Christian suckling from the teat of the state

[russoft]

How's that for an inflammatory title? It's finally time to make this post. I hate opening up and sharing. I find it much easier to remain nonverbal. But Stefan's latest videos (and a recent sermon at church ) on the general theme "talk about things that matter, even if it's uncomfortable" has prompted me to finally do this.

 

I am a child of Christian missionaries. My parents were the children of missionaries too. I grew up in Southeast Africa. While many of my fellow MKs (missionary kids) became leftists, I'm convinced that my childhood experiences pushed me towards libertarianism. I grew up far from the city. I'm not sure what was technically legal or illegal, but I enjoyed a life of freedom in rural Africa. Every household owned an arsenal of guns. I made my own gunpowder. Set off home made fireworks. Build my own diving gear. I basically did what I wanted without worrying that I might be in violation of some city ordinance. As a child, we would travel through Zimbabwe often. My father gave me an allowance of Z$100 on one of our early trips through Zimbabwe. By the time I left Africa about 10 years ago, we had to exchange US dollars for Zimbabwe dollar vouchers (not even real banknotes, each worth tens of thousands of Z$) on the side of the road before going through the border. The official government exchange rate was around Z$100 to $1 USD at that time, but it was trading much lower on the "black market". The whole country was devoid of fuel and we had to make sure we topped up our tank right before transiting through the country. The border no longer accepted fees in the official currency and demanded either Rands (South African currency) or USD. Many of my childhood friends were white Zimbabwean farmers who fled the country after being threatened with death. Zimbabwe always stood in stark contrast to its neighbor, South Africa. Despite mismanagement by the ANC (ruling party), South Africa stood as a shining example of civilization. If you could avoid getting carjacked, mugged, or murdered, the country offered so much in comparison to the rest of Africa. In fact, the best medical doctors I've ever met were all South African trained.

 

I grew up in a good family. One might think that a parent's willing to drag their kids into dangerous parts of the world must mean they're more concerned about their work than their family, but it simply wasn't so. Yes, my parent's spanked me. It wasn't traumatizing nor did it create distance in my relationship to my parents. We were very close as a family. To this day my sister, mom, and dad are my best friends (besides my wife of course). My parents didn't send us to boarding school because they wanted to spend time with us as we grew up, so we home schooled instead. They invested time and money in ensuring we had many experiences together. Whether it was world travel or pursuing hobbies, money came second to relationship and learning experiences. Though they are committed Christians, they never made faith mandatory. They made sure I knew that my faith had to be my own. They knew I'd wander off into the big world one day and confront many other appealing ideas and if I didn't own my faith, I'd lose it.

 

I returned to Canada at age 18 to begin University. During my years in university, I went from being politically conservative to libertarian. After undergrad, I tried to join the Navy. After a year of waiting for a position of my choosing to open up, I enrolled in a graduate program studying magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Reflecting back, I'm glad the military didn't work out. I worked towards my MSEE and subsequently got a job with a university where I continue MRI research. Since listening to Stefan's show, I've become a lot less comfortable at my job. I talk to people in the private sector with comparatively terrible health care coverage and feel sick to my stomach knowing that the money they pay in taxes goes towards research grants that pay for my salary and health care coverage. I feel only moderately better knowing that I'm not directly employed by the government and that any day I could be out of a job if the research center lose a research grant. Despite my continued employment at the university, I advocate for small government, flat tax rates, and civil liberties. I hope I can talk myself out of this job. But then I saw my home province in Canada vote in a bunch of socialists, and suddenly I don't feel bad anymore. I realized that people get what they deserve when they vote for bad policy. If people are stupid enough to keep voting for socialism, I'm not going to feel bad taking advantage of the system. I'll advocate against it with all that's in me, but I'm certainly not going to feel guilty. I voted against it. That said, I am waiting for my permanent residency so that I can start my own business. I am convinced of the virtues of entrepreneurship. I'd rather create wealth than consume it.

 

To sum up: I am excited about FDR. Stefan is a force for good in the fight for freedom and truth. I think he's wrong on many issues, but I'm excited to explore those issues more deeply. I'm rethinking my positions on a lot of issues. While I believe in small government, I find anarchism to be more ethically consistent. Many of its ideas are very appealing. On the other hand, I've seen the benefits of good government vs. corrupt government. Additionally. I'm going to read the literature on spanking before kids come into the picture. My parent's were good parents, but that doesn't mean they did everything right. They might have  been wrong and as soon as I can stop being so defensive of their parenting choices I can form my own opinion about spanking based on the evidence.

 

I hope to challenge my ideas and in so doing, find the truth. As Aristotle apparently said (but knowing the internet, maybe it was Hitler): "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

[Matt D]

Hi Russ,

 

Welcome, first of all. You may have dodged a bullet not getting to join the military. From what I hear those experiences really change a person in ways that are hard to recover from. Good luck with the residency and starting your business.

 

I think it's a good sign, for what it's worth, that you're aware of your defensiveness towards your parents. There's a lot more you could explore there, I'm sure. I'm curious how your parents made sure you "owned your faith". Surely they told you something about their religious views. When you were a child, did they present the idea of God as if it was an opinion or as if it was true and obvious?

[russoft]

Hi Matt,

 

Sorry, haven't been on the forums in a while.

 

As anyone who is serious about their faith to the level that they're willing to live in a rural part of Africa as missionaries, my parents believe that their faith is the truth. Just as anyone teaches their children what they believe to be true, my parents taught me about God the same way. My parents weren't relativists who believed that all religions were a way to God. If you're going to believe something, you sure as hell better believe it's the truth! If I were a Christian who thought other ideas were equally true, I'd cease to be a Christian since truth is objective.

 

In our house, we would have bible studies and discuss passages. Those discussions were open ended. Even our youth group had discussion sessions and often those discussions would become heated. Discussion and debate about God and the Bible were not shut down, but rather encouraged both at home and in the missionary community at large. When we reached our teen years, my parents did not make attending church mandatory. Obviously they would strongly encourage us to attend, but we never felt obligated. More than anything else, my father would regularly remind myself and my sister that we had to be responsible for our own faith. To develop our own relationship with God. No one can have a genuine faith and a relationship with God unless they pursue their faith privately. That means questioning your faith, doubting God, and wrestling with conflicting ideas that you encounter.

 

My parents ultimately understood that if I didn't learn to develop my faith on my own, I'd certainly lose it. At age 16, my parents let me hang out with my friends, who smoked, got drunk, and did drugs. At age 18, I left home and went to University. My Christian home and family was replaced by my college peers who were having sex, getting drunk, and were generally pretty hostile to Christianity. I think my parents knew these experiences were ahead of me and knew that my faith had to be my own, and not just a lifestyle thrust upon me by a Christian upbringing.

 

I hope that explains it better!