A Protestant Integralism? A Review of Mohler's "The Gathering Storm"
- 4 views
JD:
At least twice in your post, you wrote “our” in reference to “conservatives,” which I took to be a political term. That is very disturbing. Too many Christians talk like that. When I preached on abortion last year, I was emphatic that the fact that the bible’s position happens to coincide with the Republican Party platform is an accident. Political parties are meaningless. They should form no meaningful part of our individual and collective identities.
I removed the American flag from our sanctuary last week, and it’s never coming back. The only flag on the platform is the Christian flag, because that’s the only banner to which a Christian ought to give unqualified allegiance. American Christian nationalism is a cancer on the church in this country.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
[TylerR] I removed the American flag from our sanctuary last week, and it’s never coming back. The only flag on the platform is the Christian flag, because that’s the only banner to which a Christian ought to give unqualified allegiance. American Christian nationalism is a cancer on the church in this country.
I’d get rid of the Christian flag too. There’s nothing official about it, just an older version of Jesus junk.
I like the flag. I have no problem with it. It stands for something.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
[JD Miller]I care about low income workers that is why I am against the minimum wage. The low skilled worker will be the first laid off with a raise in a minimum wage.
The point I am making is that I hold the political positions I do because of my care for the poor, not because of my apathy toward them.
And herein lies the problem. New studies every day clearly show that raising the minimum wage won’t decrease jobs and in some cases actually increases jobs because more disposable income, translates into more spending, which translates into more jobs to support that spending. The problem is that many Christians and a ton of conservatives are lost in decades old arguments that are no longer relevant and definitely don’t resonate with people. Here is just one simple article. But since the idea of $15/hr minimum wage has come out either some states or even some companies have adopted it without seeing job losses.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/15-minimum-wage-evidence-that-it-wont-mean…
I plan to hold a ceremony to burn the Christian flag this afternoon. I’ll send the FB Live link shortly. After the flag burning, we will wrap the ashes in the American flag and bury it with an original Scofield KJV (genuine leather) in the back of the church. Battle Hymn of the Republic will be played, throughout, followed by Dixie.
His truth is marching on.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
So thankful to see your move towards orthodoxy and away from the worship of icons.
[TylerR]I plan to hold a ceremony to burn the Christian flag this afternoon. I’ll send the FB Live link shortly. After the flag burning, we will wrap the ashes in the American flag and bury it with an original Scofield KJV (genuine leather) in the back of the church. Battle Hymn of the Republic will be played, throughout, followed by Dixie.
His truth is marching on.
The glory has departed.
Regarding the minimum wage, the standard libertarian/economic analysis is that either it’s irrelevant, and raising it simply raises the minimum wage to prevailing wage levels in the community, or it’s harmful, in which case it puts a lot of people out of work. A fair number of studies are almost intentionally deceptive in that they look at mean employment instead of employment among economically vulnerable populations. Do you use the whole population of Chicago (or wherever), or do you look at the projects on the South Side? You’re going to get very different answers and statistical confidence levels depending on how you frame the study.
Now granted, it’s not an easy monovariant (one variable) experiment, as tax rates, crime, and regulation (among other things) play in as well, but we will do well to remember that no matter what, the minimum wage is always zero.
Regarding the Christian flag, I’d always thought that the symbol of the Church was a Cross, and I’m personally perplexed about why we would imitate the government’s symbol when we’ve got one that’s so much better. Idolatrous? I guess it can be, but the big thing is that using a flag instead of a cross is like showing fiat money instead of gold.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
The cross is in the sanctuary, too. We will smash it with sledgehammers and bury it along with the ashes of the Christian flag. Standy by for livestream link, shortly. Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA will play after Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie, which we will sing as a medley. We will close with an offering for the Thurston County Republican Party.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
I must now cancel myself and the congregation. Goodbye.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Challies does a lot of quoting, which is helpful…
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
It looks like an extension of the same thing Mohler says on his podcast. I haven’t listened to Mohler for a long time, because the Briefing quickly becomes depressing and monotonous. Worldviews matter. The West is dying. Things are getting worse. It became easily the most depressing part of my day. I am glad I no longer listen. The Briefing will do little but depress and frustrate you. Once you get Mohler’s basic point, every episode is like heating up stale leftovers in the microwave - you know exactly what you’re getting.
It looks like this book is the same. I already know what it says. So does everybody else who has ever paid attention to him. Why buy it?
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Discussion