tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57213321420675987492011-09-30T07:48:10.332-07:00This site was created in honor of the character in "Brave Heart" that called Ireland his island. I call him the "King of Ireland" and write under this name sake in honor of all those in history who, like him, loved freedom so much they were willing to die for it. My basic theme is the history of liberty and how it relates to the modern world.King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.comBlogger561100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-23867926561718721292011-01-02T15:41:00.000-08:002011-01-02T15:45:33.661-08:00

Hello My Name Is Gratian And I Think I Have Something To Add To This Discussion Hello again American Creation family! I hope you all remember me in that I do not think I have posted here since Summer. This was due to the time consuming re-launching of my real estate business after it turned out that the oil had not ruined the part of the Gulf Coast I live in forever after all. Anyway, I am

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-5514798675395825022010-12-15T17:11:00.000-08:002010-12-15T17:11:47.756-08:00

I am on a roll with the Marx or Locke thing on my real estate blog.  Here is the money quote: You mean the country that has been dominated by the economic theory of John Maynard Keynes for the last 100 years? That's right at the heart of the Keynes theory of economics is the welfare state that believes in the justice of taking private property from one group and giving it to the other. In direct

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-76144476249834212542010-12-14T15:44:00.000-08:002010-12-14T15:44:31.202-08:00

This post is from my real estate blog again but it hits on a theme that I write about quite here quite often: Property Rights.  Here is the money quote: In fact, one can make a very good argument that the main catalyst to the American and French Revolutions was the uniting of the working class(Proletariat) and small business(Bourgeois) class to overthrow monopoly of the elite.  If true then this

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-55547843190983136712010-12-13T17:35:00.000-08:002010-12-13T17:35:10.266-08:00

This is a post from my real estate blog but references a theme I hit on here as well. Here is the money quote: On the other hand, Locke felt that the right to property was an inalienable right given to man by God. He thought it essential that man be allowed to keep the fruit of his labors for him to pursue happiness. Furthermore, he was absolutely against one group of people using the power of

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-73808366783512789202010-09-25T12:33:00.000-07:002010-09-25T12:33:35.461-07:00

Here is a post from my Real Estate blog 3rdWAVElands that is relevant to what I have written here about Toffler's Third Wave.  It comments on a post from Richard Florida who is brilliant and has some great insights into catalysts to innovation.  This theme also ties in with some of my posts about Goldstone and the creation of the modern world.  Here is the post.

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-44315183659384209962010-09-25T12:29:00.000-07:002010-09-25T12:29:02.716-07:00

This is from my Real Estate blog 3rdWAVElands but is relevant to a lot of what I blog about here about Toffler's Third Wave.  So here it is .

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-8126791601716313672010-07-24T18:46:00.000-07:002010-07-24T18:46:22.893-07:00

There has been a lot of discussion about Leo Strauss lately in the comments section of this blog so I decided to do a post on a part of this University of Chicago Press excerpt of the book Reading Leo Strauss by Steven B. Smith. The following jumped out to me because it focuses on the reason vs. revelation debate that is very famililar to this blog: "The great theme of Strauss’s life work—what

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-8535932071141236292010-07-24T18:31:00.000-07:002010-07-24T18:31:43.836-07:00

By Robert P. Hunt The following is a short excerpt of this essay: "In Christian Faith and Modern Democracy: God and Politics in the Fallen World, Robert P. Kraynak challenges many of the assumptions made by both liberal secularists and committed Christians regarding the proper intellectual and moral foundations for constitutional government. He rejects the liberal assumption that some

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-59677713747327038452010-07-24T18:02:00.000-07:002010-07-24T18:03:15.436-07:00

By Robert P. Hunt The following is a small excerpt from this essay: "Nowhere is Kraynak’s effort to baptize classical political philosophy more evident than in his treatment of Plato's and Cicero’s defense of a "mixed regime." The ancients understood "the advantages of a mixed regime in promoting a stable and balanced order that combines freedom and virtue in the citizen body with feelings of

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-63622729204908879752010-07-13T21:52:00.000-07:002010-07-13T21:52:29.527-07:00

For many months now Jon Rowe, Tom Van Dyke, and I have been discussing Jon's claim, via Dr. Gregg Frazer, that founding era Christians had to come up with new and creative ways to interpret the Bible to justify their resistance to what they perceived was tyranny. In short, Jon seems to think that these were "dissident" and "revisionist" views that were heavily influence by Enlightenment thinking.

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-3877857463500597552010-06-29T13:46:00.000-07:002010-06-29T13:46:42.695-07:00

In the comments section of a recent post by Jon Rowe Dr. Gregg Frazer stated the following: "So, my statement stands irrespective of Tom's claim that unitarians, who worshiped an entirely different god than did Christians, were Christians." To which I responded: "I see a lot of Calvinists state this but find it absurd. If they are worshipping the God of Exodus 34:5-7 then that is the God of

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-60508742381365358382010-06-29T13:39:00.000-07:002010-06-29T13:41:16.479-07:00

A recent post by Jon Rowe quoted Dr. Gregg Frazer as stating the following: "[Eighth, Mr. Knapton accuses me of “unintended sophistry” in pointing out that the theistic rationalists did not believe that Jesus was God and he suggests that there was “a strain of Christian thought” which taught that Jesus was subordinate to God. Methinks the sophistry is one the other foot, however. Mr. Knapton

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-58934912482272314132010-06-17T09:24:00.000-07:002010-06-17T09:24:25.727-07:00

This is a great interview that cuts through all the crap and gets down to the two sets of beliefs that have shaped the world for centuries: Collectivism and Individualism. The former is at the heart of every totalitarian form of government there is and is at the heart of Hayek's The Road to Serfdom.

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-68182397334969551172010-06-16T19:27:00.000-07:002010-06-16T19:28:03.329-07:00

In 1793, in reaction to the French Revolution, much of Europe broke out into war. At the time, there was also an intense internal battle going on between the Hamiltonian Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans that was turning nasty and venomous. In fact, both men deplored one another and sought to sabotage the efforts of each other whenever possible. Nonetheless, even in the midst of this

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-51832366409948600312010-06-16T15:27:00.000-07:002010-06-16T15:28:07.837-07:00

This blog post entitled, "The Late-Scholastic and Austrian Link to Modern Catholic Economic Thought" by Rev. Robert A. Sirico gives some great insight into the economic thought of the late scholastics and its underlying principle that the economic interactions of people were more important to study than an analysis of the things produced. Simply put it makes people more important than things. A

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-21114359153518353392010-06-16T14:45:00.000-07:002010-06-16T15:28:28.583-07:00

This essay by Lew Rockwell highlights some of the roots of free market ideology as expounded on by the late Scholastics at the School of Salamanca in the 16th Century. I understand that since most of the founders were anti-papists that many seem to doubt the influence of Roman Catholic thinking on American Creation. Nonetheless, the fact that much of this thought was produced in famous European

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-13848156210580244102010-06-16T14:33:00.000-07:002010-06-16T15:28:57.730-07:00

This essay by Leonard P. Liggio of the Acton Institute highlights some important parts of European history that seem to be absent in the modern classroom as I alluded to in my last post. Here is a taste: "The Yucatan was the center point of one of the most im- portant moral debates in history. It can be summarized in the title of the book, In Defense of the Indians: The Defense of the Most

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-1861648038060002412010-06-16T14:20:00.000-07:002010-06-16T15:29:23.305-07:00

A good and productive discussion about the foundation of rights has broken out in the comments section of my last post. The following is a comment that was left by Chris that sparked the discussion: "I don't think it's surprising that, at least in primary and secondary schools, the Schoolmen are "forgotten." They have two things going against them: 1.) They were writing within a fairly narrow

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-21896820519867452492010-06-15T11:29:00.000-07:002010-06-15T11:29:51.611-07:00

In his last post Jon Rowe cited Paul Sigmund, of Princeton, reviewing John Marshall, of Johns Hopkins on John Locke. That piece contained this statement: "Locke believed that Christ died not to atone for Adam's sin, but to show us the way to eternal life." In the comments section I proposed changing that to the following: "Locke believed that Christ died not to atone for Adam's sin, but for

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-92011705564991650932010-06-01T19:45:00.000-07:002010-06-01T19:45:50.910-07:00

The following was left by D.G. in the comments section of one of Jon Rowe's previous posts on Lilliback and "Sacred Fire" that seems to echo the question that Brad Hart recently asked in his post about Gordon Wood: "Not to take issue with my friends, Mark David Hall or David Hall (should they form band, Hall & Hall?), I'm not sure what the point of this work of historical excavation. So, what

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-63757888786205334782010-05-26T20:09:00.000-07:002010-05-26T20:10:38.079-07:00

I am involved in an interesting debate at Dispatches about inalienable rights. It started with this statement by Ed Brayton: "Then by all means, please name one thing in the Bill of Rights that has an analog in the Bible. Just one. Good luck."Here is the relevant part of my response: "The biblical concept of imago dei and man being the workmanship of God was the foundation for Western thought

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-18276527284834084502010-05-24T20:33:00.000-07:002010-05-24T20:41:26.418-07:00

Here is a link to a Rand Paul interview with a home state network. I think he explains himself rather well. Most of all I agree whole heartedly that we want and need more authentic and "flawed" people that have the guts to do a live interview on a hostile network leading our nation. I for one have had enough of the actor-like career politicians, their contrived sound bites and handlers. It is not

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-74970960210671465082010-05-18T11:19:00.000-07:002010-05-18T11:21:42.044-07:00

In his last post Brad Hart quoted Montesquieu as saying: "When the Christian religion, two centuries ago, became unhappily divided into Catholic and Protestant, the people of the north embraced the Protestant, and those of the south adhered still to the Catholic. The reason is plain: the people of the north have, and will for ever have, a spirit of liberty and independence, which the people of

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-67976098165221318382010-05-16T22:34:00.000-07:002010-05-16T22:34:32.925-07:00

This post from the Tenth Amendment Center outlines many of the general arguments for "states rights" or I as like to call it federalism. That is the ability of the states under the 10th amendment to check the power of the other branches of government. This is the tact that many states are using to fight Obamacare.  Most of the arguments used in this line of reasoning are often attributed to the

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-23558075148114936652010-05-16T21:17:00.000-07:002010-05-16T21:17:52.121-07:00

Check out this good article I found on Calvinist Resistance Theory from the Acton Institute. It cites many of the leading works, gives the highlights, and seeks to chronicle the progression of thought. This is a good preparation for what will probably be a long discussion at my group blog American Creation on resistance theory/interpostion. My first post on this was about 5 months ago and it has

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-31287727229856784652010-05-14T12:56:00.000-07:002010-05-14T13:00:17.302-07:00

Sandy Levinson's post at Balkinization brings to light the need for a national debate on the meaning of Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights in the wake of the "Times Square Bomber." It brings up two very interesting questions: 1. Should the rights of citizens be stripped for joining enemy forces? 2. Do only U.S. citizens accused of acts of terror have a right to a fair trial?

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-70973965648718936522010-05-13T18:38:00.000-07:002010-05-13T18:40:53.349-07:00

I appreciate all that Jon Rowe wrote in response to my last post but I think much of it is getting us off topic. The topic is whether the Declaration of Independence was a document of interpositon or not. Jon Rowe stated his case that it was not and called his main witness, John Calvin. My last post clearly shows that Calvin is not a reliable witness in this case because his own words contradict

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-8661250341506221212010-05-12T18:56:00.000-07:002010-05-12T18:58:10.545-07:00

With all the talk about the Arizona law and state protests against healthcare reform it is important to trace where many of the arguments for interposition originated: A while back, Jon Rowe replied to my post that claimed that the Declaration of Independence was a document of interposition by stating: "The DOI is NOT a Document of Interposition." He lays out the heart of his and Dr. Gregg

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-36380367574607178242010-05-12T18:09:00.000-07:002010-05-12T18:12:04.137-07:00

This is my response to this post at Daily Paul: The principle of federalism is what we are fighting to restore not "states rights" and certainly not the Confederacy. Madison spoke plainly in Federalist 28 that both state and national government can usurp individual rights. Thus, one was to balance the other. State sovereinty in not and was never absolute. It was a check put into the system to

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-24552332234686917522010-03-12T12:52:00.000-08:002010-03-12T12:54:14.136-08:00

By KOI, With Editorial Suggestions by J. Rowe I carefully followed the recent posts about federalism, religious tests, and the "Godless Constitution." So what follows hits on this general theme, and also fits with the "Big Tent" theme of my previous posts. John Fea noted a story on a religious test oath in North Carolina: This morning I was reading an old news story about a newly elected

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-89652727768529564702010-01-04T17:46:00.000-08:002010-01-04T17:47:28.723-08:00

With Editorial Suggestions by Jonathan Rowe My last few posts argued American Founding era political theology created a "Big Tent of Diverse Interests" that allowed various Christian factions of the country to put aside the doctrinal differences that privately divided them and embrace political ideas that publiclyunited them. This post continues in that vein. I stressed that two God terms in

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-51825498468379668102010-01-04T17:42:00.000-08:002010-01-04T17:42:19.957-08:00

After hearing on the reports on the news about how today was going to be the "coldest day of the year" I girded myself up to brave the elements to go and buy myself a Subway sub.  It was frightening but I made it out.  When I got to Subway it was packed to I decided to brave the conditions and walk another block and found "Vesuvios Pizza" and decided to go in.  I settled on a sub and watched all

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-6138080319590624312009-12-28T00:50:00.000-08:002009-12-28T00:50:25.077-08:00

With Thanks to Jonathan Rowe For Editorial Suggestions. Following up on my last post, I further examine Jeffry H. Morrison's paper entitled, "Political Theology in the Declaration of Independence." Let's focus more on the sermon by Samuel West that Morrison discusses in his paper. In the passage reproduced below, Morrison adds brackets to West's sermon with "corresponding phrases" from the

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-43345982610909392282009-12-28T00:32:00.000-08:002009-12-28T00:33:22.272-08:00

By King of Ireland with special thanks to Jonathan Rowe for editorial suggestions/changes that I adopted. In my last series of posts, I attempted to start a dialogue around two questions I think better frame the "Christian Nation" debate in clearer context. The questions are: 1. Which Christian ideas, if any, helped bring us into the modern world? And 2. Which Christian ideas, if any, derail

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-73628348051915933762009-12-20T18:31:00.000-08:002009-12-20T18:31:32.954-08:00

Jon Rowe stated the following in his last post about Romans 13: "Another authentic expression of orthodox Trinitarian political theology is that Romans 13 gives guidelines for rulers, but ultimately demands submission to government no matter WHO is in power, even if pagan tyrants. This was Calvin's position. Arguably this was St. Paul's position when he told believers to submit to the pagan

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-84160292793426071062009-12-20T18:25:00.001-08:002009-12-20T18:26:54.652-08:00

In a series of posts I have attempted to ignite a discussion about whether Christian ideas helped shape America and bring us into the modern world with the following questions: Which Christian ideas, if any, helped bring us into the modern world? And Which Christian ideas, if any, helped try to derail us from progressing toward the modern world?  With that idea in mind, I re-produced an

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-15577061482763739532009-12-14T23:34:00.000-08:002009-12-15T01:17:05.063-08:00

In my last series of posts I have been trying to shift the frame of discussion from focusing on which people of the founding era were or were not Christian to which ideas of the founding era were or were not Christian.  I have also tried to narrow down the topic to how the ideas of the founding era helped or hindered our progression toward the modern world. I attempted to accomplish this within

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-75680164081290778822009-12-14T23:32:00.000-08:002009-12-15T01:19:46.910-08:00

The following is a detailed response from Dr. Kalivas to the assertions of myself, Tom Van Dyke, and Dr. Gregg Frazer that when the Constitution was ratified that it "left religion to the states": "My understanding of Article VI is there does not have to be a conflict for Article VI to be “invoked.” The relevant clause of the Article is quite specific: “This Constitution, and the laws of

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-14855125395194515852009-12-11T20:35:00.000-08:002009-12-15T01:22:08.730-08:00

In my last few posts have spent some time trying to shift the discussion away from asking what key figures of the founding were or were not Christian to asking if the ideas that shaped the founding were or were not Christian.  I chose to do this in the context of a series of essays at "Cato Unbound" that addressed the question of which factors led to the emergence of the modern world produced by

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-33587429420836493162009-12-11T09:18:00.000-08:002009-12-15T01:23:51.369-08:00

A good discussion broke out in the comments section under my last post American Creation: Time to Move Forward? that I should have brought up to the main page a while back but I got busy.  A commenter named David Kalivas is debating Tom Van Dyke about whether religion was left to the states in the Constitution prior to the 14th Amendment.  Below is part of the dialogue: David stated: "

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-42974384208353634012009-12-11T09:06:00.000-08:002009-12-11T09:22:04.540-08:00

Jimmieraybob left the following comment to my last post: "So, if it were me framing the question, I would ask what ideas influenced the founding and/or the emergence of the “modern” world and what were the unique Jewish and Christian and other influences that shaped these ideas. Otherwise, as you say, the question is loaded and I think unfairly, given the well-documented emphasis of

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-62372436021540954292009-12-05T11:27:00.000-08:002009-12-11T09:26:51.499-08:00

To follow up on Jon Rowe's lastest post on the ongoing debate between many of us, including Dr. Gregg Frazer, I would like to add that most of what we have been discussing is the meaning of words.  This is classic "Socratic Dialogue".  The problem I see is that everyone is talking at each other trying to give their answer and be heard.  I see it all day in my classroom.  When everyone is talking

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-65106921574670686802009-11-30T16:05:00.000-08:002009-12-11T09:27:35.489-08:00

In an attempt to begin answering one of the questions I brought up in my last post I copied and pasted this short excerpt from the notes of John Adams.  The question I asked in my last post was this: Which Christian ideas, if any, helped bring us into the modern world? I think John Adams points us in the right direction with the following: Defence of the Constitutions of

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-66481874627723350262009-11-25T10:16:00.001-08:002009-12-11T09:31:28.002-08:00

The following is the second part of my last post but also is in response to Jon Rowe's great post about some of my thoughts about Christianity:When I first started commenting on Ed Brayton's blog people blasted me hard because some of what I was saying sounded like Conservative Christianity. Once they realized I was different it stopped. Why do so many like Ed Brayton and Jon Rowe rail against

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-83933502392423127682009-11-18T23:11:00.000-08:002009-11-25T10:37:53.058-08:00

In the spirit of practicing what I preach I decided to bring the discussion that broke out in the comments section of Jon Rowe's excellent post on "Testing" the Christian Nation thesis to the main page. I am not sure where it originated, but a great discussion about the merits of original intent as a method of interpreting the Constitution came up. As I went to the section on the Constitutional

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-35864406073690145272009-10-28T20:48:00.001-07:002009-11-25T10:35:39.991-08:00

Last week I wrote about light and darkness and Genesis 1 and would like to continue on that theme in this post. After watching "Mission Impossible II" and "Unbreakable" in the last few months, this theme has been on my mind. In both movies, there is reference to ancient Greek and comic book myths that explore both tragedy and hope along with good and evil as represented in the contrast between

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-46718103983700358152009-10-24T10:59:00.001-07:002009-11-25T10:40:39.405-08:00

I decided to do one final post in my response to Dr. Gregg Frazer to thank him and release him from this discussion. As I read over his response to some posts I made last Summer, I realized that we were starting to become redundant and covering ground that has already been fairly well covered. The idea of a blog like this is to promote debate that helps frame a topic for others to read about and

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-89781334439465877332009-08-02T08:09:00.000-07:002009-11-25T10:40:01.161-08:00

This post will be the last in my series of posts that seek to answer some questions that Gregg Frazer asked me about my interpretation of Romans 13. In an attempt to guide this discussion away from the political theologies of Frazer and myself toward a discussion of the political theologies of the framers, other founders, clergy, and common people of that day and those that influenced them, I

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-22720620748847369592009-07-22T14:23:00.000-07:002009-11-25T10:47:09.700-08:00

This post will resume my quest to respond to some of the arguments of Dr. Gregg Frazer regarding Romans 13. Nonetheless, in an attempt to more align my thoughts with the unique character and format of this blog I have modified my quest that was stated in my last post to attempting to explain why many Clergy at the time of the Revolution: 1) Did not believe that the Declaration of Independence was

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-64400851037477148922009-06-14T20:36:00.000-07:002009-11-25T10:47:47.444-08:00

This post is substantially shorter than the book I posted last time. I apologize in that I had no idea how much space what I wrote would take up. Nonetheless, I am going to stay with my theme of attempting to prove that the Declaration of Independence was not rebellion against God, the Bible seems to allow for resistance to tyranny in certain circumstances, and that a proper understanding of

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-67093091931467646742009-06-10T18:26:00.001-07:002009-11-25T10:51:49.426-08:00

About three weeks ago I wrote a long post on the subject of Romans 13 as a response to Dr. Greg Frazer's comments that he left on the blog "American Creation" titled "Response to Gregg Frazer on Romans 13". It was linked to a post on that site and a good dialogue ensued between him, Tom Van Dyke, Jon Rowe, and I. I think it has generated three posts and over 200 comments up to date. For anyone

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-66579299645391336072009-05-17T09:13:00.000-07:002009-11-25T10:49:25.435-08:00

Gregg Fraser responded to some comments I made on the blog "American Creation" a few weeks back. The questions are about the liberation of Israel from Egypt and whether this is an example of revolt against legitimate authority. This was all in the context of a discussion about whether The American Revolution can be supported from the Bible. The disagreement is over the interpretation of Romans

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-25163477774554226712009-05-10T19:57:00.000-07:002009-11-25T10:50:33.841-08:00

I have spent the last week reading a book by a man named Sandy Levinson called: "Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong." Mr. Levinson wrote the book in hopes of inspiring an effort to call for a new Constitution Convention to address the issues that he sees need to be dealt with with our current version. Despite my initial suspicions, I actually see some merit in

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-48300812626510285042009-05-03T15:38:00.000-07:002009-05-03T16:25:02.846-07:00

After taking the better part of a year to read the Federalist Papers in their entirety I was ready for a long break from the subject the of our American founding.  This was due to enormous amount of information and the fact that they were written the 18th Century English.  Well that break is over and like any open minded person who seeks the truth in the matter I decided to read the

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-37179755828805146282009-04-04T16:55:00.000-07:002009-04-12T21:29:22.052-07:00

Last week I wrote about light and darkness and Genesis 1 and would like to continue on that theme in this post.  After watching "Mission Impossible II" and "Unbreakable" in the last few months, this theme has been on my mind.  In both movies, there is reference to ancient Greek and comic book myths that explore both tragedy and hope along with good and evil as represented in the contrast between

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5721332142067598749.post-81727215358427490342009-03-28T08:16:00.000-07:002009-03-28T09:01:26.039-07:00

I just returned from a trip to Cape Coral, Florida Thursday night and have tried to reflect on the last year of my life.  It has been a strange year.  The price of a house in Cape Coral has lowered by 54%, I have worked as a teacher for the last year after a seven year hiatus, and somehow have collected enough money to invest in the stock market for the first time in my life exactly a year after

King of Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11793825722325763371noreply@blogger.com2