Sunday Meditation

⁶ For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Website of the week

This week’s website is:

CollegePlus! – online education for less, in less time.

My brother Joel is doing some of his college degree program through CP, and now he has 81 credits in just over a year!  We have several acquaintances who have also used their services, and were pleased with the result.

This is another way to “do higher education” which I would highly recommend.  You will save time, money and years of foolishness!

Check CollegePlus! out online.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

A video Phoebe and I recorded for the I Am Not Ashamed project – check it out!

Sorry there was not video this morning – I just fixed the link, so now you can watch.

The Hegelian Dialectic

Right now I am studying the roots of modern philosophical and theological thought, and in my studies I of course ran across the prominent German philosopher, G.W.F. Hegel.

Let me first off tell you a bit about Hegel the man, before I embark on what he thought and wrote about and how that impacts you today.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born in Stuttgart, Germany in August of 1770.  He was brought up in the Protestant tradition, but fell under the sway of Greek and Roman thinking whilst at prep school.  This shaped his worldview, and his later writings.  He initially got degrees in both theology and philosophy from the University of Tubingen.  Later he acted as a tutor, until his rich father bequeathed a large sum on him, and he quit his teaching job.

He wrote his important work The Phenomenology of Mind (1807) whilst at the University of Jena.  During these years he was a journalist for the Bamberger Zeitung in Bavaria, and the headmaster of a preparatory school (Gymnasium) in Nuremberg, Germany.

He married Marie von Tucher and with her had three children, a daughter and two sons.  He also had an illegitimate son, Ludwig from a previous relationship.

Among his published works are:

The Science of Logic (1812, 1813, 1816)

Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Outline (1817)

The Philosophy of Right (1821)

The Philosophy of Fine Art (1835-38)

Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837)

He died in Berlin during a cholera epidemic, November 14, 1831.

Those who strongly influenced him:

• Baruch Spinoza (Dutch philosopher)
• Jean Jacques Rousseau (French writer)
• Immanuel Kant (German philosopher)
• Johann Gottlieb Fitche (German philosopher)
• F.W.J. Schelling (German philosopher)

Now for the Dialectic:

The dialectic is actually quite easy to understand, when explained properly.

The dialectical method involves the notion that movement, or process, or progress, is the result of the conflict of opposites.  Traditionally, this dimension of Hegel’s thought has been analyzed in terms of the categories of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis… The thesis, then, might be an idea or a historical movement.  As a result of the conflict a third point of view arises, a synthesis, which overcomes the truth contained in both the thesis and antithesis.  This synthesis becomes the new thesis that generates another antithesis, giving rise to a new synthesis, and in such a fashion the process of intellectual or historical development is continually generated.  Hegel thought that Absolute Spirit itself (which is to say, the sum total of reality) develops in this dialectical fashion toward an ultimate end or goal.”  Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia 13 (emphasis my own)

We see this dialectic played out all around us.  Beyond that, I’m not going to say anything else, because I am just now studying it and need to learn more before I attempt to expound upon this complex topic.

One interesting thing to note, is that Antonio Gramsci and Saul Alinsky (Rules for Radicals) relied heavily on the Hegelian Dialectic in their writing.  And both Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx used the Dialectical method in their “New Lanark” and Marx in his Communist Manifesto to transform society into “warring classes” or what we see today as class warfare.

Interesting.  I look forward to sharing with you more as I study the men who shaped the world!

MMM Recipes for Life

The recipe I want to share with you today, I came up with on Sunday afternoon.

Risotto Rice (variations on a theme)

You will need:

• 1 bag (16 oz.) brown rice
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp. all natural sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 pinch Horseradish root powder
• 1/2 tsp. Celery seeds
• 1 tsp. Thyme leaves (dried)

In a large iron skillet, add safflower oil (or your favorite cooking oil) until bottom of pan is thoroughly oily.

Dice yellow bell pepper and garlic, add to skillet, turn on.  Saute bell pepper and garlic until slightly brown (about 2 minutes), add brown rice.

Add tomato juice, let simmer for 5 minutes, add more tomato juice or water until the rice is fully submerged.

You will need to stir the rice every couple of minutes to prevent scorching or burning.

Cooking time – 1 hour (or until desired softness, more if you like your rice mushy)

Serves – 8

1000 Gifts

21. Encyclopedias – a vast treasure trove of new things to be discovered

22. the wind

23. Jaden, my baby brother

24. meaningful conversation

25. computers

26. church services that help me to grow spiritually

27. towering oak trees

28. soft pillows – a complete luxury

29. my own garden with little plants promising to produce healthy food later this year

30. the pastoral countryside

My list will continue to grow as I praise the Lord each week here on my blog!

To join in the praise click here.

Profound

Our ultimate ethic is pragmatism, our ethic is not God’s law anymore we’re a nation of pragmatists. And that especially applies to conservatives and republicans, conservatives are pragmatists, and because conservatives are pragmatists. Conservatives have guaranteed to lose this battle, they will lose, they know they are going to lose, because they have adopted pragmatism.  They have abandoned God’s law as the ultimate source for human ethics, and therefore we are predestined to a continued slide into Gomorrah, as long as we are pragmatists.” Kevin P. Swanson

A psalm for the Sabbath~

18:1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalm 18:1-6 ESV

Website of the Week

I was provoked to share with you a wonderful resource in the area of gardening, seeds and organic living.  This week I want to highly commend to you the work of Jere (say J-air) and Emilee Gettle, and the crew at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Go check out: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds!

This year, we used these fine folks to purchase the bulk of our garden seeds.  What they are doing for the foods of this country, and for the world really, is wonderful.  Treasures from by-gone days.  Real food for you and your family!

And you can sign up for their beautiful catalog: http://rareseeds.com/about-2/catalog-requests/

A timely reminder

The War Inevitable, March, 1775

Patrick Henry

They tell us, Sir, that we are weak, — unable to cope with so formidable an adversary.  But when shall we be stronger?  Will it be the next week, or the next year?  Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?  Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?  Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?  Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.

Three millions of People, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.  Beside, Sir, we shall not fight our battles alone.  There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.  The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.  Besides, Sir, we have no election.  If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest.  There is no retreat but in submission and slavery!  Our chains are forged!  Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!  The war is inevitable; and let it come!  I repeat, Sir, let it come!

It is in vain, Sir, to extenuate the matter.  Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace!  — but there is no peace.  The war is actually begun!  The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!  Our brethren are already in the field!  Why stand we here idle?  What is it that Gentlemen with?  What would they have?  Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  Forbid it, Almighty God!  I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

From ONE HUNDRED AND ONE FAMOUS POEMS, c.1929, The Cable Company, Chicago, page 177.