Gardening on the rise?

Google Trend chart of the term “Square Foot Gardening“.

“You never want to ask how hot dogs or Bailouts are made.” – Mark Cuban

Read Mark’s thoughts here.

We are all theocrats.

Christian,

A) Do you desire that all men come to Christ?
b) Do you desire that these men submit to the Word of God?

If A & B were achieved it would follow that all the rulers of all the nations of the earth would be Christian and as such use the Bible as their sole arbitrator in defining terms such as justice, sin, restitution etc…

So who would be ruling these men and ultimately the nations of the earth? God, through His Word, right?

Final question…do you desire a theocracy?

My bet is you answered no to that last one. As Christians we are programmed to say that. Now I think what we actually mean to say is, “no I don’t desire the wrong sort of theocracy”, or “no I don’t want one imposed in the wrong manner”, but it would be a lie to say we don’t desire a theocracy. A theocracy is the natural outcome if you answered yes to the first two questions. We are all theocrats.

003 – Living Life Separately (Basement Tape – Notes)

Updates to this post are kept in an document containing all my notes here.

Download the conversation here.

This discussion is a very important one and one the modern church is very confused about. What if being separate is actually good not just for us but for them? What if they are drawn to us because we are not like them? Are we not like them simply for the sake of being different or are we actually being drawn to something else, something better? Is being separate a process which progresses through time, like sanctification, or have we already arrived?

Notes

• R.C. defines being separate by telling a story about the word “antithesis”.
• Genesis 3 – Two kinds of people in the world, seed of woman and seed of serpent, and these two people are going to be at war.
• Separate can be defined as a need to understand ourselves in terms of this war, us/them, Kingdom of God vs. Kingdom of Man, everything needs to be understood within this context.
• The root to the Greek word Church means “The called out ones.” Called out from what? Called out from the world.
• References books by David Wells.
  • No Place for Truth
  • God in the Wasteland
  • Above All Earthly Powers
  • Losing Our Virtue
• Are we suppose to look like the world or are we to be distinct?
• Lawrence demonstrates God calling out His people through redemptive history.
• What is the devil’s game?
  • To create a false faith. How can we disguise this false faith so that it looks just like Christianity.
• What is the evangelicals game?
  • To disguise the faith so that it looks more like world.
• What do you get from all this? The world in the church.
• Default position should be different, not same.
  • This does not mean we walk on our hands.
• What is the world?
  • If aliens discovered our world would they be able to tell the difference between us and them?
  • Is not sleeping around, not taking the Lord’s name in vain and being nice enough?
• Being not like the world requires one to be deliberate. You must ask why am I doing this.
• References 2 Cor. 6 – “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord,…”
• Not saying to heck with the world, saying the way to proclaim the gospel to the world is to be distinct and set apart. Ties this into God’s work with Abraham in making him set apart, separate, distinct.
• Foolish separatism slips into legalism.
  • Don’t drink, don’t smoke.
• Being separate should also be reflected in our values, we should not value what the world wants.
• Long discussion about the blessings of being depriving ourselves of what the world values and embracing that which God values.
• Pragmatism in church does not work.
• How does Acts 7 look in comparison to the seeker sensitive movement?
• What are the requirements for joining St. Peter’s?
  • You vow to grow as a Christian.
• The simple life means having a Christ centered life (the one thing) how does this conflict with not living separately?
• How separate are you? “We are endeavoring to our utmost to live our lives in a way that glorifies God” Separate is not worn as badge of pride.
• Separate has not been achieved.
• Simple, Separate, Deliberate, To the Glory of God and the Building of His Kingdom
  • These are goals. We are not there yet.

Questions

1. What are legitimate distinctives? Do the men lead? Do the women obey? Do we assume the responsibilities for educating our children.
2. In what ways does the Bible call us to separate from those around us?
3. Is it wrong to flee temptation? Is this a retreatist attitude?

Blindness to paradox.

“This blindness to paradox everywhere perplexes his outlook. He cannot understand marriage because he will not understand the paradox of marriage; that the woman is all the more the house for not being the head of it.” – G.K. Chesteron

The Century Of The Self – Part 2 of 4

You really need to watch this, just unbelievable.

If you missed part 1, watch it here.

God Bless America?

“What is this culture that believes in a God who has the capacity to bless a country but refuse to believe that God ever has a capacity to judge a country?” – R.C. Sproul interviewed on the White Horse Inn.

002 – Living Life Simply (Basement Tape – Notes)

Updates to this post are kept in an document containing all my notes here.

Downloaded the conversion here.

We are doing our best to live more simply. This has not always been so simple. Long before I listened to a Basement Tape I read a number of articles from back issues of Every Thought Captive on the Highlands Study Center website. I recall reading a few books I saw referenced and before you knew it I was putting in a garden and trying to bake my own bread. It was a start. Pursuing the simple life has been hard at times on my wife because I fail to communicate my thoughts and direction to her, at least in a way that makes it seem either appealing or reasonable. On top of that I tend to change direction now and then. However, things are getting better. I think in large part because she has been listening to the Basement Tapes with me. We will keep working at it, it is a good thing.

Notes

1. The joy in simplicity is the peace that comes with it.
2. Lawrence reads a powerfully accurate quote from Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline (full quote cited below).
3. We are conformed to the culture, we see a need to keep in step, we don’t see that it is sick.
4. There are going to be negative adjectives (as defined by the world) attributed to us (if we are not in step with the world).
   1. But these adjectives are virtues when defined by God.
5. People do not desire simplicity.
6. People are puzzled over the term “The Simple Life”, they don’t know what it means.
   1. The Anabaptist’s all understand this term.
7. Simplicity means keeping a particular, distinct goal in mind.
   1. Worldliness – Lot’s of goals, goals that are in conflict with each other.
8. R.C. explains how he raises chickens in one word…poorly.
9. They explain the motto of The Highlands Study Center. Simple, Separate, Deliberate.
10. We want all of our goals to be concentric circles. The central goal is to make manifest the Kingdom of God.
    1. How do you do that? You obey His law…by loving Him…by knowing Him…by being Holy…gets us to (separate, distinct)…thinking through what it is we assume what we ought not to assume (being deliberate).
    2. The simple thing, building the Kingdom of God for His glory.
11. Discussion of of how doing things like Homeschooling, which seems like it will make things more complicated, actually help you simplify your life in many other ways.
12. God blesses us in countless ways that are hard to see at first.
13. Discussion about how complicated church life can be.
14. Discussion how we over complicate things like home-schooling because we take our lead from the world.
15. Lawrence tells the “rock thing” story.
16. Pascal quote (below).
17. Discussion of the simplicity and rest associated with the Lord’s table.
18. Pearl of Great Price, it’s Jesus.
19. Paul’s analogy of throwing things overboard, it’s Jesus.
20. Psalm 23 – The Lord is my shepherd.
21. Great comment from about how working in the garden or raising chickens are tactile ways in which we are reminded of our daily provision from God.
22. Discussion on fleeing temptation.
23. Are they saying the only way to be a Godly person is to live in the country?
    1. No, but it might be easier.
24. Is there anything distinctly agrarian in attempting to live the simple life?
25. Keynes and his economic theory linked to consumerism.
26. Ayn Rand, Fountainhead. Man who wants to make buildings. He is making something, he is exercising dominion. Relates it to being simple in how we think about our work, is our goal to obtain more electronic credits (money) or is it to produce.
27. It’s all about God.

Quotes

Richard Foster, The Celebration of Discipline

Contemporary culture lacks both the inward reality and the outward life-style of simplicity. We must live in the modern world, and we are affected by its fractured and fragmented state. We are trapped in maze of competing attachments. One moment we make decisions on the basis of sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others will think of us. We have no unity of focus around which our lives are oriented.

Because we lack a divine Center our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things. We really must understand that the list for affluence in the contemporary society is psychotic. It is psychotic because it has completely lost touch with reality. We crave things we neither need nor enjoy. “We buy things we do not want to impress people we do not like.” Where planned obsolescence leaves off, psychological obsolescence takes over. We are made to feel ashamed to wear cloths or drive cars until they are word out. The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick. Until we see how unbalanced our culture has become at this point, we will not be able to deal with the mammon spirit within ourselves nor will we desire Christian simplicity.

Pascal

They (Men) have a secret instinct which impels them to seek amusement and occupation abroad, and which arises from the sense of their constant unhappiness. They have another secret instinct, a remnant of the greatness of our original nature, which teaches them that happiness in reality consists only in rest and not in stir. And of these two contrary instincts they form within themselves a confused idea, which hides itself from their view in the depths of their soul, inciting them to aim at rest through excitement, and always to fancy that the satisfaction which they have not will come to them, if, by surmounting whatever difficulties confront them, they can thereby open the door to rest.

Questions to consider.

1. Have you communicated the central goal of making manifest the Kingdom of God to your family?
2. Have you deviated from this goal? What things are preventing you from keeping focused on the goal?
3. Is there such a thing as The Simple Life? How is it different from modern life? What is preventing you from living more simply?

Continue the conversation.

Want to get started living the simple life? Here are a series of steps you can begin thinking about today.

I believe her to be a real Christian.

“I believe her to be a real Christian,” he wrote, “affectionate, sensible, rational in habits, moderate in desires and pursuits, capable of bearing prosperity without intoxication, and adversity without repining.” – William Wilberforce writing about his wife (source: Femina)

The Century Of The Self

This documentary is absolutely fascinating. Part 1 of 4 below. Read the Wikipedia entry here if you are interested. I have only watched part 1 so far.

“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.” – Morpheus

001 – Homeschooling (Basement Tape – Notes)

Updates to this post are kept in an document containing all my notes here.

Every month R.C. Sproul Jr., Laurence Windham, Jonathan Daugherty and a few others get together at the Highlands Study Center and record a discussion about this or that. The goal is to get folks thinking Biblically about every area of life. I have profited from what I have heard and I think I can say I have grown in wisdom, not sure about my stature. You can download each Basement Tape for three bucks, which is a bargain, go here for that. What follows are few notes I took as I listened. The notes are not complete, just my thoughts. I have tried to include a few questions to consider and some links to other resources.

Homeschooling

This discussion can be downloaded for $3 here.

We are committed home-schoolers but were not always so. We are committed to tell others about the many blessings of home-schooling. We believe the Bible has something to say about all this. We are also committed to love our brothers and sisters who have not come to the same conclusion. If you have not come to the same conclusion I think this discussion might help a little in getting you there. Like many of the topics discussed on the Basement Tapes one tape always touches on two or three more. I am not sure you can grasp a single piece of the puzzle fully without having a few of the other pieces in hand. With that let me encourage you to listen to this discussion and the others.

Notes

1. Why being thrown of the radio was a blessing.
2. What to do when your wife won’t home-school.
3. We live in a relativistic age in which we don’t talk about things we disagree about. When we do we become apoplectic.
4. Parents need to think about education in all areas of life.
5. Do not duplicate the school model in the home.
6. The goal for education, raising Godly children.
   1. Deuteronomy 6
7. Sheltering children and socializing our children.
   1. 1 John 2:15
   2. Psalm 1
8. Is locking your kids in a room with a bunch of kids their own age a good way to socialize them?
9. When kids attend schools you live a school based life instead of a family based life?
10. What about being salt and light?
    1. Would we send our children into the religious school of false religion as a student with the intent of being salt and light?
11. Much of the criticism for home-schooling comes from the pew.
12. We are persecuted by the world, and by that which is of the world in the church, but you are still blessed.
13. Tells story about book The Scottish Chief’s.
    1. Kids use to read this book!
14. General discussion about books.
    1. G.A. Henty books (many are available online for free)
15. Lawrence explains the some of the distinctives that make them so “strange”.
16. Why are governments in the business of education?
    1. It exists for the purposes of the state, to indoctrinate the students in the religion of the state.
17. Discussion of the state and flag waving in church.
18. Discussion of some of the blessings of home-schooling.
19. What this show is about…”About helping people think about every area of life.”

Questions you might ask yourself.

• Is is wrong to pray for the destruction (as in end of) of public schools?
  • What things ought we be praying come to their end?
• What do you do if your spouse does not want to home-school?
• What would a community of people such as the Amish look like if the sent their children to our schools for 100 years? In kind, what would our community look like if we sent our children to Madrasas for 100 years?
• Does God bless us when we are obedient?
• Have you abdicated the job of educating your children?
  • If so who have you abdicated them to and what is their goal?
• Can you think of a scenario that is clearly an example of abdication? What verses would you use from the Bible to support your position?
• Why is the government in the business of education?

Don’t stop here.

• Free
  • Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto
• Not So Free
  • When You Rise Up: A Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling by R.C. Sproul Jr.

The paradox of childhood.

“Exactly what Shaw does not understand is the paradox; the unavoidable paradox of childhood. Although this child is much better than I, yet I must teach it. Although this being has much purer passions than I, yet I must control it. Although Tommy is quite right to rush towards a precipice, yet he must be stood in the corner for doing it. This contradiction is the only condition of having to do with children at all; anyone who talks about a child without feeling this paradox might just as well be talking about a merman.” – G.K. Chesterton

“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” – Luke 18:17

Glory is not the same as success.

“Up to this time he had known glory, but never success. He had been wondered at as something brilliant and barren, like a meteor; but no one would accept him as a sun, for the test of a sun is that it can make something grow.” – G.K. Chesterton

Agrarians, don’t be this guy.

Why Neither Obama Nor McCain Will Save Us