Here's a quick question: how many Inuit myths have you read in your life? That's what I thought. Well, here you go:
Sedna lived near the ocean with her father. Her father was an Inung -
a spirit who inhabited a living body. The two lived peacefully for
many years, as her mother had died when she was just a little girl.
Sedna
was nearing adulthood, and the youths and warriors came from all around
to seek her hand in marriage, for she was quite an extraordinarily
beautiful young maiden. Her eyes were the color of the tree bark, her
skin was the color of caramel candies, and her hair was as soft as the
down of a young gosling. But in spite of their efforts, Sedna was
uninterested. It was many years before Sedna was wooed, and this is how
it happened:
A
fulmar came over the sea, and landed at her feet as she was feeling the
breeze on her skin. It was the springtime, and the breeze was starting
to warm, but it was her heart which warmed all the more when the bird
sang his song. He offered to take her with him to a land where the
people dwelt in the most beautiful tents, where there was never a lack
for food, and where the clothes were soft and warm. Sedna was enticed
and enchanted by this strange bird, and agreed to go with him. So the
two of them flew away over the sea and melting ice, until at last they
reached the land of the fulmar. But Sedna had been deceived, for her
home was not beautiful, but was made of fish. Her food was also fish,
and her clothes were made of walrus hides, which scratched her. She
lamented her choice, and sang out to her father, "Come and take me
home!" The father came in his boat, and when he saw the
treatment his daughter had received, he killed all of the fulmar, and laid
waste their land. Then he took his daughter home.
But
some of the fulmar had been out hunting, and when they arrived home,
they swore vengeance upon their family and their home, and searched for
the boat. They saw it at a distance, and tried to capsize it with a
storm. The father threw his daughter overboard in an attempt to appease
the birds, but she hung on with her fingers. He sliced her fingers off
at the first knuckle, but still she clung. So he sliced again, but
still she clung. So he sliced a third time, and she slipped into the
water. The three joints of her fingers, in the meantime, became whales,
water seals, and land seals.
Thinking that Sedna had
drowned, the birds calmed the storm and flew away, and Sedna's father
pulled his daughter back into the boat. But she was angry with him, and
as he slept, she had her dogs gnaw off his hands and feet. At this
time, the boat sank into the sea, along with Sedna and her father. Now
Sedna rules the land of Adlivun, where the dead dwell.
-Inuit Myth
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Friday, November 20, 2015
Brussels Sprouts
I think brussels sprouts typically smell and taste a little like old garbage. Or a full diaper. But these guys - well, I could eat them every week. I also thought it would be a good idea to post this in case you're looking for a Thanksgiving vegetable - something other than green bean casserole.
1 cup beef broth 1 T butter
2 T red wine vinegar 2 T minced onions
1 bag frozen brussels sprouts, OR 1 1/2 t salt
stalk fresh sprouts, trimmed, washed, 1/4 t pepper
and drained parmesan cheese
1) Combine broth, vinegar, and sprouts in a medium saucepan. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil. Add sprouts and reduce heat to medium; simmer until liquid has boiled off, approximately twenty minutes.
2) Add butter, onions, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Stirring frequently, cook sprouts until onion is soft and sprouts have browned, approximately ten minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.
1 cup beef broth 1 T butter
2 T red wine vinegar 2 T minced onions
1 bag frozen brussels sprouts, OR 1 1/2 t salt
stalk fresh sprouts, trimmed, washed, 1/4 t pepper
and drained parmesan cheese
1) Combine broth, vinegar, and sprouts in a medium saucepan. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil. Add sprouts and reduce heat to medium; simmer until liquid has boiled off, approximately twenty minutes.
2) Add butter, onions, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Stirring frequently, cook sprouts until onion is soft and sprouts have browned, approximately ten minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Some Light Reading. . . .
You know, I look around at the world and sometimes I feel as if everyone has abandoned all belief in anything spiritual. I feel as if atheism is on a sharp (almost vertical) incline. But the fact is that most people do still belief in the spiritual, even if it isn't the God of the Bible. Recent polls indicate that 51% of people worldwide believe in some form of god (or gods). With that said, however, there are
still plenty of people who don't believe in anything
supernatural (18%, according to the same study). The late Carl Sagan, if I may paraphrase him, once
commented that the universe is it: there is nothing out there greater than what we can see and observe. Just a brief moment of consideration on that, however, reveals that it is a very faulty and highly arrogant thought, because it's only been within the last few decades that we've been able to observe distant galaxies, and we were unable to observe basic microbes until the 1600's. In other words, if Leeuwenhoek had had Sagan's attitude, we still wouldn't know about germs. In essence, what Sagan's statement does is assume that our current knowledge is all we can ever, and all we need to ever, know. This is not only arrogant, but patently false. The most interesting thing about it, however, is that, as a scientist, he also argued vehemently for a constant expansion of our knowledge. Do you see the disconnect there? What he was essentially saying was that all we can see is all there is, but we need to work to see more. If there's more to see, then obviously we're not dealing with all there is, right? It's a backwards, contradictory, and foolish philosophy, but it does raise an important question: does God exist?
Now that question makes many Christians uncomfortable, and immediately turns us into Scripture-quoting, "church-speak"-talking, half-baked philosophers. Until we learn to square with the idea that there are people who legitimately don't believe in God, and until we can learn to legitimately reason that there is one, then our faith is really nothing more than a list of rules. We use Jesus as some kind of intellectual crutch, or an excuse to not have to love God with all of our minds (see Mark 12:30).
So does God exist?
The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome, wrote, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1:20). Paul, who perhaps understood the mind of Christ better than anyone who has ever lived, reminds us of a fundamental truth: everything in the natural world has a beginning.
A quick inventory of the world around us confirms this: babies come from parents, plants come from seeds, and so on. Everything that is natural begins somewhere. Of course, the converse of that is that anything without a beginning would be eternal, and therefore supernatural. Paul says, in effect, the universe (natural) had to start somewhere (with the supernatural).
Most modern scientists, however, disagree. Cosmologists have determined - as best as they can, at least - that the universe had a beginning, yes, but that the beginning was itself natural. They assert that everything - space, matter, time, everything - had a natural beginning. They believe that it all began with a burst of energy that we now know as The Big Bang. There was no God speaking things into existence, no Chaos out of which multiple gods and goddesses emerged, no magical light sources or men made from clay. There was only an initial bust of energy that naturally created everything.
And when we honestly examine the evidence for this initial burst of energy, we find that the evidence is compelling. Things like the undeniable evidence that our universe is expanding, things like the Cosmic Background Radiation, all point to evidence of this Big Bang. If we are truly open-minded about it, there does seem to be, at least superficially, a reason to believe in The Big Bang.
The problem with this, of course, is that it ignores the question we should be asking: Where did the initial energy come from? Instead of asking what the energy did, and what the after-effects of it were, we should be asking, "How was it there to begin with?" Was it created? Then there is a supernatural being who created it. Did it always exist? Then it is eternal and, therefore, supernatural. "Ah," some cosmologists might argue, "but there was no 'eternity' at that point, because time was created with that energy!" Then the energy itself would be outside of time, and, therefore, eternal.
No matter what view we take, no matter how much we try to mythologize and sanitize ancient beliefs, no matter how hard we try to explain away the supernatural, we are left with one conclusion: some god in some form must exist. Maybe it's personal, maybe not. Maybe there's one god, two gods, maybe an infinite number of gods. Regardless of our take on things, regardless of what we may or may not believe, regardless of what we want to believe, the very existence of our universe screams: "I was created by something greater than me!"
If, as Paul points out, we are without excuse, then why do so many people try to close their eyes and pretend there is no god? At this point, it is easy to suggest that people want to be hedonistic animals who live for instinct, but I don't think that's true. For some, certainly, but not all. What I've noticed is that, among all the causes of atheism out there, pain appears to be the most common reason people reject the very existence of God. It's the old question: "Why would a good God allow pain and suffering?" And that is, truly, an excellent question, because when we look around us and see pain, suffering, and death, it doesn't feel right.
In the remarkable film Grand Canyon, Kevin Kline plays a well-to-do business man whose car breaks down in a rough part of town. As he waits for a tow-truck, some neighborhood gang members begin harassing him. One of them pulls a knife, and we get the impression that things would go horribly wrong if the tow-tuck driver, played by Danny Glover, hadn't shown up at that point. He gets out of the truck and walks over to the guys and gives them a remarkable speech on this subject of a broken world.
"Man," he says, "the world ain't supposed to work like this. I mean, maybe you don't know that, but this ain't the way it's supposed to be. I'm supposed to be able to do my job without asking you if I can. That dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you rippin' him off. Everything's supposed to be different than what it is."
Death, suffering, trouble . . . this ain't the way it's supposed to be. I find it interesting that we see this idea throughout early mythology: suffering is an invader into the world of men. Whether it comes into the Garden of Eden through a serpent, whether it emerges from Pandora's Box, or whether it wraps itself around Yggdrasil, the Norse Tree of the World, in ancient mythology, death and suffering are portrayed as evil.
And that's because they are evil.
Death is evil, and I believe this is why so many of us reject God. We have a hard time understanding that Evil can exist in a universe with Good. To us, pain and suffering just don't add up. Whether we're watching a loved one die of cancer, we're C.S. Lewis faced with the horrors of war, or we're a lonely desk clerk who has been rejected by one too many people, pain and suffering bring us to one of the most fundamental questions of life: Does God exist?
Unlike a great deal of Christians, I don't believe that asking this question is a problem. After all, the answer we should arrive at ("yes") is only an answer if we first ask the question. If we never question, then what we have is blind faith, which is dangerous no matter what that blind faith is. So all of this brings us back to the original question: if there is no eternal being, then where did all of this come from? I have an astronomy book from college that tells me that, within a 1,000 light year radius of our galaxy, there are over ten million stars. Where did it all begin? Randomly? Purposefully? Flawed from the beginning, or did it start perfect and become corrupted?
The first three chapters of the Book of Genesis tell us that we started perfect, and allowed ourselves to become corrupted. The rest of the Bible unfolds that idea, expounds on it, and lets us know that we are not the center of our universe, and that love and death can - and do - co-exist.
"But wait!" we argue, "How could a loving God create perfect people and allow them to be corrupted? Love wouldn't allow that!" I would agree with you, except that perhaps our definition of love is incorrect. In fact, I would argue that love can exist, not apart from corruption, but with corruption. I would also argue that a perfect love does more than co-exist with corruption: it rises above corruption, defeating it and restoring that which was corrupted. That is, after all, why Jesus died.
He had no sin, yet He became sin, dying the very physical and spiritual death that comes with sin. Yet even in that, there was no corruption, for two reasons. The first, He got back up.
David writes in Psalm 16 that God won't let His Holy One see decay. Paul, in Acts, relates this to Jesus. Why? Because Jesus got back up. Rather than decay, Death reversed, and Jesus got. Back. Up. His followers, who were hiding behind locked doors three days after His death, were so convinced by His resurrection that they all gladly faced torture, execution, and banishment for this truth.
The second reason we know that there is now no condemnation is because Jesus ascended into heaven. Stick with me here: Jesus died for sin, but He didn't die for His own sins. That means He died for everyone else's. Yours. Mine. Sagan's. Everyone. John, in 1 John 2:2 writes that Jesus died, not just for our sins, "but for the sins of the whole world." So Jesus, at His death, was steeped in sin. He was drenched in it. So much so, that He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Okay? Jesus became - literally - the world's most sinful person. Psalm 15 tells us that the only people who have any shot at all of entering into the presence of God is "he whose walk is blameless" (2).
At His death, Jesus was the most sinful person who has ever lived. Sinful people cannot enter Heaven, and yet Jesus did. Why? Because our corruption - the sin laid on Him - was completely and totally atoned for, paid in full. His resurrection and ascension prove that God has power, not only to stop corruption fro happening, but to completely and totally overcome it. This is incredible and amazing, and I have had to retype these last few sentences five times because I'm so excited, I keep making massive typos.
How could a good God allow suffering? Suffering refines us, it strengthens us, and it teaches us. Without it, He wouldn't be good, nor would He be loving. But overcoming it as an expression of love . . . that is Someone worth worshiping.
Now that question makes many Christians uncomfortable, and immediately turns us into Scripture-quoting, "church-speak"-talking, half-baked philosophers. Until we learn to square with the idea that there are people who legitimately don't believe in God, and until we can learn to legitimately reason that there is one, then our faith is really nothing more than a list of rules. We use Jesus as some kind of intellectual crutch, or an excuse to not have to love God with all of our minds (see Mark 12:30).
So does God exist?
The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome, wrote, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1:20). Paul, who perhaps understood the mind of Christ better than anyone who has ever lived, reminds us of a fundamental truth: everything in the natural world has a beginning.
A quick inventory of the world around us confirms this: babies come from parents, plants come from seeds, and so on. Everything that is natural begins somewhere. Of course, the converse of that is that anything without a beginning would be eternal, and therefore supernatural. Paul says, in effect, the universe (natural) had to start somewhere (with the supernatural).
Most modern scientists, however, disagree. Cosmologists have determined - as best as they can, at least - that the universe had a beginning, yes, but that the beginning was itself natural. They assert that everything - space, matter, time, everything - had a natural beginning. They believe that it all began with a burst of energy that we now know as The Big Bang. There was no God speaking things into existence, no Chaos out of which multiple gods and goddesses emerged, no magical light sources or men made from clay. There was only an initial bust of energy that naturally created everything.
And when we honestly examine the evidence for this initial burst of energy, we find that the evidence is compelling. Things like the undeniable evidence that our universe is expanding, things like the Cosmic Background Radiation, all point to evidence of this Big Bang. If we are truly open-minded about it, there does seem to be, at least superficially, a reason to believe in The Big Bang.
The problem with this, of course, is that it ignores the question we should be asking: Where did the initial energy come from? Instead of asking what the energy did, and what the after-effects of it were, we should be asking, "How was it there to begin with?" Was it created? Then there is a supernatural being who created it. Did it always exist? Then it is eternal and, therefore, supernatural. "Ah," some cosmologists might argue, "but there was no 'eternity' at that point, because time was created with that energy!" Then the energy itself would be outside of time, and, therefore, eternal.
No matter what view we take, no matter how much we try to mythologize and sanitize ancient beliefs, no matter how hard we try to explain away the supernatural, we are left with one conclusion: some god in some form must exist. Maybe it's personal, maybe not. Maybe there's one god, two gods, maybe an infinite number of gods. Regardless of our take on things, regardless of what we may or may not believe, regardless of what we want to believe, the very existence of our universe screams: "I was created by something greater than me!"
If, as Paul points out, we are without excuse, then why do so many people try to close their eyes and pretend there is no god? At this point, it is easy to suggest that people want to be hedonistic animals who live for instinct, but I don't think that's true. For some, certainly, but not all. What I've noticed is that, among all the causes of atheism out there, pain appears to be the most common reason people reject the very existence of God. It's the old question: "Why would a good God allow pain and suffering?" And that is, truly, an excellent question, because when we look around us and see pain, suffering, and death, it doesn't feel right.
In the remarkable film Grand Canyon, Kevin Kline plays a well-to-do business man whose car breaks down in a rough part of town. As he waits for a tow-truck, some neighborhood gang members begin harassing him. One of them pulls a knife, and we get the impression that things would go horribly wrong if the tow-tuck driver, played by Danny Glover, hadn't shown up at that point. He gets out of the truck and walks over to the guys and gives them a remarkable speech on this subject of a broken world.
"Man," he says, "the world ain't supposed to work like this. I mean, maybe you don't know that, but this ain't the way it's supposed to be. I'm supposed to be able to do my job without asking you if I can. That dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you rippin' him off. Everything's supposed to be different than what it is."
Death, suffering, trouble . . . this ain't the way it's supposed to be. I find it interesting that we see this idea throughout early mythology: suffering is an invader into the world of men. Whether it comes into the Garden of Eden through a serpent, whether it emerges from Pandora's Box, or whether it wraps itself around Yggdrasil, the Norse Tree of the World, in ancient mythology, death and suffering are portrayed as evil.
And that's because they are evil.
Death is evil, and I believe this is why so many of us reject God. We have a hard time understanding that Evil can exist in a universe with Good. To us, pain and suffering just don't add up. Whether we're watching a loved one die of cancer, we're C.S. Lewis faced with the horrors of war, or we're a lonely desk clerk who has been rejected by one too many people, pain and suffering bring us to one of the most fundamental questions of life: Does God exist?
Unlike a great deal of Christians, I don't believe that asking this question is a problem. After all, the answer we should arrive at ("yes") is only an answer if we first ask the question. If we never question, then what we have is blind faith, which is dangerous no matter what that blind faith is. So all of this brings us back to the original question: if there is no eternal being, then where did all of this come from? I have an astronomy book from college that tells me that, within a 1,000 light year radius of our galaxy, there are over ten million stars. Where did it all begin? Randomly? Purposefully? Flawed from the beginning, or did it start perfect and become corrupted?
The first three chapters of the Book of Genesis tell us that we started perfect, and allowed ourselves to become corrupted. The rest of the Bible unfolds that idea, expounds on it, and lets us know that we are not the center of our universe, and that love and death can - and do - co-exist.
"But wait!" we argue, "How could a loving God create perfect people and allow them to be corrupted? Love wouldn't allow that!" I would agree with you, except that perhaps our definition of love is incorrect. In fact, I would argue that love can exist, not apart from corruption, but with corruption. I would also argue that a perfect love does more than co-exist with corruption: it rises above corruption, defeating it and restoring that which was corrupted. That is, after all, why Jesus died.
He had no sin, yet He became sin, dying the very physical and spiritual death that comes with sin. Yet even in that, there was no corruption, for two reasons. The first, He got back up.
David writes in Psalm 16 that God won't let His Holy One see decay. Paul, in Acts, relates this to Jesus. Why? Because Jesus got back up. Rather than decay, Death reversed, and Jesus got. Back. Up. His followers, who were hiding behind locked doors three days after His death, were so convinced by His resurrection that they all gladly faced torture, execution, and banishment for this truth.
The second reason we know that there is now no condemnation is because Jesus ascended into heaven. Stick with me here: Jesus died for sin, but He didn't die for His own sins. That means He died for everyone else's. Yours. Mine. Sagan's. Everyone. John, in 1 John 2:2 writes that Jesus died, not just for our sins, "but for the sins of the whole world." So Jesus, at His death, was steeped in sin. He was drenched in it. So much so, that He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Okay? Jesus became - literally - the world's most sinful person. Psalm 15 tells us that the only people who have any shot at all of entering into the presence of God is "he whose walk is blameless" (2).
At His death, Jesus was the most sinful person who has ever lived. Sinful people cannot enter Heaven, and yet Jesus did. Why? Because our corruption - the sin laid on Him - was completely and totally atoned for, paid in full. His resurrection and ascension prove that God has power, not only to stop corruption fro happening, but to completely and totally overcome it. This is incredible and amazing, and I have had to retype these last few sentences five times because I'm so excited, I keep making massive typos.
How could a good God allow suffering? Suffering refines us, it strengthens us, and it teaches us. Without it, He wouldn't be good, nor would He be loving. But overcoming it as an expression of love . . . that is Someone worth worshiping.
Monday, October 12, 2015
A Prayer for Gunning Meanies
So, obviously, gun control is in the public forum - again. And, while I certainly have an opinion on the matter, I don't really plan on weighing in on that particular debate at this time. What I do want to address, however, is a disturbing attitude I'm seeing displayed by various people on various forms of social media. It's the call for Congress to do something. The phrase being thrown around with this, though, is the disturbing part: Congress needs to offer more than prayers, they need to do something that works.
The obvious implication is that prayer is ineffective, and therefore pointless. The less obvious implication is that it is up to us to take control of our destinies, it is up to us to do God's job. And that is a terrifying assertion to make, because history has shown us that anytime we attempt to usurp power from God, it doesn't end well for us. In fact, it was usurping power that resulted in the Fall of man:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil" (Genesis 3:4-5, emphasis mine).
Notice that Satan's temptation wasn't that the fruit tasted good, or looked good, or was full of anti-oxidants. Satan's temptation was, "God is lying, so take His place." In other words, God is ineffective, so do something about it. So while I understand the confusion over guns, and I certainly understand the pain and horror of what we keep seeing in the media, to try to take the place of God is dangerous. And, frankly, Satanic.
So what's the alternative? Well, there are two steps we need to take. The first step, I should warn you, is really, really hard.
It's stop fretting about what to do with the "issue." Instead, we are to be still and know that He is God.
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging. . . .
Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations He has brought upon the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
He burns the shields with fire.
He says, "Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress (Psalm 46:1-3; 8-11).
Romans 8:28 reminds us that God works all thing for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. The underlying theme, here, is that God has these situations, even when we don't think He does. Now, we can get into destiny versus chance, and whatnot, but I don't think it really matters. On the one hand, perhaps all of these things really are part of God's plan. In that case, as confusing and difficult as that is to comprehend, if it's part of His plan, then He's got it. If, on the other hand, we are to take Romans 8:28 quite literally and assume that these things aren't planned by God, we still have the assurance that He will take these events and work them for His glory. So either way, He is in control because He is either causing them to happen, or He is allowing them, and will make them into something far more grand than we could ever imagine. Either way, He's still God.
Of course, to be still and know that is not always easy., which, I think, is why that sentiment is repeated so often throughout the pages of Scripture. If we ground ourselves in the Word and are obedient in sharing His Gospel, though, then we will find it much easier to abide in His sovereign power. And, speaking of obedience, that is the second step we can take.
Because no government law will stop evil. No regulations will stop evil. Guns aren't the problem - murder is. And murder isn't even the problem - sin is. The willful taking of a human life who has done you no harm, whether you take ten lives with a gun, or one life with a rock (see Genesis 4), is simply a byproduct of sin, and the only thing that can eradicate sin is Jesus. He came, lived, died, and rose again so that we no longer need to sin. The only way anyone has any hope of being reborn into a Spirit-filled life of obedience to God is through Jesus. And how will anyone know about Jesus if we don't tell them? Because even if we successfully remove murder from society, people are still going to Hell.
So we may fret and worry about everything we see on the news, but that doesn't change the Mission that Jesus left us before He ascended: "And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). We may debate about the "fix," but may we never, ever accuse God of being apathetic. And may we never, ever forget that "the LORD has set apart the godly for Himself; the LORD will hear when [we] call to Him" (Psalm 4:3). Even if it doesn't look like it now.
The obvious implication is that prayer is ineffective, and therefore pointless. The less obvious implication is that it is up to us to take control of our destinies, it is up to us to do God's job. And that is a terrifying assertion to make, because history has shown us that anytime we attempt to usurp power from God, it doesn't end well for us. In fact, it was usurping power that resulted in the Fall of man:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil" (Genesis 3:4-5, emphasis mine).
Notice that Satan's temptation wasn't that the fruit tasted good, or looked good, or was full of anti-oxidants. Satan's temptation was, "God is lying, so take His place." In other words, God is ineffective, so do something about it. So while I understand the confusion over guns, and I certainly understand the pain and horror of what we keep seeing in the media, to try to take the place of God is dangerous. And, frankly, Satanic.
So what's the alternative? Well, there are two steps we need to take. The first step, I should warn you, is really, really hard.
It's stop fretting about what to do with the "issue." Instead, we are to be still and know that He is God.
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging. . . .
Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations He has brought upon the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
He burns the shields with fire.
He says, "Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress (Psalm 46:1-3; 8-11).
Romans 8:28 reminds us that God works all thing for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. The underlying theme, here, is that God has these situations, even when we don't think He does. Now, we can get into destiny versus chance, and whatnot, but I don't think it really matters. On the one hand, perhaps all of these things really are part of God's plan. In that case, as confusing and difficult as that is to comprehend, if it's part of His plan, then He's got it. If, on the other hand, we are to take Romans 8:28 quite literally and assume that these things aren't planned by God, we still have the assurance that He will take these events and work them for His glory. So either way, He is in control because He is either causing them to happen, or He is allowing them, and will make them into something far more grand than we could ever imagine. Either way, He's still God.
Of course, to be still and know that is not always easy., which, I think, is why that sentiment is repeated so often throughout the pages of Scripture. If we ground ourselves in the Word and are obedient in sharing His Gospel, though, then we will find it much easier to abide in His sovereign power. And, speaking of obedience, that is the second step we can take.
Because no government law will stop evil. No regulations will stop evil. Guns aren't the problem - murder is. And murder isn't even the problem - sin is. The willful taking of a human life who has done you no harm, whether you take ten lives with a gun, or one life with a rock (see Genesis 4), is simply a byproduct of sin, and the only thing that can eradicate sin is Jesus. He came, lived, died, and rose again so that we no longer need to sin. The only way anyone has any hope of being reborn into a Spirit-filled life of obedience to God is through Jesus. And how will anyone know about Jesus if we don't tell them? Because even if we successfully remove murder from society, people are still going to Hell.
So we may fret and worry about everything we see on the news, but that doesn't change the Mission that Jesus left us before He ascended: "And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). We may debate about the "fix," but may we never, ever accuse God of being apathetic. And may we never, ever forget that "the LORD has set apart the godly for Himself; the LORD will hear when [we] call to Him" (Psalm 4:3). Even if it doesn't look like it now.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Seasoned Green Beans
This is a quick and easy recipe for those of you who don't cook much. My family (including my pre-schooler) love these. Yeah . . . my three-year-old doesn't eat green beans, but she'll eat these.
1-2 lbs. frozen (or fresh) green beans 1t dried thyme
2t butter 1t dried rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced 1/2t dried sage
1t dried parsley
1) Steam green beans on stove, approximately 10 minutes.
2) Melt butter in small skillet; saute garlic until lightly brown, about 3 minutes
3) Add herbs, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute
4) Add green beans; stir until coated.
1-2 lbs. frozen (or fresh) green beans 1t dried thyme
2t butter 1t dried rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced 1/2t dried sage
1t dried parsley
1) Steam green beans on stove, approximately 10 minutes.
2) Melt butter in small skillet; saute garlic until lightly brown, about 3 minutes
3) Add herbs, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute
4) Add green beans; stir until coated.
Monday, September 21, 2015
It's The End of the World As We Know It: The New World Order
Former President George H. W. Bush is often credited with coining the term, "New World Order." This is because of a rather chilling statement he made during multiple speeches. You can view the video here:
The phrase, however, was not coined by President Bush. Rather, it has been part of the Great Seal of the United States since 1782, and engraved on the back of our one dollar bill since 1935. You can see for yourself. Grab a dollar bill and look on the back. See the pyramid with the eye floating above it? Underneath the pyramid is a Latin phrase that reads: "Novus Ordo Seclorum." The phrase, literally translated, means "New Order of the Ages," but it refers to a new age of the entire world. So the interpretation of it (as opposed to the translation) would be "New World Order."
Since 1782. How about that? We weren't even officially recognized as a country until 1783 when we signed the treaty with Britain, granting us the status of an independent nation. Before we were even born as a country, America was being heralded as the harbinger of the New World Order. Furthermore, in 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, when America's economic system had all but collapsed, our government decided to put the phrase on our smallest denomination as a daily reminder of what America was supposed to be.
And if you think this sounds sinister, that's because it is. When we read in the Scriptures about the coming one-world system, it is sinister. Check out what the book of Revelation has to say about "the Beast" who is to rule this system:
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. . . One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon [see 12:1 - 13:1] because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander His name and His dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world (13:1; 3-8).
So right off the bat, something is up. This guy - whoever he will be (or is) - died, and then came back to life.
Dude was dead, but he gets back up. And who gives him this authority and power? It isn't Jesus, the True Resurrection. It's Satan. The Devil. Lucifer. Baphomet. He goes by many names, but the end result is the same: death and destruction. His will is to be worshiped, and that is exactly what he institutes, a religion in which everyone on earth worships him: Men worshiped the dragon, because he had given authority to the beast [and] . . . all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast.
Therefore, the first thing we see about this New World Order is that it will have one religion, a religion devoted to the worship of Satan and his puppet, "the beast." There are many people today who are attempting to do away with religion altogether, but this is impossible. Why? Because, as human beings, we were created for worship. Now, obviously, we should worship God, but all of us find numerous other things to worship, and we don't have to be "religious" to worship. For many atheists, as an example, science is their god. They believe science will heal our diseases, solve our problems, and give us all of the answers (Shermer, 186-187).
Even those who claim not to believe in God still believe in a god.
And so we will never be able to do away with worship, no matter how hard some may try. What will happen, instead, is all of the major religions will consolidate into one religion, a religion that worships a resurrected imposter. And lest we think this time will be a peaceful time of co-existence, notice the end of the passage: "He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them." Conquer does not mean to win at chess.
We know from elsewhere in the book that he institutes the beheading (20:4) of those who refuse to worship him. It's like ISIS, but worse, because this isn't a terrorist organization that can be fought and stopped, but a government that has written this behavior into law. So we know that this New World Order will alter and enforce a Satanic religion, but it will also alter and enforce the world economy. Check out Revelation 13:11-18:
Then I saw a second beast coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the first beast who was wounded by the sword, and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
Just about everyone is familiar with the number "666," but I'm not going to go into its possible meanings in this post. What I am going to address is the fact that there is no buying or selling without it. You want to eat? You have to use this mark. Want to run a business? Use the mark. Want to pay your mortgage or rent? Use the mark. Want to collect someone's mortgage or rent? Mark. But here's the deal: taking the mark is tantamount to worshiping this Satanic ruler. To take the mark means to buy into the system of the world that is following Satan.
"If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for those who receive the mark of its name" (Revelation 14:9-11).
To take the mark means to pursue life on earth to the detriment of your eternity. It makes Jesus' words in Matthew 6 all the more sobering: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But rather store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, which neither moth nor rust can destroy, and thieves cannot steal" (19-20). This means that one day you will have to choose: do you follow Jesus, or everything else? And, frankly, since you don't know when this is coming, you should probably choose now, rather than wait and see.
The New World Order is being touted as the best possible thing for humanity. George Bush pushed for it, Bill Clinton pushed for it (Hillary is following suit), George W. Bush pushed for it, the Pope is pushing for it, the last two Popes pushed for it, and Obama is pushing for it, among many other world leaders. They are promising peace and prosperity, but it is actually going to be enslavement and death. For those who accept it, it will enslave and eventually kill; for those who reject it, it will bring about a swift death.
Doesn't sound like something we want to institute, does it? But it is coming. Now, it's possible that this can be delayed. There are numerous times where God's judgment was stayed by the repentance and obedience of His people, and the repentance and obedience of those who were not yet His people. The book of Jonah is a clear example of this: God sent Jonah to Ninevah in order to preach His coming wrath. Jonah did (after a slight detour), and Ninevah repented. God's judgment was delayed as a result. Here's the deal, though: I'm not sure whether or not this is a similar case.
Nowhere in the Bible do we see this as a possibility. Daniel does not mention it, Zechariah and Ezekiel do not mention it, the writings of Paul and Peter do not mention it, Jesus does not mention it, and Revelation does not mention it. God is God, and He can do what He wants, so it's possible that if His people, who are called by His name, humble themselves and seek Him, He will heal our lands and stay His hand. It's possible. But regardless of whether or not He delays, the New World Order will eventually arise, and it will not be the peaceful and prosperous society everyone expects and wants it to be. Think of a Global Nazi Germany. But for those who do buy into it, it won't be a happy ending.
So for those of you who are followers of Jesus, pray for healing. Repent of your sins. Preach the Gospel. Introduce as many people to Jesus as you possibly can, because whether or not this comes today, tomorrow, or a thousand years from now, Jesus is the only person Who can truly save the world. He's already died for it, people just need to trust that. And if you don't follow Jesus, start. It's scary stuff here for those who don't know Jesus, but for those of us who do, we have a peace and assurance that nothing on earth can take away. If you don't know how to follow Jesus, ask me. Leave a comment below, and I'd love to hear about it and help you on this journey!
The phrase, however, was not coined by President Bush. Rather, it has been part of the Great Seal of the United States since 1782, and engraved on the back of our one dollar bill since 1935. You can see for yourself. Grab a dollar bill and look on the back. See the pyramid with the eye floating above it? Underneath the pyramid is a Latin phrase that reads: "Novus Ordo Seclorum." The phrase, literally translated, means "New Order of the Ages," but it refers to a new age of the entire world. So the interpretation of it (as opposed to the translation) would be "New World Order."
Since 1782. How about that? We weren't even officially recognized as a country until 1783 when we signed the treaty with Britain, granting us the status of an independent nation. Before we were even born as a country, America was being heralded as the harbinger of the New World Order. Furthermore, in 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, when America's economic system had all but collapsed, our government decided to put the phrase on our smallest denomination as a daily reminder of what America was supposed to be.
And if you think this sounds sinister, that's because it is. When we read in the Scriptures about the coming one-world system, it is sinister. Check out what the book of Revelation has to say about "the Beast" who is to rule this system:
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. . . One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon [see 12:1 - 13:1] because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander His name and His dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world (13:1; 3-8).
So right off the bat, something is up. This guy - whoever he will be (or is) - died, and then came back to life.
Dude was dead, but he gets back up. And who gives him this authority and power? It isn't Jesus, the True Resurrection. It's Satan. The Devil. Lucifer. Baphomet. He goes by many names, but the end result is the same: death and destruction. His will is to be worshiped, and that is exactly what he institutes, a religion in which everyone on earth worships him: Men worshiped the dragon, because he had given authority to the beast [and] . . . all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast.
Therefore, the first thing we see about this New World Order is that it will have one religion, a religion devoted to the worship of Satan and his puppet, "the beast." There are many people today who are attempting to do away with religion altogether, but this is impossible. Why? Because, as human beings, we were created for worship. Now, obviously, we should worship God, but all of us find numerous other things to worship, and we don't have to be "religious" to worship. For many atheists, as an example, science is their god. They believe science will heal our diseases, solve our problems, and give us all of the answers (Shermer, 186-187).
Even those who claim not to believe in God still believe in a god.
And so we will never be able to do away with worship, no matter how hard some may try. What will happen, instead, is all of the major religions will consolidate into one religion, a religion that worships a resurrected imposter. And lest we think this time will be a peaceful time of co-existence, notice the end of the passage: "He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them." Conquer does not mean to win at chess.
We know from elsewhere in the book that he institutes the beheading (20:4) of those who refuse to worship him. It's like ISIS, but worse, because this isn't a terrorist organization that can be fought and stopped, but a government that has written this behavior into law. So we know that this New World Order will alter and enforce a Satanic religion, but it will also alter and enforce the world economy. Check out Revelation 13:11-18:
Then I saw a second beast coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the first beast who was wounded by the sword, and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
Just about everyone is familiar with the number "666," but I'm not going to go into its possible meanings in this post. What I am going to address is the fact that there is no buying or selling without it. You want to eat? You have to use this mark. Want to run a business? Use the mark. Want to pay your mortgage or rent? Use the mark. Want to collect someone's mortgage or rent? Mark. But here's the deal: taking the mark is tantamount to worshiping this Satanic ruler. To take the mark means to buy into the system of the world that is following Satan.
"If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for those who receive the mark of its name" (Revelation 14:9-11).
To take the mark means to pursue life on earth to the detriment of your eternity. It makes Jesus' words in Matthew 6 all the more sobering: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But rather store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, which neither moth nor rust can destroy, and thieves cannot steal" (19-20). This means that one day you will have to choose: do you follow Jesus, or everything else? And, frankly, since you don't know when this is coming, you should probably choose now, rather than wait and see.
The New World Order is being touted as the best possible thing for humanity. George Bush pushed for it, Bill Clinton pushed for it (Hillary is following suit), George W. Bush pushed for it, the Pope is pushing for it, the last two Popes pushed for it, and Obama is pushing for it, among many other world leaders. They are promising peace and prosperity, but it is actually going to be enslavement and death. For those who accept it, it will enslave and eventually kill; for those who reject it, it will bring about a swift death.
Doesn't sound like something we want to institute, does it? But it is coming. Now, it's possible that this can be delayed. There are numerous times where God's judgment was stayed by the repentance and obedience of His people, and the repentance and obedience of those who were not yet His people. The book of Jonah is a clear example of this: God sent Jonah to Ninevah in order to preach His coming wrath. Jonah did (after a slight detour), and Ninevah repented. God's judgment was delayed as a result. Here's the deal, though: I'm not sure whether or not this is a similar case.
Nowhere in the Bible do we see this as a possibility. Daniel does not mention it, Zechariah and Ezekiel do not mention it, the writings of Paul and Peter do not mention it, Jesus does not mention it, and Revelation does not mention it. God is God, and He can do what He wants, so it's possible that if His people, who are called by His name, humble themselves and seek Him, He will heal our lands and stay His hand. It's possible. But regardless of whether or not He delays, the New World Order will eventually arise, and it will not be the peaceful and prosperous society everyone expects and wants it to be. Think of a Global Nazi Germany. But for those who do buy into it, it won't be a happy ending.
So for those of you who are followers of Jesus, pray for healing. Repent of your sins. Preach the Gospel. Introduce as many people to Jesus as you possibly can, because whether or not this comes today, tomorrow, or a thousand years from now, Jesus is the only person Who can truly save the world. He's already died for it, people just need to trust that. And if you don't follow Jesus, start. It's scary stuff here for those who don't know Jesus, but for those of us who do, we have a peace and assurance that nothing on earth can take away. If you don't know how to follow Jesus, ask me. Leave a comment below, and I'd love to hear about it and help you on this journey!
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Poverty in America
There's been an enormous amount of talk about "poverty" here in America as of late. Our President mentions it every time there's a riot. Candidate Bernie Sanders has said something to the effect that no one who works forty hours a week should live in poverty. People cry out that we should bring an end to poverty, to level the playing field - that our government should bring an end to poverty. But here in America, I think we forget what poverty actually is.
And as a result I think we have forgotten what luxury is, too.
Now, I understand there are people who work hard - sometimes two or three jobs - have very little, and still wonder how they are going to make rent this month. If that's you, I'm not talking to you today.
There are single mothers who simply can't afford to send their children to special clubs after school, and so they don't. I'm not talking to you, either. All across this nation, there are people who are homeless, who have next-to-nothing, and it's not their fault. I'm not talking to them, either.
I'm talking, instead, to those who waste money and claim poverty. And before people start telling me that this is a Republican lie, let me shut you down now: first, I'm NOT a Republican. Second, I witnessed this firsthand. In my half-a-decade as a banker, I saw hundreds, if not thousands, of people who fit into one (or both) of these two categories.
I had a woman come into the bank, in tears, because her rent check bounced. Well, yes, it bounced, because she had spent that money on booze, a big screen television, and a $120 nail job. None of this, of course, was her fault, because she just had to have these things, and wasn't there anything I could do to - I don't know - manifest money out of thin air so she could have a place to live? She didn't ask that, but that's what she wanted me to do. She wanted me to make sure her check got paid, but she wasn't willing to put money in the bank in order to cover it. She was - her words, not mine - too broke.
This isn't poverty. Getting your nails done is not an essential of life. Having a television is not even an essential of life. And a fifth of whiskey - though it might make you feel better temporarily - won't pay the rent.
Here's an idea: go without a television for a while. If you have to choose between providing a roof for your children, or watching your favorite show on a 60-inch screen, I'd go with the roof. Besides, how are you going to watch that t.v. when you're homeless?
This woman wasn't poor because some business owner was a jerk. She wasn't facing eviction because some Republican refused to pass a law preventing it. She wasn't even poor because of her ethnicity. She was poor because she wasted her money on luxuries, thinking they were necessities.
Then there was the man who couldn't feed his kids for the next two weeks. Poor starving kids: Daddy works night shift and still can't feed you! What a horrible company he must work for!
It was either that, or the $1,500 dollars he spent the week before at a popular resort. For a two night stay. Yes, four people, $750 a night.
Look, if you have to choose between groceries or an expensive weekend getaway, go with the groceries. That's not political, folks, that's just common sense. If you are at a point where you skip vacations for a while, so what? Stay home, take the kids to the zoo one day, maybe go to a FREE park another day, and, guess what, that will still leave you $1,400 to feed your kids for the next two weeks.
But, Charles, what if he hadn't taken his kids on vacation in several years? Wouldn't that be unfair to make them wait? No, it wouldn't. Vacations are a luxury. Expensive vacations are a big luxury. Eating is neither.
Let me clear something up real quick: I am against neither vacations, nor stuff. I'm not against televisions, or movies . . . I'm not even against alcohol. What I am against are people who complain about how they are too poor to support their families, and yet they seem to find enough money to buy all of the latest gadgets, all of the newest, trendiest clothes, the most expensive car, and think nothing of dropping four dollars a day on coffee. Folks, if you make enough money to afford all of that, then you're doing a thousand times better than most of the world.
And that is, ultimately, my point. In many parts of the world, a "home" is a piece of tin over a couple of plywood boards. Literally. I have a friend who is from Bangladesh and I've seen pictures. Do you own a car? Then you are "ahead" of roughly 86% of the world's population (according to a 2007 paper from NYU). In the same paper, America makes up roughly 28% of total car ownership in the world.
Our definition of poverty is skewed. We have this attitude that we are entitled to whatever we want, whenever we want it, and it's been going on for decades. How's that working out for everyone? Yes, there is poverty, yes, there is homelessness, and yes, there is a great deal that needs to be done to help people, but the majority of "impoverished" people aren't really impoverished, they're just wasteful.
"But I can't pay my mortgage!" Shouldn't buy a new video game system every time it comes out. "But then my kids won't be like their friends!" I know. Your kids will actually have money. Now your kids are just like their friends: they all got broke parents.
"But Captain America's got a new movie coming out!" I know. And eight months after that, it'll be on DVD. You can wait.
"But I gotta have my coffee in the morning." Yeah, you keep paying four bucks a day. I'm going to keep drinking my $0.28 cup of coffee and keep living in my home.
"But I promised them we'd go to Disney before 2016!" Shouldn't promise your kids something you can't afford.
"My phone needed upgrading!" Why? Because it wouldn't load your snapchat pictures fast enough?
We need to wake up, folks. I'm just spit-balling a number here, but I would venture to guess that about 75% of my "broke" clients weren't broke, they just wasted their money on frivolous things. Phones are good. I have a smartphone. Guess what? It's also the second phone I've ever owned. I had the first one for nine years, and it was the exact opposite of a smartphone. It was more like a Forrest Gump phone. It sent and received calls. That's it - and it barely did even that. Some of you who claim poverty are out there buying a new phone every year. Stop doing that.
My wife and I don't have a fancy cable package. We get local channels, C-Span, and the Home Shopping Network. I don't need to watch Duck Dynasty, and we're not trying to keep up with any of the Kardashians, so we don't pay extra to get those channels; we've found other things to do.
My last car was driven, almost, into the ground. It was rusted through, burned through oil, and rattled when it idled (that part was actually kind of nice, because it was like sitting in one of those massage chairs). Why did I wait so long to replace it? Because it took twelve years to save up for a new one.
I haven't bought a new book in years, but my daughter and I go to the library every week. Because, you know, libraries are free.
Now, none of this is meant to be a bragging session, as in, "Look how little we spend!" But it is meant to show that it can be done. Your kids don't need everything the world has to offer, but they do need to learn discipline and self-control.
Jesus said, "Don't store up treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19-20). Sound advice. Of course, the core of the issue is in verse 21: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be."
If we live for and worship the things that are temporary, then when we stand before God, we're not going to know Him. And all of our stuff, all of the vacations, all of the frivolous things upon which we spent our money, will be long-gone and we will have nothing left to show for ourselves.
And then we will hear the most frightening words possible: the Creator of the universe is going to look at us and say, "Depart from Me, because I never knew you."
And, folks, you can't take your television to Hell.
And as a result I think we have forgotten what luxury is, too.
Now, I understand there are people who work hard - sometimes two or three jobs - have very little, and still wonder how they are going to make rent this month. If that's you, I'm not talking to you today.
There are single mothers who simply can't afford to send their children to special clubs after school, and so they don't. I'm not talking to you, either. All across this nation, there are people who are homeless, who have next-to-nothing, and it's not their fault. I'm not talking to them, either.
I'm talking, instead, to those who waste money and claim poverty. And before people start telling me that this is a Republican lie, let me shut you down now: first, I'm NOT a Republican. Second, I witnessed this firsthand. In my half-a-decade as a banker, I saw hundreds, if not thousands, of people who fit into one (or both) of these two categories.
I had a woman come into the bank, in tears, because her rent check bounced. Well, yes, it bounced, because she had spent that money on booze, a big screen television, and a $120 nail job. None of this, of course, was her fault, because she just had to have these things, and wasn't there anything I could do to - I don't know - manifest money out of thin air so she could have a place to live? She didn't ask that, but that's what she wanted me to do. She wanted me to make sure her check got paid, but she wasn't willing to put money in the bank in order to cover it. She was - her words, not mine - too broke.
This isn't poverty. Getting your nails done is not an essential of life. Having a television is not even an essential of life. And a fifth of whiskey - though it might make you feel better temporarily - won't pay the rent.
Here's an idea: go without a television for a while. If you have to choose between providing a roof for your children, or watching your favorite show on a 60-inch screen, I'd go with the roof. Besides, how are you going to watch that t.v. when you're homeless?
This woman wasn't poor because some business owner was a jerk. She wasn't facing eviction because some Republican refused to pass a law preventing it. She wasn't even poor because of her ethnicity. She was poor because she wasted her money on luxuries, thinking they were necessities.
Then there was the man who couldn't feed his kids for the next two weeks. Poor starving kids: Daddy works night shift and still can't feed you! What a horrible company he must work for!
It was either that, or the $1,500 dollars he spent the week before at a popular resort. For a two night stay. Yes, four people, $750 a night.
Look, if you have to choose between groceries or an expensive weekend getaway, go with the groceries. That's not political, folks, that's just common sense. If you are at a point where you skip vacations for a while, so what? Stay home, take the kids to the zoo one day, maybe go to a FREE park another day, and, guess what, that will still leave you $1,400 to feed your kids for the next two weeks.
But, Charles, what if he hadn't taken his kids on vacation in several years? Wouldn't that be unfair to make them wait? No, it wouldn't. Vacations are a luxury. Expensive vacations are a big luxury. Eating is neither.
Let me clear something up real quick: I am against neither vacations, nor stuff. I'm not against televisions, or movies . . . I'm not even against alcohol. What I am against are people who complain about how they are too poor to support their families, and yet they seem to find enough money to buy all of the latest gadgets, all of the newest, trendiest clothes, the most expensive car, and think nothing of dropping four dollars a day on coffee. Folks, if you make enough money to afford all of that, then you're doing a thousand times better than most of the world.
And that is, ultimately, my point. In many parts of the world, a "home" is a piece of tin over a couple of plywood boards. Literally. I have a friend who is from Bangladesh and I've seen pictures. Do you own a car? Then you are "ahead" of roughly 86% of the world's population (according to a 2007 paper from NYU). In the same paper, America makes up roughly 28% of total car ownership in the world.
Our definition of poverty is skewed. We have this attitude that we are entitled to whatever we want, whenever we want it, and it's been going on for decades. How's that working out for everyone? Yes, there is poverty, yes, there is homelessness, and yes, there is a great deal that needs to be done to help people, but the majority of "impoverished" people aren't really impoverished, they're just wasteful.
"But I can't pay my mortgage!" Shouldn't buy a new video game system every time it comes out. "But then my kids won't be like their friends!" I know. Your kids will actually have money. Now your kids are just like their friends: they all got broke parents.
"But Captain America's got a new movie coming out!" I know. And eight months after that, it'll be on DVD. You can wait.
"But I gotta have my coffee in the morning." Yeah, you keep paying four bucks a day. I'm going to keep drinking my $0.28 cup of coffee and keep living in my home.
"But I promised them we'd go to Disney before 2016!" Shouldn't promise your kids something you can't afford.
"My phone needed upgrading!" Why? Because it wouldn't load your snapchat pictures fast enough?
We need to wake up, folks. I'm just spit-balling a number here, but I would venture to guess that about 75% of my "broke" clients weren't broke, they just wasted their money on frivolous things. Phones are good. I have a smartphone. Guess what? It's also the second phone I've ever owned. I had the first one for nine years, and it was the exact opposite of a smartphone. It was more like a Forrest Gump phone. It sent and received calls. That's it - and it barely did even that. Some of you who claim poverty are out there buying a new phone every year. Stop doing that.
My wife and I don't have a fancy cable package. We get local channels, C-Span, and the Home Shopping Network. I don't need to watch Duck Dynasty, and we're not trying to keep up with any of the Kardashians, so we don't pay extra to get those channels; we've found other things to do.
My last car was driven, almost, into the ground. It was rusted through, burned through oil, and rattled when it idled (that part was actually kind of nice, because it was like sitting in one of those massage chairs). Why did I wait so long to replace it? Because it took twelve years to save up for a new one.
I haven't bought a new book in years, but my daughter and I go to the library every week. Because, you know, libraries are free.
Now, none of this is meant to be a bragging session, as in, "Look how little we spend!" But it is meant to show that it can be done. Your kids don't need everything the world has to offer, but they do need to learn discipline and self-control.
Jesus said, "Don't store up treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19-20). Sound advice. Of course, the core of the issue is in verse 21: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be."
If we live for and worship the things that are temporary, then when we stand before God, we're not going to know Him. And all of our stuff, all of the vacations, all of the frivolous things upon which we spent our money, will be long-gone and we will have nothing left to show for ourselves.
And then we will hear the most frightening words possible: the Creator of the universe is going to look at us and say, "Depart from Me, because I never knew you."
And, folks, you can't take your television to Hell.
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