Quote for Today

"I am not a pacifist, because pacifism in this poor world in which we live, this lost world, means that we desert the people who need our greatest help. As an illustration: I see a great big burly man that is beating a little tiny tot to death....If he won't stop, what does love mean? Love means I stop him in any way I can..."
--Francis A. Schaeffer, "Conflicting World Views: Humanism versus Christianity."

You can trade out "burly man" for "federal government", and insert "American citizen" for "tiny tot".  Same implication.

Local News

Lots of things happening around here... For starters, Here's our girl in her first newspaper photo, which was taken last Saturday, October 13th, right before we started gnoshing on some free burgers at the local hardware store.

Last month, we were dropping my Bride off at the airport to visit her family down south, and Caleb took the opportunity to slip into one of his favorite cars at the rental yard...

 

Shortly after she returned (thank God!), she made our youngest girl a special three-year birthday cake... Not that it took three years to make it, of course:

(It's ineffable how delicious that cake was.  Thanks to "Grammie" for the recipe!)

Hunting season began today, so it makes sense that the safest place for a deer to hang out would be in our front yard, since I can't shoot one against the backdrop of our neighbor's house.  That's generally considered bad sportsmanship.

(Besides, these gals are too small, anyway.)

The children went over to a neighbor's house and picked almost 200 lbs of apples, which we've been juicing, canning and dehydrating for a week straight.  The Dear Bride is rockin' the applesauce:

Montana sunsets in the Fall can't be beat.

...And after the rain, rainbows like these are an almost weekly occurrence:

Blessings to all...

--RC

A "Christian Duty" to Vote?

As if in orchestrated response to the overwhelming attention given to next month's election(s), professing Christians are once again getting quite vocal (particularly in social media) about the concept of "the Christian Duty to Vote".  I often inject "pushback" into these discussions, usually by contesting the scriptural basis for democracy... and WOW, what agitated responses I get!  Holy sacred cow, Batman!  It seems that many Christians fear that if enough people don't vote for the lesser of two evils, then we'll be stuck with our last crappy choice for a president, etc.  Well, I've got news for everyone...

We the people will always get exactly the kind of leader that our Republic-devolved-into-a-Democracy will warrant.  If we fail to bankrupt and bury Planned Parenthood (for example), we will more than likely be saddled with leaders who have little or no regard for the sanctity of life.  If we consent to "green science" over practical common sense, we will be duped by a president who pushes through a whole boatload of cap-and-trade legislation, outlaws incandescent light bulbs and fines you if your toilet flushes too much water.  If our "churches" continue to cower before the IRS by taking on 501c3 status, then our pastors, preachers and teachers will continue to be bullied out of speaking out against specific candidates.  This will, in turn, keep us locked into the vicious "lesser evil" cycle.  What I'm saying is this:

"YOU CANNOT SERVE BOTH GOD AND MAMMON."

Think about it.  America has enshrined wealth/prosperity/"freedom" and eschewed Christ, and then we wonder about the mess we are in.  Our national economy will not correct itself.  I believe that a fruitful course of action for any genuine Christ-follower is to repent of our dependence on the dollar, our hunger for humanistic education, and our laziness, and return to attempting to view everything — and I mean EVERYTHING — through the lens of Scripture.  That includes work, play, education, spending, saving, sex, the future, eating, health... EVERYTHING.  We are promised that we will find true fellowship with God when we seek Him with our whole heart (Deuteronomy 4:29, John 4:24, etc).  Conversely, "these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me", says the Lord.

Voting will not save Americans.  Only repentance before the Almighty King of kings will accomplish that.  John the Baptist once warned the crowds, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" (Luke 3).  Let this be our goal in Christ... and the righteous leaders that we so desire will have room to emerge.

Babies and Bathwaters (or: Facebook, part II)

About a month ago, I wrote a post on why I wanted to "leave" Facebook.  My main reason for doing so was that I had lost count of how many times I had become incredibly frustrated and disillusioned over conflicts and futile arguments that had resulted from trying to dialogue with other professing Christians about sometimes-weighty matters.  Well, I am slowly learning that for some reason, electronic correspondence (incl. Facebook) is not an adequate way to resolve conflict.  Also, I am learning that engaging in these sorts of fruitless debates is too much of a temptation for me, and it brings out some nastiness in me which I don't want to foster or waste time on.  A face-to-face conversation of disagreement, sure... but without the elements of non-verbal communication inherent in personal conversations, these "comment" sessions often quickly devolve into a sort of one-upmanship that I do not think honors the Name or unity of Christ.

So, I had decided to throw out the bathwater.  Then, I heard a little cry...

Well it wasn't really a cry, just more Facebook comments.  Only this time, they were kind.  People — actual "friends", not merely Facebook "acquaintances" — were telling me that they would miss staying in touch with me, and that really made me feel cared for and appreciated.  Furthermore, I found that if I could just say NO to my many temptations to "set people straight" (probably an impossibility in most cases, anyway), that I could actually enjoy some benefits from the FB.

So, in a sense, I'm back on Facebook.  And in a sense, I'm not.  For while I can't guarantee that "aggressive Ric" won't come out swingin' from time to time, I can promise that I'll choose my battles carefully, not cast my pearls before swine, and over all this, put on love...

Colossians 3:12-17 (ESV)

 

¹² Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.