Respect for Creation and R.J. Rushdoony

(Deu 22:6-7 NKJV) "If a bird's nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

(Exo 23:19 NKJV) "The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

(Deu 20:19-20 NKJV) "When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man's food. Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

(Deu 14:21 NKJV) "You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

(Lev 22:28 NKJV) "Whether it is a cow or ewe, do not kill both her and her young on the same day.


. . .the commandments clearly require a respect for God’s creation. If God is the creator of all things, then all things have a purpose and are in their created function good. – R.J. Rushdoony

Animals and plants ought to live in accord with their created function. To me this implies chickens living a chickenish life, cows living like bovines, etc. Instead we are trying to make them all into the animal equivalent of apartment dwellers, where they clearly cannot use the tools and predispositions God created them with.

Rushdoony, writing in the early 70's, goes on to make some interesting points that have a bearing on issues such as the continuing unrestrained hybridization of seeds. He is opposed to all hybridization, partly on the rationale that it produces sterility (which strikes me as eminently sound), whereas "God made all plants with their seed ‘in itself.’" Later he comments that "Man’s rash interference with the balance of nature is creating serious problems."

A few more nuggets:

As long as man sees himself as god in an evolving world, he will seek the technological manipulation of that world.

The earth itself must be treated with respect. The foolish destruction of the micro-organisms which are basic to the fertility of the soil is working extensive damage in many areas.

For the creationist, the fertility and the potentiality of the world rest precisely in its vital patterns, in its fixity, whereby man can work productively and with a full assurance of success.

God's Hatchery?

After watching chicks go through the trauma of hatching all week and then arriving home to find Marcy’s newborn calf wobbling around, I realized how easy we mammals have it. For us the birth process is completely passive, mom does all the heavy work. Chicks have to peck their way into the world in several hours of exhausting labor. A very different way of entering into life.

Over the last several hundred years, the church has been debating the issue of how it is that we are saved. The Calvinists on the one hand argue that until God wakes our dead souls, we are completely helpless, unable to seek Him or gain any knowledge of Him. Even faith is impossible if God does not give it as a free gift. We are very passive, like we were in our own birth process. On the other hand the followers of Arminius argue that man must have a part in his own salvation, he must first seek God, then gain knowledge of Him and based upon that knowledge exercise faith in Him. Faith is the work of man, pecking your way into life.

Now obviously this little analogy is not going to end several hundred years of debate, but I’m still very thankful that Jesus did not tell Nicodemus, "You must be hatched again."

Grass-fed

The most recent issue of Time magazine has some surprisingly good articles on food, particularly The Grass-Fed Revolution. This isn't revival, but it is a case of people coming to some level of awareness of the American agri-business problem.

God made a world in which actions have real consequences, some of which are getting very hard to deny. That what we feed what we eat has effects for good or ill is slowly starting to penetrate even the thick American skull. This article (in probably the most influential weekly news magazine in America) tells some the truth about grain fed beef and factory farming. The only downside is that the USDA is preparing "standards" for grass fed beef. No doubt they will own the words "grass fed" just like they do "organic."

Excerpt

"Grass-fed meat is beef with benefits," says nutritionist Kate Clancy, author of a recent Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) report. UCS, a Washington-based nonprofit, reviewed scores of studies and concluded that a change from grain-based feedlots back to a purely pasture-based system "would be better for the environment, animals and humans."

Radical as that scenario may seem, it was only after World War II that the U.S. began confining cattle in factory farms that can fatten 50,000 head a year on high-calorie grain. Until then, cattle grazed on grass their full lives--as they still mostly do in Europe, South America, New Zealand and other beef-producing nations.

Who's in charge here?

Called in sick today and blogging seems to be all I have energy for. No one enjoys being sick and I'm no exception. Being sick does give one the opportunity for some serious reflection, though, and I suppose that may be one reason why God sends it to us.

Whoah, did I just blame God for being sick? Don't I know that it's the devil and not God who wants me to be sick? Don't I see that all the wickedness and suffering in the world is evidence of Satan's continuing power? Well, no, I don't see it that way at all. As a matter of fact, whenever anything happens, whether pleasant or painful, I know God is behind it. Not only is He behind it, but He planned it just the way it happened.

Doesn't this mean I think God is the author of evil? Or am I accusing God of tempting me by bringing evil into my life? These are serious questions that deserve serious consideration and careful answers.

First, let's consider the alternative. Let's assume things happen to me (getting sick) that God did not plan. After all, God has a wonderful plan for my life and being sick is not wonderful. This means essentially that God is not ruling over His creation, either by inability or by default. In the first case, if God is unable to rule His creation, I think we'd have to say He is a rather pathetic sort. He's going to need a lot of help from us humans to overcome evil and even then the outcome is in serious doubt. I don't think we find a shred of Biblical support for this view of God. Quite the contrary, we find over and over that God is powerful over the big events and the little details (1 Kings 20:10, Matthew 10:30).

Now what about the other view, that while God is certainly able to rule, He has defaulted and allows Satan to rule this world in the present. First we have to say that this view is probably the most commonly held among most American Christians in our times. I take that seriously, since I don't want to be the sort who just finds out what the majority thinks, assumes that it is wrong, and goes the opposite direction. No, I would rather think, if possible, that the majority of Christians would tend to be right most of the time. But an awful lot of Christians in history have not believed the way we do now, so I think a closer look is in order.

First let's consider some interesting Bible Stories. One of the places ol' Scratch shows up is in Heaven. He shows up to accuse Job of being a wimp and whines about God putting a hedge around Job to protect him. Satan had access to the throne of God and God gave him very specific permission and limitations in regard to Job. Understand that God giving Satan permission to do evil isn't like giving your teenager permission to clean the bathroom. If Satan has permission to do evil he will definitely do what his nature directs. Giving Satan permission to do good would result in no action at all. If God gives Satan permission to run over you with a yellow school bus, the bus will find you. The point of the story, of course, is the defeat of Satan by God. At the end of the day Job is still God's man, and even more so for all of Satan's trouble. Satan meant the suffering for evil to Job, but God meant it for good. And at no time was God merely an interested spectator, rather, He was ruling over the whole thing. Nowhere in God's words to Job do we hear God say anything like, "Job, why are you contending with me, don't you know that Satan is behind all this?"

God rules over Satan in the simplest of ways. He does not have to bother closing all the doors marked "good" to keep Satan from going through them. It is not in the devil's nature to go through those doors and he never does. God also closes most of the doors marked "evil" to the devil. He normally leaves most of the hedges up around us, as He did around Job. The devil cannot do nearly so much evil as he would like. To control Satan all God has to do is leave some doors open to him, and God never has to coax Satan to go through them.

Let's consider Judas, whom the Bible tells us was actually entered into by Satan right at the table where Jesus and the other eleven disciples were eating. Jesus response is to tell Judas/Satan to get a move on. Now let's just ask what happens to all of us if Satan does not succeed and the crucifixion does not take place. Satan meant the suffering for evil, but God meant it for good. God even planned if for good. Peter's sermon in Acts brings this out perfectly when he tells the people,

"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain"

There you have it. God determined in advance the evil that Satan would do. God determined in advance what the wicked hands would do. God did this in order to save His people from their sins. The worst evil the world has ever known resulted in Christ's greatest victory over His enemies.

But more needs to be said, lest we think that Satan's power is the same as it always has been. Christ's ministry, death and resurrection had a powerful effect on Satan's authority and standing. This is foreshadowed in the story of the seventy. In Job we see Satan participating in some way in the heavenly court of the King. He has an audience with God and brings a suit against Job. But in Luke 10 as the seventy return, jubilant that the devils are subject to them, Jesus joins in their jubilation, saying,

I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Satan is like Haman, who also hated God's people, and who also fell from heaven (on the end of a rope, yuk, yuk). Like Mordecai, who assumed all the power previously possessed by Haman, Jesus has assumed all of Satan's power on the earth.

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

Earlier, Satan had tempted Jesus with the kingdoms of this world. Now such an offer would be laughable, like Al Gore offering Bill Gates control of the internet. Sure, Satan still walks on the earth seeking whom he may devour. But that's a lot different than having access to God's throne. The lawsuit and the lawyer have both been thrown out of court.

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

If you are God's child, unpleasant things will happen to you. Sometimes it's just a simple trip to the woodshed, and I think most of us know when this happens. A loving father does not leave his children without discipline. Other suffering is harder to find out the reason for, the same way as it is hard for some kids to figure out the reason for having to learn how to add and subtract. In the same way, I can't figure out why I'm sick today, or why it will happen again, or why I might get sick and die someday, but like those kids, and like Job, I am being fitted for a future world and life that I do not yet understand.