This is the second post in the ongoing What Does Liberty Look Like series. When Jesus began His ministry as recorded in Luke, this is what He read from Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to…
Category: Liberty
What Does Liberty Look Like?
This is the first post in the ongoing What Does Liberty Look Like series. In a recent email with friends I mentioned that, “it is not so clear to me that the government having the power to tell people and hospitals what surgeries they can have and when they can have them—even during an emergency—is…
Shaping the Culture Through Christian Economics
I’ve spent the last 30 years of my life trying to free Texans from government oppression. Given that Texas’ biennial budget has grown from $46.4 billion in 1990-91 to the present $235.2 billion (with the government/budget being under Republican control most of those years) and with it the regulatory, confiscatory, and prosecutorial state has also…
A Christian, Liberty-Minded Reader on Culture, Science, Governance, and Economics
I’ve spent a lot of time over the years studying economics, governance, science, culture, etc. from a biblical perspective. Although a number of the books I’ve read are not written by Christians, by God’s common grace non-Christians can contribute to our understanding of the world and often do a better job than Christians–within limits. Here…
The Bible, Politics, and the Gospel
We have a fair amount of discussion in my church over what the Bible teaches when it comes to government and how to apply God’s Word to particular areas of public policy. During one of those discussions, a friend recently commented, “I reject the notion that someone needs to be a small government conservative to…
A Brief Primer on Church and State–and Oppression
“The purpose of government is to justly uphold life, liberty, and truth in order to bring increase and peace to the Kingdom of God.” This shouldn’t be a surprise. Because every government official, every government worker, every voter, every citizen, and every subject was made for one very specific purpose: to glorify God and enjoy…
The Trinitarian Nature of Private Property
Genesis 1:1 clearly establishes God as the owner of creation. Genesis 1:28 tells man to fill and subdue the earth (His property) and have dominion over every living thing (also His property). God didn’t transfer ownership–He is still the original owner, but He did delegate ownership. We see man’s responsibilities in properly exercising this delegation…
Private Property and the Great Commission
In a recent email discussion, a friend from church recently noted, “I don’t think anyone is going to argue that government has carte blanche to take property from people.” As I told him, I don’t think that is the case. For starters, I certainly would. And so might folks like the justices on the Texas…
The Hope of Biblical Compassion: Charity
In my last article, I made the case that the welfare state is unbiblical. I built my argument on three premises: that the welfare state 1) is a form of theft, 2) destroys charity, and 3) harms everyone associated with it–funder, deliverer, and recipient. Let’s take another quick look at this. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10,…
The Tragedy of Evangelical Compassion: The Welfare State
What do we do when we realize the welfare state isn’t working? Well, for a lot of Evangelicals, the trick is actually getting to that point. Many appear content with government welfare programs as a means of assisting the poor; some even seem to think that we are sinning by not spending enough money on…