This is an interesting topic of discussion that came up over on The Prairie Homemaker site (love that forum!). Back when I was attending a Southern Baptist Church, we did a ladies' study on "A Heart Like His", which was a study guide by Beth Moore. This was probably back in 2000. Yes, it had to have been. I was pregnant with my son at the time. In the past few years Beth Moore has, sadly, started leaning toward the emergent path with focus on contemplative spirituality and dream interpretation. The question that arose was in regards to whether or not dream interpretation is bad thing, since God spoke to His people through dreams in the Bible. God communicated many times with Joseph through dreams and visions. In fact, prophecies were oftentimes relayed through dreams or visions (daydreams, if you will).
It is interesting to note, however, that after Christ's sacrifice on the cross the Bible no longer mentions God speaking to people through their dreams. While I am no Bible scholar and certainly cannot know the ways of our Heavenly Father, I personally believe since we have His word in complete form (the Bible) and all prophecies have been revealed, God no longer uses dreams to reveal Himself to us. In fact, the most recent concept of holy visions during dreams is considered relatively New Age and is heavily influenced by mysticism. The only time dreams and visions are mentioned after Christ's atonement for our sins was in Acts chapter two, when Peter tells the people of Judea that in the last days their old men shall dream dreams and their daughters will prophesy and there will be signs and wonders.
Ecclesiastes 5:6-7 (NKJV) says:
" Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse[a] and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.?
Verse seven is, essentially, saying that most of the time our dreams are relatively meaningless. Our dreams are a manifestation of what our brain cannot process throughout the day. All day long we are bombarded with stimuli - sounds, smells, tastes, sights. When we enter R.E.M. sleep, our brain tries to break down and process all we have taken in throughout the day. Ever notice when you go to bed stressed or filled with anxiety you may have unsettling dreams, or even full-blown nightmares? When you go to bed with a peaceful mind you may not recall your dreams at all.
Does this mean God will never speak to anyone during a dream state? I don't have the answer to that. I cannot be so bold as to speak on behalf of God or place limitations on His means of communicating with us. With that said, I think many people want to rely on tangible proof of His existence rather than looking to Him with the utmost faith in the Unseen. Certainly a dream of something you want coming to fruition is more comforting than feeling as if your prayers are going no further than the ceiling, correct? How many people pray about something and then see a billboard or hear a song on the radio mere minutes or hours later and they're convinced it's a "sign from God"? God may very well speak to someone through a billboard or song, but usually it is our way of trying to see the signs in everything, rather than waiting on the Holy Spirit moving in our heart. We're impatient people who don't want to rely on the measure of faith God has given each of us.
So, where did this dream interpretation stuff come from, anyway? It came from the emergent church movement. What do we need to know about the emergent church?
It's a modern branch of theology that prides itself on being "seeker-friendly" and "worship for the post-modern world". Many of the buzz phrases you'll hear from emergent leaders are "worship experience", "generous orthodoxy", "centering prayer", "contemplative spirituality", "moral relativism", "all-inclusive", "relevant", "deconstruction(ism)/(ist)", "organic/fluid", "relational", and "missional". The services are comprised of a lot of bells and whistles (tons of Christian themed rock music, Hi-Def projection equipment, energetic leaders, etc.) and very little of the Gospel message of sin and salvation.
Emergent churches, from the surface, are cool. They have skate boarding ministries. They don't preach all of that scary "hellfire and damnation stuff". They love gays and polyamorists and abortionists. The "worship experience" is just like a rock concert. No boring preachy junk. The problem is that it is spiritually void. Isaiah 55:11 says:
"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
God's Word will not return void. Empty, fuzzy feel-good messages with no hope of salvation presented, no Gospel message presented, returns void. Please do not misunderstand me. There is room in every church for the homosexual, the adulterer, the abortion doctor - if they are seeking repentance. A person cannot blatantly violate God's crystal clear standards and sit in church congregation with an unrepentant heart and a reprobate mind. Our churches should be open to those seeking His will. A church that plays cool music and puts on a laser light show every Sunday morning (or afternoon. People don't want to wake up early for "churchy stuff" anyway), but refuses to preach the Gospel, is an emergent church and participating in a great deception that (tragically) will lead many people straight from the gates of heaven.
Amazingly enough, the Bible spoke against the emergent church movement long before it ever came into existence! 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says:
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables."
This is the truth:
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Amen and amen! Emergent churches do not preach that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that the only way to God is through HIM. Emergent churches teach you have your god, I have mine, he has his, we're all right and we're all going to heaven just by different paths. Emergent churches oftentimes will also teach that Jesus was a liberal hippie. These teachings are patently false, unscriptural and potentially dangerous.
I will cover the dream interpretation and how Beth Moore ties into this in Part 2.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Dishwashing
Many Christian homemakers are attempting to go off the grid with some of their house work. Some line hang their laundry instead of using an electric or gas dryer. Some use a wood burning cooktop instead of an oven. One of the ways my family has decided to try and be good stewards of our money is by hand washing our dishes. This is a subject that has come under much study and scrutiny among green living circles. Unfortunately, most of the studies have been conducted by companies like Whirlpool and Electrolux, who manufacture some of the most costly electric dishwashers on the market. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume they may have a tiny little agenda to push people toward their products. Let me share a story from my personal life.
When our decade and a half old dishwasher finally bit the dust we decided to purchase an energy efficient dishwasher. Well, actually, you're pretty much forced into buying HE appliances. It's virtually impossible to find cheap dishwashers, agitator washing machines and tube television sets new these days. Since Kenmore is a name we trust, we went through Sears and purchased the Elite dishwasher. The nice technician from Sears sang the praises of this dishwasher as he installed it. According to the sales pitch we should be able to leave baked on cheese in a casserole dish for a month, throw it in the dishwasher, run it and it will come out sparking clean. Let's talk about what happened with my new dishwasher:
~It runs in two and a half to three hour cycles on normal wash.
~It recycles the water from the first spray for the rinse, which leaves bits of food from some dishes on others.
~Because we have hard water we have to use costly liquid detergents and a rinse agent.
~It did not rinse all food particles off of dishes. In fact, I was having to scrub my dishes clean prior to loading them.
~The drying cycle runs for about thirty minutes on my washer, and yet I still have to towel dry some dishes (particularly food storage containers and mugs).
~It leaves coffee and tea stains in mugs.
~Food gets trapped in the bottom and it smells like a landfill when you open it.
~It has stripped the finish off a few of my quality saucepans.
Sadly, the pros still have cons attached to them - mainly the fact that it is a large capacity dishwasher; however, it may take two or three days to fill to capacity that would necessitate a load. Meanwhile, dishes that I need frequently are sitting dirty in the machine waiting to be run. I saw no difference in my water bill and my light bill went up slightly, as I have to run this machine through the drying cycle, otherwise it doesn't drain completely.
One day, after countless times needing the cheese grater, a measuring cup or the mixing bowl, I decided to hand wash the few dishes I had in the sink instead of loading them in the dishwasher. I came to realize that for me hand washing was quicker. If I am having to scrub the dishes clean before loading in the dishwasher then it isn't worth it. Basically, my dishwasher exists for no purpose other than peace of mind that my dishes are sanitized. I'm still having to wash them by hand before loading them. I decided to challenge myself - wash dishes by hand and see if I didn't notice a difference in my light and water bills. I encourage you ladies to do the same. Here are some tips to make it easier on you:
1. If you have a two-basin sink, reserve one basin as your "sanitizing" side. Keep that side free of dishes that have been used to prepare raw meat, chicken, fish or eggs and kindly ask your family members to not wash their hands over that side of the sink when full. Use sanitizing wipes, peroxide or bleach to sanitize that basin every morning before filling with soap and hot water. Set your hot water heater to no lower than 140 degrees. Fill the other side with straight cold water when it comes time to rinse.
2. Use reusable dish cloths (try knitting or crocheting you own using 100% cotton yarn such as Lily Sugar 'n Cream or Pisgah's Peaches 'n Cream. I'll post links at the bottom of my post) rather than sponges or scrub brushes. Sponges and brushes harbor germs and bacteria. Use a fresh dish rag every day. If you use a towel to dry, use a clean one every day that is dedicated to this purpose. Try not to use that towel to wipe off hands or counter tops.
3. Use a low-residue dishwashing soap (not an electric dishwasher detergent!). Palmolive makes a Free & Clear dish soap. It's a bit more costly than generic or regular line soaps, but you use less per load and it doesn't suds up as much which makes it easier to use only one sinkful of cold water for rinsing, rather than having to run the water to rinse.
4. Try and scrape as much of your scraps off your plates and give the dishes a quick rinse before sanitizing. This keeps bits of food from lingering around on your dishes.
5. If anyone in your home has been ill, use a cap full of non-chlorine bleach in the sanitizing basin and wash dishes used by the sick separately. This is also good for washing dishes that have been used to prepare raw meats, fish or poultry products. It is crucial you use non-chlorine bleach if you are also using dish soap, as using chlorinated bleach and concentrated dish soap can cause a potentially dangerous chemical reaction. If you only have chlorinated bleach on-hand use the bleach in your rinse basin rather than the wash basin.
If you follow these steps it should make hand washing dishes both efficient and cost-effective.
Crochet Dishcloth Patterns
Knit Dishcloth Patterns (the Ballband Dishcloth is my personal favorite)
When our decade and a half old dishwasher finally bit the dust we decided to purchase an energy efficient dishwasher. Well, actually, you're pretty much forced into buying HE appliances. It's virtually impossible to find cheap dishwashers, agitator washing machines and tube television sets new these days. Since Kenmore is a name we trust, we went through Sears and purchased the Elite dishwasher. The nice technician from Sears sang the praises of this dishwasher as he installed it. According to the sales pitch we should be able to leave baked on cheese in a casserole dish for a month, throw it in the dishwasher, run it and it will come out sparking clean. Let's talk about what happened with my new dishwasher:
~It runs in two and a half to three hour cycles on normal wash.
~It recycles the water from the first spray for the rinse, which leaves bits of food from some dishes on others.
~Because we have hard water we have to use costly liquid detergents and a rinse agent.
~It did not rinse all food particles off of dishes. In fact, I was having to scrub my dishes clean prior to loading them.
~The drying cycle runs for about thirty minutes on my washer, and yet I still have to towel dry some dishes (particularly food storage containers and mugs).
~It leaves coffee and tea stains in mugs.
~Food gets trapped in the bottom and it smells like a landfill when you open it.
~It has stripped the finish off a few of my quality saucepans.
Sadly, the pros still have cons attached to them - mainly the fact that it is a large capacity dishwasher; however, it may take two or three days to fill to capacity that would necessitate a load. Meanwhile, dishes that I need frequently are sitting dirty in the machine waiting to be run. I saw no difference in my water bill and my light bill went up slightly, as I have to run this machine through the drying cycle, otherwise it doesn't drain completely.
One day, after countless times needing the cheese grater, a measuring cup or the mixing bowl, I decided to hand wash the few dishes I had in the sink instead of loading them in the dishwasher. I came to realize that for me hand washing was quicker. If I am having to scrub the dishes clean before loading in the dishwasher then it isn't worth it. Basically, my dishwasher exists for no purpose other than peace of mind that my dishes are sanitized. I'm still having to wash them by hand before loading them. I decided to challenge myself - wash dishes by hand and see if I didn't notice a difference in my light and water bills. I encourage you ladies to do the same. Here are some tips to make it easier on you:
1. If you have a two-basin sink, reserve one basin as your "sanitizing" side. Keep that side free of dishes that have been used to prepare raw meat, chicken, fish or eggs and kindly ask your family members to not wash their hands over that side of the sink when full. Use sanitizing wipes, peroxide or bleach to sanitize that basin every morning before filling with soap and hot water. Set your hot water heater to no lower than 140 degrees. Fill the other side with straight cold water when it comes time to rinse.
2. Use reusable dish cloths (try knitting or crocheting you own using 100% cotton yarn such as Lily Sugar 'n Cream or Pisgah's Peaches 'n Cream. I'll post links at the bottom of my post) rather than sponges or scrub brushes. Sponges and brushes harbor germs and bacteria. Use a fresh dish rag every day. If you use a towel to dry, use a clean one every day that is dedicated to this purpose. Try not to use that towel to wipe off hands or counter tops.
3. Use a low-residue dishwashing soap (not an electric dishwasher detergent!). Palmolive makes a Free & Clear dish soap. It's a bit more costly than generic or regular line soaps, but you use less per load and it doesn't suds up as much which makes it easier to use only one sinkful of cold water for rinsing, rather than having to run the water to rinse.
4. Try and scrape as much of your scraps off your plates and give the dishes a quick rinse before sanitizing. This keeps bits of food from lingering around on your dishes.
5. If anyone in your home has been ill, use a cap full of non-chlorine bleach in the sanitizing basin and wash dishes used by the sick separately. This is also good for washing dishes that have been used to prepare raw meats, fish or poultry products. It is crucial you use non-chlorine bleach if you are also using dish soap, as using chlorinated bleach and concentrated dish soap can cause a potentially dangerous chemical reaction. If you only have chlorinated bleach on-hand use the bleach in your rinse basin rather than the wash basin.
If you follow these steps it should make hand washing dishes both efficient and cost-effective.
Crochet Dishcloth Patterns
Knit Dishcloth Patterns (the Ballband Dishcloth is my personal favorite)
Monday, January 18, 2010
Submission to the Unbelieving Husband
This is a subject very near and dear to my heart. You could say my beloved husband and I are not on the same level when it comes to faith. He was raised more deeply in Christianity than I was. In fact, I wasn't raised in it at all. His mother was a foot washin' Baptist preacher's daughger - no alcohol, no music, no dancing, no pants, no jewelry, no makeup, no cutting your hair and no playing cards. That was pretty much how my husband was raised and it pretty much soured him on Christianity by the time he was old enough to choose whether or not he wanted to attend church.
A lot of women struggle with the concept of submission in general. There are plenty of women who want to use the unsaved spouse "loophole". I put that in quotation marks because this loophole is a myth, it does not exist in the Scriptures. The Bible is clear in Ephesians 5:22-24:
"22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."
Dear sisters, please take note that God does not make exceptions for those with unbelieving husbands. It does not specify that only wives of Christian husbands are to submit. The Bible says this about the unbelieving spouse:
1 Peter 3:1-2:
"1Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
2While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear."
1 Corinthians 7:13-14 says the following:
"13And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy."
Praise God we can be an example to our unbelieving husbands while still submitting to their headship! God did not make exceptions. If our husbands want to remain married to us knowing of our faith, then we are to set the example.
When are some times in which it's not okay to submit to your husband? This applies to both believing and unbelieving husbands - when they ask something of us that is unbiblical. For example, if he asks to bring an extra partner into the marriage bed or wants his wife to have an abortion. Any time a husband asks something of his wife that is completely contradictory to the expectations God has for us that is the exception to rule.
A lot of women struggle with the concept of submission in general. There are plenty of women who want to use the unsaved spouse "loophole". I put that in quotation marks because this loophole is a myth, it does not exist in the Scriptures. The Bible is clear in Ephesians 5:22-24:
"22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."
Dear sisters, please take note that God does not make exceptions for those with unbelieving husbands. It does not specify that only wives of Christian husbands are to submit. The Bible says this about the unbelieving spouse:
1 Peter 3:1-2:
"1Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
2While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear."
1 Corinthians 7:13-14 says the following:
"13And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy."
Praise God we can be an example to our unbelieving husbands while still submitting to their headship! God did not make exceptions. If our husbands want to remain married to us knowing of our faith, then we are to set the example.
When are some times in which it's not okay to submit to your husband? This applies to both believing and unbelieving husbands - when they ask something of us that is unbiblical. For example, if he asks to bring an extra partner into the marriage bed or wants his wife to have an abortion. Any time a husband asks something of his wife that is completely contradictory to the expectations God has for us that is the exception to rule.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
I am a Housewife!
Gosh, ladies, I'm sorry I haven't written since the week before Christmas! Things have been so hectic. I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and New Years.
To get back on track I want to post an entry that has been weighing heavily on my heart - the disdain of housewives. What I do (and what many of you may do) is constantly under scrutiny and contempt. We're accused of not having a "real job". We're accused of not being "productive members of society". One word feminists like to use to describe us is "parasite". Sad, huh? About fifty years ago what we do was considered the norm. Young women worked in offices or as nurses until they married and had children. Most families were single-income where the husband worked and the wife stayed home. Here are some quotes I found while searching online.
The first comes from the UK Yahoo Answers board:
"If you choose not to be a member of society - ie. you don't pay taxes or have a job, out of choice, should you therefore also lose your entitlement to tax payers benefits such as the NHS and education?
No cooking cleaning chilcare of your own children is not a "job" - it is a lifestyle choice that other people manage to do as well as working fo rthe community and paying taxes.
Housewives always seem to feel the need to point out all the "important" work they do - yet fail to realise that other people do that anyway - as well as holding down a proper job. Why not just admit that you don't want to work and are content to let other people support you?
Now parasites - yes, I like that word. All housewives are parasites - living off my taxes. They have no right to use any services that we pay for unless they give something back to the society on the otehr side of their doorstep. Charity work? Voluntary work? Oh no, painting toe nails and wearing sparlkly fip flops for the school run is so much more important!!"
From The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan:
"Housewives are mindless and thing-hungry...not people."
Gloria Steinem:
"[Housewives] are dependent creatures who are still children...parasites."
The first one was simply a working mother's diatribe against stay-at-home mothers and how they don't contribute to society, therefore, should not reap the benefits of society. I can excuse the bitter rantings of the discontent. Steinem and Friedan, however, are (in Friedan's case, "were", as she passed in 2006), very well educated and influential women. An interesting thing to note is that Friedan was very active in Marxist circles (and had friends who were investigated by the F.B.I.) as was Steinem. Karl Marx in "The Communist Manifesto" made a huge to-do about how a communist society cannot work if women are living under their husband's leadership, authority and financial gain. Marx also believed women had the potential to be the most effective political agitators. In other words - a woman at home was useless to the communist agenda.
Do not let feminists fool you. Most women who slap the "feminist" label on themselves talk about job equity, glass ceilings, freedom from sexual harassment, reproductive freedom, choices and the right to vote. They are not, however, quite as in-tune with what their second-wave radical feminist icons strove for - a communistic society - as they should be. Their brand of feminism has nothing to do with equality, and everything to do with using women as political pawns. If you brow-beat women enough into thinking they are worthless for having (or even wanting!) marriage and a family as your top goal and priority they are more easily persuaded to busy themselves with radical political activism.
Women who do have children are convinced staying home with them stifles them. Women should not be identified by their children and their children should not be their top priority. This falls into the "it takes a village to raise a child" mentality, which was an African proverb that has been perverted by those who seek a Marxist society. Children being raised, not by their parents, but by the public school system are even more impressionable, thus making it easier to indoctrinate them into harboring disdain for traditional family and gender roles.
Let us praise God daily for our unique femininity. We're the ones who bring life into the world from our womb. We're the nurturers, the educators, the helpers. Let us not be dismayed by how modern society views our role. We are exceptionally important to society when we are raising godly children for His purpose.
To get back on track I want to post an entry that has been weighing heavily on my heart - the disdain of housewives. What I do (and what many of you may do) is constantly under scrutiny and contempt. We're accused of not having a "real job". We're accused of not being "productive members of society". One word feminists like to use to describe us is "parasite". Sad, huh? About fifty years ago what we do was considered the norm. Young women worked in offices or as nurses until they married and had children. Most families were single-income where the husband worked and the wife stayed home. Here are some quotes I found while searching online.
The first comes from the UK Yahoo Answers board:
"If you choose not to be a member of society - ie. you don't pay taxes or have a job, out of choice, should you therefore also lose your entitlement to tax payers benefits such as the NHS and education?
No cooking cleaning chilcare of your own children is not a "job" - it is a lifestyle choice that other people manage to do as well as working fo rthe community and paying taxes.
Housewives always seem to feel the need to point out all the "important" work they do - yet fail to realise that other people do that anyway - as well as holding down a proper job. Why not just admit that you don't want to work and are content to let other people support you?
Now parasites - yes, I like that word. All housewives are parasites - living off my taxes. They have no right to use any services that we pay for unless they give something back to the society on the otehr side of their doorstep. Charity work? Voluntary work? Oh no, painting toe nails and wearing sparlkly fip flops for the school run is so much more important!!"
From The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan:
"Housewives are mindless and thing-hungry...not people."
Gloria Steinem:
"[Housewives] are dependent creatures who are still children...parasites."
The first one was simply a working mother's diatribe against stay-at-home mothers and how they don't contribute to society, therefore, should not reap the benefits of society. I can excuse the bitter rantings of the discontent. Steinem and Friedan, however, are (in Friedan's case, "were", as she passed in 2006), very well educated and influential women. An interesting thing to note is that Friedan was very active in Marxist circles (and had friends who were investigated by the F.B.I.) as was Steinem. Karl Marx in "The Communist Manifesto" made a huge to-do about how a communist society cannot work if women are living under their husband's leadership, authority and financial gain. Marx also believed women had the potential to be the most effective political agitators. In other words - a woman at home was useless to the communist agenda.
Do not let feminists fool you. Most women who slap the "feminist" label on themselves talk about job equity, glass ceilings, freedom from sexual harassment, reproductive freedom, choices and the right to vote. They are not, however, quite as in-tune with what their second-wave radical feminist icons strove for - a communistic society - as they should be. Their brand of feminism has nothing to do with equality, and everything to do with using women as political pawns. If you brow-beat women enough into thinking they are worthless for having (or even wanting!) marriage and a family as your top goal and priority they are more easily persuaded to busy themselves with radical political activism.
Women who do have children are convinced staying home with them stifles them. Women should not be identified by their children and their children should not be their top priority. This falls into the "it takes a village to raise a child" mentality, which was an African proverb that has been perverted by those who seek a Marxist society. Children being raised, not by their parents, but by the public school system are even more impressionable, thus making it easier to indoctrinate them into harboring disdain for traditional family and gender roles.
Let us praise God daily for our unique femininity. We're the ones who bring life into the world from our womb. We're the nurturers, the educators, the helpers. Let us not be dismayed by how modern society views our role. We are exceptionally important to society when we are raising godly children for His purpose.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)