Here's an interesting story for those of you that still believe that we have freedom of speech in Canada. Here's a "good story" summerizing the events. I know that it accurate because I personally know Natalie Sanesh who is mentioned in the story. Here is a "really good unbiased commentary" on the state of Canada with regards to it's civil liberties which mentions this incident in particular.
Sorry folks that I haven't blogged much recently. We've been sick around here. When Joel's home I can almost never get enough time on the computer to write an entry. I do plan on keeping this up though.
I love Easter. When I was growing up Easter was nothing but a silly little egg hunt and a big dinner. I prefer Easter over Christmas by far because the secular version of Christmas has gross expressions of the religious aspect of it and Christians often succumb to consumerism and excess that represents the secular holiday. Easter is great because the secular holiday has almost no remaining elements of the religious holiday. When I became a Christian I was able to celebrate Easter without it having been tainted by years of celebrating a bastardized version.
That said I must say that I've come to really dislike the feasting part of Easter (and Christmas and Thanksgiving). I think that it is sadly ironic that the way that we remember the humility and sacrifice of Jesus is by being gluttonous. In a way we're saying that we have more then when we need and, damn it, we're going to enjoy it. This is all in the name of thankfulness to God.
I know that this sounds like a petty grievance, like I'm trying to find things to be annoyed about. I don't think that this is the case. I think that this is just another example of how we fail to acknowledge how fat and happy we are, how poor the rest of the world is and what a sacrificial lifestyle Jesus has really called us to. I think that if we really had a clear perspective on these holidays we would be fasting rather then feasting in order to remember the great things that God has done for us.
My husband put together a slide show of pictures and facts that illustrates how every little decision that we make can have a profound impact on someone else. If you're interested you can view the site here. Please let me know what you think or offer me any suggestions that you might have.
While I was shopping yesterday, I saw a bumper sticker on the back of a new SUV that said, "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. - Mother Teresa". We don't have a large pro-life population around here so it stood out to me. I wanted to know whose vehical it was and encourage them to keep on fighting. When I mentioned it to Joel, he pointed out the irony in the fact that the money used to buy their vehical could have gone to save the lives of children. As a consequence of the way that they are choosing to live, people are not being helped that otherwise could have been. Potentially, children are dying that could have otherwise been saved.
I think that this illustrates my feelings that the pro-life community should be more holistic in it's approach. Really I think that all Christians, not just the pro-life community, has the responsibility to do as much as it can for those in need. I'm anti-abortion but also anti-war and anti-poverty. How can we really claim to care about life when we're not willing to acknowledge that our own actions, or lack of action, affects the well being of others? Of course we all screw up and hurt others but more specifically I'm thinking about how our use of resources can significantly impact the lives of others. Five dollars can feed a family for a day or buy you a Starbucks coffee or a meal at McDonalds. I struggle with using my time to bring glory to God. I'm much too lazy. There are a lot of good things that I could be doing to help others that I never seem to be able to commit to doing. None of us are perfect but let us not give up seeking to be so.
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt 5:48
Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. James 4:17
In our church meeting this afternoon we were discussing the subversive nature of Christianity. I've thought about this before but hadn't thought about it much recently. It was good to revisit it because I think that it is at the heart of the gospel.
In a lot of circles Christianity is treated as something that we can add onto our lives. Lets face it. We've all done this at one time or another. We often treat God as though if we believe the right things, pray regularly, try to avoid certain sins, and be loving to others we can please him. I think that this is a subtle lie. Jesus calls us to radically overhaul our lives, die to self. I think that this means that we can't add good behaviour and beliefs onto our lives to be in good shape. We need to drop all ambitions, hopes, dreams, and plans. We have to ask what is the best thing that we could be doing rather then whether this is an acceptable thing to be doing. These are very different questions with very different answers but easy to confuse.
You're probably wondering where I'm going with this. How is this subversive? I think that it is because when we start to really seek God's kingdom first we are putting aside the world's values. This says to people that their way of doing things is not good. When I run against the flow of society people know that I'm doing it for a reason and that I disagree with them. For example, when I choose to not slowly make my home nicer by buying better furniture, nicer decorations, and replacing odd dishes because I would rather give my time and money to the kingdom, I make people who do these things uncomfortable. Our lifestyles should convict other people of their sin.
For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 2 Cor 2:15,16
I was at an abortion protest at a local university handing out pamphlets and talking with people this morning. As much as I hate that the protests are necessary I love doing them. I feel like I'm doing something that's actually making a difference. I love discussing this issue with people because I know that the only way that we will see abortion end is by changing the hearts and minds of the masses. I hope that the protests that we do can cause a ripple effect and will one day make abortion unthinkable.
The university protests are focused around a number of large signs that contain graphic images of aborted babies that are compared to different past genocides in history. The volunteers hand out pamphlets to those passing by and try to start discussions. I usually ask people that are lingering around what they think about it all. I is a great seed for conversation. The focus of discussion varies from person to person. A lot people don't really like the use of graphic images while others want to hear our response to various pro-choice rhetoric. I just love when I can have rational discussions with people.
One thing that I noticed today was that I had a number of the conversations come around to euthanasia. It was a bit of a new spin on the old argument. I've heard many people say before that we need abortion or else the children will suffer terrible lives. What I haven't heard as much before is people who are willing to acknowledge that a fetus is a human and yet believe that it should still legal to abort it.
One of the signs that we use compares a premature baby at 24 weeks gestation hooked up to life support with an aborted baby also at 24 weeks gestation. I asked one girl that told me that she thought that a woman should have a right to choose what she thought of that particular sign. She said that it didn't bother her. I asked her if I were to kill the live premature baby if that would bother her. She told me that it wouldn't bother her if the child wasn't going to have a good life. I wasn't really expecting that answer. I had a couple other similar discussions where people basically argued that abortion was OK because euthanasia is OK.
The problem with her rational is that you and I don't have the right to decide what a reasonable quality of life is for another person is. If we did then my government might decide that the people in Ethiopia are suffering from so much famine and are taking resource from others who could use them more effectively and so we might as well just go nuke them. Clearly that would be insane but I don't believe that abortion is different. I think that the issue is that most people who would advocate "abortion euthanasia" either don't think that the fetus is as human as them or that the good of abortion would out weigh the fact that someone is dying (ends justify the means argument). I believe that both of these beliefs are flawed. I believe that a fetus is human and therefore no good that could come from killing it is justifiable.
I had a fight with my husband today. I was being ridiculously stubborn. For those of you that know me that probably doesn't come as a surprise. I had been a little rough with one of our kids and he told me that I needed to apologize to her. Well, I set my heels in and refused. We had a discussion about it in private and where I continued to be stubborn. He asked me if I thought that I was acting in a Christ-like manner in the way that I was treating him and Faith and I went so far as to say that I didn't know how Christ would respond in the situation. It wasn't until he told me that I was really upsetting him because I'd never lied to him like that before that I snapped to my seances. I apologized (to him and Faith) and made things right.
Through this fight I realized that I often don't care as much about God's feelings about my behaviour as I do about Joel's. I wonder how much of my good behavior is a result of my selfish motivation to have a happy marriage and other happy relationships and how much is based on my love of God. This incident seems to suggest the former. I think that my selfish desire to win the fight overruled my desire for a pleasant relationship with Joel or God. It wasn't because of Joel's reminder that I was acting un-Christlike that I apologized it was because I was reminded that I was damaging my relationship with Joel.
Walking with Jesus is hard. I feel depressed sometimes when I realize how sinful I still am. It's sure a beautiful thing to remember his awesome grace.
Because I've been creating a website on frugal living I've been thinking about unhealthy reasons why people spend money. If you can think of any others can you let me know in my comments please. Here are some of my preliminary thoughts.
1. Comfort. I think that this is a huge reason why people spend money unnecessarily. Of course there are many sub-reasons that would fall under this but it seem that comfort is a major reason for waste. I'll examine the sub-reasons:
I don't think that my list is exhaustive but I think that it covers the most of the main reasons that people spend.
I'm going to really make an effort here to get back into active blogging :)
Recently I've noticed that the non-Christian world notices the lack of social awareness of the church. We have a non-Christian friend that was imprisoned in Iran for being involved in activism. He mentioned to Joel (my husband) that he confronted his pastor on why Christians aren't involved politically. It bothered him that he was willing to lose all his teeth and endure being beaten for what he believed in and yet Christians here are not willing to stand up against social evil. He explained that his pastor gave some lame excuse about the separation of church and state. Joel explained to him why this was faulty reasoning.
I regularly visit a forum on line for people discussing simple living principles and consumerism. On a recent thread people were discussing how the church doesn't seem to do anything to discourage consumerism and globalization. Shouldn't it bother us that non-Christians can see that the church is failing at it's calling?
The world is watching us. A lot of people can clearly see that the church is not living up to the standards that God has set for it. They can see that collectively are goals are very middle class. Bottom lines is that we want to be comfortable. We're not living the radical lives that Jesus called us to. We're living worldly lives of comfort and entertainment and the world can see it.
