Quoteums

To:

Those who are weak,

To climates unknown did courageously steer
Through oceans to deserts, for freedom they came
And dying, bequeathed us their freedom and fame
Heart of oak are our ships. Heart of oak are our men.
-Unknown

My fellow Brothers who choose to send their seed to be instructed by heathens,

From these truths it would appear that the soul cannot be successfully cultivated by patches. We cannot have the intellectual workman polish it at one place, and the spiritual workman at another. A succession of objects may be presented to the soul, to evoke and discipline its several powers; yet the unity of the being would seem to necessitate a unity in its successful education.
- R.L. Dabney

My fellow Brothers who allow their daughters to leave the house naked,

A fair text deserves a fair margin.
-Thomas Watson

Mr. Starch,

In short, pietism leads directly and inexorably to impiety. But we have to take care; pietism should not be defined as having tight standards, but rather a problem of having inverted standards.
-Doug Wilson


Mr. Terry,

If a person can't tolerate wine, omit (the Sacrament) altogether in order that no innovation may be made or introduced.
-Martin Luther

Mr. Owen,

Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality.
-Unknown

Mr. John(son),

The goodness of God only remains, in all storms, the sure foundation to the afflicted, against which the devil is never able to prevail.
-John Knox

Mr. Marble,

E pluribus unum

The many faces of Ag

Probably 25% of my work is collecting data for research projects. Currently I’m in the field working on two projects (amongst my other work); one is classified pending and the other is monitoring milk composition of farms that switch from ‘conventional’ to organic. These farms are known as transitional dairies.
Tuesday morning I went to one of the transitional farms participating in the study. They are a 50 cow seasonal herd incorporating rotational pasture. As an aside, transitional dairies really bite the bullet (which is a good screening mechanism) in that they must produce (for the most part) organic milk while selling to a conventional market. The cows are to be managed using organic standards for 1 year before they become organic. In the same way, 3 years must pass for the land to be organic.
Being a congenial fella, after milking was done he took me on a tour of the place. He has a greenhouse that he raises calves in, and clear back in the corner were a few pigs. I’m always happy to see animals other than cows. It gets redundant seeing only bovines. So upon seeing the pigs I mentioned something about chickens fertilizing pasture, eating grubs, etc. Quickly he retorted back “have you heard of Joel Salatin?”
Saying to myself sarcastically “have I heard of Who!!!” I couldn’t believe my ears. I thought only wing nut Presbyterians were associated with that department of heresy.
After I picked myself up off the ground I said that I’m familiar with that name. I told him my friend just got back from Polyface last month.

This fella seems quite encouraged by Joel. He has several of his books and he is considering running chickens in the pasture next year. It made my week to know Joel’s stuff isn’t just in certain circles.

Mindlessness

"This Shining Moment in the Now"
by David Budbill


When I work outdoors all day, every day, as I do now, in the fall,
getting ready for winter, tearing up the garden, digging potatoes,
gathering the squash, cutting firewood, making kindling, repairing
bridges over the brook, clearing trails in the woods, doing the last of
the fall mowing, pruning apple trees, taking down the screens,
putting up the storm windows, banking the house—all these things,
as preparation for the coming cold...

when I am every day all day all body and no mind, when I am
physically, wholly and completely, in this world with the birds,
the deer, the sky, the wind, the trees...

when day after day I think of nothing but what the next chore is,
when I go from clearing woods roads, to sharpening a chain saw,
to changing the oil in a mower, to stacking wood, when I am
all body and no mind...

when I am only here and now and nowhere else—then, and only
then, do I see the crippling power of mind, the curse of thought,
and I pause and wonder why I so seldom find
this shining moment in the now.

I suppose with fuel prices, maybe this is the way to go. 'Course he's feeding jerseys and everybody knows they don't eat much. 

Hide-n-Seek and other childish games

Nay, the same Solomon the king, although he excelled in the glory of treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping and navigation, of service and attendance, of fame and renown, and the like, yet he maketh no claim to any of those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of truth; for so he saith expressly, “The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the glory of the king is to find it out;" as if according to the innocent play of children, the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to the end to have them found out, and as if kings could not obtain a greater honour than to be God’s play-fellows in that game.

Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1603)


I’m about 200 pages into reading a 700 page book by Daniel Boorstin called The Discovers. As the title partially reveals, it’s a compendium of ‘firsts’. Being such a large and daunting work to read let alone publish, you can only imagine how captivating a book it is that I’m nearly half done (ok, just over a quarter) and not wanting it to end.

I like his writing style and his approach seems to be compassionate, yet truthful, towards Judeo-Christian thinking. He first set the stage on the discovery of the clock. (Which, in a weird way reminded me of Watson’s quote about how he felt that there would never be a need for a household to own a PC) The clock is something which we can’t even imagine there being a time without. That is to say I can’t even think about thinking about being clockless. I have no reference point. I know what it was like to be single because I was once single. Also, I’m not old but I know old people and I can at least put myself in their shoes. But being separate from knowing what time it is or time specific appointments, I’m clueless.

Next Boorstin writes about the invention of the clock in relation to navigation. This section in particular interests me. He reveals the discovery of latitude and how that logically lead to Columbus’ voyage (which the author comments against being everything but heroic or daunting). He also parenthetically served justice to one of my longest unanswered questions in a chapter called ‘The Prison of Christian Dogma’.

Because of the Medieval Church after the takeover of Rome, the work of the Greeks was pridefully ignored. Needing biblical warrant and actual passages the church basically started from scratch in the 4th century. The study of geography did not fit into the then current learning programs, ex. the seven liberal arts, quadrivium, trivium, or linguistic disciplines. The author states, “For a thousand years of the Middle Ages no common synonym for “geography” was in ordinary usage, and the word did not enter the English language until the mid-sixteenth century.” (pg 100 emphasis mine) With Jerusalem being the center of the earth (umbilicus terrae) as per an anemic literal translation of Eze 5:5, all cartographers who wished to stay within the graces of the Church (and stay with the living) would comply with stated beliefs. All in all, Boorstin does an excellent job of unearthing the issues and politics behind flat vs spherical earth.
Ptolemy (A.D. 90-168) had calculations to prove a spherical earth and so did Erastosthenes (276?-195 B.C.?) along with many others.

Summarily, Boorstin tries to convey that the largest blockade to discoveries is an ‘illusion of knowledge’. Believing the earth to be flat is a classic example. If only the church was smart enough to use the sweat equity of Greek geeks, who knows where we’d be (maybe Mars, John). In reference to the first quote, I wonder if we Christians what to play our own game and make our own rules (even more so that heathens)?

Mel Shmel

Forget about Hollywood. You should visit Oberammergau in 2010.

Are you Saved?

More Heresy from the bottomless pit of Potatoes (russets, of course).

Act Accordingly

This post was taken from Doug Wilson.

Worship is not to be thought of primarily as an experience, after which we can say that we felt worshipful. Rather, worship is an act, after which we can say, or not, that we were obedient.

When experience is sought after in worship, we destroy the very thing we mistakenly exalt. When obedience is rendered in worship, we do have an experience -- the experience of obeying.

When you shoot at a target, you look at it afterwards to see if you hit it. If after a worship service, you look at your heart to see if you "hit it," you are aiming, shooting, and checking in almost complete covenant confusion.

But this does not mean that you should receive nothing from the worship, or that you should try to worship like a Stoic. Much of what passes for Reformed "God-centered" worship is actually nothing more than a proud stoicism. This pride says, "I come to give glory to God, and not to receive. I expect to be promoted to the ranks of the seraphim any day now."

No. Worship is a service in which actions are exchanged -- God calls us, we come, we confess, He forgives, He teaches, we listen, He invites, we sit down and eat, He blesses, and we go forth. Should we feel good about this? Of course. Is feeling good the point? Of course not. Glad obedience to the Word is the point.

Rolling Relief

The hills, they comfort my eyes.
They beckon for me to call them my home.
Trees attempt to reach the sky
They pull the earth as they grow.

The water, it tickles my ears.
It finds it’s way through the woods
(hills are sad when you see the tears)
being pulled by a force misunderstood.

The rocks, they complete my hands;
As if my hands need the work.
The fence is hanging to the land,
a bygone wonder which only to lurk.

The smell, my nose rejoices!
Sweet bliss of rotting trees.
You chuckle, I hear your voices.
Ignorant of smells pointing heavenly.

Shivering Timbers

The following are a list of nautically derived sayings that deserve to be described. I'm sure you, like me, have used these divorced of their true meaning. Now you know mate.



By and Large - By means into the wind, while large means with the wind. By and large is used to indicate all possible situations "the ship handles well both by and large".

Bitter end - the anchor cable is tied to the bitts, when the cable is fully paid out, the bitter end has been reached. The last part of a rope or cable.

Clean slate - At the helm, the watch keeper would record details of speed, distances, headings, etc. on a slate. At the beginning of a new watch the slate would be wiped clean.


Devil to pay(and no pitch hot) - 'Paying' the Devil is sealing the devil seam (qv). It is a difficult and unpleasant job (with no resources) because of the shape of the seam (closest to the hull).
(Devil seam - The curved seam in the deck planking closest to the side of the ship, next to the scuppers. A sailor slipping on the deck would be "between the Devil and the deep blue sea".)

Fly by night - A large sail used only for sailing downwind, requiring little attention.

Know the ropes - A sailor who 'knows the ropes' is familiar with the miles of cordage and ropes involved in running a ship.

Let the cat out of the bag - To break bad news (the "cat o' nine tails" being taken out of the bag by the bosun was bad news).

Loggerhead - An iron ball attached to a long handle, used for driving caulking into seams and (occasionally) in a fight. Hence: 'at loggerheads'.

Over the barrel - Adult sailors were flogged tied to a grating, but boys were beaten instead with a cane, while tied down over the barrel of a gun.

Pipe down - A signal on the bosun's pipe to signal the end of the day, requiring lights to be extinguished and silence from the crew.

Rummage sale - A sale of damaged cargo (from French arrimage).


Slush fund - The money obtained by the cook selling slush(qv) ashore. Used for the benefit of the crew (or the cook).
Slush - Greasy substance obtained by boiling or scraping the fat from empty salted meat storage barrels, or the floating fat residue after boiling the crew's meal. In the Royal Navy the perquisite of the cook who could sell it or exchange it (usually for alcohol) with other members of the crew. Used for greasing parts of the running rigging of the ship and therefore valuable to the master and bosun.

Son of a gun - The space between the guns was used as a semi-private place for trysts with prostitutes and wives, which sometimes lead to pregnancies.

Cues are Sticks

Dr. Leithhart has an interesting post on slavery. I've been wanting to read up a little bit on that considering all the 'hubbub' on the issue lately. However, as I'm sure Leithart would agree, America did get it's cues from ancient history. Unfortunately, though, it's too easy to be cruel.

Pleasant Destinations

The following is an article I wrote for our church newsletter a few months ago. Thought I'd post it here for all to read.





Just a Word

I don’t know where the phrase ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’ came from, but it’s obviously not correct. To be sure, it’s a playground mantra used to squirm out of a bad situation by youngsters ever since playgrounds have been around. But what’s interesting about this phrase is that we want it to be true. We only wish words didn’t hurt.
How is it that such a thing as mere words, movements of vocal cords, can be so powerful? Treaties signed and broken, friendships started and ended, marriages happy and divorced, all by words. God used words to speak to Abraham and Moses, Pastors employ words to encourage and admonish congregants, we use words to speak to each other and we teach our children words as a primary means of communication. As a matter of fact, God spoke before he wrote.
As sure as water is wet, everyone has said words they wish to take back. Impossible. Never. Too late. Fools are quick to speak says Proverbs. What is there about speaking quickly that the Bible calls foolish? I believe there are two major areas where what we say gets us into trouble. First, we say things we shouldn’t, and second we don’t say what we should.
Do you know anybody who has an opinion on everything, and isn’t afraid to let you know it? The self-proclaimed expert is really everything but that. It is said that the Greek painter Apelles was one day painting a warrior but he was uncertain on how to render his sandals. He asked the advice of a cobbler, but after a time the cobbler started offering advice on other parts of the painting and was rebuked by Apelles with this phrase: Sutor, ne ultra crepidam "Cobbler, no further than (your competence on) the sandal". The simple question is, ‘why do we talk so much!’. Partly, it’s because we want to appear smarter than we really are. We want to impress people with our supposed intelligence and wisdom. Although the Bible says, ‘…he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.’.
We can also say things we don’t mean when we employ the age-old tactic of flattery. Flattery should be despised by Christians everywhere. This insincere praise to further one’s agenda was first used by the Devil in the Garden. ‘You shall be as gods’ he said while wringing his hands. Surely, he was more subtle than any creature. Those who flatter actually hate the recipient of such talk. (Pr 26:28) Flattery will get you nowhere pleasant.
However, saying what should be said is also wrong. Moses refused to say what God commanded based on an assessment of his own skills. We haughtily look at Moses’ disobedience and exclaim we would do whatever God equipped us for. Do we? Or do we stutter and stammer and make excuses for ourselves? Are we swift to spread the Gospel of peace to those who are dead in sins?
James says that mere words are so powerful they can be likened to the rudder on a large ship. Or a like a small bit in a horses mouth. It’s no coincidence that horses and ships are images of both conquest and peaceful commerce. In the same way, our tongue can be harmful or helpful. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.


A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Pr 25:11

Si decem habeas linguas, mutum esse addecet. -- "Even if you had ten tongues, you should hold them all."’


Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Jms 3:9