Gadfly's Muse

Meditation At Walden Ditch.... "life cost"

(Walden Ditch, 2008 JAVanDevender)


The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life
which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.

Henry David Thoreau

If asked for my preferences among the great and near great philosophers who have walked this planet, Thoreau would not rank all that high on my list.  But he does say some stimulating things.  This quote is one of them.  What is the "life cost" that we are exchanging daily for things which we don't give so much as a second-thought about?

What is the "life cost" of: cell phones, personal internet access, instant global news, air conditioning, supermarkets, automobiles, airline transportation, video games, etc. etc. etc.

Please note that I am not, under any circumstances saying that this things should be abandoned.  There is not a Luddite gene in my entire chromosomal make up.  I am posting stuff on the internet even as I am munching on the "life cost" of that very activity.  Yet our Lord said that in man's endeavors he should "count the cost" (Luke 14:28) and what is so true of our choices for eternity also bids well for consideration as we tread this pesky soil.

I wonder how much it would change our daily life if we undertook to be frugal and efficient, in terms of "life cost",  with the various choices we make daily.  If we really did a "cost-benefit" analysis of just those things like I am doing now, to see what returns we are reaping contrasted with the investment we make.

Mike Metzger has a post on his site (named in the typically post-modern fashion "Doggie Head Tilt") titled "Loving Your First Enemy".  He quotes Thoreau also and is the one who got me thinking about this.  He meditates on the way we have conquered our "first enemy" distance, how the effective shortening of space between people has elevated immediacy in all our spheres of interaction and thereby removed the opportunity for reflection before action or speech.  The old word "consideration" as in "time to consider", is not available to us in our daily activity.  The effect, in a somewhat Darwinian way, is that the survival of the fittest is the survival of the "shallow but quick."  Certainly in our national discourse we see this in spades as sentences fly about cyberspace with little regard to substance or even accuracy.  We elect our politicians based on impressions.  I cannot help but wonder how this affects our view of God and everything else.

Where Metzger singles out "distance" as the culprit, I think it just one "life cost" circumstance among many.  The whole range of human endeavor is on a crazy roller-coaster ride.  Life is compressed and heated and we see the social effects at every turn.  People "hang out" rather than converse.  We are bored apart from constant external stimulation.  Kids "study" with a CD blaring.  If it requires more than a moment's thought or attention, we are distracted.  All of these things are the fruit of shaping influences that arise from acquiescence to artificially imposed value promises.  Yet the actual return on investment doesn't seem very high and is running negative in my estimation.   Perhaps the real "change" we should be promoting this social season is a return to civilization.

Recommended auxiliary reading - Jacques Ellul, The Subversion of Christianity

Meet The Newest Member of the Family - "Adrianne"

My wife and I have been considering adding a fountain to our postage stamp back yard for quite a while.  Amazingly we arrived at the consensus that neither of us minded having this one. 

The old idea about how marriage partners are supposed to have most of their tastes in common doesn't hold very often I find, and somehow it never crossed my threshold of discrimination way back 39 years ago when I made the plunge.  It could be that such an abstract consideration was not high on my list at the time.  But, I digress...  The point is that neither of us are ever really excited about the same thing.  If I really like it, she yawns.  If she thinks it's grand, I think it's OK.  So, with us, a successful encounter is that both of us are moderately in favor of whatever it is we are contemplating.

"Adrianne" was not of the Medieval Monastery culture that she likes best but somehow its neo-classical style had its charm and I thought she was neat also.

I fought the mosquitoes with my general calm and dignified patience (NOT!) and prepared a semi-level spot for her.  With some minor adjustments, the delivery crew set her up and turned her on.  We introduce her as the "lady with the jug" and all further comments are of the usual sort.

I'm looking forward to how she will grace the nook she inhabits when the ferns come in and the rising stalks of Iris and Lilies kiss her cheeks.  My vision, sans mosquitoes, is for gentle evenings, with the soothing patter of water, adding pleasant dimensions to the gathering dusk.  Did I say, sans mosquitoes? 

I cannot find a history of the sculpture.  The best I can gather is that the original was a work of classical Greek art.  If anyone has any background please let me know.

Amazing - Common Sense in the Congress....

Here is something worth watching.

Eat Your Heart Out Spidey.... "Saw Leaf Daisy and Friend"

(2008, WSVanDevender, click for larger image)

This one was taken by my brother who has the unusual name of Sterrett.  (The name has made the news recently as the USN has recently launched the second USS Sterrett).  The beautiful little green creature is a Green Lynx Spider and for all intents and purposes, it is a lean, mean, green killing machine.  If it had a bit more discretion, and chose to concentrate on just the bad bugs and not honeybees, it would be a very useful addition for pest control in the garden.  But such is not the case.  It can jump with the best of them and has no problem taking down wasps you would think would pose a big problem for it.  Beautiful creature.

Did you ever ponder the intricacy and diversity of God's creation?  Think about it.  Who among us would have thought up a creature like this one?  Many spiders are fascinating but the descriptor "beautiful" doesn't readily spring to mind.  This one looks like a woman's brooch made of finely shaped, delicate emerald with translucent crystal legs.  Yet, the beauty is deceptive.  It can jump many times its length (though not a true jumping spider) trailing a fine strand of web for back up.  Here is God's attention to detail: crafting a creature worthy of contemplation yet one not to be trifled with.  That might be a bit of revelation for us.  God is surpassingly beautiful but He will not submit to being thought of solely in those terms.  He demands respect for His whole range of Being.  The One who can design the Lynx Spider and then pose her on a Saw Leaf Daisy is a God of surpassing aesthetic accomplishment... but beauty for both spider and flower serve other ends... and God knows them all.

The Greatest Battle Facing Christians in the US??? Chuck Baldwin - Presidential Candidate

Chuck Baldwin is the Constitution Party's Candidate for President.  He is a Baptist preacher and long time pastor of Cross Roads Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fl.  I am on his mailing list and his most recent (find it here) one had this to say.....

For the record, the real battlefield today is not abortion. It is not homosexual marriage. It is not Social Security. It is not al Qaeda. It is not taxes. It is not inflation. It is not electing conservatives. It is not posting the Ten Commandments. It is not even the high cost of gasoline. That is not to say that those issues are not important and not deserving of our best efforts and attention, because they are. But those issues do not represent the major battlefield today.

The battlefield where the devil has amassed his greatest forces and is thrusting his deadliest armies is the surrender of our national sovereignty and independence, and the creation of global government. And it is our own political and corporate leaders that are facilitating this chicanery.

Furthermore, by refusing to oppose this surrender, our Christian leaders are complicit as well.

Now what's interesting about this statement is that it is directed toward Christians - not the broad political spectrum of voting Americans.  Baldwin makes no bones about it.  Christians should view their current call to battle, gathering together as the Lord's Host, as to oppose and defeat the joint Republican / Democrat conspiracy to subsume our United States national statehood into a North American Union comprising Canada, the US and Mexico.  This conspiracy, he says, is already underway, steps have been taken and the intent of both parties is to pursue this end.  This is the major battle facing Christians.

Baldwin places the moral imperative to oppose this move above that of abortion, the secularization of marriage, the campaign to grant institutional credibility to alternative sexual preferences, and all the rest.  What Christians must do is rally behind him... He is our hope... He will save our country because that is the manifest will of God... America is the promised land and Americans are God's elect.  To lose our national heritage is to attack God!

Hogwash.

Perhaps there is a conspiracy such as he proclaims... others are saying the same thing.  If so, I will oppose it with every fiber of my political being... because as a Christian I have a Christian vocation to be a good citizen, to pray for the peace of my Jerusalem, to labor for a good government that will be conducive to the spread of the Kingdom.  But never once will I admit a congruence between the national Government of the United States of America and the Kingdom of Christ.  The Lord Christ can prosper His Kingdom without the US or with it... He may judge this country and take His blessings from it at His will and pleasure... He may show mercy and bring revival and raise up the Christians into the country as a true radical and subversive witness to the pagan idolatry which prevails in our culture.  But never will He admit that the structures of our political system reflect or even approximate the boundaries of His City on earth.

Baldwin ought to know better.  Raise up the flag of political concern about the proposed union.  Argue against its economic, political, social consequences.  Demonstrate how the US has everything to lose and nothing to gain from giving Mexico, of all nations, any kind of veto power over our foreign policy.  Talk about Canadian beer and .... well, you know where that was headed.  It would be great political fun.  But guard against blasphemy.

Our Lord has told us what is the greatest battle facing us... it is the idolatrous hearts of pleasure loving, self-centered, hedonistic people. People like you and me.  It is the hardened condition of men's souls which refuse to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as their King and Savior.  That battle rages whether it is fought within the confines of the United States of America or in some proposed North American Union.  We could gain the whole world for the US of A only to lose our own soul if the Church ever once forgets that we are strangers in this land, our true citizenship is in another city not built with hands.

Chuck... you say some good stuff... but get off this kick...

OK, you got 10 seconds... define "locavore"

Give up?

Check http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/07/lets-get-local/

What's your reaction?  I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

Encouragement From A Brother....

I have not done this before but I thought I would share a letter I received this week from a much loved brother.  He wrote in response to God's movement in his heart as we meditated together on the subject of God as Warrior!  this past Sunday. ( I have done some minor edits... )

Exodus 14:13-14  13 And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.  14 "The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."

Dear Arch....

Your message (this week) was on target speaking directly to my heart... it was especially piercing and satisfying because you said that God fights for us.  He fought for Israel when they crossed the Red sea, He fought for David against Goliath, He fought for Sampson against the Philistines, and He fights for ME in my struggles as well.

The spiritual message is clear; the flesh can not withstand the pressures of the world and Satan, but God's Spirit can and will.

My heart swells with joy when I hear this, but when you brought Christ into the message the tears well up within and I want to shout "Praise the Lord."  He is the One who fought and defeated Satan on the cross.  It cost Him His life but God raised Him up again.  God will do the same for ME!  I just need to trust Him to win my battles.

Thanks... your friend...

What an encouragement that is and how well spoken.  The best preaching comes back from the pews.  I thank you, my friend, for the witness and testimony of your heart.

Awww... ain't he cute!

(2008, JAVanDevender, click for larger image)

A young man I know, wise beyond his years, recently had this to say:

Earth Stewardship should be so strongly associated with the Church that Liberals & Other Evildoers hate the idea of "green."  (Just like they hate the ideas of Truth, Justice, The American Way  and all the other things Superman used to stand for.)

I am encouraged for the future... there's hope for the next generation after all, I simply couldn't say it better, although being a preacher, I have to use more words (say it longer).

Genesis 1:28  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Exercising dominion over God's creation is an awesome responsibility and privilege.  It is a sin to neglect this duty even as it is a sin to neglect the other aspects of our Christian walk. 

The first duty of a Christian in exercising dominion over creation is to appreciate it.  One cannot rule over that which one does not know.  To live mindlessly, inhabiting a planet of such extraordinary beauty, completely distracted by technology's baubles, is to spit in God's face.  It is to say... "Now, man's work... now that is what's important... not these trifling things you have done... making bunny rabbits.. clouds that give rain... skies filled with stars... etc." .  For Christians to even begin to make inroads toward the goal my young friend espouses, we have to love our world... differently than those so-called "green people."  We must love it for what it is... the incredible expression of God's will, given for man's edification and artistic expression, to be nurtured, encouraged, controlled and subdued unto the end of worship of the Creator.

Whether the bunny is viewed with appreciation as an expression of joy, abounding in the luxury of precious simplicity, or as a pest threatening the garden, or as lunch... depends on how we are called to manage the specific circumstance of our life at the time of encounter.  That is where dominion and rule come in to play.  Regardless of the outcome though, the call to love God for His wisdom in providing the bunny remains the same.

The Corporate Nature of Salvation: What's Important About A Personal Relationship With Jesus?

My brother pastor, Jollyblogger, did a couple of posts on the subject of having a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ."  You can find his most definitive thoughts HERE.

Mostly through its implications, this emphasis on "individualism" in Christianity has been a topic for my own pondering for quite a while.  My thoughts centered on whether the Bible teaches a "corporate view of salvation" as the primary point of reference, with individual salvation a necessary consequence or vice versa.  "Jolly" is absolutely correct in his observations about how the somewhat unique American emphasis on individualism forms a hermeneutical framework for our reading of Scripture.  His observations on how the para-church ministries perpetuate, encourage and even depend upon this emphasis on the individual are well taken.

George Marsden in his Fundamentalism and American Culture has this to say when discussing the impact of dispensationalism on the American cultural view of denominations (and therefore, corporate connectionalism):

An important reason that most American dispensationalists did not consider separation from their denominations a necessary consequence of their belief, was that they thought of religion primarily in terms of individuals rather than institutions.  The important spiritual unit was the individual.  The Church existed as a body of sanctified individuals united by commitment to Christ and secondarily as a network of an ad hoc spiritual organizations.  The institutional church hence had no particular status.  ... The true Christian was one separated from sin and worldliness. ... More immediately relevant was the question of how an individual was to live a spiritually separated and victorious life.

The context of this remark is a discussion about "separation from denominations" but the observation is relevant to my topic.

If it is true that the comprehensive purpose of God in all of His doings, throughout all of temporal history, is the formation of a people unto Himself and in whom He is to be glorified, as I believe it to be (cf. Jer. 24:7, 2Cor.6:16, Rev. 21:3, et al - the most consistent and oft repeated prophecy in Scripture), then the nature of the witness to His glory manifested by that accumulated congregation would seemingly be its aggregate witness rather than that witness of a succession of individuals as they cross the threshold into glory.

It is the nature of the witness to God's glory that therefore informs my own sense that the first priority is the corporate view of salvation with the individual's salvation being the means by which that corporate witness is attained over time.

Take for example Jesus' statement about His true Church - (John 13:35)  "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." The unique nature of Christian love that binds individual Christians to other Christians when there is no obvious, secular explanations for it (i.e. Jews/Gentiles, Slaves/Free, Males/Females loving each other across distinct sociological classes) could only be understood in terms of a divine intervention into the lives of the people.  It is the corporate witness of love (cf. 1 Cor. 13) that thus manifests and bears witness on earth, to the supernatural and incomprehensible love that God has for His people. 

When husbands and wives take to heart the teachings of Ephesians 5, they discover that their corporate witness together is a metaphor for the relation of Christ with His Church.  Jesus promises in Matthew 18 to be with His people in a special way when they are gathered together unto the discerning of His rule in the guidance of His Body, the Church.

At the heart of much of New Testament teaching is the typological significance of the entire assembly of God's people in ancient Israel and can only be fully understood when that significance is appreciated.  In the Exodus God saved a bunch of individuals but He did not save them as individuals... He saved them as a people and He instructed them to always consider themselves as members of a people in their relation to Him.  His law was given so that they would govern themselves in such a way as to point toward their corporate relation to their God in heaven (Dt. 4:6-8).

Across the board it appears to me that the American Evangelical emphasis on a Personal Relationship to Jesus as being the sine qua non for a true Christian spirituality is misguided at least.  It is the idea of joining a host, a militant host who fight with spiritual weapons in the war that is raging, that the Scriptures most often  use as a metaphor for the Christian fundamental world view.

This has far reaching though subtle implications for the life of sanctification.  As with JollyBlogger I do not deny the need for a personal relationship with Jesus... it is that we must view it as the work of initiation into the Christian life not the essence of it.

Truly The Light Is Sweet

(2008, DJohanson, click for larger image)

To see more of Dave's pics go HERE

Ecclesiastes 11:6-7    In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good.  Truly the light is sweet, And it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun

I've known Dave for nigh on 35 years now and have profited from the friendship in numerous ways.  He's been doing photography for as long as I've known him and is quite accomplished.  This photo is different than his usual in that he specializes in nature shots, especially macro images.  He went to Antarctica  once upon a time and came back with three thousand slides of "white."  (not really)

This picture was taken however at the culmination of a hard day's work in the hayfields and subsequent stacking in the barn.  It particularly appeals to me in its composition and muted contrast.  There is an Autumn feel to the browns and the filtered sun light can be nothing less than the smile of God rejoicing with man in the cooperative work that has been done.  Man plants but God yields the harvest.

Truly, the light is sweet... it seeks out the darkness and penetrates and illumines and encourages and even provides its own beauty.  What better for man to do than sow in the morning and not with hold his hand in the evening, so that together, with God, he may bring the harvest into the store room, and then perceive the filtered presence of God's smile!