lecture in November 2009 at the American Enterprise Institute in DC. After reading this myself, it is a tremendously coherent argument for why free-markets are the best economic system, based on the foundational Christian beliefs about how God originally created humans and the reality of how we’ve fallen.
• “The Problem with Conservatism” - J. Budziszewski
• “The Problem with Liberalism” - J. Budziszewski
“I, Pencil” by Leonard E. Read
This short essay explains how the coordination needed to make a simple pencil is its own kind of miracle. Example of what society can do without a central plannerby Leonard E. ReThis short essay explains how the coordination needed to make a simple pencil is its own kind of miracle. Example of what society can do without a central planner.

Authors-Thinkers-Speakers-Economists

• Dinesh D’Souza – Thinker, author, columnist – heard him speak at a Ravi Zacharias event
• Marvin Olasky – the personal series describing his path from Communism to a conservative-Christian it a must read
• Michael Novak – Theologian and Author
• Thomas Sowell – African-American Economist, Professor, Author, Thinker
• Chuck Colson – Breakpoint, Prison Fellowship, author of many great books on Christian faith and culture
• Mark Steyn – Author and columnist, who also happens to be Canadian
• Walter Williams – Professor of Economics at George Mason University
• Milton Friedman – Nobel Prize-winner in Economics
• Friedrich Hayek - advocate of Austrian Economics

Websites-Blogs

• Townhall.com
• Free Republic
• First Things
• Institute of Economic Affairs – UK
• Who Really Cares? – Charitable Giving Stats

Organizations

• The Acton Institute
• The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)
• Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
• The Center for Vision and Values – Grove City College
• The Hoover Institution of Stanford University

Media

• “John Adams” – HBO Mini-series
• “Liberty, Rights and the American Founding“ – FEE Seminar on YouTube
• WIND Radio 560 AM –  Chicago Talk Radio
• “The Call of the Entrepreneur” – This video by the Acton Institute tells the story of 3 different entrepreneurs and demonstrates the true value that entrepreneurs create for society, weaving in aspects of Christianity. It gives the conservative view of businessmen and wealth, not as evil but as a beneficial part of society.