Below is a blog from the Ayn Rand Institute. I am a great fan of Ayn
Rand (Atheism excluded) and of her book Atlas Shrugged. The quote below
is from on of the most powerful parts of the book. If you have not read
this book it is a must read (or listen). I hope to bring you more
insight from Ayn Rand in the future but until then "Who is John Galt?"


In a pair of recent posts on correcting health care injustices (here and here), Alex Epstein pointed out how treating health care as a collective good gives rise to the following kind of argument: “We as a society must make ‘tough choices’ about who gets health care and who doesn’t…. Since ‘we’ have finite medical resources, we inevitably have to sacrifice some people’s care to others, whether young to old or old to young.”

It is worth pausing to think about how that kind of policy plays out in practice. In recent weeks, we have heard strident rhetoric about the prospect of “death panels” voting to pull the plug on Aunt Minnie’s respirator—but no such dramatic scenes are likely, at least not anytime soon. What we are more likely to see, as health care rationing increases, are gradual changes in individuals’ attitudes toward their fellow citizens, as everyone competes in drawing resources from the same public health-care trough.

What kind of changes can we expect? In Ayn Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged, one of the characters recalls what happened after his company medical plan started allocating medical care on the basis of collective need:

“In the old days, we used to celebrate if somebody had a baby, we used to chip in and help him out with the hospital bills, if he happened to be hard-pressed for the moment. Now, if a baby was born, we didn’t speak to the parents for weeks. Babies, to us, had become what locusts were to farmers. In the old days, we used to help a man if he had a bad illness in the family. Now—well, I’ll tell you about just one case. It was the mother of a man who had been with us for fifteen years. She was a kindly old lady, cheerful and wise, she knew us all by our first names and we all liked her—we used to like her. One day, she slipped on the cellar stairs and fell and broke her hip. We knew what that meant at her age. The staff doctor said that she’d have to be sent to a hospital in town, for expensive treatments that would take a long time. The old lady died the night before she was to leave for town. They never established the cause of death. No, I don’t know whether she was murdered. Nobody said that. Nobody would talk about it at all. All I know is that I—and that’s what I can’t forget!—I, too, had caught myself wishing that she would die. This—may God forgive us!—was the brotherhood, the security, the abundance that the plan was supposed to achieve for us!”

By such steps, in the privacy of their own minds, Americans may someday become accustomed to shrugging their shoulders and turning aside when a dying neighbor is told the system lacks money to provide necessary care. At that point, scary rhetoric about “death panels” will seem beside the point, if the entire ponderous government mechanism that administers health care has become a life-and-death panel holding the fate of every American in its hands.

        

        

        

If you grew up in the 90's then you should know who Weezer is. Their first album went triple platinum and it was a sweet album. That was the Blue Album. This year they released the Red Album and it is fantastic.

They really mix it up on this album. "The greatest man that ever lived" is a brilliant song pulling from many different influences. The album has a new feel but is also reminiscent of the old school Weezer.

I highly recommend it. Finally, we are getting some good music again!

    

    

        

In case you missed it, the RPCNA jumped off the bridge with everyone else. But the funny thing is that their reason for jumping off the bridge was because everyone else already had. Yesterday I posted Steve Wilkins' response.

Here is the actual ruling from the RPCNA: (the emphasis is Doug Wilson's)


You can read Doug's full thoughts here.

But the my "Quotable Quote"  of today is Wilson's last line.

He says,

        

Steve Wilkins' response to the RPCNA decision about all things NPP/FV related.

"This is undoubtedly one of the silliest things I have ever seen done by a denomination. Ever.

incredible."

    - Steve Wilkins

 

I could not agree more.

        

On May 27th, Steve Wilkins wrote the following in remembrance of John Calvin.

Calvin had not only forbidden the erection of any monument over his grave, but also expressly forbade any pomp at his funeral. Philip Schaff says, “He wished to be buried, like Moses, out of reach of idolatry. This was consistent, with his theology, which humbles man and exalts God.”

A few years ago, I met a university student from Geneva. He said he was an agnostic and when I asked him if he had ever heard of John Calvin, he became visibly upset, “Calvin! Calvin! We will never get away from the influence of Calvin!” You know you’ve done something right when unbelievers get upset at the mention of your name 500 years after your death.

The last paragraph made me laugh out loud. We need more people with names like Calvin.

        

I heard a country song the other day and the lyrics were "I will never be as smart as I once was". This is becoming very true in my own life. I used to think I had everything figured out and that I was on top of all my theology. I knew what I believed and why you should believe what I believe.

Nowadays I am learning that there is very little that I understand and that God is incredibly more complicated and complex than I thought. The Bible is so deep and so wide that I have not even began to understand it.

I don't have a lot to say today other than to encourage you to study humbly. Do not let others tell you what to believe or who to read and not read. Read people that you think you disagree with because you might find that you do not actually disagree with them and that they make excellent points.

Be humble and allow God's Word to change you as you study.

I know I will never again be as smart as I once was.

        

Justin Taylor had a link yesterday on his blog for an interview with N.T. Wright. Click here to see his Entry: Between Two Worlds.

He links to Trevin Wax's blog, Kingdom People. Trevin is the one who interviews Wright. He also interviewed Wright in 2007 and it is available as audio, which I highly recommend you listen to.

The link to the audio is http://saidatsouthern.com/nt-wright-interview-mp3/. This is excellent!

I am currently reading Simply Christian by N.T. Wright. I hope to do a review of it at sometime. I am beginning to have deep respect for him. I think that he has a lot that the church needs to hear and think through.

Please do not just write Bishop Wright off because everyone is telling us that he is a heretic and that he is destroying justification. There is a possibility that what he is saying could be right or it could be wrong but it is something that we should study and not just ignore because we are told that it is wrong.

I have not read enough to say whether I agree or disagree with Bishop Wright but I have read enough to know that he has some very thought provoking ideas and this interview has showed me where his heart is. This man loves Jesus, the church, and wants to see the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

It is exciting to hear him talk in that way when so many others are pessimistic. Listen and you will be encouraged!

        

Yesterday Steve Wilkins posted this on his blog: http://auburnavenue.org/blog/

According to the Americans for Tax Reform, in 2005: Americans worked 185 days to pay taxes and comply with the regulatory costs of government at the federal, state and local levels. In other words, the cost of government consumes 50.4 percent of national income. That means that every day’s salary up to July 4 went toward paying your tax bill. The report for 2005 indicated that on average Americans would work:

• 84 days to pay for all federal spending
• 43 days to pay all state and local spending
• 37 days to pay the costs of federal regulations
• 23 days to pay the costs of state regulations

Is it any better for this year? Maybe.

but I doubt it.

It is funny that we now have to work till Independence day to be independent. Wouldn't our founding fathers be proud!