[guestpost]Featured Article by my Bride[/guestpost]
No, I don’t love my husband unconditionally. In fact, I am insulted by the idea of it.
Somehow, the idea of “unconditional love” has been accepted by our culture as the most pure and true form of love possible. To love someone for personal gain is considered vulgar and opposite to love.
Left in the rain! A favorite book—ruined.
It was a growing-up experience for many book lovers, accidentally ruining a prized book. And how does it feel? The feeling is sadness, but also moral guilt.
I’ve been writing about the concept of “goodness,” and today I would like to look at a special aspect of goodness: morality.
A couple days ago I wrote about my bold position on self-interest in the Bible. I gave verses that point to one’s own life as the standard of value. One reader responded with a set of verses that seem to deny self-interest. Today I’ll explain one of them: 2 Timothy 3:2.
“People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy…”
The verse condemns wicked people for being “lovers of self.”
In light of this verse, should I change my view on self-interest?
I went looking for Christian fans of Ayn Rand. Here are the results of my search.
If your interests are similar to mine, these lists could save you a lot of time. My search answers the question:
Is belief in Jesus compatible with conservative or libertarian political ideas?
I found only a handful of Christians who were enthusiastic about Rand’s ideas. You can find us here.
I’ve noticed many Christian writers denouncing Rand and any attempt at a political coalition between the Tea Party conservatives and the fans or devotees of Rand.
My guess is that most Christians (even most Christian leaders or pastors) have not heard of Rand. Of those who have heard of her, I think 95% have strong dislike of her, but only rarely is their opinion formed from actually reading her.
Meanwhile, mainstream Christianity is moving toward more overt socialism/collectivism politically.
But social media has allowed the Tea Party or libertarian Christians to gain somewhat of an audience. Though the base is still small, there are many more Christians thinking clearly about liberty and rights today than at any time in the past century.
As a Christian Rand fan myself, I hope to speak to Christians about the need to take Rand’s ideas seriously. Though Christians will not agree with all the answers Rand offered, we will be better off when we begin to ask the questions she asked.
Here is Part 2 of my informal survey, asking “what does good mean?”
Answer #3. Good means “pleasing.”
