Thursday, October 17, 2024

day no. 16,796: glibertarianism

1 Samuel 8:5-7; 9-18
"Make us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them."

And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, "This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.  And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day."

Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, "Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles."

Libertarianism asserts that "all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose." — Libertarian Party Platform

This, however, is insanity. When people are left to their own devices, they pick princes and popes to reign over them. Libertarianism assumes that free people will take measures to secure their freedom, but more often than not, they look for opportunities to sell their responsibilities off. The lie of libertarianism is that men will choose freedom over slavery.

Numbers 14:1-4
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

People pick access to onions over the freedom to farm their own. People choose State-sponsored tombstones over God-inscribed laws. People would rather be slaves of the State than servants of God.

Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 

God commands to our weakness and for the benefit of others. We have to be commanded to stay free because of our temptation to retreat to slavery. We have to be set free in the first place because we enslaved ourselves to sin. We have to be commanded to stay free because outside of Christ, we look for other yokes. Living in Christian liberty is a command of God to His people. This cannot be accomplished outside of Christ or without His Spirit's help. When Christians live in liberty, it benefits our neighbors. It paves the way for limited civil government which blesses everyone.

"We deny that secularism is in any way capable of providing the liberty and structure that it promises. The only way forward is through a return to mere Christendom." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

Libertarians would have us believe that the desire for freedom is deeply embedded in each human heart, but the desire for bondage is hardwired into our wills. We prefer slavery to responsibility. People delegate their freedom to the führer. Society sends the Son to be crucified by Caesar. There is no spark of liberty in the hearts of men. There is only the desire to do what one thinks best and that is informed or influenced entirely by sin outside of Christ.

Furthermore, the man or system people pick to lead the parade is a man who, like them, has desires of his own and Samuel painstakingly laid out the kinds of things kings often have in mind. Libertarianism means that men are allowed to live according to their respective proclivities, but as we've already seen, most men choose chains; and those who don't choose crowns because they have no lack of ideas about what they think best for other people.

People want kings and kings want job security.

Libertarianism is, when all's said and done, quite glib; it is glibertarianism.

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