Q&A Fridays! Issue #55

To you new folks, this is a little segment we call "Q&A Fridays". Q&A Fridays does not always (in fact almost never) comes out on Friday. You may submit questions via email, or by asking your question in the comments section of this blog. Your question may be about anything at all... Here is my standard intro...

Welcome to Issue #55 of Q&A Friday for Friday the 20th of March, 2009. I want to thank you all for your great emails and questions. I want to remind everyone of the rules by which I will be playing: Not all questions will be answered, and not all those that are submitted can be fitted into one issue. I may combine similar questions from multiple people into one question. Those that did not make this issue (for length reasons) might be included in a future one. Questions might not be answered or included in the Q&A for the following reasons:

The scope may be too broad, or it may involve a topic on which I have taught at length... ex: “Can you explain the whole Creation?”. The question might need to be asked more specifically, or with fewer presuppositions that I would have to handle before actually getting to the question (I do reserve the right to rewrite questions to make them more clear and understandable or to make them more amenable to the format here). Answering the question might drag me off of “message” or into an area on which I am currently teaching, but at a point where I haven’t gotten to yet. If the question is answered in an upcoming teaching, or would involve getting into a topic I have planned for the future, then I will likely choose not to answer it yet. The question might be considered rhetorical, or might involve me bearing witness against myself... such as “Why, Bunker... Why?”

As always, send your questions to Q&A Fridays:

editor@lazarusunbound.com

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Michael,

I have heard you call yourself a conservative before and I'm not quite sure if that means a conservative in general or a political conservative. But you seem to talk harshly of "neo-cons". Can you explain the difference between a conservative and a neo-con?

Thank you for your question. Speaking politically...

What is a Neo-Con by Michael Bunker

A Conservative believes that the government governs best that governs least.
A Neo-Con believes that big government is fine so long as it is enforcing and protecting the interests of big business and the military.

A Conservative warily trusts his country but never trusts his government.
A Neo-Con trusts his government and never trusts his countrymen.

A Conservative believes that the Constitution limits and restricts the power of government, and protects the rights and freedoms of the individual.
A Neo-Con believes that the freedoms and rights can only be protected by a government loosed from the bonds of the Constitution.

A Conservative believes that when government can do wrong, it will, and that it must be restrained from doing wrong by laws.
A Neo-Con believes that laws restraining government are tools to protect terrorists and terrorist lovers.

A Conservative believes that a terrorist is an individual who wants to destroy freedom by causing fear.
A Neo-Con believes that a terrorist is anyone who is afraid of the government when it is being run by Neo-Cons.

A Conservative watches the pendulum swing. When Neo-cons are in charge, the Conservative is applauded by the Liberal and condemned by the Neo-Con. When Liberals are in charge, the Conservative is condemned by the Liberal and applauded by the Neo-Con.

A Conservative believes that governments, like people, ought to live within their means, and that immoral taxation is theft, and that people ought not to utilize the government to receive stolen money (tax money) from the rightful owners.
A Neo-Con believes that debt is fine, and taxes are fine, so long as they are going to support big government and empire building.

A Conservative believes that America was founded by people with guns who believed that a standing military, away from its home country which had not been invaded, enforcing laws and a way of life foreign to that people, ought to be resisted by blood.
A Neo-Con believes that a standing military, away from its home country which had not been invaded, enforcing laws and a way of life foreign to that people, would only be resisted by terrorists.

A Conservative basically believes that the government is a necessary evil, and that it ought to be restrained no matter who is in charge.
A Neo-Con believes that government is overtly evil, unless they are in charge.

A Conservative believes that a trillion dollar bailout of anyone by the government is morally wrong in every case.
A Neo-Con believes that a trillion dollar bailout is ok if their own politicians propose it, but it is evil and wicked if the other party proposes it.

At it's root, modern Liberalism is Socialism tending to Communism - which is Statism, which is godless evil in all its forms.
At it's root, modern Neo-Conservatism is Fascism - which is Statism, which is godless evil in all its forms.

Both political parties today are STATIST and Godless. The Neo-Con is just a statist who claims that God is on his side.

Feel free to forward this around the internet like a virus, which is what Neo-Cons do. My guess is that they will not forward it.

Thanks again for the question.

Michael,

I am interested to learn if you have any thoughts or insights, as a historian/teacher about what may happen to prisoners if the Federal Government were to collapse. One in 100 people in this country are incarcerated according to the FBOP. Also approximately one in 50 are under supervision of the feds either through pre-trial, or supervised release. I value your opinion about this.

Thank you

Thank you for your question. I really don't have an answer to your question. It would be nice if someone had a way to find out. Maybe someone out there who works for the prisons can comment and answer your question. It is an interesting one, and one very interesting to a whole lot of people who have been incarcerated for "crimes" invented by an out-of-control government in violation of the Constitution. I am going to guess and say that there is likely a plan to put the largest prisons (those max and super-max facilities) under the control of the military. I would also guess that most state institutions might be taken over by the National Guard at some point. In Texas we have an institution called The Texas Guard which is like a National Guard that has never been federalized. It seems to me that if the government were to collapse, that at some level the Texas Guard may be called upon to keep control of prisoners. I do not speculate on what would happen if we had a total meltdown and if even these units were unavailable for prison duty. I couldn't even speculate

Michael,

I really want to know the nitty-gritty details of how your family and your community prepare for the Sabbath and observe the Sabbath. My husband, after reading your article on the Sabbath, decided a little while back to observe it, but we are having a hard time with it. One of the problems is that my husband works such long hours during the week that his only real day for getting anything done around here is on Saturday, if he is not working on that day. Last Saturday, we went on a shopping trip that involved some little travel away from home and on the way back, I was smitten with how we are trying to fit the Sabbath into our lives instead of fitting our lives around the Sabbath. Summer is coming and that usually means a LOT of Saturday outdoor work for my husband. I know I need to pray that the Lord will speak to my husband, but in the meantime... Anyway, can you answer all these things in one post?

Thanks for your question and I will do my best. I don't know how much "nitty gritty" I can get into, but I will cover what I can.

First of all, we need to get a good and proper view of the Sabbath. First, the Sabbath is made for man. It ought not to be an onerous or hard thing. It ought to be a great blessing and a great time of rest and release from a week of labor. We ought to look forward to the Sabbath with great joy because of what it represents, and what we are promised to receive from it. Second, we ought to recognize that the Sabbath is a type, and the Preparation of the Sabbath (doing those things to get ready for the Sabbath) is a type. The Preparation of the Sabbath is a type of our lives here on earth, which ought to be spent entirely on preparing for the eternal Sabbath spent with God. We are given work to do here on earth, spiritual work concerning our conversion and preparatory work concerning our eternal rest. We are to "work out our salvation in fear and trembling" and prepare ourselves for our death, to make certain that we are in a good stead and that we are ready to meet our Lord face to face. Just as our eternal rest with Christ ought not to be considered a onerous or hard thing, our earthly Sabbaths ought to be considered positively and with great joy.

Now, on earth we are to prepare for death. A good portion of our lives ought to be spent in consideration of our death. Each of us will die, and we will all go into an eternal sabbath with Christ, or an eternal death of punishment and separation from Christ. If we truly were able to see our eternal address, we would work diligently while we are still alive towards our eternal hope, which is life with Christ. Ok, so the Sabbath is the "practice" for that eternal goal. Preparation of the Sabbath, then, ought to be diligent and earnest. I'm not saying that we (my family OR this group) keep the Sabbath in a perfect (or even acceptable) way. But however far we are from perfection, we still accept that the Sabbath is a joyful obligation and that preparing for it is our duty.

In our home, Preparation of the Sabbath involves making sure that all of our duties that can be done are done. We try to make sure everything is clean and ready so that we don't have to do work on the Sabbath. We try to make sure all the animals are prepared and provided for, though feeding and basic animal care is permitted on the Sabbath. However, if we are able to haul water and food so that those things don't have to be done on the Sabbath, then we do so. We also ought to try to prepare our minds and hearts. We ought to talk about the Preparation and what it represents. This weekly reminder of our duty and of our pending death ought to spur us on to be constantly preparing ourselves for our death and resurrection. In some families this means that all food production for the Sabbath day is done in advance. In Amish families, cold foods and sandwiches are prepared on the preparation day so that the women will not have to work on the sabbath. Different families may have different traditions and different practices, but all ought to work towards the goal of bringing our minds and hearts back to the reality of our earthly end, and our eternal destination. The Sabbath for us is generally a time of quiet and rest. We read a lot. We don't allow boisterous play for the children, and we push spiritual study and growth.

We ought to be on guard against legalism, and we also need to be on guard against letting the Sabbath slip or losing its purpose.

It is important for you and your husband to realize that the Lord is able to multiply our works and our efforts when we are obedient to him. Most people who begin to joyfully keep the Sabbath find that they have more time and are more efficient during the rest of the days of the week, and that God multiplies their efforts when they are diligent. Also realize that just as the devil is willing to keep us busy and to give us excuses for not tending to our spiritual duties here on earth, so that he hopes we will miss our eternal Sabbath with Christ, the devil is willing to try to make us so busy in our temporal life on earth so that we miss out on the blessings of the Sabbath.

The human mind is capable of rationalizing any behavior and the world, the flesh, and the devil work overtime in helping us rationalizing why we ought not to honor the Sabbath. Once we realize who is at work and why, we are way ahead in our battle to try to obey God joyfully in all that He commands.

Thank you again for your question.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker