tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post543014430297537525..comments2024-03-27T15:47:46.091-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: Some blessings are not all that beneficial. . .Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-39781749544213970842015-09-12T14:16:00.106-05:002015-09-12T14:16:00.106-05:00"Genesis spells out the consequences of sin: ...<i>"Genesis spells out the consequences of sin: death, disease, famine, pain, suffering"</i><br /><br />John, no one here has argued otherwise. But Genesis and the rest of Holy Scripture did not proscribe the use of vaccines, fluoridation, or other efforts to improve health, reduce suffering, and extend lives. <br /><br />For example, following Louis Pasteur's discovery in France during the 1860s that germs cause some diseases, public education and awareness grew about the relationship between germs and disease and the use of hygiene to reduce the spread of disease (penicillin, an antibiotic, wasn't discovered until 1928). <br /><br />This education also resulted in major change in the cultural and social-political life of the United States (and western cultures in general), and spurred many inventions and American cultural practices:<br /><br />The increased use of the modern indoor bathroom, complete with a flushing porcelain toilet,<br />Window screens,<br />Flypaper,<br />Linoleum (replacing carpeted or wooden) flooring, especially in the bathroom and food preparation areas,<br />Safety razors (for clean-shaving faces at home; beards declined in popularity),<br />Vacuum cleaners,<br />Lysol,<br />Drinking fountains, rather than ladle or cup next to a public water faucet, <br />Cellophane, for wrapping food, <br />Municipal water supply systems and regulations to provide safe drinking water,<br />Sewer and plumbing improvements and regulations, like the sewer trap,<br />Refrigerators, <br />Doctors washing their hands before surgery and using disinfectants, <br />Dental hygiene (before the 20th century you had a 50-50 chance of surviving a root canal),<br />The practice of washing hands before and using clean utensils when cooking, <br />Short skirts… well, at least initially, skirts above the ankle so that dragging hemlines would not carry germs from the sidewalk or street into homes.Carl Vehsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00348831096001668813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-84148942084895497582015-09-12T12:40:59.617-05:002015-09-12T12:40:59.617-05:00Carl, Genesis spells out the consequences of sin: ...Carl, Genesis spells out the consequences of sin: death, disease, famine, pain, suffering. The earth is cursed and believers and unbelievers alike will experience these things. But in the end, the child of God will prevail. And in this temporary life, the Bible tells us, we may seem to suffer while the wicked prosper. But their prosperity will follow their damnation. Reading Hebrews 11 will remind us we are Pilgrims and Strangers on the earth, and we need to never forget it.John Joseph Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06596324816480709495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-83576054509894749222015-09-12T08:59:13.299-05:002015-09-12T08:59:13.299-05:00"Isn't it amazing that the folks before u...<i>"Isn't it amazing that the folks before us turned out so well given that they did not have fluoride in the water, no seat belts in the cars, moms smoked and drank during pregnancy, kids shared rooms and wore hand me down clothes, we worked hard before we played, and we carried around all sorts of aches and pains."</i><br /><br />No it is not amazing, because it ignores those folks who had few or no teeth before they were 40 because of no fluoride in the water or poor dental hygeine; it ignores those <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/U.S._traffic_deaths_as_fraction_of_total_population_1900-2010.png" rel="nofollow">people killed</a> or maimed in traffic accidents; it ignores moms (and dads) who woke up nightly with coughing fits until they died of emphysema or <a href="http://www.lung.org/assets/images/chart-and-graphs/LC-Incidence-by-Sex.png" rel="nofollow">lung cancer</a>; it discounts children who suffered or died early from the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome because their mothers drank; and it is not amazing because it ignores the tragedies from these causes by combining such now-preventable or lowered-risk causes with other trivial or anecdotal childhood examples. <br /><br />In the last 35 years as a pastor, how many <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/20/Iron_lungs.JPG/1024px-Iron_lungs.JPG" rel="nofollow">children in iron lungs</a> from your congregation have you had to visit? Isn't it amazing that the folks (except those who didn't survive) before us turned out so well given that they didn't have polio, hepatitis, diphtheria, tetanus, influenza, measles, mumps, or rubella vaccines?Carl Vehsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00348831096001668813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-43691685002949064132015-09-12T08:31:58.144-05:002015-09-12T08:31:58.144-05:00Generalizations about almost anything can be troub...Generalizations about almost anything can be troubling., A statistical and accurate measurement of evangelicals and their attitudes is difficult to ascertain. There is much truth in what was said about the pursuit of happiness, but that aspect is common to most people in and outside of the church, in all cultures and in all periods. However, the pursuit of happiness for one group is sometimes accomplished through power and warfare, thereby bringing misery upon another group. Man can be kind. Man can be a beast. In pursuit of happiness, the seeking of an ultimate happiness without pain is a common goal. Evangelicals can find happiness in being a child of God, and the Bible does not prohibit us from desiring to enjoy the fruits of our labors, however, the caveat is to not set our hearts on these things and neglect our God, and to walk humbly before Him.John Joseph Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06596324816480709495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-70005239932059430142015-09-12T06:40:06.916-05:002015-09-12T06:40:06.916-05:00"Only a stranger to religion in America would..."Only a stranger to religion in America would deny the fact that the fervor of evangelical Christianity is about quality of life."<br /><br />I'm sorry but as an ex-evangelical this is simply rubbish. It would be absolutely fair to say a major portion of modern evangelicalism could be described in this fashion. It was not true historically and it is not true of a major portion of evangelicalism now. There are many possible critiques of evangelical errors and flaws but this misses the mark. <br /><br />My grandfather was an evangelical missionary. I never knew him because he wore out his body on the mission field through malaria and very challenging physical conditions so that people could hear the gospel who had never heard it. Two of his friends were martyred by the Auca Indians. Those men, one of whom had fought in the Battle of the Bulge as a paratrooper, made a conscious decision not to defend themselves if attacked understanding that they were reconciled to God while those they sought to reach were not. There are still evangelicals with that mindset. <br /><br />Evangelicalism can fairly be critiqued for its errors but a pathetic man like Osteen does not encompass the bulk of the evangelical world.David Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11966977894876326659noreply@blogger.com