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Trusting in God for His Glory

As I work to transition to our new website, CulitvatedForGod, I will be posting links to the new articles here.  The latest article is on trusting God:  Trusting in God for HIs Glory.  Still lots more to do to finish the site but I pray the articles are edifying.

New Website: Cultivated For God

While our new website is not entirely up yet, I wanted to direct you to what I pray will be a site that will be beneficial as we share how God is working in the life of our family.  The introductory post on the new site is an attempt to relate how the website name was derived and what we hope to accomplish through it.  I will also be migrating over and phasing out this blog so as to be more focused on the new site.  So go here to read the first post: Cultivated For God: Being Refined by God for His Glory.

(Note: Pardon the Home page as we have not completed it yet)

Want to Have Influence, be a Producer!

I have just begun to read Wendell Berry’s book The Unsettling of America and as I got started in the chapter entitled The Ecological Crisis as a Crisis of Character I was struck by a thought that had not crossed my mind before.   Berry rightfully points out that much is made of the rights of the consumer, with regards to food, but little is said of the producer, other than to often complain about them.  This is because as a nation we have been steered, and happily so I might add, away from being a people who produce to becoming a people consumed with consumption and thus even our complaints about the producers of our goods are only surface deep and have little impact in the end.

Because of our move to a consumption-based society, in many areas of life, marketing has become a major field because it is key to increased consumption by its focus on creating desire where it may not have existed before.  Also, because we as a country see consumption as key to our economic health the government hands out funds it does not have so people can buy what they often do not need all in the guise of helping the economy but in the end it only feeds and fuels the desire to consume. We as consumers cry out about our rights but do nothing to secure them, more on that in a moment, except wait for the government to hand us what we feel we deserve by either legislation or some tax.  As long as we are allowed to continue our consumption we are satiated and happy to be told what to consume, by the choices set before us.  Yes, if you walk into a store there are a multitude of choices, probably more than any time in history, but these choices are in truth illusionary and are just surface deep since a cursory reading of most labels will reveal that there is really little difference from product to product.

What struck me from Berry’s book was how he spoke of our loss of a focus on being producers in our zeal to protect our rights to consume.   He is not saying we do not produce anything but that we for the most part do not produce that which will sustain us, as in food, but relying on others to do so and simply seeing ourselves by our actions as consumers.  To be honest even in my profession in which I produce goods of a hi-tech nature they are not, if I am honest, necessary to sustain life.  They may be used for some good but if the products were to not exist life might be different but it would still go on.  This is true of much of what we produce as a people, if done away with the world might be different but it would not in the end cease to exist.  The truth is we could do with less TVs, computers, media devices and other such items, maybe we would even do better as a society since much of the marketing of desires is transmitted though such technology.  However, this is not about being anti-technology but just that we need to step back and realize that without some of the things we rely on today life may be different but it would still be a life we could live and to be honest maybe more satisfyingly.  This is often hard to fathom from our present vantage point because we are so reliant on what is around us and cannot picture life without what we have around us.  Again, remember when I speak of producing I am speaking about that which is needed to sustain life and not simply that we do not make anything.

When it comes to consumption we often complain about the governments intrusion into our rights with regards to what we can purchase, or consume, but then turn around and seek the governments intervention to control those that do produce what we desire.   This problem exists because we have lost the intimate connection between production of what we need to survive and our consumption of those products.  We have left the idea of being producers of the goods needed to survive to the “professionals” as well as leaving the decision as to what is good for us up to some bureaucrat who either does not know what he talks about or has forgotten the past in an effort to create a new future.  Now comes the part that we as a whole have missed and what struck me in Berry’s writing;  we have become in our move from being a people who produce “and” consume to being a people that only consume; a people with no real power to influence what we have to consume, other than the occasional plea to the government that in the end actually creates more problems than solving any.  We have become reliant, even dependent, on what is put before us no matter its quality and worth.

Therein lies the problem.  When we no longer produce what we need to survive for ourselves, at any level, we then become so reliant on those that do produce those goods that we limit our choice and thus lessen our impact on what is produced.  When we no longer cook our own food we have little say about what is put on our table and only get the choices placed before us on a menu.  When we no longer grow our own food we become reliant on those that do and can only choose from what is on the supermarket shelf.   Our choices, due to our removal from the production process, become driven by corporate desires rather than what is good for us and in all of this our choices become limited.  Our options become not between what fresh locally grown food we can have but between what genetically modified, factory produced and laboratory enhanced produce is put before us to consume.   We complain about tomato’s with foreign  DNA, corn that even an insect would not eat or meat that has never seen the inside of a hide but the problem exists because of our choices and actions.  We have little say in the matter of what we consume, except to call on the government to stop that which we have allowed, by our removal from the production process.  When we no longer produce we no longer have much say, or influence, because we are reliant on those that produce what we do not.

Of course this did not all happen overnight and I am sure it did not happen with where we are today in mind, at least for most consumers.  It began with buying into the myth that industrialization would bring us agricultural nirvana and solve our food production problem, a problem that never really existed.  We bought into the lie that we could have all the “food”, or at least that is what it is called, we desired with none of the toil and struggle God promised in the curse.  We came to believe that we could have our cake and eat it too but the problem is the cake is little more than a laboratory experiment made to resemble cake.  We complain about government regulations on what we eat but then turn around and ask the government to control some other aspect of the consumption/production system because we have given up our influence and then wonder why we have no choice.

While we should be aghast at where we are we should also realize that for many, myself included, we paved the road to our current predicament.  If you are like me you bought into the lie that big brother knows what is best for us and that we need to rely on him to take care of us.  We turned our health, wealth and everything else over to some impersonal organization so we could consume from the tree of entertainment.  We did not want to be bothered struggling with toiling for our sustenance and have allowed the government to care for us, if care is what you call it.  We need to get off this train as soon as possible but as with jumping off any moving object there will be pain.   However, it is what we have to do if we do not want to end up in a system where our choices are this green pill or that blue one and where our food comes pre-packed, pre-heated, even pre-digested little resembling what God has for us to live on.

So let us not just complain.  Let us grow something, Let us cook something, Let us produce and not just consume.  Let us say no to the choices set before us and do so because we do not need to take from what is being offered up.  Let us have influence because we produce and not just consume.  Changing direction will be painful and will take much work and being responsible for being good stewards of what God has put before us.  This will also be painful because the current producers are not going to like being deprived of their profit and power.  They will fight back but we need to be ready to sustain the blows offered up so that our children and their children regain the choice we have been part of taking away.

God set up a system (2 Thes 3:10) where those that work, that is produce, eat, that is consume.  We need to, for the sake of future generations, regain our grounding in the foundational biblical principle that we are to produce to consume.  We are not, as we have now become, to simply be consumers.  We need to work at producing what we need to survive so that we get back to having the influence we are to have, a godly influence, and being a people that relies on the sovereign God of the universe rather than Uncle Sam or any other entity. 

As I titled this article it is those that produce that will have influence on what is available for consumption.  When we do not need to take from the offerings put before us we gain influence.  We need to become those influencers and do so for His glory, and thus our good.  Before we complain about the pharmacy placed before us on the grocery store shelves remember it is there because we have allowed it to be so.  Become informed and active so that you can get off of the train to oblivion and let us partake of what God has designed for us to live on and regain the power He has given us.  Let us return to becoming a people that produce what we need to survive and consume from that production and glorify Him in all of this.

Review of Born-Again Dirt: Farming To The Glory of God

Well I finally finished Noah Sanders’ new book “Born-Again Dirt: Farming To The Glory of God.”  It was not that the book was hard to read, quite the contrary it is a very easy read, but my time has been very short lately.  That all said, it was a very good book and one I think that should be read by all.   Not that everyone will be looking to farm but because Noah does a good job of showing how to take ones vocation and applying God’s word to it.  Far too often we speak of the sufficiency of scripture for all of life but Noah has taken that call to heart in his book and applied it to farming.  Maybe there should be a series of these books that seek to look at many vocations and how they can be reclaimed for Christ.

Over the last year I have begun to see that having a Biblical agrarian view of life is helpful and also biblical.  Much of scripture speaks in agrarian terms which lends itself to the task at hand for Noah, that of seeing what reclaiming farming for God’s glory looks like.  Seeking to take dominion for Christ is not just about claiming control over some aspect of life but is best accomplished when one seeks to apply God’s word to every area of life and that includes ones vocation, be it farming or anything else.

As far as the topics covered here is a listing of the chapter titles, which should give you a good idea of its contents:

1) Born Again Dirt

2) Laying a Biblical Foundation

3) Evaluating our Agriculture

4) The Born-Again Dirt Farm

5) The Role of a Christian Farmer

6) Principles of God’s Design

7) Pattern’s in God’s Design

8) Growing Fruit for the Temple

9) The Ministry of Marketing

10) Agri-Lifestyle

11) Getting Started: Tips and Suggestions

Noah takes a look at every area of farm life and seeks to see what God’s word says about it.  Beginning with realizing that we do not own our farms, or for that matter anything, but God does and thus we are to see our place as a steward of God’s possessions.  This is a mindset we should have in all we do and not just in farming.  Noah also deals with realization that, as with all of life, farming is not about us but about God and which should give us a different perspective about life and our vocation.

Again, this is a book everyone can take something away from.  Even if what is taken away is a desire to take the same tact but with regards to a different vocation and look to say what God’s word says about it.  I would add that it is my opinion that God’s word more easily lends itself to dealing with an agrarian life than many other vocations today simply because the Bible itself is decidedly agrarian in its content.  However this should not dissuade one from attempting to formulate a “Born-Again” view for all of life including any vocation one takes part in.

Here is information about this new book from the back cover:

Do you desire to glorify God through the way you farm? Are you tired of reading books on farming and food production that ignore God as Creator? Have you ever wondered what agriculture would look like if it was based on the Bible instead of on evolution, Mother Nature, or the latest manipulations of life by science?

In Born Again Dirt, Noah Sanders encourages Christian farmers to evaluate their farming methods in light of Scripture. This book looks at various Biblical principles related to agriculture and provides examples of practical application. Topics covered include:
-Designing farms as beautiful, fruitful homes.
-Honoring God's design in farm production
-Growing crops that honor the Lord
-Marketing as ministry
-The idolatry of modern agriculture
-Advantages of the farming lifestyle
-Starting a farm and making a living.

Without claiming to have all the answers, Born Again Dirt seeks to inspire you to develop a vision for God-glorifying agriculture . This book is a must read for any Christian who is a full time farmer, backyard gardener, or for anyone who desires a more Biblical view of agriculture.

You can purchase the book through Noah’s Blog Redeeming the Dirt.  I would also recommending reading some of his blog posts as well.

Above all make sure to purposefully and intentionally seek to redeem your vocation always making sure to do so, as Noah Sanders has done, by seeking God’s word for direction.

The Last Pilgrims Book Giveaway

For a second giveaway I have two copies of The Last Pilgrims.

This is a very good book written by Michael Bunker, the Author of Surviving Off Off-Grid.  The following is a short segment about the book from the website:

"Michael Bunker, author of the Amazon.com bestselling non-fiction book Surviving Off Off-Grid, would like to introduce you to one of the most exciting, heart-pounding, and unique novels to come around in a generation.  More than your typical post-apocalyptic faire, The Last Pilgrims could well be one of the most important and prescient novels of our time.  Twenty years in the future is five-hundred years in the past.  It is just two decades after the worldwide societal collapse and the Vallenses, an Amish-like “plain people” living and surviving in what was once Central Texas, are under attack by the King of Aztlan and his armies. The pacifistic Vallenses are defended by the shadowy Ghost Militia and their inspiring leader Phillip, a militant freeman who wages a guerilla war with Aztlan.

Jonathan Wall and the thriving agrarian community of Vallenses have prospered by living the simple and sustainable ways of the past.  In a massively depopulated world, balkanization is a reality and monarchy is back.  A corrupt kingdom arises, led by a king who cannot abide freemen on lands that he covets.  Just as the Vallenses send off a plea to the benevolent King of the South States, a mysterious assassin misses his target: Jonathan Wall.

Phillip “the Ghost” is on a personal mission to save the Vallenses – even if it is against their will, while Jonathan’s own son David and his fearless teenage daughter Ruth are led to challenge their pacifistic upbringing and question whether or not the time has come for the Vallenses to fight for the land, the people, and the God they love.

The Last Pilgrims is a modern re-telling of the forgotten history of the Ancient Waldenses - simple farmers who lived in the valleys of the Alps for hundreds of years despite repeated attempts to annihilate them.  Full of tragedy, adventure, humor, and love, The Last Pilgrims is a rare post-apocalyptic saga that takes history and casts it into the future, while examining that future in light of the errors of the present and the past. "

To enter; I will be collecting names until 5PM (PST) on Monday the 19th.  Here is how you can have multiple entries:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post.  
2. Placing a link to the giveaway on your blog and leave a link to your blog post in a comment here.  
3. Sharing this post on Facebook, or share the post that is already there, and mention here or on Facebook that you have done so. 
4. Share this giveaway on Goolge+ and then leave a comment here, or on Google + that you have shared it.  

That makes 4 ways to enter.

Again, make sure to leave a comment here, on one of the Facebook posts or on the Goolge+ posts letting me know the methods you have used to enter.

**This giveaway is limited to the US due to shipping costs**

Here is a link to the first giveaway of a copy of Into the Amazon.

Into the Amazon Giveaway

I an effort to pack and be ready for our move I have come across some items I will be giving away that I have duplicates of.  So as to set this up as two giveaways I will put them in two separate posts.

The first giveaway will be Vison Forums excellent documentary Into the Amazon.

To enter; I will be collecting names until 5PM (PST) on Monday the 19th.  Here is how you can have multiple entries:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post.  
2. Placing a link to the giveaway on your blog and leave a link to your blog post in a comment here.  
3. Sharing this post on Facebook, or share the post that is already there, and mention here or on Facebook that you have done so. 
4. Share this giveaway on Goolge+ and then leave a comment here, or on Google + that you have shared it.  

That makes 4 ways to enter.

Again, make sure to leave a comment here, on one of the Facebook posts or on the Goolge+ posts letting me know the methods you have used to enter.

**This giveaway is limited to the US due to shipping costs**

Here is a link to the second giveaway, two copies of The Last Pilgrims.

Technology Fast Update

I had been meaning to write about our “Technology Fast” for some time but things have been very hectic around here.  With the sale of our home, looking for where God would have us move (a post of its own) and work being very busy there has not been much time to write.

We took part in our “Technology Fast” the week of January 23rd through 29th and I would say it was a success.  While I had to use the computer and some other technology at work, the rest of the family did a great job of cutting way back.  As a family we only used the computer a few, times to fulfill some obligations, but in general did not use the computer and thus email for the week.  We also, except for using the stove, used very little electricity even relying on oil lamps and some battery powered lamps at night.

So how did things go?  Well I can tell you we as a family played more games than we ever have and some family members read more than normal.  Also, I learned that my face had grown wimpy by using my electric shaver because the first time I used a razor, which I had not used in many years, was somewhat painful.  We also found that we, out of habit, just turn on lights as we enter a room and kept finding ourselves having to turn around and turn them off or catch ourselves reaching for the switch.  In not using the lights we also found that we had to reschedule what we do as showers needed to be done earlier rather than later as well as getting dishes washed were better done in the morning so you could see what was being cleaned.  It was noticeable that due to technology we do much less planning and while that is convenient that is not necessarily the best practice.  These are just a few of the things that we learned.

What was most important about this fast was what we learned about technology and our interaction with it and not necessarily the technology itself.  When I first wrote about the fast most comments I received were positive but a few people thought that it was a misplaced focus as the issue was not technology but man’s use of it.  To that objection I mostly agree but that does not give technology a free pass.  We need to look at technology and judge it not just on the benefits it may bring but also the issues it may create and the dependence it may garner.  So while technology itself is not the issue we do need to evaluate how we deal with and often gain an over reliance on it.

Due to our comfort with all that is around us we too often think we can take or leave technology but that is not necessarily so.  Regardless of how discerning we may think we are, if we are not careful technology will end up owning us and not us it.   As an example, while I see that good can come from such things as Facebook I also think that the dangers are downplayed far too often.  What we tend to do is look at a technology and find some good and camp on that without asking how things would be without such technology.  Would communication be more difficult? Would it be slower and also lead to not meeting some people?  The answer to both is yes but that does not mean that is a bad thing.  We judge too many things by where we are now rather than where we might be without a particular technology.

Being that I am using technology to question it, I guess I need to be careful how I approach this subject in not wanting to be a hypocrite.  The issue truly is that we need to seek to be more discerning with our use of technology and if we were more discerning I probably would not feel the need to use this technology to write this article.   I should add that I also am employed in such a manner that I use technology every day, and some quite advanced technology at that, so what would happen if some of the technology I use did not exist.  That is easy, God would still be sovereign and I would do something else.  Man existed for along time without the technology we have today so, as I already said, we need to be careful when judging technology not to start where were we are but instead look at where we would be and where we can still go with the correct use of technology or lack of it.

We cannot get rid of technology since the clothes we wear, the tools we use to cook, the paper we write on and so much more are technology.  No, I am not for becoming a Luddite but I would encourage us to ask many of the questions the Luddites have asked.  We could learn from the Amish and others that have taken the simple path by asking questions about the technology around us and by applying biblically derived principles to all that is around us.  We may arrive at different answers than others have reached but we would be better off due to the process.

At the heart of all of this is the heart.  It is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9) and when faced with using technology our flesh will use it as those at Babel did in the bricks they created, to reach God, or at the heart of it to be as God.  So we need to be discerning, critical and wise in our development of technological advances.  There may be things that are in and of themselves harmless but when judged as how they will be used, or abused, may be better left undeveloped.  For other things we would be wise to minimize their use and develop lives that are not so tied and dependent on any particular technology so that we cannot live without it, which is often not realized until it is too late.

We as a family will be doing this again, even though our date of when will change due an up coming move.  As before the goal will be to learn how to live apart from the technology we are so used to if God should lead to a time when we will not have it at our disposal.  We all think we can get by without much of the technology we use daily but I can assure you when faced with the actual prospect of not being able to use it if you are like us and many others you will find that it is not as easy as you may have thought.

I would encourage you to have your own technology fast and it can be as big or small as you like.  But remember to make sure the focus is not simply to get by but learn what it is we really rely on; the stuff around us or the God that supplies and allows for that stuff to exist.

Law & Liberty Book Giveaway #3

I meant to do this last month but did not get around to it so I will be giving away another copy of Law & Liberty by R.J. Rushdoony this month.   

I will be collecting names until 5PM (PST) on Saturday the 18th of February.  Here is how you can have multiple entries:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post.  
2. Placing a link to the giveaway on your blog and leave a link to your blog post in a comment here.  
3. Sharing this post on Facebook, or share the post that is already there, and mention here or on Facebook that you have done so. 
4. Share this giveaway on Goolge+ and then leave a comment here, or on Google + that you have shared it.  

That makes 4 ways to enter.

Again, make sure to leave a comment here, on one of the Facebook posts or on the Goolge+ posts letting me know the methods you have used to enter.

**This giveaway is limited to the US due to shipping costs**

Take a Technology Fast

How often do we take technology for granted and just accepted it?  How often do we look past the moment and truly contemplate the impact technology will have in the future?  Do we own technology or does it own us?  These, and more, are questions we need to ask when faced with any new, or for that matter, current, technology.  This is not a matter of seeking to avoid all forms of technology or simply calling all technology bad  as we need to realize technology comes in many forms.  The clothes we wear, the utensils we use and many other things that we utilize in everyday life are all a result of some form of technology.  No, what we need to do is look at all technology with an eye to its impact on us and the world that God has called us to steward and to do so from a Biblical perspective. 

While the Bible does not necessarily speak directly to a particular technology we can ask ourselves how any particular technology will affect our lives in light of how God would have us live and glorify Him.  For example; when we see a technology that will work to divide a family we can know that whatever the technology is it needs to be seriously scrutinized and either minimize in its use or avoided all together.  Also, if a technology will take over ones life, as so many tend to do, and leave little time for God then we need to deal with that so as to avoid its impact of our walk with God.

One book I highly recommend with regards to getting one to think about technology and our interaction with it is Michael Bunker’s book Surviving Off Off-Grid.  Even if you feel you have no desire to live off grid or do not think that society will crumble Bunker asks some probing questions that will make one think about their relationship with technology.  The world puts forth that to question technological advances is somehow being backward and ignorant.  However, the issue is not just about whether one accepts a certain technology or not but whether we have thought through the implications of its use.  These implications are not to be limited to the present but also to its impact on future generations as well.

If we are honest with ourselves we will have to admit that with all the promises of technology saving us time and effort we are as busy as ever, maybe busier.  We have been duped by the allure of what we are told technology can offer and bought into the lie.  A lie that says leisure is just around the next technological corner but what we will find around the corner is another corner and another marvel to buy and consume our time and affections.

 We live in a consumer based economy and thus technology needs to be in a constant state of change so as to always be creating the possibility of selling one more item, one more gadget.  Thus, we need to be vigilant so as not to get caught up in this trap of consumerism and keeping up with technology which will never happen since as soon as you buy the latest wonder it will be obsolete and you will need to buy the next one.

When it comes to any technology what we need to do is to stop, take a breath, and ask if technology is being used by us or are we being used by it.  If tomorrow the Internet was to go down many would be lost.  If we had no electricity for a day, weeks or even months what would we do?  I am not even talking about survival here but what would be our mindset.  Would we sit in front of our TVs or computers pining away for it come back online?  Would we be lost since all our “friends” are on Facebook, Google+ or some other social network and we realize we have no personal contact with “actual” people?  What would we do with all our free time, would we remember how to read, how to talk to family or could we even find the kitchen?

Let me confess; I have made connections with people on Facebook that I do consider friends and I have corresponded with people via my blog and other connections on the Internet.  But in truth it was so much more meaningful when I could actually meet these people face to face or at a minimum was able to at least talk on the phone with them.  Technology has allowed me to learn and share insights that would have taken longer and been more difficult if it had not existed.  I can see the good that has come via technology.  However, I have to admit I have not been as discerning as I should be in monitoring my use of technology as I have, as many of us, been sucked up into the black hole of “technological acceptance.”

As I write this article on my laptop to be posted over the Internet I wonder if I am a hypocrite in questioning technology.  I would say that I would be if I was saying all technology, at anytime, was wrong.  What I want to stress is that we need to seriously ask questions about the technology we use and how we use it.  As I have already said we need to ask what the consequences of any technology could be.  We need to be constantly aware of our reliance, and often total dependence, on technology and work to avoid such dependence.  Of course if you are like me and live in the city or have a job that is technology driven it is difficult.   We do need to ask if we have a plan for what to do if for some reason God decides to pull the plug?  What will we do when He moves to show us that we need to rely more on Him than Microsoft, Mac or Dell.  Most of us do not have any plans and until recently I had not even contemplated such a scenario.  Michael Bunker’s book, and a few others I have read recently, have made me begin to think about these things more deeply.

One example of technology, and its associated mindset, being blindly accepted without much reservation was the Industrial Revolution.  When we entered the Industrial Revolution Christians did not ask the questions they should have and we have thus paid a heavy price.  We as believers did not ask what God would have us do by looking at the affect the Industrial Revolution would have on His people.  The following articles make some very good observations with regards to the impact of technology on mankind:

Reforming the Family – Rev. Brian M. Abshire

Machines and Family (Pt 1 of Series) – Howard king

Industrialism: Rooted in Greed (Pt. 2 of Series) – Howard king

The Efficiency Invasion: How Industrialism Destroyed the Traditional Family (Pt. 3 of Series) – Howard king

Efficiency vs the Family – Scott Terry

This all said what should we do, and thus the reason for the name of this post.  Throughout this article I have mentioned questions we need to ask but we need to go further.  We need to take action so that we do not become more dependent on technology than on God.  To do this my family has decided to challenge ourselves and go on a technology fast for a week, once every 2 months.  During that time we will work to minimize our use of the technology we have come to so rely on.  Apart from work, as I do have to make a living and am sure my employer would not want to go along, there will be no computers, thus no internet.  I think Facebook can live without me.  We will only use our phones for emergencies and with regards to cooking be limited to our stove.  Of course if we lived in a different environment we might be able to limit our use of technology even further, but this is a start.  Actually even making a decision to do this showed some of our over reliance and desire for technology in our family.  There were some in the family that balked a little since until we talk about curtailing our use of technology we did not realize how dependent we had become on it.

In taking part in this “technology fast’ we hope to grow closer to God.  Not necessarily because of the lack of technology but because of the time we will have that is no longer absorbed by the technology we use.  I am hoping and praying that our time in family devotions will grow and our interacting as a family will flourish.  Let me say, if this is done purely to simply say we have avoided technology I think we would miss the point.  No, we want to do this so that we can realize how dependent we have become on technology, often at the cost of our dependence on God, and work by God’s strength to rely on Him as we should.

I encourage you to join us as we seek to set technology aside, as best you can, for a week.  Our first Technology Fast will take place from January 23^nd to January 29^th.  If you need to start on a different week that is great since it is not the dates that matter but that we seek to do something.  I encourage you to share your thoughts on joining us and after the week, whether it be the same as us or another week, share what God did in the life of your family during the week. 

This, as with all things needs to be done for His glory and that needs to be at the forefront of our minds.  Let us grow closer to Him as we remove those things that often are seemingly good but end up impinging on time with Him, with family and with ones church.

Previous Posts in this Series:

Christians and the Care of God’s Creation
God, Work and Redemption

GMOs: An Agricultural Tower of Babel?

GMOs: An Agricultural Tower of Babel?

(Updated with what is now paragraph 6 on 1/7/12)

There are many out there that feel anything we do to increase production and efficiency, thereby apparently reducing price, is a good thing.  Others put forth that the only way we can feed the world and produce enough food is by genetically engineering it.  But is this correct as the true total cost, including subsidies and increased health costs, of the food we eat is yet to be tallied.  Also, from what I can find the issue with food is not a quantity issue but a distribution issue so making more at any cost is not the answer.  However, more importantly we need to ask if the producing of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) pleases God or is it an Agricultural Tower of Babel?

Now I have probably already tipped my hand as to where I stand on this subject but if God’s word is sufficient for all of life, and it is, it must say something about this topic.  Of course you will not find a passage such as 1 Agronomy 1:1 that says “Thou shall not make GMOs” but this does not mean that God does not speak to this area of life, He does.  God speaks to every area of life, either directly or in principle.

I realize that when one speaks to the topic of food there will be those that say that what we eat and what we produce is an area of liberty and we can basically do as we please.  Some may even go to Peter’s vision in Acts  10:9-16 to say that we can eat all things.  Well, first the passage in Acts is not dealing as much with what one has for dinner as dealing with religious preconceptions about what was clean or unclean, to say that Peter can indeed eat and fellowship with the Gentiles who were considered unclean by the Jews.  The “liberty” card is usually used whenever ones toes are being stepped on and one becomes uncomfortable.  While we do have liberty it is all within the confines of God’s order and commands so we need to be careful of where we proclaim liberty.

To see what God’s plan was from the beginning one needs to go back to, well the beginning, Genesis 1:25-27 and Gen 2:5,15 to see that God placed man in a garden to care for what God provided.  God could have easily made the garden to care for itself and produce in abundance all that Adam and Eve required but God decided, in His infinite wisdom, to have man cultivate and till the soil.  He placed man not so much as lord over the land but as a steward of God’s provision, as caretaker and overseer of it.  While this call was prior to the fall it did not change after it.  What changed after the fall was man’s relationship with the soil as it was going to now, in a sense, fight back and not produce as man would have liked.  God did not tell Adam to go out and try and manipulate the ground, the foliage or the animals but to care for it to bring forth what God wanted from the soil even with the curse that was placed on it. 

So what does man do today but try and avoid the curse anyway they can.  I spoke on some of this in my last article on work.  We create food, if you can really call it that, which is modified so as to be able to produce more crops by being pesticide resistant and in the process nutrient deficient.  Man, instead of simply dealing with the various issues created by the curse through hard work and natural methods has tried to be God and create new organisms.   At the heart of much of this is a desire to avoid work and the trials of it and to be as God. 

As I mentioned the Tower of Babel in the title of this article, I should add that it is, among other things, a picture of man seeking to use technology to create their own heaven, their own redemption.  Gen 11:1-5 speaks of the technology used, that of brick and mortar, and the passage even speaks of them being baked.  Now we may not think of bricks and mortar as a technological advance but it truly was.  Man was seeking to use what advances they had before them to make a name for themselves (Gen 11:4) and in a sense find redemption on their own.  They sought to make something of themselves and avoid being scattered.  However, God would put a stop to that and He can do the same with us.  God can bring down the technological tower we have created and rely on.  At issue is not necessarily a matter of avoiding technology, as that is often difficult, but it is a matter of what we do with that technology.  It is a matter of what we rely on, God or self.

But what of those that farm and have worked to make mixed breeds of animals and plants?  Is this a form of genetic manipulation?  This is dealt with in Joel Salatin’s book Folks, This Ain’t Normal (Pg: 225-239) as he shares how genetic engineering deals with manipulating “kinds” whereas the natural mixing of breeds and plants is keeping kinds together.  God created “kinds” (Gen 1:11,12,21,25) and we should not seek to make, to be as God, and create new kinds. 

This tendency to want to be as God is not new as we see it in the Garden, at Babel and we see it still today. When we manufacture, manipulate and modify the natural order that God has provided we in essence seek to be as God.  Being creative is an innate attribute we have as a creation made in the image of God. However we need to realize the limits of that creative desire and understand that simply because we physically can do something that does not mean we should.  Adam and Eve could physically eat of the tree but they were not to so we too need understand our limits and be careful that we do not turn our call to dominion into a call to be as God.  

Does all of this mean we simply need to accept the thorns and thistles that make producing food difficult?  In one sense yes as they will exist in some manner until Christ’s return.  But I think we can, by the sweat of our brow, fight those incursions that make the ground unfruitful.  We need to do so in a manner that aligns with God’s order and in a manner that magnifies Him and not us.  We need to make sure that all we do honors God’s creation and is not in the end simply more of a curse, as we are finding with the genetically engineered food substitutes that have been created.

Let us seek to be reliant on God and what He provides.  One of the results of the curse on the land is to remind us of our reliance on Him for our redemption.   Let us be content with the trials we face due to the curse.  Not that we are to be complacent but understand that we cannot avoid the curse and must work within the confines God has set before us.  God has provided all we need to live for His glory and we need to come to grips with that.  Can we create technology to better glorify God, well that is a topic for another post but in short yes as long as we understand the difference between using technology and being dependent on it. 

So, yes the genetic engineering of our food is indeed an Agricultural Tower of Babel and it will crumble.  The question is how long will it be until God pulls the tower down and how much damage will have been done in the mean time.  Should we not instead work to pull the tower down and thus reveal our reliance on God and not on ourselves? 

Previous Posts in this Series:

Christians and the Care of God’s Creation
God, Work and Redemption

Law & Government: An Introductory Course

The Law & Government: An Introductory Course is on sale for 50%.  I have not had a chance to listen to my set yet but the speakers are very good.  I will be doing a review of this resource once I finish the set

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God, Work and Redemption

I want to preface what is to come, in this series, with a few books I have been reading that have given me much food for thought, pun intended.  Two of them are by Joel Salatin: “Everything I Want to do is Illegal” and “ Folks, This Ain’t Normal.”  Another book I am almost done with that has given me much to think about as I try and work through how we are to deal with technology and man’s attempts to “make life easier” is "Surviving Off Off-Grid" by Michael Bunker.  I think these are worthwhile books to read as we too often are so ingrained in a way of thinking that we need to be jolted out of our slumber and these books may help do just that.  Will you agree with all they say, maybe not, but these are books that may help you to look at things differently, and that is what we need today.   Also, both authors have a Christian worldview that sees all that is around us as God’s creation and that God has a way He desires for us to interact with it, a view I would pray we would all seek to posses.

When we look at any area of life we need to do so with God’s word as our standard, our filter, and this includes when we interact with God’s creation and our required stewardship of it.  When I speak of God’s word I mean not only His inerrant word but also His all-sufficient word.  If one does not see God’s word as sufficient for all of life then one will not seek to see what God says about every area of life and thus will end up setting up areas that are not judged by the only infallible rule of life, His word.  To make God honoring decisions we need to see what God’s word says about every area of life.  

I thought I would start with looking at the issue of work because so much of what we have to deal with today is promoted as being “required” so as to reduce our work, save time and increase our ability to spend more effort in recreation.  I need to mention here that the idea of saving time is misleading as we all have 24 hours and we invariably fill up every minute.  Thus, seldom do we actually save time but instead just rearrange the use of the minutes, now back to the subject of work.  The world seeks to tell us we need this device, that program or some other modification to our life because it will reduce our work and benefit us by giving us time to do any number of other “more” enjoyable activities.  Due to this propaganda, for most things I do not think this is too strong a word, we need to understand the biblical concept of “work” so as not to be taken in by the many claims of the world and its offerings.

To begin with work is not in and of itself evil.  Man was created and given dominion, stewardship, over the garden (Gen 1:26-31) that God created.  God calls what he had created, including the work of dominion, very good thus we see that work at this point is not what we think of it as today, but is instead good.   Work is not a result of the fall, as most treat it, but is a creation of God and is His means for man to care for His creation.  However, when man fell work became burdensome as God’s word reveals in Gen 3:17-19.   Adam would indeed keep working but in contrast to before the fall work would now be what we know it as today “WORK.”

We all too often look at work as just that, work, something to avoid.  But have you ever contemplated why God chose work to be so hard because of the fall?  It was not simply as some form of punishment from an indiscretion but instead was, and is, to be a reminder.  It is to be a reminder of the state of our nature and a reminder of our need for redemption.  For the believer then there is hope in the midst of the toil of work.  Knowing this does not mean that work will be easy, as our flesh desires it to be, but it does let us know that as we work we can find joy as we contemplate that God is reminding us of all He has done, is doing and will do, in our lives.  Thus, we should not avoid work but embrace it and seek to redeem it by having an attitude of remembering what it signifies.  In our toil work lets us see our rebellion against God, our reliance on Him for redemption and it also reminds of the glorious hope that is before us.  For me this is convicting as I often grumble at work not being as easy as I would like it to be instead of taking the toil and looking at it as I should, a vivid reminder.  While we should seek to be efficient and work as best we can, so as to glorify God, even then we need to realize work in our fallen state is meant to be tiresome and troubling so as to remind us of our sin and Christ’s work.  That is where true peace and joy in the midst of work comes from, when we recognize why work is as it is.

When we think of joy and peace we all too often define them by the world’s standards and thus we cannot find joy and peace in the midst of our toil and trials.  Let us not forget that Christ in going to the cross found joy in knowing what was ahead (Hebrews 12:2.). He suffered more than we can ever imagine by taking on the sins of His people but His joy was in knowing He was glorifying the Father.  We need this attitude of joy in our work and for me that is very convicting.  It is in having a right view of work that will allow us to make right choices and not let promises of pleasure and rest dictate the decisions we make. Having a right, biblical, view of work, joy and peace will allow us to take what from a worldly perspective is a hard route and see our situation as one that sanctifies us and thus most glorifies God.

We are to be serious about the work God has for us and should not be complacent in our endeavors, seeking just to get by. When we work we are to do so for His glory because of what He has done in us and is doing through us in our work..  The world can only toil at work thus its instinct will be to avoid work but we as believers are to know that work is our destiny and we need to see God’s hand in it.  What a joy that is.

Having a right view of work is imperative so as to inform our every decision for God’s glory.  However, the world seeks to set before us an alternate reality, an alternate path to take. One where work is sought after to be non-existent and where recreation is the goal of all we do.  We are sold this worldview in everything from vacation getaway plans, such as “time-shares,” to fast food offerings all of which are to save us time, effort and increase pleasure.  We fall for this advertising that seeks to make us feel as if we can avoid work and it’s toil because our sin nature wants to forget about our sin, neglect God’s redemption and not realize there is only true freedom in what God offers.  The world wants us to believe that true happiness can only be found without work and promotes the concept that work is evil.  We as believers need to remember that while work may be hard and tiresome it is not evil.  It is, as we have already seen, in reality a great reminder of what God has done, is doing and will do in our lives.  It is the avenue God has given us for dominion and stewardship of His creation and we need to partake of work as God defines it, hardships and all, so as to experience the peace and joy only God brings when we are seeking to glorify Him.

I started with the topic of work as I think it is at the core of many of the wrong decisions we make with regards to the care of God’s creation.  For example man crowds the animals God has provided us into unnatural surroundings known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) as this is our way of saving time, work and as we are often told, to be more productive.  However in doing this not only do we treat God’s creation, the animals and the land, poorly we also create food that is not conducive to good health and thus makes us less able to work as we need to and thus not glorify God as we ought.  Also, by our not wanting to work we have allowed the melding of science and “nutrition”, even though it is not really nutritious, in such a way as to make substances that are called food and are sold to us as being able to reduce our work and leave more time for recreation.   Again, when we lose sight of the biblical meaning of work we make decisions that not only are bad for us they negate the glorification of God in our relation to the work God has for us.

So, there are some thoughts on work and how it relates to creation and areas such as food.  If you take anything from this I pray it is to see that work is a gift of God.  Yes we have to deal with the affects of sin in our work but by the work of Christ we can find joy in the midst of our toil.  While we should seek to be more efficient as we work I pray we would always weigh our motives by biblical standards.  Let us see if our goal is to be better stewards of God’s creation, for His glory, or if it is to avoid the work God has for before us.   Let us make sure we do not buy into the world’s view of work but cling to God’s view.  Always seeing in work a reminder of our sin, a reminder of God’s work in redeeming us and a reminder of the future peace to come at His return.   Let our view of work be a stark contrast to the world’s and let our lives live out that difference in our thoughts, words and actions.

More to come on other areas relating to our interaction with God’s creation.

This is a sermon delivered 12/25/11 on this subject: God, Work and Redemption

Previous Posts in this Series:

Christians and the Care of God’s Creation

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Law & Liberty Book Giveaway #2

Thanks to the Chalcedon booth at the latest NCFIC conference (Gospel-Centered Marriages for a Glorious Church ) I have two more Law & Liberty books by R.J. Rushdoony to give away.  There will be one  this month then anothe in January. 

I will collect names until 5PM (PST) on Wednesday the 14th of December.  Here is how you can get multiple entries:  One entry can be gained by leaving a comment to this blog post.  You can get additional entries by placing a link to the giveaway on your blog and leaving a link to the post on your blog in a comment here.  Another entry can be gained by sharing this post on Facebook or sharing the post that is already there.  Lastly, you can share this giveaway on Goolge+.  So, leave a comment here, on the Facebook or on the Goolge+ post letting me know the methods you have used to enter.