apples galore

Family fun with the cider press...

Everything in moderation...and that goes for apples and cider, too.

I warned Isaac to stop eating apples.

I guess he had to figure that out for himself.

Hours later.....Mommyyyy!!!!! Come wipe meeeeee!!!!

you are...

...what you read.

Do you believe it? I almost do. Rather, you become what you read.

Here I am, ranting again -- this time about books. Books are often viewed as sacred truth. It's because they're bound together in a nice, neat fashion with a pretty cover and a catchy title. It bothers me how influential some authors are. The books we choose to read shape our minds, whether we want them to or not. The Shack, for instance, is, in my humble opinion, a novel that raises many theological questions. One reviewer called it "a theological novel that teaches far too much unbiblical theology." If a person reads *too many* of these ungrounded novels or even shaky non-fiction "Christian" books, his own belief system could easily start becoming shaky. We may call ourselves "discerning" and tell ourselves we won't be changed by it, but we are what we eat.

Girl Meets God is an autobiography of a young woman searching for truth...somewhere within books stacked high. This woman is a prime example of how beliefs are altered from what you read. She claimed to have found the truth by the end of the book, but that's not what it seemed. This was another woman looking for truth in the wrong place, just like a blind, starving prisoner would grapple for crumbs in the middle of cold, dark, wet jail cell.

I could go on, listing more books that are not worth your time. You can visit the Discerning Reader website. I don't agree with everything the reviewers say, but they sure do bring up interesting points in their book reviews.

The bottom line...

Where do we find good truth? The only Book you can trust completely.

God's Word.

Read it.

And let yourself be transformed by it.

food for thought

My personal convictions don't typically make it onto paper, but this one's been brewing for a while. I am convinced that we are numb to what rubbish we feed our minds. The filth we allow to permeate and cloud our brains....we have no clue how detrimental it is! Do I dare stick a verse onto this conviction? Yes. Colossians 3:2 instructs us to set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Accomplishing Colossians 3:2 is impossible in our own strength, and as long as we live in this world, we can only improve in merely striving for that goal...but still, not in our own strength. As a Christian, we are promised the Holy Spirit as a Counselor to open our blinded eyes, restore our spiritual vision and enable us to see the Truth of the gospel of Christ. We Christians will fail. We will sin. We are not perfect. But still, there are conscious decisions we can make that may enable us to stand firm and "do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).

What difference would it make in our daily thought process if we started the day with real spiritual food? Are we feeding our minds with the media's trash when reading a book would be much more nourishing?

My fingers are pointing to myself. A while back, I checked out the movie Gladiator from the library. We've seen it several times. It's rated R for violence. If you've ever seen this movie, you'd probably recognize my favorite part. The corrupt emperor demands that the leading gladiator tells him his true name. Maximus turns around and says, "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next." The awful emperor trembles, just like we want him to.

We call this entertainment. Entertainment that we watch when the kids are in bed, or entertainment that we PAUSE if our children walk into the room. This is just one example. What about most cable TV shows? What about our Facebook habits? What about the novel we're reading? What about feeding our minds with our own selfish inner-mind rantings for 3+ hours at a time? How nourishing is that?

Really, what is feeding our minds? How does entertaining myself with Gladiator fit in with the command to "do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31)? Not sure. Check out John Piper's interesting post on how to drink orange juice to the glory of God. A practical solution to Gladiator: don't check it out...or (m)any movies for that matter. A practical solution to inner-mind rantings: feed myself with God's truth...such as..."take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5).

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2 ESV). Christians should be different, living IN but not according to the world. There are good and bad choices we can make. Which ones are fruitful?