don't let inconsistency stop a bad argument

Remember a few days ago when I linked to an article at Sojo about how evil Thanksgiving is, and how we shouldn't celebrate it?

But, apparently, that doesn't mean people Thanksgiving can't be used to stop people from doing productive things, like, you know, working.

In Solidarity with Target Workers on Thanksgiving

Some people who work for Target, a major national retailer that plans to open its doors for Black Friday starting at midnight following Thanksgiving, have circulated a petition in protest. They are right to say enough. I stand in solidarity with them.

However, the idea that this society is willing to allow our materialism to go unchecked to the point that we want to force people to lose a significant portion of a day dedicated to giving thanks because some business does not want to lose a “competitive edge,” is shameful. It is a sad commentary on our values. People have been trampled to death in a rush to get into this or that store for the sake of the bargains. This is tragic. It is time to say enough. Let Thanksgiving Day remain sacred, set apart. We can stop the madness if we do not shop before sunrise on Friday morning. Stand in solidarity with the Target workers.

I remember a time I had to be at work at 12:00 AM the day after Thanksgiving. Of course, I had to be there a bit before midnight, in order to actually start on time. How evil of the I worked for. In fact, this year, I was actually at work for a few minutes Thanksgiving morning. What wickedness on the part of the people who pay me to work for them!!! I should return the money I earned from them!!

Well...no, I won't. Because as bothersome as it was, there is nothing morally wrong with it.

I'm not the biggest fan of Target, but if the people who are so honked off about this don't want to start work at midnight, well, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who would be quite happy to take their places.

generation brats gets special treatment

Occupier Outrages Omitted

MRC analysts reviewed the Big Three network evening (ABC’s World News, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News) and morning shows (Good Morning America, The Early Show, Today) for the month of October and found accounts of anti-Semitism and sexual assault arrests have been completely omitted from the Big Three broadcasts. And when confrontations erupted between the police and the protestors, the networks were much more likely to pin the blame on police for instigating the violence.

In fact, in the few stories of violence at the protests, like the one in Oakland, the Big Three networks took the side of the protestors against the police more often than not with 15 stories (54%) putting more blame on law enforcement officers. Only seven stories (25%) mostly faulted the protestors for acts of aggression. Six stories (6%) didn’t blame any particular side for the violence. Viewers of these stories were also far more likely to hear statements made by reporters or talking heads blaming law enforcement officials for the violence with 36 (71%) blaming officers to just 15 (29%) blaming the protestors.

Despite several charges of sexual assault and rape and instances of anti-Semitism the Big Three reporters have completely ignored these incidents. Not only did NBC’s Today show omit the ugly instances, but on their October 21 show, they actually preached that parents should use the OWS protest as a teachable moment for kids.

Not a single anchor or reporter brought up the anti-Semitic rants found at some of the rallies, like this one caught by MRC-TV cameras on October 21: “The Jews commit more white collar crime than any other ethnic group on the earth, and they go unprosecuted because they can buy their way out of it.... Whenever there’s a billion dollar fraud, there’s a Jew involved.”

So, while the Tea Party is given all kinds of bad labels without any evidential support, Generation Brats of Occupy (whatever) get their racism and violence covered over.

And who says the media isn't biased?

bad theology = bad thinking

Why Christians Should Be Biased

Another theological/political train wreck, courtesy of Sojo.

Make no mistake, Christians should be biased.

Biased? Really? A bias based on what?

Nowhere is the Christian conformity to this world more obvious than in our failure to be biased on behalf of the poor.

Oh, I see. Christians haven't been charitable enough? Really?

I can think of good rejoinders to that charge. I think I've done this a few times before, but since it's appropriate here, let me recommend this book again, The Tragedy of American Compassion. The author shows how in the early years of the US, religious groups and organizations were the ones engaged in charitable work, up until about the early 1900s when the government began nosing in and even discouraging private charity.

Just 25 chapters into my assignment I was shocked. I’m sure I had heard it before but I had never paid attention. But, as an Evangelical Christian who takes the Bible very seriously, I was quite troubled to read about Jesus dividing the world into just two categories — those who took care of the poor, hungry, sick, needy and imprisoned and those who did not.

Though he gives no reference, it's pretty clear that he's referring to Jesus' account of the last judgment, when He divided the sheep from the goats, and talks to them about how they treated His brethren. It always surprises me how these Sojo types always leave off that part about "my brethren". But then, if they mentioned at, it would probably put paid to their notion that this passage is some kind of a call for class warfare and wealth redistribution.

He tells his followers to go hang out with those who are marginalized and picked on by the rest of the culture. He told the poor they were blessed and sent the rich young ruler away.

I'm not sure where Jesus ever told his followers to go hand out with the marginalized and picked on, and the Sojrone gives no reference. I do know that what he wrote about the rich young ruler is wrong. Jesus did not send him away, but he went away because he did not want to do what Christ told him to do. To read this Sojrones take on it, Jesus sent him away as if He were disgusted with him for being rich.

To be conformed to this world is to be biased for the wealthy and powerful.

Really? So, people like Marx and the Socialist and Communists since then, they were not being conformed this world when they engaged in class warfare rhetoric? Or when they called for the taking and redistributing of what the wealthy had? Or when they took power and implemented their theories, to the detriment of almost everyone they ruled?

Or, maybe this Sojrones call to bias is being conformed to this world? To do the rather questionable practice of quoting myself...

To say that, in any aspect of justice, God favors any social or economic class or another, is to go against what God Himself told the people to do. Consider these passages.

Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
Leviticus 19:17

Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike...
Deuteronomy 1:17

These are the sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judging is not good:
Proverbs 24:23

So, I will contend here, that to say that "God favors the poor" is to say that God practices injustice. God Himself has said that justice should be given to both rich and poor without partiality, and to show partiality would be to pervert justice.

Once again, a writer has Sojo has tried to make injustice seem right. That is wrong.

God's selective watching?

God Is Watching

So, the head Sojrone himself weights in on the budget issue, again. And, of course, he's not above invoking the eye of God when he wants to.

When it comes to the bitter and ultra-partisan battles over the budget, the deficit, and the fast-approaching deadline for America to avoid defaulting on its financial commitments, the whole nation and even the world is watching.

But God is watching too.

And, I guess, since Wallis has the audacity to name his little blog "God's Politics", then he must have an inside track on what God is watching for?

Today, Sojourners has a full-page ad in Politico with the message “God Is Watching” as a part of our series of print ads on the budget. This week our radio ads, recorded by local pastors, are playing in Nevada, Kentucky, and Ohio to remind politicians of the moral issues at stake. Faith leaders say God is biased in such matters, and prefers to protect the poor instead of the rich, and instructs the faithful to do the same. This is class warfare now, and when it breaks out, the Bible suggests that God is on the side of defending the poor from assault.

emphases mine

So, Wallis admits it--he's engaging in class warfare. And, of course, God is on his side.

God is biased in such matters? Really, care to show where in the Bible it says that? Rather, if I may quote myself...

God does not play favorites

To say that, in any aspect of justice, God favors any social or economic class or another, is to go against what God Himself told the people to do. Consider these passages.

Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
Leviticus 19:17

Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike...
Deuteronomy 1:17

These are the sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judging is not good:
Proverbs 24:23

So, I will contend here, that to say that "God favors the poor" is to say that God practices injustice. God Himself has said that justice should be given to both rich and poor without partiality, and to show partiality would be to pervert justice.

Wallis' statement is a clear misrepresentation of what God has told us concerning Himself. He cares very much for the poor, yes, and that they should be treated justly, but not at the expense of being unjust to anyone else. Wallis' statement that God is biased, that God shows partiality, is a lie. God does not do that, and He does not tell the faithful to do the same.

Plus, there is nothing in the Bible that tells us that the government must set up a vast, expensive, and cumbersome network of social giveaways to the poor, or else we are not caring properly for them.

One could, for example, look at what God commanded Israel in regards to harvesting and gleaning, that the reapers were to go over the field once and leave what remained for the poor to gather. We can see one example of how that played out in the book of Ruth. But there are some things about that situation that seem to be ignored by these socialism injustice folks. For example, the person who owned the field was to have first of the harvest, very likely the lion's share, while the poor were only allowed to collect what remained after the reapers had gone over it. The poor were not allowed to go in to the field, section off what they themselves thought was fair, and simply take with impunity from the man who owned the field, took the risk of sowing, and who rightfully earned the harvest.

Nor does Jesus insist that either the Israeli religious leaders nor the Romans set up a social net, passing legislation to take from the rich and give to the poor, to create a redistribution of wealth.

Looking at ways to either cut or eliminate wasteful government spending does not constitute an assault on the poor, Mr. Wallis, and shame on you and your class warfare rhetoric and mindset for saying so. You misrepresent, I think with intent, the Word of God for the sake of your own uninformed version of social justice, which is no justice at all, and if the US must experience economic failure because of it, well, better to keep taking and taking than not have your pet social programs not have the glut of funds you want them to have, right?