"Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
Therefore, thus says the LORD,
'If you return, then I will restore you--
Before Me you will stand;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become My spokesman.
They for their part may turn to you,
But as for you, you must not turn to them.
Then I will make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For I am with you to save you
And deliver you,' declares the LORD."(Jeremiah 15: 18-19)
My Lord came to me in a flutter of realization: the beautiful, powerful truth about Jeremiah and his heart-to-heart with God. Is that what I had been missing in my prayer life, oozing to my everyday life, all these years? My melancholy, my cynicism, my oft-repeated sorrows...was this the life I had built because I had refused to notice the heart of God saying, "extract the precious from the worthless, then you will become my spokesman?" Suddenly it all became clear: I, the complainer, had got it all wrong. God does listen, He does want to hear my heart, my troubles. But He is blessed--sing-out-loud, dance-for-joy blessed--when I choose to cling to the good words, even to speak the good words in His Book back to Him, for lack of nothing else sometimes. He doesn't require it, but He whispers it: "extract the precious from the worthless." So many words are worthless. So many, many of mine, worthless. And for me to speak them was self-administered poison; they hung in the air and clung to the pages, dripping self-pity, spinning a habit. Now extract the precious, "speak good words rather than worthless ones," and you will be His spokesman. To make leaders for the Kingdom of our children, we must teach them to speak the good words, declaring God's eternal virtues rather than their individual sorrows. The high road of words applies even to prayers. God is good. God loves to hear goodness!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
breastfeeding "rights" activism
Recently, in one of my Facebook forums, there was a discussion about the "censorship" of breastfeeding pictures. Apparently there is a group on Facebook called "The Leaky B@@b," for "breastfeeding support."There was some discussion as to whether they should be allowed to continue posting pictures that in other circumstances would be censored due to inappropriate content. Here is my take:
To me, "the leaky boob" seems like a name that exists merely for shock value and... not very complementary to mothers or the lovely, intimate, nurturing miracle that is breastfeeding. as for breastfeeding photos in general, i don't see a reason that they should be on FB. Wouldn't it be nice if mothers stopped lobbying so hard to have the "right" to put up pictures of their breastfeeding babies and instead focused on changing the culture from the onside out--from the HOME? each of us have at least one, and many of us have more, little malleable minds in our home, and whether we have boys or girls, we can train them up into a better standard of modesty and respect than what the current culture has going. our children WILL be the next generation's leaders, ESPECIALLY if we pray for them, and train them NOT TO SIMPLY FOLLOW what is society's current norm. by that, i mean not to lash out disrespectfully, but to have the courage to live by God's standard. yes, it is unfair that people can have nappy mini skirt and see-through-shirt pictures up and nobody complains, BUT i think more than react to what is going on in the culture, we should seek God's eternal principles on how to behave, and take it from there with a joyful attitude.
If people are ostracizing breastfeeding women in society, that is something to perhaps attack with a bit more vigor, i.e. if women are getting kicked out of restaurants when they were modestly breastfeeding, but i don't see it worth it to fight for pictures on the internet so that we can have the same rights as people whose lifestyle we don't desire anyway... having a picture up that would cause some lude person to drool over your parts is really not something to be desired. consider this quote from joseph sobran in 'national review:' "the real problem is that sexual freedom has meant, for millions of people, a cluster of debasing addictions. we are offering human beings the kind of freedom appropriate to dogs." The fact is that we live in a fallen world, and we cannot eliminate the perversity in people's minds by feeding ourselves to them.
Secondly, i don't think that most men even feel turned on by looking at breastfeeding women. in my observation, it seems to make most men uncomfortable. they feel fine when a scantily clad woman walks into the restaurant and may be "all over" her, but will stammer and not make eye contact around a woman who is nursing a baby under full cover. this shows the perversity of what human nature has made breasts into. they are now seen primarily as men's "fun bags;" and breastfeeding has become secondary, even weird, when just by looking at the apparatus it is obvious that God made them primarily to feed babies. If we can start the revolution at home, educating our offspring to have a healthy perspective on the original purpose for sex, breasts, etc., we will do a lot better than to spend time arguing and elbowing for a spot in the display case with the rest of the world.
That being said, if you are in a country where women have always breast fed in public with no covering, i say go for it. that society probably will not do to you what this society will, because it still retains more of the perspective of original purpose. also, i think it necessary to have some websites up that show breastfeeding pics/ videos simply for the sake of tutoring other mothers, but they could probably be animated or at least show as little as possible of the rest of the breast!
To me, "the leaky boob" seems like a name that exists merely for shock value and... not very complementary to mothers or the lovely, intimate, nurturing miracle that is breastfeeding. as for breastfeeding photos in general, i don't see a reason that they should be on FB. Wouldn't it be nice if mothers stopped lobbying so hard to have the "right" to put up pictures of their breastfeeding babies and instead focused on changing the culture from the onside out--from the HOME? each of us have at least one, and many of us have more, little malleable minds in our home, and whether we have boys or girls, we can train them up into a better standard of modesty and respect than what the current culture has going. our children WILL be the next generation's leaders, ESPECIALLY if we pray for them, and train them NOT TO SIMPLY FOLLOW what is society's current norm. by that, i mean not to lash out disrespectfully, but to have the courage to live by God's standard. yes, it is unfair that people can have nappy mini skirt and see-through-shirt pictures up and nobody complains, BUT i think more than react to what is going on in the culture, we should seek God's eternal principles on how to behave, and take it from there with a joyful attitude.
If people are ostracizing breastfeeding women in society, that is something to perhaps attack with a bit more vigor, i.e. if women are getting kicked out of restaurants when they were modestly breastfeeding, but i don't see it worth it to fight for pictures on the internet so that we can have the same rights as people whose lifestyle we don't desire anyway... having a picture up that would cause some lude person to drool over your parts is really not something to be desired. consider this quote from joseph sobran in 'national review:' "the real problem is that sexual freedom has meant, for millions of people, a cluster of debasing addictions. we are offering human beings the kind of freedom appropriate to dogs." The fact is that we live in a fallen world, and we cannot eliminate the perversity in people's minds by feeding ourselves to them.
Secondly, i don't think that most men even feel turned on by looking at breastfeeding women. in my observation, it seems to make most men uncomfortable. they feel fine when a scantily clad woman walks into the restaurant and may be "all over" her, but will stammer and not make eye contact around a woman who is nursing a baby under full cover. this shows the perversity of what human nature has made breasts into. they are now seen primarily as men's "fun bags;" and breastfeeding has become secondary, even weird, when just by looking at the apparatus it is obvious that God made them primarily to feed babies. If we can start the revolution at home, educating our offspring to have a healthy perspective on the original purpose for sex, breasts, etc., we will do a lot better than to spend time arguing and elbowing for a spot in the display case with the rest of the world.
That being said, if you are in a country where women have always breast fed in public with no covering, i say go for it. that society probably will not do to you what this society will, because it still retains more of the perspective of original purpose. also, i think it necessary to have some websites up that show breastfeeding pics/ videos simply for the sake of tutoring other mothers, but they could probably be animated or at least show as little as possible of the rest of the breast!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
the purpose for families
My friend had a cousin who got pregnant out of wedlock while she was still living at home with her parents. Instead of telling her parents, she decided to hide the pregnancy, which she managed to do, living under her parents' roof, eventually privately giving birth to a baby in her own room, and cutting the cord with craft scissors. Her dad was none the wiser until he heard a baby crying. Is something wrong with this picture? perhaps the reason this girl got so few HUGS at home was one of the factors that led her to seek physical fulfillment elsewhere in the first place. Families can be so discombobulated nowadays! I believe that the main reason is that people have simply lost the vision for what a family is supposed to be.
When God created the world, He decided to perpetuate the race through FAMILIES. He could have made children grow on trees and a special kind of animal that herded them around until they were able to take care of themselves. He could have made each person to "hatch" from a pod, as a complete, ready-made adult. But what he chose to do was to create units called families, where the young would be nurtured and taught by the older. Where the older would have that supreme opportunity for that kind of sacrifice which gives wisdom. Where there would be incentive to learn to get along with those of other ages and stages in life. Families were also the primary avenue that God would use to pass on His ways to subsequent peoples: "from generation to generation." (Not churches, Sunday schools, foreign missions, Christian concerts, Christian books, or youth groups.)
And He chose to create these families, as C.S. Lewis put it, through a "curious process, involving pleasure, pain, and danger. a process you would never have guessed." (Mere Christianity) There is something sacred in the way that sex works because it is God's way of allowing us to 1) mirror Christ's intimate relationship with the church, and 2) step into the miracle of creation. No other physical activity is so rich in its eternal potential. the modern world, having lost all sense of Christ, has of course, lost all sense of sex as a picture of God's intimacy with us. But even the majority of the Christian world has lost the idea of the second point, being allowed to and called to participate with God in creation. For some reason, whether you are Christian or not, sex has become "just for fun," and is separated most of the time from the idea of babies. God did not create it like this. He did not intend for the act to be done for its own sake, but rather to have a very deep purpose, a mystery, and to involve a giving up of self: giving up your body to one's spouse, and giving up control to God for the decision to open the womb or close it, to create another person or not. In my view, this is one of the primary reasons the purpose for families has been lost: because first the purpose for sex was lost.
Here are the elements about a family that make it distinct from other groups of people: one father, one mother, and one womb with a limited time for potentially bringing forth children. God's desire for families is that they should perpetuate a godly seed (Malachi 2:15), reflect who He is (Christ/church: husband/wife; God/Christians: parents/children), and be a powerful cell group that ministers to each created person in an individual way, and also blesses the rest of the world through its activities. God created the family structure the way He did because it was the best way for human relationships to bring Him glory. People may believe that this has changed, or that the role of family is now replaced by the church. But there is no such indication in the New Testament. In fact, one of the main functions of John the Baptist was to "turn the hearts of the Fathers back to the children." He did this in order to prepare people for receiving the Lord (Luke 1:17); I think that is very telling.
It seems to me that many evangelical circles are missing this major element of emphasis on family; there seem to be a lot of organizations and groups formed around purposes, sometimes effectively replacing that core group: the family. there is nothing wrong with forming evangelistic groups around noble Christian purposes, but it is absolutely essential that the family does not get shoved to the background. Even in the assemblies where they used to read the law to the people, God made a point of it that ALL the people should attend the assembly: men, women, infants, toddlers, guests, and foreigners who were living among them. (Deut. 29:10-12, 31:12, Josh. 8:35, etc.) I wonder how we got the idea that sending the children off to "age-appropriate"sunday school programs would be a better way? This segregation of age groups in spiritual matters follows the world's pattern of doing things (especially when parents "need a break") and assumes that parents are not fit to teach their children, nor children able or fit to stay in the large assembly. Both of these attitudes contribute to family separation and the further disjunction of the family in general. The idea that young children can't be trained to sit quietly is more and more prevalent because of the lack of opportunity or need to do so. In reality, the Bible has God giving the command to pass on His ways directly to parents several times; they are to speak of His ways to their children all day long (Deut. 6:7, 11:19) . Not send them off somewhere else to hopefully learn a bit of his ways from someone else whom the parents don't even know.
Let us honor God by accepting our important role as families! Let us lead our children in the Way uncompromisingly, talking of God with them all day long. God has amazing fruit for the family that is willing to function in the way He created! We must be willing to step out of the cultural "norms" and believe there is a better, more enduring way. May His wisdom and power be with you as you lead your family!
When God created the world, He decided to perpetuate the race through FAMILIES. He could have made children grow on trees and a special kind of animal that herded them around until they were able to take care of themselves. He could have made each person to "hatch" from a pod, as a complete, ready-made adult. But what he chose to do was to create units called families, where the young would be nurtured and taught by the older. Where the older would have that supreme opportunity for that kind of sacrifice which gives wisdom. Where there would be incentive to learn to get along with those of other ages and stages in life. Families were also the primary avenue that God would use to pass on His ways to subsequent peoples: "from generation to generation." (Not churches, Sunday schools, foreign missions, Christian concerts, Christian books, or youth groups.)
And He chose to create these families, as C.S. Lewis put it, through a "curious process, involving pleasure, pain, and danger. a process you would never have guessed." (Mere Christianity) There is something sacred in the way that sex works because it is God's way of allowing us to 1) mirror Christ's intimate relationship with the church, and 2) step into the miracle of creation. No other physical activity is so rich in its eternal potential. the modern world, having lost all sense of Christ, has of course, lost all sense of sex as a picture of God's intimacy with us. But even the majority of the Christian world has lost the idea of the second point, being allowed to and called to participate with God in creation. For some reason, whether you are Christian or not, sex has become "just for fun," and is separated most of the time from the idea of babies. God did not create it like this. He did not intend for the act to be done for its own sake, but rather to have a very deep purpose, a mystery, and to involve a giving up of self: giving up your body to one's spouse, and giving up control to God for the decision to open the womb or close it, to create another person or not. In my view, this is one of the primary reasons the purpose for families has been lost: because first the purpose for sex was lost.
Here are the elements about a family that make it distinct from other groups of people: one father, one mother, and one womb with a limited time for potentially bringing forth children. God's desire for families is that they should perpetuate a godly seed (Malachi 2:15), reflect who He is (Christ/church: husband/wife; God/Christians: parents/children), and be a powerful cell group that ministers to each created person in an individual way, and also blesses the rest of the world through its activities. God created the family structure the way He did because it was the best way for human relationships to bring Him glory. People may believe that this has changed, or that the role of family is now replaced by the church. But there is no such indication in the New Testament. In fact, one of the main functions of John the Baptist was to "turn the hearts of the Fathers back to the children." He did this in order to prepare people for receiving the Lord (Luke 1:17); I think that is very telling.
It seems to me that many evangelical circles are missing this major element of emphasis on family; there seem to be a lot of organizations and groups formed around purposes, sometimes effectively replacing that core group: the family. there is nothing wrong with forming evangelistic groups around noble Christian purposes, but it is absolutely essential that the family does not get shoved to the background. Even in the assemblies where they used to read the law to the people, God made a point of it that ALL the people should attend the assembly: men, women, infants, toddlers, guests, and foreigners who were living among them. (Deut. 29:10-12, 31:12, Josh. 8:35, etc.) I wonder how we got the idea that sending the children off to "age-appropriate"sunday school programs would be a better way? This segregation of age groups in spiritual matters follows the world's pattern of doing things (especially when parents "need a break") and assumes that parents are not fit to teach their children, nor children able or fit to stay in the large assembly. Both of these attitudes contribute to family separation and the further disjunction of the family in general. The idea that young children can't be trained to sit quietly is more and more prevalent because of the lack of opportunity or need to do so. In reality, the Bible has God giving the command to pass on His ways directly to parents several times; they are to speak of His ways to their children all day long (Deut. 6:7, 11:19) . Not send them off somewhere else to hopefully learn a bit of his ways from someone else whom the parents don't even know.
Let us honor God by accepting our important role as families! Let us lead our children in the Way uncompromisingly, talking of God with them all day long. God has amazing fruit for the family that is willing to function in the way He created! We must be willing to step out of the cultural "norms" and believe there is a better, more enduring way. May His wisdom and power be with you as you lead your family!
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