I’ve read both sides of the story and have increasingly found that those against paedocommunion hold empty arguments, dissecting scriptures beyond recognition or intention and that they strain at a gnat and swallow the camel. God gave His ministry to uneducated disciples and sent them out to proclaim the gospel. God did not make scripture difficult to understand – indeed he gave it to the simple and the poor and the Holy Spirit reveals knowledge and while I believe whole heartedly in exegesis there comes a point that you are so busy with it that you can fail to hear what the Spirit is saying. Maybe someday someone will convince us from scripture clearly why children are to be “starved.”
I would like to make some clarification about the above statement that I made yesterday in my blog on paedocommunion. The above quote is in reference to those in the church who believe that their education gives them the “right” to discern and divide scripture (which reeks of Popery) when it is the Holy Spirit’s job to reveal and illuminate. This does not mean that I think those are invalid and mine valid. Just a note that we should be careful that we have “ears to hear” no matter what our education level.
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. — Isaiah 57:15
Lord, may I be of a lowly spirit and contrite in my heart! Amen
Sometimes I get tired of controversial discussions but sometimes I just can’t help myself because I love a great discussion. So here it is for what it is worth-why we believe in paedocommunion. Respectful comments are great, rude comments will not be welcome.
Luke 18:15-17 People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” (Matthew Henry Commentary here.)
The Lord’s Supper was instituted at Passover. The entire household was present. The youngest child in the house was to ask questions regarding “why?”(I’ve read arguments that the rules regarding Passover were changed by the Lord later but no one can show absolute proof that the children were no longer present. They just speculate and mutilate verses. These people also make the point women were not present so based on that it would be in error for me to take part in communion as well.)
At what age do we come to an excellent and full understanding of the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do we as adults, imitating the pharisees, expect that we have obtained full knowledge of this sacrament and forget this it is because of God’s great mercy that we even understand what we do.
We are a covenant family and as such believe our children have rights to the sacraments as part of our family, not that it is the guarantee of their salvation but a sign that we are a covenant family. (I understand that this point of view regarding covenant families is not accepted by all which is why I list it as a reason.)
What age is the age of accountability? We have found no such scripture. Indeed, I do find that we were accountable from birth as being totally depraved and unworthy of the grace and mercy of the Father. Year to year I grow and find just how unworthy I really am as I understand God’s law more and more. Doesn’t this hold true for children as they also grow and are taught in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord?
When we partake of communion we are commanded to do so in remembrance of Him who was sacrificed – our Lord Jesus.
God imparts grace to us through this meal – why would we deny this grace to our children?
I’ve read both sides of the story and have increasingly found that those against paedocommunion hold empty arguments, dissecting scriptures beyond recognition or intention and that they strain at a gnat and swallow the camel. God gave His ministry to uneducated disciples and sent them out to proclaim the gospel. God did not make scripture difficult to understand – indeed he gave it to the simple and the poor and the Holy Spirit reveals knowledge and while I believe whole heartedly in exegesis there comes a point that you are so busy with it that you can fail to hear what the Spirit is saying. Maybe someday someone will convince us from scripture clearly why this can not be so.
Several years ago when I was a single lass I went to a friend’s house to cook dinner. In the middle of cooking one of my favorite Chinese dishes (Mongolian Beef) in walked my friend’s eight year old niece. She was very inquisitive and watched me cook for a while before she asked what I was cooking. My reply, of course, Mongolian Beef. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that she was searching very hard for something and I asked what she was looking for. “I’m looking for the box.” said she. “The box?” said I. “Yes,” says she, “the box the food came in that you are cooking.” I could barely contain my laughter as I replied, “there isn’t a box.” Her eyes got big as dinner plates, she just couldn’t believe that it.
“Yes, Virginia, you can cook “outside the box.”
I am extremely grateful for a mother who taught me to cook from scratch. Not that we never used boxes but they weren’t so common that at the age of eight I thought you couldn’t cook without them. In my teenage years my Mom and I explored the world of Chinese cooking. While our goal was not to achieve real ethnic Chinese cooking my goal was to cook what I had eaten at the local restaurant and beyond. Although I won’t brag, It is enough to say that certain of the dishes I cook leave the restaurants in the dust. Being modest – maybe it is just because it is “fresh.”
The other day I was excited to figure out how to professionally roll an egg roll so that it looks like one from a restaurant. Here follows my personal recipe:
One package of egg roll wrappers (I DO know how to make my own but OH the WORK!!) You can usually find these in the refrigerated produce section of your supermarket. Walmart, of course, is the cheapest.
1 lb. shredded cabbage (I cheat and buy cole slaw mix)
1 lb. cooked ground turkey (we used wild, fresh ground) or ground pork, some people like sausage. Whatever your taste.
3-4 green onions, diced
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 -2 tbsp. hot chili sauce (or more if you can take it)
Toss ingredients 2-8 together and spoon about 1/3 cup into the egg roll wrapper. Follow the wrapping directions on the package. Notice I do NOT put only 2 tbsp filling in it as the package suggests. What a joke! You’ll have to figure out for yourself how to make it look restaurant style on your own. If I was there I’d show you. Fry in hot oil (375 degrees) for 5-6 minutes. Makes approximately 20 egg rolls.
Just about the time I had given up hope that these chickens would ever lay eggs a small brown freckled one appeared in the nesting box yesterday. I’m really frustrated however that we have been feeding them for six and half months before the arrival of their first egg. This particular breed that was given to us is a slow growing meat bird and is not one that I would have chosen for myself. Cornish eat massive amounts of feed compared to the Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons that we have had in the past. These latter two breeds would have started laying in October. Nevertheless, I am excited to have our first egg from the Cornish and am doing the happy egg dance.
The garden is already starting to bounce around in my mind and there are “places” for certain things such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, field peas, pole beans, corn, and winter squash. The spot for the swiss chard and beets has been planned and only the tomatoes, peppers, and zuchinni need a spot. It will be quick work once I put it all on paper. We’ve decided not to plant lettuce since my stomach can barely take it anyway and focus on spinach & greens. My fingers are just itching to get it all on paper.
The biggest decision falls on what type of tomato to plant next year. Whatever it turns out to be there will definitely be some different approaches this year. Never in my life would I have dreamed that I would read an entire book about dirt, soil, and compost but I devoured it and have learned some techniques that I am going to experiment with next year like double digging the ground and adding compost as the bottom of the trench as well as the top. In my clay soil I think that I will see some serious results from this technique.
You eagerly pick up your first “How To Be Frugal” book only to find you could have written it yourself.
You’ve stretched a leftover meal by adding some ingredient and making yet another superb dinner from it.
That superb dinner from the left over meal – you managed to stretch it again for yet another dinner or lunch.
You get laughed at when you ask someone if they want to save their Easter grass for next year.
You even reuse as much of your garbage as you can for some other purpose. (i.e. paper for starting fires, scraps for the compost, cans for crafts)
You save as many seeds as you can from your garden so that you don’t have to buy seeds again.
You build an outhouse to save on your water bill. (dropped our bill by 4000 gallons last month which will save us approximately $264.00 per year)
You found that if you can your own beans and chicken broth that the price is pennies on the dollar instead of a dollar.
You burn dead trees from your property to avoid an outrageous winter electric bill.
You are on developing friendship with all the workers at the local resale shop and they are always happy to see you walk in. They may even know you by first name.
Some serious sinus drainage had turned into a bought with bronchitis several weekends ago and I was terribly disturbed to realize that we had used all the canned chicken broth. (At this point I seriously do not recommend taking medicine to dry up the drainage from your sinus passages because it also dries out your lungs making coughing phlegm a really painful experience.)
All that aside, I went to the store today and bought a 10 pound bag of leg quarters and have boiled them according to this recipe here. DO NOT leave the dill out of the recipe! (Benefits of dill) Initially the dill added a unique subtle flavor that I didn’t care for but it grew on me. I’ve toyed with the idea of adding tons of garlic to the broth. Currently, I have 7 quarts of chicken broth in the canner and would like to add another canner full to my shelves in the next week or two. It really helps you to rally after stomach bugs in particular since dill is antiviral.
The hustle and bustle of summer has come to an end and slightly slower fall days are settling in; which allows more time for reading, silent planning and contemplation of all things garden.
Being outside in sunny crispy cool weather inspires all types of new projects concerning chickens and gardens. The garden is particularly stuck in my mind right now and the specific subject: soil improvement. (Secrets to Great Soil by Elizabeth P. Stell) Which through no fault of my own also involves the unpenned roosters that remain uneaten. (Even when I garden I can’t get away from chickens – can’t even get away from them when I blog apparently!)
His ears must have been ringing as I was blogging. Malachi tried to run him out but he decided to run the wrong way so I had to get him out of the house.
Last year at this time, Jerry and I built a movable chicken pen for roosters but alas PVC and chicken wire DO NOT hold up to 2 inches of ice. It was beyond repair. *sigh* The plan is to rebuild the movable pen and once again use PVC. The last pen was 8 foot long and 4 foot wide and difficult to move. Difficult not because it was heavy but because the PVC bent when we picked it up. This time it will be 4×4x4 foot. One thing that I’m unsure about is whether or not it will be predator proof . The old pen couldn’t be overturned by a dog but maybe this smaller one could be? (and you think – what does this have to do with the garden. Just hang on. I’m getting there. I digress once again.)
Let’s just pretend I have my new cage built and here is the plan. Take the pen and put it in the garden. Fill it one fourth of the way up the four foot height with straw or hay or leaves, throw in some roosters, drop corn and compost to them everyday and those lovely little roosters will be a self contained compost bin right into my garden. Have you seen how fast those birds can compost hay and straw! When they get done with one spot move them on to the next and spread out the compost. I’m telling you – its pure genius. (yes, I know that fresh chicken poop is “hot”)
It has come to my attention lately that I’ve been blogging less and less and I had to ask myself, “why?” Homeschooling takes a lot of my time and cooking and planning school and taking care of a newborn are all things that consume my time as well. I love writing but lately it has taken a back seat to all these important things.
Lately, during “down time,” I find myself sitting in front of the computer screen riffling through page after page on Facebook trying to find out what all my friends are saying to each other while I sit and nurse the baby. After all,you can mouse one handed but it takes forever to type that way. It becomes a challenge to find everything as FB keeps changing things around just about the time you get used to them. Immediately after the change the comments on my status updates dropped and I stopped commenting as well wondering where everyone had gone but I digress. (I love that word – digress)
I’m really trying to get to my point here but it is difficult for me to arrange my thoughts in paragraph order. It seems I’m losing the ability to write, not only on the paper but the thoughts aren’t even flowing in my mind they way they used to. This is THE problem with Facebook for writers and the educated.
It creates short term focus.
It handicaps your thinking because of number 1.
No one likes it if you leave overly long comments.
If you post long statuses inevitably your “friends” hide you because they don’t have the “time.”
Very few actually appreciate educated comments.
Those who appreciate educated comments fear to post their thoughts because they don’t want to be torched.
After much time spent on Facebook it seems the ability to form intelligent writing begins to wane as you become stuck after the first sentence or two.
You begin to wonder if anyone can post anything intelligent and then realize that you really don’t either. “Jonine is staring blankly at the computer screen. Jonine is going to get another cup of coffee. Jonine wonders where her mind has gone.”
The more challenging things I post the less response from people I get.
People write before they think and hit the post button – me included.
Time wasted on FB instead of on your favorite hobbies such as herbs, crocheting, sewing, and gardening limits your experience and hampers continuing your education with new research and information.
FB makes you lazy in regards to spelling and grammar. I would love to see one well punctuated sentence. FB doesn’t make a way to edit typos.
I could go on but to be truthful I’ve been hard pressed to get this far. I know what I mean and what is bouncing around back there but I haven’t worked on it in my mind for a day before I typed this like I normally do.
So here is my advice….
Ignore what everyone else is saying unless it is longer than a sentence.
Type something educational into your status and force people to learn something new.
Don’t forget how to write! Use your “leave a note” page.
Abstain from putting your bodily aches and pains in your status box. Unless, of course, you really need the prayers. (I’m guilty here) And please, if you do put your aches and pains don’t be angry at me if Ican’t resist giving some herbal advice. After all, I’ve been reading about it for 10 years and I’m just telling you what I’ve learned.
Everyone needs a happy thought – don’t spoil their day. (Jonine Blackshear is grumpy today.)
Okay, I’m going to go follow my own rules now. Happy Facebooking and don’t let it make you stupid!!
We’re moving up in the world with the addition of a third bathroom with two toilets! I can’t tell you how excited we are about this and what a great job my husband has accomplished. Not only is it a needed addition but it will also be green. All waste will be composted naturally instead of wasting water on flushing and holding the waste in a cement tank for permanent storage. The waste will return to the land.
The bathroom will complete as soon as we install a permanent door. Right now we are using a tarp for the job. The boys find it exciting and Petra has decided to be generous and let it be their bathroom and not hog it all for herself. I happily grin each time the boys use it as I know I’m saving money on my water bill.
As I listened to this in whole hearted agreement with John Piper, his statement about WHY don’t these preachers go into the hospital emergency rooms or cancer wards or places like this if they are such servants of Christ hit me like a ton of bricks. In all the years that I used to follow this line of prosperity gospel I don’t know why it never crossed my mind. A religion of selfishness and greed in the name of Christ.
1BUT UNDERSTAND this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].2For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.
3[They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.
4[They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.
5For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them]. 2 Timothy 3:1-5
