Douglas Wilson on Food

Douglas Wilson (Blog and Mablog) has been recently posting on a topic very much on my mind lately: food. For whatever reason, the Lord has surrounded me with dear people who seem to care a great deal about food. Is it organic? Natural? Does it have refined sugar? Artificial dye? MSG?

I don’t share this concern. I want to be a good steward of the physical body the Lord has given me, and I want to eat reasonably healthy… but, I just cannot make myself care about whether or not my ground beef came from a hormone-injected cow, or my spinach was sprayed with pesticides.

Honestly, these kinds of food concerns have always bugged me a little, but I’ve never been able to exactly articulate why. It’s not an issue I press with most people, precisely because it is not an important issue to me and it’s certainly not an issue I want to strain a relationship over. (And, I should note, none of the food worriers I know have inappropriately pressed the issue on me.)

Pastor Wilson’s recent postings on the topic have helped me a great deal in figuring this whole issue out. To check out the conversation, look for the posts with the topic “Creation and Food”. (I particularly enjoyed Hippie Mama Free-Range Macaroni, Little Robot Bees and The Corporations are Way Ahead of You.) Here are some snippets:

One of (sic) saddest features (or funniest, depending) of contemporary food snobbery is the notion that rich people are getting in touch with the rythyms of the earth when they shop at the Whole Foods market. Paying three times as much for a really good apple is a fine thing to do, so long as you know that you are doing it. But if you think that you are a humble creature of the soil because you are whooping it up on luxuries is one of the oddest things that I have ever seen in my life.

—–

Now this means that we cannot point to anything in the created order and justify its use in a particular way simply on the basis of its being “natural.” Nor can we reject anything on the basis of it having been “processed.” The creation around us is a damaged good, and this means that when we point to a particular aspect of it, we are not yet clear whether we are pointing to an aboriginal good, or to one of the defects introduced by the Fall. When we approach a particular food for the first time, knowing nothing about it other than that it is “natural,” we still don’t know if it is good or bad, healthy or unhealthy. A worm-ridden apple is natural. And the same thing goes for processed foods. It could be good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, depending. Because God has commanded us to exercise dominion in a world where those who are to exercise dominion are participants in the Fall, this means that we can screw it up. So then, natural is not automatically good or bad. Processed is not automatically good or bad.

[...]

So those Christians who use “natural” and “organic” as terms of praise, and who eschew the use of “chemicals” in food preparation are failing at two places. First, as I have noted, they are not applying the doctrine of the Fall. They are not capable of finding any food in this world that has an unfallen nature, for which natural would work as a term of unqualified praise. And second, they are not able to find a food anywhere that is not made out of chemicals. Chemical-free food would a sight to behold, and a miracle in its own right. In the first instance, they are not really thinking in Christ. In the second, they are just following along with popular jargon and not really thinking at all.

—–

When someone objects to “chemical additives” but loudly applauds “nutritional supplements,” we should be forgiven if we believe that some obfuscatory handwaving is going on. Now, please note that I am not saying that all chemical additives are good or that all nutritional supplements are bad. I am saying that, so far as our definitions have gone, they are the same thing, some of them good and some of them bad. Nothing is bad because a factory put it in a bottle, and nothing is good for the same reason.

“Punishment”

“Exhibit H” for a Swift and Expanded Implementation of Capital Punishment

St. Paul mom-to-be shoved into van, raped

(Star Tribune)

A 22-year-old pregnant woman taking a Saturday afternoon walk from her apartment to a store on St. Paul’s East Side was forced into a car by a stranger, driven around the block and shoved into a van in a garage, where she was repeatedly sexually attacked.

[...]

The woman, who is 6 months pregnant, reported the rapes to police a week after the incident…

[...]

According to the search warrant, after the woman was raped by her first attacker, she stepped away to throw up and a second assailant said, “Don’t pull your pants up yet” before he raped her.

[...]

After he drove the car around the block, two other males led the woman into the garage, where they took off her pants and where she was forced to perform oral sex on one man. She then was raped by a second man, and as she stepped away, the first rapist reappeared with a condom.

The second man raped her, the charges say, and when she became sick again, he said: “Just take it.”

“Additional young males came into the garage and watched,” according to the complaint, and when the two alleged rapists “finished with her, she ran from the garage.”

The picture at the top of this post is of a woman six months into a pregnancy. Imagine your wife or daughter, a visibly pregnant woman, being kidnapped and repeatedly raped while she puked. And then tell me that a decent society allows men like these to live.

Baby Survives Abortion, Attains Personhood From Mother’s Delight

Jodie Percival & Finley Crampton

Mother’s anger turns to delight after her baby survives an abortion (Daily Mail)

Finley Crampton really shouldn’t be here. Although his parents would have loved another child, they knew their baby could inherit a life-threatening kidney condition – and they couldn’t take the risk.

After all, their first son had died of the condition and the second was born with serious kidney damage.

So when Finley’s mother, Jodie Percival, became pregnant while on the Pill, she and her fiance Billy Crampton, 35, made the agonising decision to abort this child.

However, Finley had other ideas. And some time after the operation, Miss Percival felt a fluttering in her stomach.

[...]

‘At first I was angry that this was happening to us, that the procedure had failed.

‘I wrote to the hospital, I couldn’t believe that they had let me down like this. They wrote back and apologised and said it was very rare.’

[...]

‘I still struggle to believe just what he has fought through. Now he’s here I wouldn’t change it for the world.’

I think we can become so numb to the reality of abortion that we struggle to feel its cold brutality. If you have the time, read through the above article three or four times. The language here is terrifyingly matter-of-fact.

“Finley Crampton really shouldn’t be here.” The author writes this as if Baby Finley survived a natural disaster or car wreck. Why shouldn’t Baby Finley be here? “They couldn’t take the risk [of Baby Finley suffering a kidney disorder].” Baby Finley shouldn’t be here, because his parents decided he shouldn’t be here. Baby Finley’s parents, the very humans entrusted to care most for him, elected to “terminate” or “abort” (i.e. kill) him.

To ease the consciences of any readers who might recoil at this “decision”, the article’s author makes sure to let us know it was an “agonizing decision“. While I don’t doubt it was, how does this improve the decision? I’m sure the parents of 16-month-old Ava Worthington agonized over their decision to (fatally) withhold medical treatment from their daughter in favor of prayer and faith. I doubt the author of this article would write so compassionately about those parents and their “agonizing decision”.

And notice the language in the very title of the article: “Mother’s anger turns to delight…” What changed in Baby Finley after the attempted abortion, making his life valuable and worthy of protection, that was absent before the attempted abortion? Nothing but the whims and emotions of the parents.

It seems the value of a pre-born human hinges not on anything intrinsic in itself (e.g. being a bearer of the divine image - or simply being human), but solely on the desire and will of the parents.

Some would call that tyranny.

“Exhibit G” for a Swift and Expanded Implementation of Capital Punishment

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,367362,00.html

TARBORO, N.C. — A couple accused of killing their 13-year-old son by tying him to a tree for two nights for punishment…

[...]

Sheriff James Knight has said the boy was left tied to the tree until the following afternoon, when his stepmother found him unresponsive. Authorities believe the boy was bound to the tree with plastic ties and possibly other kinds of material.

Arrest warrants for both McMillans said the child sustained “bruising to the wrist, cuts to entire body, missing flesh from buttocks, results from being tied to a tree for approximately 18 hours resulting in death.”

I find myself frequently under the conviction that this nation’s “justice” system is itself a judgment from God. I pray that God would show mercy and that justice would be done in North Carolina for this poor boy.

Total Depravity: Infanticide in the Amazon

If you believe man without God is basically good, check out the above video. My sister-in-law alerted me to this via a Facebook group, Hakani.

Learn more here.

Argh!

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6578462&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

“A Minneapolis man stopped an assault-in-progress early Sunday morning, after investigating screams from the woods outside his home near the train tracks.The man went outside to investigate, following the source of the screams. He found a man trying to sexually assault a 15-year-old girl. She was extremely upset and scared.

…

The suspect is a convicted sex offender.”

I watched the above story on Fox9 News a few nights ago. I was taken aback when the reporter stated that the suspect had been convicted of First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in 2004. That was only four years ago! “Criminal Sexual Conduct”, particularly in the First Degree, is legalese for rape.

Minnesota State Statute 609.342

Criminal Sexual Conduct in the First Degree

“A person who engages in sexual penetration with another
person, or in sexual contact with a person under 13 years of age as defined in section…”

“circumstances existing at the time of the act cause the complainant to have a reasonable
fear of imminent great bodily harm to the complainant or another”

” the actor is armed with a dangerous weapon or any article used or fashioned in a manner
to lead the complainant to reasonably believe it to be a dangerous weapon and uses or threatens to
use the weapon or article to cause the complainant to submit”

“…a person convicted under subdivision 1 may be sentenced to
imprisonment for not more than 30 years…”

“…the court shall presume that an executed sentence of 144 months must be imposed on an offender convicted of violating this section. Sentencing a person in a manner other than that described in this paragraph is a departure from the Sentencing Guidelines.”

How does a rapist end up on the street after serving 3-4 years of a 12-30 year sentence? I was unable to find any information on this story outside Fox9’s website. I sent Fox9 an email asking to verify this information. (I have yet to receive a response.) If it is true that this suspect was convicted only four years ago of rape, the parties responsible for this man’s early release should thank God I am not the father of this 15-year-old girl.

You know, if they would have executed this rapist, this poor girl would not have needed rescuing from her neighbors.

Argh!

I Love Life! Walk 2008

The Blatzkritters will be participating in the I Love Life! Walk this year on May 17. We are asking those who feel so lead to support us, and more importantly, support the Amnion Crisis Pregnancy Center by donating here.

My sister-in-law has been volunteering for this Pro-Life organization for the past few years and our church, Bethlehem Baptist Church, also works with Amnion.

Thanks & God Bless!

—————-

Below is a letter from my wife:

Dear Friends and Family,

Jim and I recently accepted the challenge to raise funds to support Amnion Crisis Pregnancy Center in the I Love Life! Walk on Saturday, May 17th. Amnion CPC provides free, life-saving assistance to pregnant women in crisis. We will be walking as a family in honor of our two children, Lydia and Titus, and the baby that I miscarried.

One in four women will end their pregnancies due to lack of compassionate care and practical assistance. It is our goal to help Amnion Crisis Pregnancy Center provide women with the following free services: pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, counsel for the young woman, man and parents throughout the unplanned pregnancy, maternity and baby supplies, evangelism and bible studies, post abortion grief counseling, middle and high school abstinence presentations.  Please join us by pledging support of our participation in the I Love Life! Walk or by directly contributing generously to Amnion Crisis Pregnancy Center. Your tax-deductible contribution will fund innovative outreach and awareness programs for underserved women in crisis in our community.

Whatever you can give will really help! We truly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on our progress.

Thank you so much for your time and support of this important outreach to help moms find hope for their future and their baby’s future! Every step counts for life!

Your Friend,
Katy Blatzheim

—————-
Now playing: Rose Blossom Punch - Par Avion
via FoxyTunes

Why You, Christian, Cannot Vote For Barack Obama

On Saturday, 3/29/2008, Barack Obama said at an event in Pennsylvania,

“When it comes specifically to HIV/AIDS, the most important prevention is education, which should include — which should include abstinence education and teaching the children - teaching children, you know, that sex is not something casual. But it should also include - it should also include other, you know, information about contraception because, look, I’ve got two daughters, 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby…”

God forbid his daughters might take responsibility for their “mistake”. Good grief! If any young women were ever positioned in life to deal with an unplanned pregnancy, surely the Obama girls will be. Daughters of a wealthy, intact and loving family, there would be no reason for these girls to acquire an abortion other than convenience. Of course, it would not be difficult to conceive a young woman having an abortion when her father refers to the contents of her pregnant womb as some kind of cruel punishment or disease.

This is not Pro-Choice. This is Pro-Abortion.

—————-
Now playing: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Baltimore
via FoxyTunes

“Exhibit F” for a Swift and Expanded Implementation of Captial Punishment

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335951,00.html

They drugged, bludgeoned and strangled their 16-year-old victim to death then they knelt over her lifeless, bloody body to kiss before dumping her in a wheelbarrow.

Stasinowsky and Parashumti, who had been together just a month, have offered no explanation or motive for the killing other than that Stacey “annoyed” them.

Court hearings have been punctuated with laughter, smirking and smiling.

Even during sentencing submissions in January, the couple was told twice by Blaxell to stop their light-hearted behavior as the graphic details of the crime were read.

Prosecutor Dave Dempster described the killing as a sustained attack that lasted at least half an hour. He has demanded strict-security imprisonment — a non-parole period of at least 20 to 30 years.

 

—————

That a society would leave open the possibility for these murderers to taste decades of potential freedom is repugnant.

It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world.

- Mary Wollstonecraft