A Prayer in Spring

by Robert Frost

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day; 

And give us not to think so far away 

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here 

All simply in the springing of the year. 

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white, 

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night; 

And make us happy in the happy bees, 

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees. 

And make us happy in the darting bird 

That suddenly above the bees is heard, 

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill, 

And off a blossom in mid air stands still. 

For this is love and nothing else is love, 

The which it is reserved for God above 

To sanctify to what far ends He will, 

But which it only needs that we fulfill.

George Herbert: The Elixir

TEach me, my God and King,         In all things thee to see, And what I do in any thing,         To do it as for thee:         Not rudely, as a beast,         To runne into an action; But still to make thee prepossest,         And give it his perfection.         A man that looks on glasse,         On it may stay his eye; Or if he pleaseth, through it passe,         And then the heav’n espie.         All may of thee partake:         Nothing can be so mean, Which with his tincture (for thy sake)         Will not grow bright and clean.         A servant with this clause         Makes drudgerie divine: Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,         Makes that and th’ action fine.         This is the famous stone         That turneth all to gold: For that which God doth touch and own         Cannot for lesse be told.

The Sin of Socialism

"I went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; and there it was, all overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with nettles; its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; so shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man." Proverbs 24:30-34

What is laziness? The Bible speaks many, many times of the foolishness of being lazy or sluggish; "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise." Webster's 1828 dictionary defines "lazy" as "Disinclined to action or exertion; naturally or habitually slothful; sluggish; indolent; averse to labor; heavy in motion. Slow; moving slowly or apparently with labor; as a lazy stream." Which human being does not struggle with the sin of laziness? Laziness is a particularly easy sin to fall into as it doesn't require us to do anything. It's not hard to do nothing. 

Romans 1:32 also reminds us that those who approve of sin are likewise guilty. Therefore, any acceptance or encouragement of laziness is sin. I would like to offer that by this reasoning, all types of Socialism are sin by the Bible's standards. 

But what exactly is Socialism? While there are many varying definitions, at the heart of all of them is "equality". As Karl Marx said, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need." This is seen especially in the redistribution of wealth. President Barack Obama summed it up nicely; "It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure everybody who is behind you, that they have got a chance at success, too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody." This press for equality has many other implications, but the one I would like to focus on is redistribution of wealth and the creation of a welfare state. 

Now as a basic example of redistribution of wealth, let us say that Taxpaying Citizen earns a good amount of money; having a high education level, steady job, and a good work ethic. Let us say that forty percent of his income is redistributed to Lazy Bum in a homeless shelter. This lazy bum hates having a steady job, and never got through college because he hated studying. Most of the money given to Lazy Bum goes to paying his cell phone bill and buying alcohol. 

Now first, Taxpaying Citizen still does have a good amount of money left over for himself, but that does not negate the fact that Taxpaying Citizen has forty percent LESS money to: buy products (good for the economy), invest (good for the economy), pay his own employees (good for the economy), charitable giving (good for the economy), and save (good for the economy). 

Second, would Taxpaying Citizen have given his money to Lazy Bum if he knew that Lazy Bum would only waste it? Probably not! But the  government doesn't know what Lazy Bum does with his life, and honestly doesn't care. 

Third, what's going through Lazy Bum's mind as he gets his monthly check from the government? Is he thinking about putting some of this money away so that he can eventually afford a house payment and get back on his feet? No! Is he thinking about paying for a therapist to kick his alcohol addiction? No! Is he thinking about how next month he'll have a job so he won't need that check from the government each month? No! What motivation does he have to improve his lot? Absolutely none. 

Lastly, Taxpaying Citizen sees Lazy Bum getting that check every month from the government and has to ask himself, why should I work so hard each month to only have my income mostly taken away, when I could be sitting back relaxing and getting my own check from the government each month? 

So what are the effects of redistribution of wealth in this example? First, money is wasted and the economy is hurt. Second, money is mismanaged. Third, the poor are not motivated to move up out of the lower class. And fourth, hard working people are discouraged to work and are instead motivated to be lazy. 

This is the problem with Socialism and particularly with redistribution of wealth. It encourages laziness. And herein is why it must be labeled as sin. It discourages hard work and furthers sin.

Off the topic, another problem with redistribution is that it assumes that being rich is bad. Riches are actually blessings from God; as Ecclesiastes 5:19 says, "As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God." If these physical blessings are a blessing from God, who is the government to say that those blessings should be taken away and given to someone else? It is the Lord who giveth and taketh away. The government seeks to supplant God's authority and take His place through the redistribution of wealth. Thus, Socialism is also sin in that it seeks to set the government up as man's idol.

In conclusion, we ought to reject all government and economic systems that seek to feed the man who will not work. A culture that encourages laziness will not stop with that, but will continue to decline into other sins. Our nation would do well to consider the ant; working diligently and saving up to provide for ourselves, lest God's judgement come upon us. As Isaiah 1:19-20 says, "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

Calvinist Satire (which I didn't write)

10 REASONS WHY I AM A CALVINIST

1. Calvinists tend to wear wool and cotton. Dispensationalists tend to wear lime-green polyester leisure suits.

2. John Calvin was French...being French is very chic.

3. Calvin sounds like Calvin Klein...and his clothes are very chic.

4. Calvinists can drink.

5. Calvinists can smoke.

6. Dispensationalists are into prophecy conferences where they talk about Star-Trek eschatology and the mark of the Beast. Calvinists have conferences on "life and culture", art, social justice, and other high- brow things like that. Afterwards, we go to the local pub and talk about philosophy over a pint of Bass ale.

7. Calvinists have close ties with Scotland and Scotland is very cool: you know --Sean Connery, the movie Highlander, Bagpipes, the Loch Ness Monster, Glenlivet 18 year old Scotch, the movie Train Spotting, Brave Heart, etc.

8. Calvinists think we are smarter than anybody else.

9. It is more socially acceptable to say, "I go to Grace Presbyterian Church" than to say, "I go to Washed In The Blood Worship Center", "I go to Sonlife Charismatic Believers Assembly", or to say "I go to Boston Berean Bible Believing Baptist Bethel", or to say "I go to the Latter-Day- Rain Deliverance Tabernacle Prophecy Center, Inc.", or to say "I go to the Philadelphia Church of the Majority Text", or to say "I go to the Lithuanian Apostolic Orthodox Autocephalic Church of the Baltic union of 1838".

10. Ultimately, I am a Calvinist because I had no choice in the matter."

Ten reasons I am not a Baptist

10.) Doesn’t household mean household?

9.) How do children who are disallowed from the covenant make it a new and better covenant?

8.) Let me get this straight. Does the Baptist really expect me to believe that the Jews were absolutely incensed at the idea that Gentiles were now in the covenant without circumcision but accepted that their children were no longer in the covenant even with circumcision – and they accepted the latter without so much as a whimper recorded in the NT? You want me to believe that on one day Jewish children were included in the covenant and on the next day they had to wait until they were old enough to vote for Jesus on the matter. Hello?

7.) I didn’t wait for my children to ask me into their hearts before I named them and made them a part of my family. Why should I expect God to wait for His covenant seed to ask Jesus into their hearts before He names them in Baptism and makes them part of the family of God?

6.) I can’t get my mind around the fact that Pentecost amounted to the excommunication of children.

5.) “Forbid not the children to come unto me,” must mean something.

4.) If I were a Baptist and required explicit instructions from the New Testament before I baptized infants then I could not give communion to women? Imagine how that would go over.

3.) I read the Bible as one book … one story.

2.) I believe the children go with the parents. Call me old fashioned.

And the number one reason I am not a Baptist,

No one can tell me if I’ve reached the age of accountability yet.


From Bret McAtee

Tea-time

"A Proper Tea is much nicer than a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards." ~A.A. Milne

It is to this that we are heading...

Karl Marx's "10 Planks" to seize power and destroy freedom:

1. Abolition of Property in Land and Application of all Rents of Land to Public Purpose.

2. A Heavy Progressive or Graduated Income Tax.

3. Abolition of All Rights of Inheritance.

4. Confiscation of the Property of All Emigrants and Rebels.

5. Centralization of Credit in the Hands of the State, by Means of a National Bank with State Capital and an Exclusive Monopoly.

6. Centralization of the Means of Communication and Transport in the Hands of the State.

7. Extension of Factories and Instruments of Production Owned by the State, the Bringing Into Cultivation of Waste Lands, and the Improvement of the Soil Generally in Accordance with a Common Plan.

8. Equal Liability of All to Labor. Establishment of Industrial Armies, Especially for Agriculture.

9. Combination of Agriculture with Manufacturing Industries; Gradual Abolition of the Distinction Between Town and Country by a More Equable Distribution of the Population over the Country.

10. Free Education for All Children in Public Schools. Abolition of Children's Factory Labor in it's Present Form. Combination of Education with Industrial Production.

Pattern Giveaway

A friend passed this along to me. Enter into the giveaway to win the pattern!

http://sensibility.com/blog/a-new-pattern-company-and-a-giveaway/

Holly and the Ivy

Throughout the Celtic lands of Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, holly and ivy were symbols of victory won. Holly, representing masculine triumph, and ivy, representing feminine triumph, were often woven together as a sign that men and women need one another. Homes were decorated during Advent with both—often woven together—as a picture of the healthy family under God’s gracious providential hand.

(hat-tip to George Grant)

Sleigh Rides

Mimicking the supposed pattern of pastoral care practiced by Nicholas of Myra, the sleigh ride—particularly on Christmas Eve—gradually was woven into the joyous celebration of Christmas. Beginning in Scandanavia, spreading to Germany, England, Scotland, and finally New England, the sounds of the jingling bells, the tramping of horses through the snow, and the brisk wind through the trees became essential elements in provoking the Yuletide Spirit.

(hat-tip to George Grant)

Never fear!

I am in the middle of writing several posts in my new series. Unfortunately, my laptop is in the repair shop, so I have extremely limited internet access. Once I get it back, expect a flurry of posts (hopefully).

What have I gotten myself into?

I am hesitantly going to start a series of posts. Hesitantly, because I've never done something like this before, and I don't know if I'll be able to stick to it. Really, my life isn't busy enough. I ought to be able to make time for this, right? We'll see....

So here's the theme; the life of Christ. I'm going to start with history leading up to Christ's birth, till he is finally born on Christmas day, then follow his life till his death on Easter. Scripture, quotes, and exegesis.

This first post is kind of a cheat actually. I didn't write this next part. It came from George Grant's blog. But I thought it was appropriate.

"The holiday season—what we generically just call Christmastime—is actually a long sequence of holy days, festal revelries, and liturgical rites stretching from the end of November through the beginning of January that are collectively known as Yuletide.

Beginning with Advent, a time of preparation and repentance, proceeding to Christmas, a time of celebration and generosity, and concluding with Epiphany, a time of remembrance and thanksgiving, Yuletide traditions enable us to see out the old year with faith and love while ushering in the new year with hope and joy.

It is a season fraught with meaning and significance. Unfortunately, it is also such a busy season that its meaning and significance can all too easily be obscured either by well-intended materialistic pursuits—frenzied shopping trips to the mall to find just the right Christmas gift—or by the less benign demands, desires, wants, and needs which are little more than grist for human greed. The traditions of Yuletide were intended to guard us against such things—and thus, are actually more relevant today than ever before."

God and Evil from Iron Ink

"God is not the author of evil simply because whatever God sovereignly determines to come to pass, cannot, by definition, be evil. Since God is good, all that God does is good. If God has not declared that it is evil for himself to metaphysically cause evil, then man is evil to say that it is evil for God to do so. Joseph implicitly confessed that God caused the evil that was visited upon Joseph (Genesis 50:20) but Joseph was wise enough to see that the same action that God caused and that his Brothers caused was differentiated by the reality that God’s metaphysical causation of that evil was for good while the his Brother’s temporal causation of that same evil was for evil. The difference was motive. Do not miss here that God caused the “evil” but because God caused it, it was an evil that was intended for and resulted in good.

I would contend that this is why God is not the author of evil. God is not the author of evil because it is literally impossible for a divine being to do or cause anything that is evil. God has ordained whatsoever comes to pass and because God is good whatsoever that comes to pass, is a reality for which God cannot be charged as the author of sin."

--Pastor Bret McAtee on Iron Ink

Blessed beyond comparison

Just getting around to posting this. I hope to do one of these every month, sometime. Hopefully, they'll get longer and longer. :)

Good Things 10-28-10

1. Not having to rake the leaves because the wind blew them away

2. Friends who text you in the middle of the night

3. Getting woken in the middle of the night by a text that says you are loved

4. Finally getting that chord progression right on the guitar without looking

5. A family of believers who are united by one belief

6. Someone who agrees with you in the midst of a crowd who disagrees.

7. Someone who cares for you even when you screw up

8. Siblings not blood-related

9. The smell of fresh herbs on your hands

10. Music that says exactly what you’re trying to say

11. Dancing

12. The funniest sister in the world

Reformation Day 2010

Ok, so I'm a little late, Reformation Day was October 31st. But I did want to post something anyways. Here's a bit from Wikipedia about the day.

"According to Philipp Melanchthon, writing in 1546, Luther "wrote theses on indulgences and posted them on the church of All Saints on 31 October 1517", an event now seen as sparking the Protestant Reformation."

Sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone)
Sola Fide (through faith alone)
Sola Gratia (by Grace alone)
Solus Christus (in the finished work of Christ alone)
Soli Deo Gloria (to the Glory of God alone)

"A Vagabond Song" by Bliss Carmen

There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood--
Touch of manner, hint of mood;
And my heart is like a rhyme,
With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.

The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
Of bugles going by.
And my lonely spirit thrills
To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.

There is something in October sets my gypsy blood astir;
We must rise and follow her,
When from every hill of flame
She calls and calls each vagabond by name.

Good quote

"It is the love of God for the Christian which causes them to fear Him, while for the pagan it is their hate of God which drives them to fear Him. Undoubtedly, both these fears are born of the same thing; respect for his sovereignty, yet each of the fears are born of a different verb and therefore are totally different.
The first, the fear born of love, is not the fear of punishment but the understanding of His Sovereignty and His Awesomeness. It is a fear that finds its beginning in reverence and awe, causing the Christian to praise God daily for His loving-kindness and mercy. Pouring out into every aspect of life, this fear assists the Christian to be sanctified.
The second is a fear twisted and tortured by hatred, for fear is a Godly passion. It is the fear of punishment and the recognition of the eternal damnation to come. This hate-driven fear is what causes a man to fall farther and farther into the path of darkness. Constantly bringing death and mayhem wherever it goes, this fear can only be conquered through Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit."

Visionary

Sometimes, we miss the meaning of a song when we sing it, so try reading it.

Be Thou My Vision

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
be all else but naught to me, save that thou art;
be thou my best thought in the day and the night,
both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word,
be thou ever with me, and I with thee Lord;
be thou my great Father, and I thy true son;
be thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
be thou my whole armor, be thou my true might;
be thou my soul's shelter, be thou my strong tower:
O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:
be thou mine inheritance now and always;
be thou and thou only the first in my heart;
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure thou art.

So funny! This played before WALL-E in theaters

Pixar.Short.Presto.2008.BluRay FULLHD from SUNKO on Vimeo.

Polycarp - A Father of the Christian Church

We learned a little about Polycarp in our Christendom class this morning, so I looked up more about him and this is what I found.

"Polycarp is a celebrated figure in the history of Christianity. A direct pupil of the apostle John, Polycarp lived between 70 and 155 A.D., connecting him to both the biblical apostles and the age of the early church fathers. Several ancient sources document the contributions of Polycarp to Christianity, including his letters written to the church at Philippi, in which he encourages the members to remain strong in their faith and to flee from materialism. He also instructs the members in the proper handling of financial dishonesty that was creeping into the church. Polycarp served as the bishop of the church at Smyrna (modern day Izmir), and was recognized as one of the early combatants of Christian heresies. He rejected the teachings of Marcion, an influential heretic who tried to create a "new brand" of Christianity by redefining God and rejecting Old Testament teachings. In his well-known thesis, Polycarp combats Gnostic heresies that were beginning to spread throughout the Christian church.

Polycarp's greatest contribution to Christianity may be his martyred death. His martyrdom stands as one of the most well documented events of antiquity. The emperors of Rome had unleashed bitter attacks against the Christians during this period, and members of the early church recorded many of the persecutions and deaths. Polycarp was arrested on the charge of being a Christian -- a member of a politically dangerous cult whose rapid growth needed to be stopped. Amidst an angry mob, the Roman proconsul took pity on such a gentle old man and urged Polycarp to proclaim, "Caesar is Lord". If only Polycarp would make this declaration and offer a small pinch of incense to Caesar's statue he would escape torture and death. To this Polycarp responded, "Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" Steadfast in his stand for Christ, Polycarp refused to compromise his beliefs, and thus, was burned alive at the stake.