I don't usually write about religion on my blog, but today happens to be my favorite holiday (If I've said that before it is because I have several favorites). Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. One of the reasons that I like today as a holiday is that Halmark hasn't figured it out yet (and I would really prefer to keep it that way).
Today is my favorite holiday due to the symbolism. I'm going to be honest, I know very little about paganism and I don't know completely my church's thoughts on my celebration of this pagan holiday. I'm OK with that because the symbolism surrounding today brings me closer to things that are extremely important to me.
When we talk about the Christmas story we say that it's the day of Christ's birth and then we talk about the shepherds in the fields. Ummm... if the flocks were in the field during Christ's birth then it wasn't the dead of winter, it was likely spring. So why do we celebrate Christmas in the dead of winter? I think it is because most Pagan groups celebrate today, the shortest day of the year. After today the days will get longer and longer (until June 21). The Christians of old didn't know the day Christ was born, but the Pagans in the neigborhood had a 'dead of winter' celebration and they wanted something at the same time. (You will find that in the Bible in the book of Sans)
So I like my Pagan 'dead of winter' celebration.
The reason that I really like this day is because it is the returning of light. Think of light for just a moment. Put yourself in the shoes of an ancient civilization that doesn't live in an equitorial region. What does light mean to you? What does light bring to the world?
Light brings heat. Light also allows photosynthetic plants to do their thing and grow. Plants are sort of important in the world that we live in. We rely heavily on plants for food, and even if you have succumbed to the ills known as the Atkin's Diet you rely on plants to feed the flesh that you eat. So we all rely on light for food.
Oh and something about photosynthesis and the use of carbon dioxide and production of oxygen. Without plants, that wouldn't happen and we wouldn't be able to breath. So without light we would have no food to eat or oxygen to breath. That makes light important for our existance. So I think it's important to celebrate light and what it brings to the world.
More importantly, on this date, this Pagan season for celebrating light, the Christian world has chosen to celebrate the birth of Christ. Christ is the light and life of this world. While I think the early Christians missed the mark by four days, that's OK, today is the real day of Christmas. Today is the day to celebrate not only the return of sunlight, but also the the light and life of the world, Jesus Christ. Like the sunlight that is returning brings all life to the earth, Christ, through his life and death brought life to all who live on the earth.
So today is my Halmark free celebration of light. A day for meditation and reflection of the lights in my life. Obviously I've spoken of nature and Jesus, but also those things that make my life enjoyable like my wife and kids, the oportunities to learn and experience life, and my family and friends that I love and appreciate.
I'm not a big fan of Christmas because I feel that consumerism is working hard to destroy it (although I very much enjoy the traditions my family have), so I want to wish you all (or should I say both of you?) a very merry Pagan celebration of light. Take time to reflect on what light does in your life as well as the sources of light.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The 'All Mighty' Dollar
I was at church on Sunday and I heard mention of, 'the all mighty dollar'. It made me think (and stop listening), isn't there only one 'All Mighty'? And if my understanding of other teachings at church are correct, it's not money. And this is what I thought about in church instead of what was being discussed...
Money is treated a lot like a god. I'm going to take a step out of my religious understandings and present this from the perspective of the people. I don't know who 'the people' are, but I'm going with what I think most people believe.
Those who believe in God generally believe that he is all powerful. He (God is generally referred to as a He, although some seem to be feminizing God... I think) is immense and incomprehensible. He can cause any change to come about that He wants and He is all controlling. While no one, or at most very few (I think there is some debate there), have seen God, they know that he exists because of His power and works.
Now let's compare that with money. Is money all powerful? The phrase about the 'all mighty dollar' certainly suggests that it is. Is money immense and incomprehensible? I think that pretty much sums up the economy. When I get ready to leave for school in the mornings, I listen to NPR and I almost always get the economic reports. I am fascinated by how many professional economists there are and how they can all have differing views. That is quite similar to all of the various preachers across the country that all believe in a God, but see Him quite differently. Does money cause change to come about? How many of you were 'rewarded' financially for good grades? or for performing better at work? So money seems to make change come about as dictated by the controller of the money (remind me that I need to talk about the controller of the money at some point). So how many people have actually seen money? Sure, we've got that stuff in our wallets that we can exchange for goods, but paper has little value at all. The stuff in your wallet represents gold that is on reserve at Fort Knox (I believe). Have you seen the gold represented by the paper in your wallet? I haven't. We can even take this a step further with online banking. My paycheck is automatically deposited into my account and then I use a credit card to pay for things and send a check in every month to pay off my credit card bill. I never see money, and if it weren't for the check that I wrote I could never really have any tangible proof of money existing (that's really sort of scary on some levels).
Let's talk about a golden calf. Wasn't there a group in the Bible that got in trouble for worshiping a golden calf? (I'll give you a hint, the answer is yes). The problem with the golden calf thing was that God told the people not to put any god before Him. I think that's a reasonable request since He is all powerful and the creator of everything we have, including ourselves.
Now I want to make a distinction that is very important. Golden calves aren't bad, it is the worship of the golden calf that caused the problem. Having a golden calf in your yard may get the fashion police after you because it is sort of tacky, but I don't think God cares if you own a golden calf or not. The important thing is that you don't worship the golden calf. When you place the golden calf in a position equal to God, then God gets mad and we have problems.
Likewise money isn't inherently bad. While I like the idea of bartering for all of my purchases, I don't have much to give. My garden has zucchini (which I have to pay people to take) and green tomatoes. I could trade my knowledge for your food... in fact, since most of my knowledge is about weight control and obesity prevention, that might work out really well for you. The point is that bartering won't always work so money is essential.
So here is the big question, do we worship our money or use it for its intended purpose. How about if we talk about faith. In the Bible (Hebrews 11:1) it says that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". So while our money isn't really substantive, we certainly hope that it has value and while we've never seen the gold it is based on, we have before purchased with the paper stuff and received goods in return. It seems like we have faith in money. How much to we rely on God for those things that we hope for? How often to we recognize God's work as evidence of things that we can't see? Sorry, that got a little preachy and that wasn't what I was going for.
We seem to have faith in money, but that may not be the end of the world. Jesus said, "Come follow me". How much time and energy to we spend following Jesus and how much time and energy do we spend following money? While it's important to note that those two things are not mutually exclusive, we need to be attentive to what we are following.
In my hour of thinking about money and how god-like it can be, I was amazed at the examples I could come up with where people follow money and it really becomes like a god. While the point of this post wasn't to bring a non-believer to believe in God, I think that it is crucial that money does not become the god that we all worship, although I think we may already be pretty close to being there.
P.S.
So who are the controllers of money (you forgot to remind me)? I would say there are two ways of looking at it. Number one, you can say that big business and government control money. They decide who makes the money and they decide which businesses get the benefits. There's a lot of corruption in these areas and it's scary to think of them as the controller of our god. Number two, you could say that we, the consumer are the controllers of the money. Big business will listen to what consumers want, otherwise they will not longer be in business. Do you want an opportunity to have real power in this world? Do you want to be the source of big and great changes in the world around you? Then put your money toward what you really believe and don't give any to those you would consider the problem.
I'm done ranting for the day. At least online.
Money is treated a lot like a god. I'm going to take a step out of my religious understandings and present this from the perspective of the people. I don't know who 'the people' are, but I'm going with what I think most people believe.
Those who believe in God generally believe that he is all powerful. He (God is generally referred to as a He, although some seem to be feminizing God... I think) is immense and incomprehensible. He can cause any change to come about that He wants and He is all controlling. While no one, or at most very few (I think there is some debate there), have seen God, they know that he exists because of His power and works.
Now let's compare that with money. Is money all powerful? The phrase about the 'all mighty dollar' certainly suggests that it is. Is money immense and incomprehensible? I think that pretty much sums up the economy. When I get ready to leave for school in the mornings, I listen to NPR and I almost always get the economic reports. I am fascinated by how many professional economists there are and how they can all have differing views. That is quite similar to all of the various preachers across the country that all believe in a God, but see Him quite differently. Does money cause change to come about? How many of you were 'rewarded' financially for good grades? or for performing better at work? So money seems to make change come about as dictated by the controller of the money (remind me that I need to talk about the controller of the money at some point). So how many people have actually seen money? Sure, we've got that stuff in our wallets that we can exchange for goods, but paper has little value at all. The stuff in your wallet represents gold that is on reserve at Fort Knox (I believe). Have you seen the gold represented by the paper in your wallet? I haven't. We can even take this a step further with online banking. My paycheck is automatically deposited into my account and then I use a credit card to pay for things and send a check in every month to pay off my credit card bill. I never see money, and if it weren't for the check that I wrote I could never really have any tangible proof of money existing (that's really sort of scary on some levels).
Let's talk about a golden calf. Wasn't there a group in the Bible that got in trouble for worshiping a golden calf? (I'll give you a hint, the answer is yes). The problem with the golden calf thing was that God told the people not to put any god before Him. I think that's a reasonable request since He is all powerful and the creator of everything we have, including ourselves.
Now I want to make a distinction that is very important. Golden calves aren't bad, it is the worship of the golden calf that caused the problem. Having a golden calf in your yard may get the fashion police after you because it is sort of tacky, but I don't think God cares if you own a golden calf or not. The important thing is that you don't worship the golden calf. When you place the golden calf in a position equal to God, then God gets mad and we have problems.
Likewise money isn't inherently bad. While I like the idea of bartering for all of my purchases, I don't have much to give. My garden has zucchini (which I have to pay people to take) and green tomatoes. I could trade my knowledge for your food... in fact, since most of my knowledge is about weight control and obesity prevention, that might work out really well for you. The point is that bartering won't always work so money is essential.
So here is the big question, do we worship our money or use it for its intended purpose. How about if we talk about faith. In the Bible (Hebrews 11:1) it says that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". So while our money isn't really substantive, we certainly hope that it has value and while we've never seen the gold it is based on, we have before purchased with the paper stuff and received goods in return. It seems like we have faith in money. How much to we rely on God for those things that we hope for? How often to we recognize God's work as evidence of things that we can't see? Sorry, that got a little preachy and that wasn't what I was going for.
We seem to have faith in money, but that may not be the end of the world. Jesus said, "Come follow me". How much time and energy to we spend following Jesus and how much time and energy do we spend following money? While it's important to note that those two things are not mutually exclusive, we need to be attentive to what we are following.
In my hour of thinking about money and how god-like it can be, I was amazed at the examples I could come up with where people follow money and it really becomes like a god. While the point of this post wasn't to bring a non-believer to believe in God, I think that it is crucial that money does not become the god that we all worship, although I think we may already be pretty close to being there.
P.S.
So who are the controllers of money (you forgot to remind me)? I would say there are two ways of looking at it. Number one, you can say that big business and government control money. They decide who makes the money and they decide which businesses get the benefits. There's a lot of corruption in these areas and it's scary to think of them as the controller of our god. Number two, you could say that we, the consumer are the controllers of the money. Big business will listen to what consumers want, otherwise they will not longer be in business. Do you want an opportunity to have real power in this world? Do you want to be the source of big and great changes in the world around you? Then put your money toward what you really believe and don't give any to those you would consider the problem.
I'm done ranting for the day. At least online.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Apathy
I heard the advertisement for a radio program (Radio West) on NPR about how upcoming generations are generally apathetic and that is causing many problems. I wanted to listen to it, but I missed it. So I figured I would blog about it, even though I don't know what it was about.
My last post on 'standards' generated some comments. I want to address those. One comment (which I will approach gingerly because it was from my mother-in-law) was about the difference between a 'standard' and a commandment in the religious sense. I suppose that I see some difference. For example, the ten commandments come to mind. Thou shalt not kill. That is one of my standards that would take a very high price for me to sell (like a severe threat to my family).
That is a straight forward religious standard, but I feel that most of my standards have a religious twist. For example, my standard to not drive comes from the fact that I believe that God gave us this earth and expects us to protect it and use it in a sustainable manner. There are certainly scriptures to support that and that is the source of my standard. I also believe that God gave us creativity and intelligence that lead to the invention of the automobile. For that reason I have a relatively low selling point for driving. I mentioned last time that I was more than happy to have my parents drive out to visit. That is a good use of a car and I'm fine with that. This week my wife hurt her back and we have been driving more than normal to get to doctor's visits and such. That is the purpose of a car. An able bodied person driving half a mile to pick up a gallon of milk...is that contributing to the stewardship that I feel that God gave me over this earth? I say no.
The point of this post is not to argue over what standards should be, but rather to point out that they need to be thought about and argued over. It is the lack of interest, the lack of questions, the apathy of the upcoming generations that is going to cause the greatest problems the world has ever faced. I have talked to many people about why they drove relatively short distances and one of the frequent responses was, "Oh, well I guess I never even thought about it". That's how you get places, you hop in the car and drive. My point is that we need to step back and think about it. Are our every day choices in line with our standards? I know that in my life the answer is often no, I do sell my standards at a certain price and I am sometimes OK with that, and sometimes I regret it. I don't care what the price is for your standards, we are all in different situations and while I am completely against the idea of moral relativism, people do find themselves in different situations and different situations are needed. The point is that we need to ask the questions.
One friend suggested that I was being too hard on myself. Sure, I'm critical of my decisions, but I don't see it as a bad thing (although it could be). I don't beat myself up over it, but I do think about it and try to make changes. I still love the quote by Hermann Hesse, "I want only to live in accord with the promptings of my true inner-self. Why is that so very difficult?" I center my life around living 'in accord with the promptings of my true inner-self'. First, I work to center my true inner-self with the desires of my God. Then I try to live in accord with what I have found. While I'm far from perfect, it is only through questioning that I could ever see where I need to be (will of God) or what I need to change to get there. I believe that it is the apathy of the upcoming generations that is leading to moral relativism that says that everything is OK. It is apathy that leads people to mindlessly spend money without ever knowing or caring the consequences of their actions. It is apathy that leads to the unquestioning destruction of the environment. I think that life is to be questioned. Why are we here and what are we doing? What are the consequences of our actions? Yes, we need to question all of our actions, even the small stuff. Without questioning we will never know if we are going in the desired direction. Without questioning we may not even know the desired direction.
My last post on 'standards' generated some comments. I want to address those. One comment (which I will approach gingerly because it was from my mother-in-law) was about the difference between a 'standard' and a commandment in the religious sense. I suppose that I see some difference. For example, the ten commandments come to mind. Thou shalt not kill. That is one of my standards that would take a very high price for me to sell (like a severe threat to my family).
That is a straight forward religious standard, but I feel that most of my standards have a religious twist. For example, my standard to not drive comes from the fact that I believe that God gave us this earth and expects us to protect it and use it in a sustainable manner. There are certainly scriptures to support that and that is the source of my standard. I also believe that God gave us creativity and intelligence that lead to the invention of the automobile. For that reason I have a relatively low selling point for driving. I mentioned last time that I was more than happy to have my parents drive out to visit. That is a good use of a car and I'm fine with that. This week my wife hurt her back and we have been driving more than normal to get to doctor's visits and such. That is the purpose of a car. An able bodied person driving half a mile to pick up a gallon of milk...is that contributing to the stewardship that I feel that God gave me over this earth? I say no.
The point of this post is not to argue over what standards should be, but rather to point out that they need to be thought about and argued over. It is the lack of interest, the lack of questions, the apathy of the upcoming generations that is going to cause the greatest problems the world has ever faced. I have talked to many people about why they drove relatively short distances and one of the frequent responses was, "Oh, well I guess I never even thought about it". That's how you get places, you hop in the car and drive. My point is that we need to step back and think about it. Are our every day choices in line with our standards? I know that in my life the answer is often no, I do sell my standards at a certain price and I am sometimes OK with that, and sometimes I regret it. I don't care what the price is for your standards, we are all in different situations and while I am completely against the idea of moral relativism, people do find themselves in different situations and different situations are needed. The point is that we need to ask the questions.
One friend suggested that I was being too hard on myself. Sure, I'm critical of my decisions, but I don't see it as a bad thing (although it could be). I don't beat myself up over it, but I do think about it and try to make changes. I still love the quote by Hermann Hesse, "I want only to live in accord with the promptings of my true inner-self. Why is that so very difficult?" I center my life around living 'in accord with the promptings of my true inner-self'. First, I work to center my true inner-self with the desires of my God. Then I try to live in accord with what I have found. While I'm far from perfect, it is only through questioning that I could ever see where I need to be (will of God) or what I need to change to get there. I believe that it is the apathy of the upcoming generations that is leading to moral relativism that says that everything is OK. It is apathy that leads people to mindlessly spend money without ever knowing or caring the consequences of their actions. It is apathy that leads to the unquestioning destruction of the environment. I think that life is to be questioned. Why are we here and what are we doing? What are the consequences of our actions? Yes, we need to question all of our actions, even the small stuff. Without questioning we will never know if we are going in the desired direction. Without questioning we may not even know the desired direction.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
My favorite Holiday
I think I may have blogged about this last year, but I'm going to do it again because I enjoy the subject. I'm not especially a fan of Christmas. Santa, trees, gifts, lights, and way too much junk food; it just doesn't do anything for me. Oh, and the holiday was supposed to be about Jesus and doing good for one another.
Actually I'll be honest, this is the first year since I was a young child that I've really been looking forward to Christmas. The reason that I'm excited for Christmas this year is the traditions that we've started as a family. Today we spent time making ornaments to take to the local nursing home Christmas morning so that we can spend some time with those who often struggle through the holiday season. We also left our Thanksgiving tree up longer this year so that we can keep in mind those things that we are thankful for, and make leaves for them and tape them to the tree. When we take down that tree, I'll make a list of things that made it on the tree.
So the real reason that I'm excited about Christmas this year is that I don't care if there are any presents under the tree. In years past I have either worried about what I might get or that I might have gotten something else something that they don't like or whatever. This year I purchased very few gifts. Two to be precise. I bought the Mugwump wood and hardware so that we can build a bird house together and I bought my wife a couple of things that she wanted (I won't write it here because she can read). We didn't buy Sixpence anything because he's got plenty and he won't notice the difference. We didn't get our parents or grandparents anything because it would put us in a difficult situation financially and the only ideas that we had for gifts were just clutter. We would have purchased stuff that they didn't really need, they might have used, but most likely would have ended up as trash in the near future. We are trying hard to stand up against that, so we didn't buy anything for a lot of people. That is hard, because when I was growing up gifts were a way of showing love. We most certainly love our family, but we are trying to disconnect the idea of gifts and love. If suddenly tomorrow there were not a single gift under the tree, it would in no way influence my family's ability to celebrate Christmas. We're glad they are there and we appreciate others' generosity, but we would still have the spirit of Christmas without them.
Oh, I was going to write about my favorite holiday. OK, I don't know that it is really a holiday, but I really like the Winter Solstice. I think there is a reason that Christmas is on December 25, just after the Winter Solstice every year. I think that the real reason for Christmas is a celebration of light. Now in the Northern hemisphere the days are pretty short, but night is getting long! Jesus was the light of the world, he brought to this world light and hope for things to come, even for those of us in the darkest of despair. The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year and a changing of trends. Starting now, every day will be a little longer, allowing plants a new opportunity for life that will feed animals and allow them to prepare to produce new life. Whether a religious holiday or simply from a perspective of the seasonal changes, this is a wonderful time for hope and renewal.
As the earth brings forth new opportunities I look forward to opportunities to make changes in my life. This year I'm going to make some changes in the garden to try and grow several new foods. I hope to use planter boxes to extend my growing season. I hope to plant some of the cold tolerant plants from early spring all the way to late fall to see how long we can have fresh vegetables available to us. I want to take advantage of the light given to me. Of course there are also opportunities for personal and spiritual growth that I will be making so that I can better know Jesus and help His children have joy and light in their life.
Merry Christmas to all (Boy, that's cliche')
Actually I'll be honest, this is the first year since I was a young child that I've really been looking forward to Christmas. The reason that I'm excited for Christmas this year is the traditions that we've started as a family. Today we spent time making ornaments to take to the local nursing home Christmas morning so that we can spend some time with those who often struggle through the holiday season. We also left our Thanksgiving tree up longer this year so that we can keep in mind those things that we are thankful for, and make leaves for them and tape them to the tree. When we take down that tree, I'll make a list of things that made it on the tree.
So the real reason that I'm excited about Christmas this year is that I don't care if there are any presents under the tree. In years past I have either worried about what I might get or that I might have gotten something else something that they don't like or whatever. This year I purchased very few gifts. Two to be precise. I bought the Mugwump wood and hardware so that we can build a bird house together and I bought my wife a couple of things that she wanted (I won't write it here because she can read). We didn't buy Sixpence anything because he's got plenty and he won't notice the difference. We didn't get our parents or grandparents anything because it would put us in a difficult situation financially and the only ideas that we had for gifts were just clutter. We would have purchased stuff that they didn't really need, they might have used, but most likely would have ended up as trash in the near future. We are trying hard to stand up against that, so we didn't buy anything for a lot of people. That is hard, because when I was growing up gifts were a way of showing love. We most certainly love our family, but we are trying to disconnect the idea of gifts and love. If suddenly tomorrow there were not a single gift under the tree, it would in no way influence my family's ability to celebrate Christmas. We're glad they are there and we appreciate others' generosity, but we would still have the spirit of Christmas without them.
Oh, I was going to write about my favorite holiday. OK, I don't know that it is really a holiday, but I really like the Winter Solstice. I think there is a reason that Christmas is on December 25, just after the Winter Solstice every year. I think that the real reason for Christmas is a celebration of light. Now in the Northern hemisphere the days are pretty short, but night is getting long! Jesus was the light of the world, he brought to this world light and hope for things to come, even for those of us in the darkest of despair. The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year and a changing of trends. Starting now, every day will be a little longer, allowing plants a new opportunity for life that will feed animals and allow them to prepare to produce new life. Whether a religious holiday or simply from a perspective of the seasonal changes, this is a wonderful time for hope and renewal.
As the earth brings forth new opportunities I look forward to opportunities to make changes in my life. This year I'm going to make some changes in the garden to try and grow several new foods. I hope to use planter boxes to extend my growing season. I hope to plant some of the cold tolerant plants from early spring all the way to late fall to see how long we can have fresh vegetables available to us. I want to take advantage of the light given to me. Of course there are also opportunities for personal and spiritual growth that I will be making so that I can better know Jesus and help His children have joy and light in their life.
Merry Christmas to all (Boy, that's cliche')
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Babies
It has been awhile, so I thought I would write. Really I like writing, but it has been a tough semester. Classes are almost over and this is going to be an entry before finals and then hopefully I'll post a little more frequently.
So Emily left a comment the other day asking about my thoughts on kids. I am of a religious persuasion that believes that we, like Adam, were commanded to "multiply and replenish the earth". When you go to environmental websites and the topic of children comes up it is often considered irresponsible to have kids because of global overpopulation and the resources that it takes to support a growing world population.
Here's how I see it. If you read the scripture where Adam is commanded to "multiply and replenish the earth", that is not all that the scripture says. Read it, it's Genesis 1:28, in the very same verse it talks about subduing and ruling over the earth. I recognize that some Christians believe that subduing and ruling over the earth means that the earth is God's gift for us to use. I have a hard time believing that God would like to see us hurting His creation. I believe that when God told Adam to subdue and rule over the earth, He was giving Adam a sort of stewardship, not to destroy the earth, but to regulate it so that resources could be shared and all generations would have access to the goods brought forth by God's creation.
I think that those two commandments go hand in hand. If we do not regulate the goods God has given us, we may not have what we need to raise our children, and He did also command to have children. As we prepare for our third child (expected in late January or early February), this does weigh on my mind. That is a big part of the reason I try to live lightly on the land, I want to leave the earth in good shape for my kids and I believe that God gave me stewardship over the land (along with everyone else who lives here), and expects me to take care of it until He returns. That is a major reason that I do not eat meat. I do not have anything morally or religiously against eating meat, but beef production is a major source of greenhouse gases, and more importantly, if land were used for growing grains and vegetables it would produce far more food to feed the world's people than using the grains to feed the cows that the people eat. Likewise I don't drive often because I know that it contributes to destroying the earth and I want to minimize that. I still have work to do on turning off lights, recycling grey water, buying local organic goods, etc, but I am taking actions to start doing my part.
In addition, I am trying to raise children who will tread lightly on the land. They too will have to preserve in order to enable their kids to have what they need. I am quite proud that my children do not know what McDonald's is. They have not asked for anything for Christmas because they haven't seen the ads. They know that paper goes in the recycle bin under the sink, food waste goes in the compost and non-recyclable stuff goes into the trash. They know they don't need to flush after urinating, but to flush after #2. They are simple things, but they help preserve the earth.
I recognize that with what the world as a whole is consuming, it may be taxing on the earth to have more kids, but I also feel that if managed correctly the earth can sustain us. We all must do our part to preserve the earth that God gave us.
Wow, I don't usually do the religion thing on this website... but I think this is important. So there is the answer to your question Emily.
So Emily left a comment the other day asking about my thoughts on kids. I am of a religious persuasion that believes that we, like Adam, were commanded to "multiply and replenish the earth". When you go to environmental websites and the topic of children comes up it is often considered irresponsible to have kids because of global overpopulation and the resources that it takes to support a growing world population.
Here's how I see it. If you read the scripture where Adam is commanded to "multiply and replenish the earth", that is not all that the scripture says. Read it, it's Genesis 1:28, in the very same verse it talks about subduing and ruling over the earth. I recognize that some Christians believe that subduing and ruling over the earth means that the earth is God's gift for us to use. I have a hard time believing that God would like to see us hurting His creation. I believe that when God told Adam to subdue and rule over the earth, He was giving Adam a sort of stewardship, not to destroy the earth, but to regulate it so that resources could be shared and all generations would have access to the goods brought forth by God's creation.
I think that those two commandments go hand in hand. If we do not regulate the goods God has given us, we may not have what we need to raise our children, and He did also command to have children. As we prepare for our third child (expected in late January or early February), this does weigh on my mind. That is a big part of the reason I try to live lightly on the land, I want to leave the earth in good shape for my kids and I believe that God gave me stewardship over the land (along with everyone else who lives here), and expects me to take care of it until He returns. That is a major reason that I do not eat meat. I do not have anything morally or religiously against eating meat, but beef production is a major source of greenhouse gases, and more importantly, if land were used for growing grains and vegetables it would produce far more food to feed the world's people than using the grains to feed the cows that the people eat. Likewise I don't drive often because I know that it contributes to destroying the earth and I want to minimize that. I still have work to do on turning off lights, recycling grey water, buying local organic goods, etc, but I am taking actions to start doing my part.
In addition, I am trying to raise children who will tread lightly on the land. They too will have to preserve in order to enable their kids to have what they need. I am quite proud that my children do not know what McDonald's is. They have not asked for anything for Christmas because they haven't seen the ads. They know that paper goes in the recycle bin under the sink, food waste goes in the compost and non-recyclable stuff goes into the trash. They know they don't need to flush after urinating, but to flush after #2. They are simple things, but they help preserve the earth.
I recognize that with what the world as a whole is consuming, it may be taxing on the earth to have more kids, but I also feel that if managed correctly the earth can sustain us. We all must do our part to preserve the earth that God gave us.
Wow, I don't usually do the religion thing on this website... but I think this is important. So there is the answer to your question Emily.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Dinner
Last night at dinner was quite insightful. To start we asked my older son to say the prayer. At four years old he often has phrases that become a regular part of his prayer. We're not all about memorized or repeated prayers, but I'm especially fond of this phrase that he has adopted into most of his prayers these days. He says, " We're thankful that we have everything that we want". It's so profound, we really do have everything that we want. Not only are our needs met, but we've got what we want. I'm extremely grateful that my four year old recognizes that we have everything that we want... I hope that I can better recognize that myself.
During dinner I told my wife that I wanted to cut my hair. First of all, my sideburns were reaching a length where they could be combed back over my ears and secondly the hair on my neck was beginning to overtake my collar and blend in with the hair on my back. And then there's the real reason I wanted a hair cut. Because my hair is getting greyer and that is less obvious when it's shorter. I reluctantly told my wife that I wanted hair cut to hide the grey, fully expecting her to reassure me that my hair really wasn't that grey. Instead she said that it looked, "distinguished" and suggested that I wait to cut it. Ouch. There's nothing like kicking a guy while he's down. OK, I really don't care that my hair is getting grey, but it sure is a constant reminder that I'm not getting younger. Well, it was a constant reminder until I cut it really short last night so I didn't have to see the grey anymore.
Last night for dinner we had burritos. Since I entitled this blog dinner, I figured I should mention that.
During dinner I told my wife that I wanted to cut my hair. First of all, my sideburns were reaching a length where they could be combed back over my ears and secondly the hair on my neck was beginning to overtake my collar and blend in with the hair on my back. And then there's the real reason I wanted a hair cut. Because my hair is getting greyer and that is less obvious when it's shorter. I reluctantly told my wife that I wanted hair cut to hide the grey, fully expecting her to reassure me that my hair really wasn't that grey. Instead she said that it looked, "distinguished" and suggested that I wait to cut it. Ouch. There's nothing like kicking a guy while he's down. OK, I really don't care that my hair is getting grey, but it sure is a constant reminder that I'm not getting younger. Well, it was a constant reminder until I cut it really short last night so I didn't have to see the grey anymore.
Last night for dinner we had burritos. Since I entitled this blog dinner, I figured I should mention that.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
God recycles
This isn't supposed to be irreverent, so please don't take it as so, but the human body is one of God's greatest creations and yesterday in a class we learned the price the body pays to recycle. This entry may take a little biochemistry background to understand, but I'll do my best to make it so all can play along. If you get lost in the biochemistry, the last paragraph is where I finally get around to making my point.
We need energy all the time and glucose is generally known to provide a considerable amount of that energy (we're not talking about fat today, but I know that it plays a huge role as well). To give us energy (ATP), sugar (glucose) goes through glycolysis which changes it from the 6 carbon glucose to a 3 carbon pyruvate molecule. We get a couple ATPs for every glucose molecule that goes through glycolysis. The body can either change pyruvate to Acytl CoA to enter the Krebs cycle where it will yield LOTS of ATP, or it can be converted to Lactic acid (you know, the stuff that makes your muscles burn during high intensity exercises). Previously it was thought the only time that pyruvate went to lactic acid was during high intensity exercise, but they are now finding that at rest, a considerable amount of pyruvate changes to lactic acid (in my field we call that exciting research, do you feel yourself getting excited?)
Lactic acid breaks down almost immediately to lactate and a hydrogen ion. We're going to forget about the hydrogen ion for the rest of this post. What does lactate do? It has always been considered a bad thing, why is it being produced by muscles at all times? It turns out that lactate can enter cells and ultimately the mitochondria where it is transferred to pyruvate, Acytl CoA and goes through the Krebs cycle. So we now have this lactate stuff that can go anywhere in the body and be used as fuel. At rest, 20-30% of all energy comes from lactate, and it is preferred over glucose as a fuel source. (This is another point where you are supposed to be excited).
During times of rest when lactate is especially high (like right after exercise), lactate is the preferred substrate for replenishing glycogen stores. This is the part where I have proof that God recycles. Instead of using glucose that is floating around in the blood which would take no alterations to be put into a glycogen molecule, the body chooses lactate to make glycogen. That will cost the body 6-10 ATP! (remember we only got a few ATP from converting glucose to lactate). So the body uses the stuff just sitting around to make new glycogen and prepare for the next exercise bout. Not only does our body recycle the lactate, but it goes through a great expense to undertake the recycling process. Why were we designed like that? I don't know, but it certainly seems to me that the One who created us didn't want to be wasteful. What are we doing to the earth that He created for us?
We need energy all the time and glucose is generally known to provide a considerable amount of that energy (we're not talking about fat today, but I know that it plays a huge role as well). To give us energy (ATP), sugar (glucose) goes through glycolysis which changes it from the 6 carbon glucose to a 3 carbon pyruvate molecule. We get a couple ATPs for every glucose molecule that goes through glycolysis. The body can either change pyruvate to Acytl CoA to enter the Krebs cycle where it will yield LOTS of ATP, or it can be converted to Lactic acid (you know, the stuff that makes your muscles burn during high intensity exercises). Previously it was thought the only time that pyruvate went to lactic acid was during high intensity exercise, but they are now finding that at rest, a considerable amount of pyruvate changes to lactic acid (in my field we call that exciting research, do you feel yourself getting excited?)
Lactic acid breaks down almost immediately to lactate and a hydrogen ion. We're going to forget about the hydrogen ion for the rest of this post. What does lactate do? It has always been considered a bad thing, why is it being produced by muscles at all times? It turns out that lactate can enter cells and ultimately the mitochondria where it is transferred to pyruvate, Acytl CoA and goes through the Krebs cycle. So we now have this lactate stuff that can go anywhere in the body and be used as fuel. At rest, 20-30% of all energy comes from lactate, and it is preferred over glucose as a fuel source. (This is another point where you are supposed to be excited).
During times of rest when lactate is especially high (like right after exercise), lactate is the preferred substrate for replenishing glycogen stores. This is the part where I have proof that God recycles. Instead of using glucose that is floating around in the blood which would take no alterations to be put into a glycogen molecule, the body chooses lactate to make glycogen. That will cost the body 6-10 ATP! (remember we only got a few ATP from converting glucose to lactate). So the body uses the stuff just sitting around to make new glycogen and prepare for the next exercise bout. Not only does our body recycle the lactate, but it goes through a great expense to undertake the recycling process. Why were we designed like that? I don't know, but it certainly seems to me that the One who created us didn't want to be wasteful. What are we doing to the earth that He created for us?
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Bigger Faster Stronger
We harvested our squash last week. Keep in mind that we didn't plant squash in our garden, we composted it last year and it decided that it wanted to be part of our garden. We didn't resist the unexpected plants, but next year we will take them out like weeds. Maybe that isn't how I should say it, since we didn't have very good luck with weeds this year either. We will take them out like chestnut trees, we were able to keep out chestnut forest under control.
So the point is, all of my seeds came from one banana squash, a couple pumpkins, a spaghetti squash and a couple of others that we picked up somewhere. The banana squash that we bought last year was huge. I'm sure it was grown with all of the modern pesticides and fertilizers and that is why it was huge. Sure, we got a couple of squash that were pretty big (genetics), but most were moderately sized. At first I was a little disappointed that my squash were smaller (and somehow inferior?) to those available at the farmer's market. I got to thinking about this and it is completely backwards. My squash are smaller because they were grown in competition with weeds that I couldn't keep up with and without fertilizers aiding their growth. My squash grew on compost and water. I know what is in my squash, and it's not artificial chemicals (except for those that the neighbors use and drift our way). I will take my smaller squash over the chemical mammoths at the farmer's market any day. 
This is a hard thing for people to deal with. Look at people's choices in houses, cars, fruit, etc. Bigger is considered better. I don't think this is true. Lets take kids for a moment. If you see a plump child (I'm talking preschool and up, not infant) people tend to comment that the child looks, "healthy". Not necessarily.
Even science does it... Average height has been increasing from year to year for quite some time now. Modern medicine is quite proud of itself because surely this is due to improved nutrition. No it's not. Sure, malnutrition is the cause of some extremely small statures, but the extremely tall statures that we are now seeing does not mean that our nutrition is extremely good. What we see is the result of excess insulin (and therefore growth hormone) in the blood as a result of eating lots of sweets, colas and otherwise simple, processed foods. With chronically elevated insulin and growth hormone levels, children are getting taller, going through puberty earlier and simply developing more quickly. While this isn't necessarily bad, I don't think that it's good. For example, taller women (those who have been exposed to higher blood insulin and growth hormone levels) have a much higher risk of getting breast cancer. There are many other examples of this. Taller is not better, just as bigger produce isn't better.
And what do we do for entertainment? We gather around a television and watch physiologic freaks (either through genetic, nutritional or chemical means) compete at professional sports. Bigger, faster and stronger are what we strive after, that is what the "cool" guys are. Except they often times aren't healthy.
My favorite example of this is still from the scriptures. The Jewish people of the old testament were awaiting a Messiah, a King that would save them from the oppression of the Greeks. They were awaiting a mighty military ruler who could overthrow the Greeks and allow their people to return to their promised land. They sort of assumed that this would be accomplished through force and military might. Instead, what they got was the carpenter's son; a man who was meek and humble, hardly a military ruler. Not only was he not a large man or a military leader, but he taught to be peaceful and humble.
Despite the Jew's expectations, they got a man more powerful than their expectations. Not a military leader, but a religious leader who brought with him the forgiveness of sins. A more powerful man, there will never be.
Bigger, stronger and faster is not always better. I'm proud of my smaller fruit because it is natural from the earth. It was produced how God prepared for it to be produced, through normal natural processes. In a lineup of banana squash it may not be very impressive, but its strength lies in its creation, not its outward appearance.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Homeostasis
Don't let the title fool you, this post may be interesting.
I study homeostasis alot as it pertains to the human body. Our bodies run at a certain pH, with certain amounts of stuff in the blood at all times. We can tell alot about a person by what is in their blood, or more accurately, what is in the blood in unusually high or low amounts. Your body goes through considerable efforts to maintain concentrations at certain levels, and if we find that you aren't within those normal ranges, somthing is wrong. Glucose (sugar), for example is well maintained by the body in a fairly tight range. Every time we eat, we add a bunch of glucose to the system and the body is able to take care of it within a couple of hours. However, if we abuse the system and keep giving the body more than it can handle, it has to take drastic measures to maintain blood glucose in "healthy" levels. If the cells have too much fuel, but we keep pumping more fuel into the system, the cells say that they've had enough by resisting the action of insulin. So now the sugar in the blood can't get into cells as easily creating higher blood sugar levels. This is called insulin resistance and is a precursor to type 2 diabetes. Diabetes (from now on when I talk about diabetes, I'm talking about type 2; type 1 is a different ballgame) is a disease caused by over-consumption. It takes considerable overconsumption for an extended period of time before the body is no longer able to maintain blood glucose homeostasis, and a person is diagnosed with diabetes. (Diabetes is reversable with diet and exercise, but it takes a lot of work).
Last night in my readings, I learned that the earth also has mechanisms to maintain homeostasis (this is not my area of expertise, but I'm going to try and tackle it). I read that the earth's exposure to the sun has increased by 30% since the world began... Well that explains gloabal warming. Except it doesn't. As sun exposure on the earth has been increasing, plants have been better able to undergo photosynthesis (the process of using carbon dioxide for energy with oxygen as a byproduct) thereby decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide acting as a greenhouse gas to keep the planet warm. How cool is that? As the temperature rises, plants thrive and decrease the greenhouse effect and as temperatures cool, plants are less able to use carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect to help maintain the homeostasis of the temperature on earth. That was working really well for a long time, until we decided to start pumping extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through industry and automobiles. Oh, and at the same time we decided to cut down forests because we need to make wood products like paper, houses, furniture, etc. Oh and some of the forests got in the way of farmland, so we cut them down too. We have increased CO2 through industry, but decreased the earth's ability to get rid of CO2 by cutting down forests.
Now I'm not going to jump into any research about global warming, because I'm not familiar with it. It looks to me that wether global warming has started or not, the earth is becoming "insulin resistant", except with CO2 instead of glucose. If we continue to abuse the earth, it will eventually be unable to maintain homeostasis and that won't be good.
In the Bible, a rich man asked Jesus what he needed to do to obtain eternal life, and Jesus responded that he needed to leave all that he had and follow Jesus (or something to that effect). Wow, evidently God wasn't kidding when he gave us that scripture. Are the consequences of not giving up comfort to follow Jesus certain death? Spiritually, maybe. Physically, it's sort of looking that way. As obesity and diabetes reach epidemic levels, it appears as if more and more people are killing themselves with excess. As a society we are producing more and more CO2 and decreasing the earth's ability to convert CO2 back to oxygen which, if continued indefinitely, will lead to the end of the world. I'm not trying to say the world will end anytime soon, I have great confidence in the human body's and the earth's ability to take abuse for a long time, as well as a conviction that Jesus will return and make things better. I just find it interesting that God created the earth such that if we are not charitable, if we continue to be greedy seek for "more", and if we continue to overconsume, it will lead to the death of individuals, and eventually the death of the earth.
I study homeostasis alot as it pertains to the human body. Our bodies run at a certain pH, with certain amounts of stuff in the blood at all times. We can tell alot about a person by what is in their blood, or more accurately, what is in the blood in unusually high or low amounts. Your body goes through considerable efforts to maintain concentrations at certain levels, and if we find that you aren't within those normal ranges, somthing is wrong. Glucose (sugar), for example is well maintained by the body in a fairly tight range. Every time we eat, we add a bunch of glucose to the system and the body is able to take care of it within a couple of hours. However, if we abuse the system and keep giving the body more than it can handle, it has to take drastic measures to maintain blood glucose in "healthy" levels. If the cells have too much fuel, but we keep pumping more fuel into the system, the cells say that they've had enough by resisting the action of insulin. So now the sugar in the blood can't get into cells as easily creating higher blood sugar levels. This is called insulin resistance and is a precursor to type 2 diabetes. Diabetes (from now on when I talk about diabetes, I'm talking about type 2; type 1 is a different ballgame) is a disease caused by over-consumption. It takes considerable overconsumption for an extended period of time before the body is no longer able to maintain blood glucose homeostasis, and a person is diagnosed with diabetes. (Diabetes is reversable with diet and exercise, but it takes a lot of work).
Last night in my readings, I learned that the earth also has mechanisms to maintain homeostasis (this is not my area of expertise, but I'm going to try and tackle it). I read that the earth's exposure to the sun has increased by 30% since the world began... Well that explains gloabal warming. Except it doesn't. As sun exposure on the earth has been increasing, plants have been better able to undergo photosynthesis (the process of using carbon dioxide for energy with oxygen as a byproduct) thereby decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide acting as a greenhouse gas to keep the planet warm. How cool is that? As the temperature rises, plants thrive and decrease the greenhouse effect and as temperatures cool, plants are less able to use carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect to help maintain the homeostasis of the temperature on earth. That was working really well for a long time, until we decided to start pumping extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through industry and automobiles. Oh, and at the same time we decided to cut down forests because we need to make wood products like paper, houses, furniture, etc. Oh and some of the forests got in the way of farmland, so we cut them down too. We have increased CO2 through industry, but decreased the earth's ability to get rid of CO2 by cutting down forests.
Now I'm not going to jump into any research about global warming, because I'm not familiar with it. It looks to me that wether global warming has started or not, the earth is becoming "insulin resistant", except with CO2 instead of glucose. If we continue to abuse the earth, it will eventually be unable to maintain homeostasis and that won't be good.
In the Bible, a rich man asked Jesus what he needed to do to obtain eternal life, and Jesus responded that he needed to leave all that he had and follow Jesus (or something to that effect). Wow, evidently God wasn't kidding when he gave us that scripture. Are the consequences of not giving up comfort to follow Jesus certain death? Spiritually, maybe. Physically, it's sort of looking that way. As obesity and diabetes reach epidemic levels, it appears as if more and more people are killing themselves with excess. As a society we are producing more and more CO2 and decreasing the earth's ability to convert CO2 back to oxygen which, if continued indefinitely, will lead to the end of the world. I'm not trying to say the world will end anytime soon, I have great confidence in the human body's and the earth's ability to take abuse for a long time, as well as a conviction that Jesus will return and make things better. I just find it interesting that God created the earth such that if we are not charitable, if we continue to be greedy seek for "more", and if we continue to overconsume, it will lead to the death of individuals, and eventually the death of the earth.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Voting in life
I recognize that my last post was a little long, but I have more to say. Not only do we vote with everything that we buy, we vote in every action that we make. From a religious perspective, we are accountable for our actions. That doesn't mean that we "earn" our way to heaven, but if we know that something is wrong and we do it anyway it is a sin. The scriptures councel us not to sin.
So every time you go to Walmart and buy a cheap toy built by child labor in China, you are voting for child labor, inequality between social classes and filling landfills (those toys never last). You are accountable for the decisions that you make and although I don't think you are condemned to eternity in hell for shopping at Walmart, you are accountable and that will need to be taken care of... and I have no idea how that will transpire.
Every time that you drive your car to the end of the driveway (or to a nearby store) you are being lazy and polluting the earth that God gave us. Certainly we will be accountable for those decisions.
Every time you unnecissarily raise your voice at your children, or anyone else for that matter, you will be accountable. We are responsible for the decisions we make and we can make a difference by "voting" according to the laws set forth in the scriptures.
I also want to point out that choices aren't always that easy. I try to look like a big shot that makes all the right decisions, but sometimes we must choose between the best of several evils. I don't buy organic or locally as often as I would like. I'm a college student and really can't afford to. I'm ashamed of that (I'm ashamed of not buying organic, I'm not ashamed of being a student or being poor) and hope to change that in the future (by starting to buy locally). Anyway, situations often make choices more difficult. That is no excuse to not make good decisions, but sometimes bad decisions are the only decisions that we can afford or that our situation allows. They are still bad decisions and should be recognized as such. We're not perfect and that is why we have a Savior.
So every time you go to Walmart and buy a cheap toy built by child labor in China, you are voting for child labor, inequality between social classes and filling landfills (those toys never last). You are accountable for the decisions that you make and although I don't think you are condemned to eternity in hell for shopping at Walmart, you are accountable and that will need to be taken care of... and I have no idea how that will transpire.
Every time that you drive your car to the end of the driveway (or to a nearby store) you are being lazy and polluting the earth that God gave us. Certainly we will be accountable for those decisions.
Every time you unnecissarily raise your voice at your children, or anyone else for that matter, you will be accountable. We are responsible for the decisions we make and we can make a difference by "voting" according to the laws set forth in the scriptures.
I also want to point out that choices aren't always that easy. I try to look like a big shot that makes all the right decisions, but sometimes we must choose between the best of several evils. I don't buy organic or locally as often as I would like. I'm a college student and really can't afford to. I'm ashamed of that (I'm ashamed of not buying organic, I'm not ashamed of being a student or being poor) and hope to change that in the future (by starting to buy locally). Anyway, situations often make choices more difficult. That is no excuse to not make good decisions, but sometimes bad decisions are the only decisions that we can afford or that our situation allows. They are still bad decisions and should be recognized as such. We're not perfect and that is why we have a Savior.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)