The Post Where We Link to Stuff You May or May Not Find Interesting and/or Amusing
“When I Give Food To The Poor, They Call Me A Saint. When I Ask Why The Poor Have No Food, They Call Me A Communist.”
Before you get your panties in a wad, I am not advocating communism. Criticism of certain elements of American capitalism is not a wholesale denial of capitalism itself.
I say this because I saw no shortage of Christian bloggers who felt the need to criticize Michael Moore’s latest movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. It was obvious in many reviews that they had not even bothered to watch the movie.
Fortunately, Dr. Witherington is not guilty of this sin. For those who have seen the movie (no diatribes on Moore himself or any of his other projects, please) tell me your impressions. Is Witherington on-target or not harsh enough in his review?
“Home-school em’ Till Their 40…”
The immediate issue here may be the creation-evolution debate, but the more important issue is how Christians should respond to people with whom we disagree. Are all non-Christians idiots? Are all data that *may* be interpreted to challenge the Christian worldview “obviously” the result of a vast pagan conspiracy? How does this attitude cripple apologetics?
Now For Something Completely Different
‘Cause the dudes abide. Try “Biblical Lot” for a good laugh.
“You Don’t Glorify God By Denigrating His Creatures”
. . . so said one of my seminary professors. It is a great observation. There is a time to be humble and contrite before the Lord. This does NOT mean that saying how “worthless” we are all the time is an indication of how holy we are.
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Seminary Nerd is a student at a respected Midwestern Seminary. He hopes to be a Bible Nerd when he graduates, but for now he is content with going to classes and passing along the stack of empty pizza boxes that are the Links of the Week.
I am looking forward to seeing this movie. And I hope others can get past Moore’s obvious political leanings and past movies and take a long, hard look at this problem (and that’s what it is – a problem, not just an “issue.”) Don’t give in to the defensiveness, bravado and fear-mongering which decry any attempt to critically evaluate our economic system. I feel like so many people are behaving like the Black Knight in Monty Python’s Holy Grail – we have lost our limbs but we see nothing wrong with that. WAKE UP!
Those who criticize capitalism don’t understand is that there is no alternative. Whether the capital is wealth, or the capital is influence, it is still traded to make things happen. One aggregates and expends the currency no matter what it is.
The idea that those who wish to use influence as their capital will somehow be more representative of the people’s needs, or somehow better able to deliver the people’s needs is a far-fetched conceit.
Capitalism where influence is the currency as opposed to wealth fails every time it is tried leaving misery and destitution in its wake.
Like democracy, free-market capitalism is the worst system, except for all the others.
Graham,
I would be interested in hearing what you think of the movie and comparing your thoughts to Dr. Witherington’s. He is a seminary prof and I’ve used several of his books on the N.T. A smart guy.
-SN
Tim
Do you think one can criticize certain aspects or elements of capitalism without criticizing the whole thing? Is any criticism of capitalism necessarily an argument for communism? Are the positions that extreme? I would rather have “bad capitalism” than “bad communism” any day of the week. But that is no excuse not to try to make our economic system better.
-SN
-SN
Are all data that *may* be interpreted to challenge the Christian worldview “obviously” the result of a vast pagan conspiracy?
Seminary Nerd, that IS the essence of The Conspiracy Mindset, whether the Conspiracy is Illuminati, Antichrist, Deros from the Hollow Earth, or Alien Reptoids from Draco.
All evidence against The Conspiracy is Disinformation Planted by The Conspiracy. Lack of evidence for The Conspiracy is PROOF The Conspiracy is So Vast THEY Can Silence Anyone. (Except the Lone TRUTHer Taking His Courageous Stand, of course.)
Remember Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle?
“WE WON’T BE TAKEN IN! THE DWARFS ARE FOR THE DWARFS! WE WON’T BE TAKEN IN!”