Hearts and Minds

Conclusion (for now)
I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to explain what conservatives believe and why we believe it.

What started all of this was the frequently heard assertion that conservatism is incompatible with Christianity. I’ve tried to show that conservative ideology is compatible with biblical ethics and that it’s based on a logical approach to the facts.

I am convinced that conservative principles are better; that doesn’t mean they’re perfect or that liberals have no good ideas. It certainly doesn’t mean that good compromises don’t exist between both camps – purple solutions, if you will.

But conservative positions are morally and logically strong and must be given due consideration as we consider the problems facing our society today.

The Master taught us to love God with all of our being including our minds. We must strive to think clearly and Christianly about everything to the glory of God.

As we seek to live out the command to love our neighbor, we have to ask whether the Bible shows us right ways and wrong ways to do this. We also need to consider whether our ideas for helping the poor are actually effective or, initially, at least based on sound principles.

James talks about telling a poor person “be warm and well fed” but not doing anything to make him so. Merely wishing him well is useless. So is giving him a bucket of sand. If we help people thoughtlessly, we have accomplished nothing.

We have to think carefully about the issues in front of us so that we can truly help people and so we don’t waste precious resources.

The mere desire to do right does not get us very far. We also need to do well.