Comments on: Glenn Beck http://unionindialogue.org/wheatandthechaff/2010/03/09/glenn-beck/ discerning religion in the media Fri, 13 May 2011 16:37:20 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: James Aveno http://unionindialogue.org/wheatandthechaff/2010/03/09/glenn-beck/comment-page-1/#comment-64 James Aveno Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:49:16 +0000 http://unionindialogue.org/wheatandthechaff/?p=165#comment-64 Dear Mr Herman, I have read your opinion piece on Glenn Beck, dated March 9, 2010 and would like to opine on it. My response will be succinct and perspicacious. Although I am no supporter of Glen Beck or his program, to call his program “a cancer upon society” is uncharitable and overly inappropriate. However, I will not quibble on this matter. The greatest concern or issue that I take with your post (which you are free to express and write) is the following: We can be better than this and we must be better than this. Redistribution of wealth is not anathema to Christianity, as Beck subtly argues. It is in fact part and parcel of Christianity. What else would it mean to care for that which is of God in the least of our sisters and brothers on Earth? If we look to the book of Acts, we see not a proto-capitalistmarket economy, but an anarch0-syndicalist collective. If anything is anti-Christian in the sociopolitical world, it is in fact captialist market economics. You made very grave errors in your statements. You’re mixing up different but very separate concepts of Christianity and blending them in an illogical hodgepodge. First, Christian charity to the poor and to the least of our brothers and sisters has naught to do with the State; nor does it have to do with redistribution of wealth by the state. The Christian Church in the New Testament is separate from the state. It is true, for example, that in the book of Acts one does not read of a “capitalist market economy,” but the Christian Church in the New Testament is not a State; and it is not a Kingdom of this world. Sufficed to state that to blend the two together is grossly erroneous. Libertarians and Conservatives maintain that civil society should succor the poor and indigent, not the State or Government. Exactly what the Book of Acts suggests. We do find in the second epistle to the Thessalonians the following (3.10) “for even when we were with you, this we did command you, that if any one is not willing to work, neither let him eat…” The central rule of the New Testament is that the Church, through charity, may assist the poor, but only those who are truly poor. The lazy and undisciplined do not come under this umbrage. And lastly, the Church and the State are two distinct entities. Even good liberals such as yourself should learn to be tolerant. P.S. You misspelled “capitalist” twice. My Best, James Aveno Dear Mr Herman,

I have read your opinion piece on Glenn Beck, dated March 9, 2010 and would like to opine on it. My response will be succinct and perspicacious.

Although I am no supporter of Glen Beck or his program, to call his program “a cancer upon society” is uncharitable and overly inappropriate.

However, I will not quibble on this matter. The greatest concern or issue that I take with your post (which you are free to express and write) is the following:

We can be better than this and we must be better than this. Redistribution of wealth is not anathema to Christianity, as Beck subtly argues. It is in fact part and parcel of Christianity. What else would it mean to care for that which is of God in the least of our sisters and brothers on Earth? If we look to the book of Acts, we see not a proto-capitalistmarket economy, but an anarch0-syndicalist collective. If anything is anti-Christian in the sociopolitical world, it is in fact captialist market economics.

You made very grave errors in your statements. You’re mixing up different but very separate concepts of Christianity and blending them in an illogical hodgepodge.

First, Christian charity to the poor and to the least of our brothers and sisters has naught to do with the State; nor does it have to do with redistribution of wealth by the state.

The Christian Church in the New Testament is separate from the state.
It is true, for example, that in the book of Acts one does not read of a “capitalist market economy,” but the Christian Church in the New Testament is not a State; and it is not a Kingdom of this world.

Sufficed to state that to blend the two together is grossly erroneous. Libertarians and Conservatives maintain that civil society should succor the poor and indigent, not the State or Government. Exactly what the Book of Acts suggests.

We do find in the second epistle to the Thessalonians the following (3.10) “for even when we were with you, this we did command you, that if any one is not willing to work, neither let him eat…”

The central rule of the New Testament is that the Church, through charity, may assist the poor, but only those who are truly poor. The lazy and undisciplined do not come under this umbrage. And lastly, the Church and the State are two distinct entities.
Even good liberals such as yourself should learn to be tolerant.

P.S. You misspelled “capitalist” twice.

My Best,

James Aveno

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