Quotes From Ron Paul’s: Freedom Under Siege, Part 3

Today it is usual to assume that the government owns all that we produce, and through government generosity we are permitted to retain a certain portion. We routinely hear that if a particular tax is reduced, it will be a “cost” to government. This concept must be changed if the idea of individual liberty is to survive. There is no such thing as cost to government. There is only cost to people. Government cannot grant to us our right to life
and liberty, it would mean that government controls all that we produce. Sadly this is essentially the situation in which we find ourselves today.–pg. 16

We all naively and obediently become tax collectors for the government, turning over the loot that the politicians will waste as they further destroy our right to live as we choose.–pg. 16

Americans today have more people living on the street than ever before, in spite of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to eradicate poverty. Of course, logic tells us that if you subsidize poverty, you’ll get more of it.–pg.18

Until it’s respectable once again to champion individual rights and government, we cannot expect to reverse the trend in which we as Americans find ourselves.–pg. 18

John Piper and the Future of Justification, Part 3

Piper summarizes some of his main concerns with Wright’s theology. Among them, is Wright’s affirmation that the gospel is not about how to get saved (18). Wright affirms that the gospel “refers to the proclamation that Jesus, the crucified and risen Messiah , is the one, true and only Lord of the world” (18). Piper has no problem affirming this definition of the gospel, nevertheless he finds it troublesome that Wright would deny that the gospel is not about how one gets saved. Wright believes that the gospel is a cosmic proclamation of the lordship of Christ over all political systems and earthly authority.

Wright’s proposition that the gospel is about a cosmic proclamation corrects much of the dualistic thinking in the evangelical world. The Lordship of Christ is a comprehensive and authoritative claim over all mankind. At the same time, by refusing to extend this lordship to the question What must I do to be saved seems rather minimalistic. The gospel is both authoritative– bringing earthly rulers under the authority of Messiah and salvific–and it answers the question what must I do to be saved with a definitive call to embrace Messiah as Lord and you shall be saved (I Corinthians 15:1-2).