Author: WyattPitts

Describe Bastiat’s concept of the politics of plunder. According to Wikipedia “Claude-Frédéric Bastiat was a French economist, writer and a prominent member of the French Liberal School.” He was born on June 30, 1801 in Bayonne, France, and died on December 24, 1850 in Rome, Italy. 

When Fredrick Bastiat was a member of the French National Assembly he introduced the parable of the broken window. According to Wikipedia “The parable of the broken window was introduced by French economist Frédéric Bastiat in his 1850 essay “That Which We See and That Which We Do Not See” (“Ce qu’on voit et ce qu’on ne voit pas“) to illustrate why destruction, and the money spent to recover from destruction, is not actually a net benefit to society.” He also wrote many other things including The Law and Taxes. According to Wikipedia “The Law  is an 1850 book by Frédéric Bastiat. It was written at Mugron two years after the third French Revolution and a few months before his death of tuberculosis at age 49. The essay was influenced by John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government and in turn influenced Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson. It is the work for which Bastiat is most famous, followed by the candlemaker’s petition and the parable of the broken window.”

Describe Bastiat’s concept of the politics of plunder. According to OLL, “The basis for Bastiat’s theory of class was the notion of plunder which he defined as the taking of another person’s property without their consent by force or fraud. Those who lived by plunder constituted “les spoliateurs” (the plunderers) or “la classe spoliatrice” (the plundering class).” Plunder is taking someone else’s property by force. Bastiat observes that a society where plundering is practiced, soon it will become legal. 

“Online education is bad for society because it puts classroom teachers out of work.” There’s good and bad things about this. Some bad things are it does put people out of a job. If they went to school to learn how to teach a subject and the school gets shut down where will they work? 

Some good things are with online education you can do school from home. Kids who go to public or private school have to wake up early. If you’re having online education from home you can get up at any time. I am homeschooled and I do Ron Paul curriculum. I wake up when I wake up, feed my animals. then do school. With online you can go back in a lesson if you forgot something, but when you go to school you can’t have anything repeated. 

I prefer online education because anyone can do it. If a teacher gets out of a job find a better job. 

How was the English Reformation different from the German Reformation? There were many ways how these two were different, but one reason is the German Reformation delt with mostly beliefs while the English Reformation was mainly politics. 

What do we learn about St. Francis Xavier’s missionary work in the letter you read for lesson 13? St. Francis Xavier wrote this letter to the “Society of Jesus” at Rome while he was in India. In this letter we find that St. Francis traveled round the world to teach others about Jesus. At one point he went to Japan and when he got back he wanted to go to China, but died before he could. 

What kind of impression are you left with by the Spiritual Exercises? Why is Ignatius concerned about careless discussion of faith and good works? According to Wikipedia “The Spiritual Exercises, composed 1522–1524, are a set of Christian meditations, contemplations, and prayers written by Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish priest, theologian, and founder of the Society of Jesus.” They were meant to undermine the Protestant belief. The Protestant views were based on faith so Ignatius view was on works, not faith. 

Why does More present the traveler as a sensible reformer early in Book I, but not later? According to Wikipedia “Sir Thomas More, venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532. He wrote Utopia, published in 1516, which describes the political system of an imaginary island state.” 

According to Wikipedia “Utopia is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More (1478–1535), written in Latin and published in 1516. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs.” A Utopia is basically a place where everything is perfect. 

This book is about a traveler interested in a perfect world. Where the punishment fits the crime.  If thieves had a job they would have no need to steal. There is only deprivation, no sin. Utopia is a place where there is no money. Jewels, gold, silver. coins, none of it would mean anything. Everyone has everything that they need. Everyone has a job so there are no beggars. There is no fashion. Everything is free because there is no money. No one would even need to steal because they already have everything they need. There is a limited amount of families in a city and a limited amount of people in a family. 

Why does More present the traveler as a sensible reformer early in Book I, but not later? The ideas in this book would not be accepted at first. The author begins with believable ideas at first then brings in more unbelievable ideas. 

Describe family government in terms of the five institutional characteristics: sovereignty, hierarchy, law, sanctions, and succession. 

1# Sovereignty: According to Wikipedia “Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority.” In family government the one completely in charge is the father, and if there’s no father then the mother is in charge. But above all God is the sovereign One. God created all things so He owns all things. Colossians 1:16-17 says “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” 

2# Hierarchy: According to Wikipedia “A hierarchy is an arrangement of items that are represented as being “above”, “below”, or “at the same level as” one another.” Hierarchy also means authority. I go to an organization called Trail Life. It is like boy scouts, but a lot different. First in command is the First officer, then the second officer, then the quartermaster, then the junior patrol leaders. In family government the first in command is the father then the mother then whatever order of kids that the parents want. 

3# Law: According to Wikipedia “Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior.” There are good laws and there are bad laws. In a home the parents make laws to keep their children safe. Some of those laws are be nice to your siblings, do your chores, and do your homework. Some of these laws might seem mean or annoying, but the parents are just trying to protect their children. 

4# Sanctions: Sanctions are basically the rewards of doing something. they can be good or bad. If your dad tells you to do something you might get a reward which would be a good sanction. You would get a bad sanction if you were caught doing something you were told not to. In a home good sanctions would come from obeying, cleaning, and being a good brother/sister, Bad sanctions would come from disobeying, being mean, and stealing. 

5# Succession: According to Google, succession is “the action or process of inheriting a title, office, property, etc.” Basically succession is like when a boy gets married and becomes a husband. After he has a son/daughter he’ll become a father. Or maybe when someone dies you take their place. 

Explain Luther’s main points in the selection you read from On the Freedom of a Christian. According to Wikipedia “Martin Luther OSA was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar. He was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507.” He became a monk when one day he got caught in a big storm. He prayed to St. Anne to save him and if he survived he would become a monk. God saved him and he kept his promise to St. Anne and became a monk.

In the year 1520 Martin Luther wrote a book called On the Freedom of a Christian . According to Wikipedia “On the Freedom of a Christian sometimes also called A Treatise on Christian Liberty, was the third of Martin Luther’s major reforming treatises of 1520.” Three main points are love, bondage, and freedom. 

LOVE: According to Living Lutheran, “Love begets love. It’s impossible for true faith not to yield abundant fruits of love because it is by faith that we awaken to God’s abundant love for us in Christ—and love wants to love…. Love is the fruit of faith. Love is the mark of the true Christian.”

BONDAGE: We are all in bondage to sin. The Bible says that no one is perfect. We were all born with sin and we will all die with it. 

FREEDOM: The good news is that God’s response to sin is healing and reconciliation and not punishment. Our sin is Christ’s, and Christ’s “goodness” is our “goodness”. This is called the “happy exchange” by Luther.

Explain Calvin’s main points in the selection you read from the Institutes of the Christian Religion. How does Calvin answer those who say predestination makes God into a being who dispenses justice unequally? According to Wikipedia “John Calvin was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism, including its doctrines of predestination and of God’s absolute sovereignty in the salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation.” John Calvin wrote a book called  Institutes of the Christian Religion. The main points are basically salvation of man through faith alone.

Do you think that Luther really believed that Pope Leo X did not know what the indulgence salesmen were saying? According to Wikipedia “Martin Luther OSA was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar. He was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507.” He became a monk when one day he got caught in a big storm. He prayed to St. Anne to save him and if he survived he would become a monk. God saved him and he kept his promise to St. Anne and became a monk. 

One day on October 31, Martin Luther wrote 95 theses to the Catholic church and nailed them to the doors. According to Wikipedia “The Ninety-five Theses or is a list of propositions for an academic disputation written in 1517 by Martin Luther.” Martin Luther wrote these “complaints” because he wanted the church to stop doing certain things like selling indulgences (paying the church to get your sins forgiven), executing people, and taking advantage of them. In the 95 theses there were some directed towards the church and the pope. In the theses directed toward the pope, Martin Luther was trying to save the pope from slander. According to the dictionary slander means “make false and damaging statements about someone.” Martin Luther says that the pope cares more about money then saving people. The pope gets money from people buying indulgences. Basically the pope is cheating people and Martin Luther makes this clear by saying that you don’t need to pay for indulgences. 

So do  you think that Luther really believed that Pope Leo X did not know what the indulgence salesmen were saying? Yes, I believe he did. 

Is the Family a Legitimate Form of Government? According to Wikipedia “A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.” According to Dictionary.com, a legitimate form of government is “A government generally acknowledged as being in control of a nation and deserving formal recognition, which is symbolized by the exchange of diplomats between that government and the governments of other countries.” 

Is the Family a Legitimate Form of Government? Yes. Families government are the parents. The dad is in charge of the household. I Corinthians 11:13 says “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” 

How would you describe the condition of the Catholic Church on the eve of the Protestant Reformation? According to Wikipedia “The Reformation was a major movement from Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in part to papal authority.” During the Reformation There were horrible thing happening everywhere. Including wars, long torcher, and executions. The Catholic church was much worse though. The Catholic church was lying to people about purgatory, buying your way into Heaven, and you will be blessed by God if you give money to us.   

What were the Ninety-Five Theses about? What was the basic message of Luther’s complaint? Basically the Ninety five theses were complains about ninety five things that the church was doing wrong. The basic message was that people don’t need to pay the Catholic church for anything.