The Cross Section - RMB Blog

The fundamental social phenomenon is the division of labor and its counterpart human cooperation. - Ludwig Von Mises, Human Action, p. 151 Who would ever expect to read such a beautiful statement within a 900+ page treatise on economics?  But there it is, at the foundation of capitalism, private property, money, banking and interest rates, is human cooperation.  Such a succinct yet meaningful definition of society, the division of labor facilitating human cooperation.  That's it.  As I read Human Action last year I was struck at how Biblical it sounded.  It was like a study of anthropology in a systematic theology course.  It wrestled with questions like, what are humans and how do they properly live out life?  Then, I thought about the competing ideas of individualism and collectivism.  In this one sentence you see the importance of individuals from the comment about the division of labor.  You also see how no one person is an island to them...

Here is something else I wrote about years ago, looking at the value the Bible places on the individual.  If God relates to persons more than groups how does that affect the way we see human interaction.  I posted this now as an intro into a longer article that I am in the process of writing, describing further my thoughts on God's created order and how we fit into it. If you find my thoughts interesting, please make a comment below and tell a friend.  Peace! The President of the United States of America (not the awesome music group) many times is referred to as “The Leader Of The Free World”.  Where do we get this idea from?  The Free World.  What are we freed from?  What are we now free to do?  Somewhere in the corner of your mind I hope you realize the question is to you individually.  If you don’t get to exercise freedom in your own specific life, is it really worth anything? A place to start to understand freedom is in the letter Paul wr...

The Search For Knowledge As a kid I thought I wanted to be an archaeologist, based solely on watching Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.  The coolest thing about Indiana Jones had to be the whip.  But the idea of digging in the dirt and uncovering a priceless artifact sounded really exciting too.  They were priceless, even though pieces of bone or pottery, building ruins, and ancient tools don't have value in and of themselves, There is nothing you can do with them.  They are falling apart or are completely outdated.  Yet, they provide valuable knowledge about long forgotten cultures.  Universities, collectors, or museums will pay large amounts of money for them not for their utility but for what they can teach us. The search for knowledge at an archaeological excavation is the same as the search for any other kind of knowledge.  You must dig beneath the surface.  You must search high and low.  The wisest man in history, Solomon, ...

I wrote about Genesis 3:15 several years ago based on a discussion I had with a friend who does not believe that this verse contains the proto-evangelion, the first telling of the gospel.  To believe that in Genesis 3:15 God is giving the gospel to Adam and Eve, is also to believe that Eves's seed is Jesus Christ.  Because this belief can have important implications to ones' theology, I decided to analyze the verse and other places in Scripture to determine how strong the case is for Jesus being the seed foretold by God Himself. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”   Introduction The second part of the curse of the serpent is found in Genesis 3:15.   Is God simply cursing snakes and making an etiological statement about why humans find snakes so scary?   Or is He talking about something deeper? One way to understand the...