Whilst delighting in the sights and sounds of Kenneth Park, I came upon a genius. My church youth group was discussing the paths that sinners can take. Either progress or regress, there is no middle ground. In Human Action, the seminal work of Ludwig von Mises, there is similitude to this black and white truth. The Volkswirtschaft (the market economy) is ever changing.
Mises often describes the fictional world of the evenly rotating economy, where the State sets all prices. In this fantasy, Sozialismus, there is a stage in which equilibrium of prices occurs. This would mean humans would cease attempts at improving their current state of affairs. As long as humans act they act in accordance with their self-interest to try to attain a more satisfying state of affairs. Mises describes this in lieu of prices, "In the world of reality all prices are fluctuating and acting men are forced to take full account of these changes...The market economy is essentially characterized as a social system in which there prevails an incessant urge toward improvement" (pg.539). The only way to avoid the apodeictic axioms of the Volkswirtschaft is for humans not to act. That is to say that in the realm of the living, economic law is sovereign to utopian fantasies.
According to orthodox Christianity, every human is a sinner. There is the inherited sin that one receives as a descendant of Adam and Eve. Also there are the sedulous trespasses against the decalogue that we all take part in. Idolatry, adultery, theft, bearing false witness etc... pick your poison. The reason for the stress on orthodoxy per se is, because I have heard Protestants use terminology that resembles the arguments presupposing an evenly rotating economy. Often Protestants speak of a moment, in their teenage years or college, when they were saved. Whether they were raised Christian or not, they believe there to be a state of equilibrium in their lives when it comes to sin. Before they are truly cognizant of Christ they acted in a way that they call "unchristian" or sinful. Once their faith has bloomed, and a quasi-ascetic life begun, they are "christian". This means that they are somehow in a separate class, from their old selves and others whom may consider themselves Christian, where they do not really sin anymore. This is patently false. A living human cannot help but act. The imperfection of humans elicits sinful action. Eternal life is promised to those humble enough to submit to the will of the one transcendent creator. This submission is exemplified by the sacrament of repentance/confession. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not with us" (1 John 1:9-10 KJV). The process is an acknowledgement that we are not omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent entities. We are imperfect, and in a gradual process of being saved by the grace of the perfect King of Kings.
The verisimilitude evenly rotating economy fails because humans constantly change their subjective wants. Humans have two options to choose in building a relationship with God. They can either reduce their sin count or add to it. Either an increase in proximity to God occurs or a distancing from his will. There is no equilibrium. Human action dictates the proclivity to mutability. Yahweh is immutable. We may seek to improve our current state of affairs with an assiduous battle to reduce our sin count. It ends only when we cease to act, in other words die.
Post Scriptum: A special thanks to Ye Maryam Lijoch of Los Angeles and Abba Thomas, whom helped spark the thought that led to this post. Discussion is delectable.
Mises often describes the fictional world of the evenly rotating economy, where the State sets all prices. In this fantasy, Sozialismus, there is a stage in which equilibrium of prices occurs. This would mean humans would cease attempts at improving their current state of affairs. As long as humans act they act in accordance with their self-interest to try to attain a more satisfying state of affairs. Mises describes this in lieu of prices, "In the world of reality all prices are fluctuating and acting men are forced to take full account of these changes...The market economy is essentially characterized as a social system in which there prevails an incessant urge toward improvement" (pg.539). The only way to avoid the apodeictic axioms of the Volkswirtschaft is for humans not to act. That is to say that in the realm of the living, economic law is sovereign to utopian fantasies.
According to orthodox Christianity, every human is a sinner. There is the inherited sin that one receives as a descendant of Adam and Eve. Also there are the sedulous trespasses against the decalogue that we all take part in. Idolatry, adultery, theft, bearing false witness etc... pick your poison. The reason for the stress on orthodoxy per se is, because I have heard Protestants use terminology that resembles the arguments presupposing an evenly rotating economy. Often Protestants speak of a moment, in their teenage years or college, when they were saved. Whether they were raised Christian or not, they believe there to be a state of equilibrium in their lives when it comes to sin. Before they are truly cognizant of Christ they acted in a way that they call "unchristian" or sinful. Once their faith has bloomed, and a quasi-ascetic life begun, they are "christian". This means that they are somehow in a separate class, from their old selves and others whom may consider themselves Christian, where they do not really sin anymore. This is patently false. A living human cannot help but act. The imperfection of humans elicits sinful action. Eternal life is promised to those humble enough to submit to the will of the one transcendent creator. This submission is exemplified by the sacrament of repentance/confession. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not with us" (1 John 1:9-10 KJV). The process is an acknowledgement that we are not omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent entities. We are imperfect, and in a gradual process of being saved by the grace of the perfect King of Kings.
The verisimilitude evenly rotating economy fails because humans constantly change their subjective wants. Humans have two options to choose in building a relationship with God. They can either reduce their sin count or add to it. Either an increase in proximity to God occurs or a distancing from his will. There is no equilibrium. Human action dictates the proclivity to mutability. Yahweh is immutable. We may seek to improve our current state of affairs with an assiduous battle to reduce our sin count. It ends only when we cease to act, in other words die.
Post Scriptum: A special thanks to Ye Maryam Lijoch of Los Angeles and Abba Thomas, whom helped spark the thought that led to this post. Discussion is delectable.
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