Joshuah's House: Christian ladies

Showing posts with label Christian ladies. Show all posts

The Danger of Uneducated Opinion - Part 2

“King David had many wives given to him as gifts. King David was not happy with so many wives and continued on to find his ideal in Bathsheba.”

Where does the bible say that King David was unhappy or found his ideal in Bathsheba ? Well, it doesn’t. This statement is just an opinion, not based on Scripture at all, but on assumptions.

But let’s have a look at Scripture to see what it actually does say: Why did David desire Bathsheba, and why did he marry, for example, Abigail ? The case could be made that Bathsheba attracted him mainly sexually (2Sa 11:2-4), while Abigail impressed him with her actions (1Sa 25:32-35). The lady who stated the above things about King David says, therefore, that King David’s ideal was purely carnal. Oh well. A few paragraphs later, she says:

“A carnal man will take territory without soul searching.”

I have to assume that this applies to King David as well then, which makes no sense given the fact that she claims he kept on searching for his ideal.

Read the whole article on our new blog.

Technorati Tags: Christian ladies, group experience, Joshuah's House, King David, plural marriage, polygamy

The Danger of Uneducated Opinion - Part 1

Last night I was asked on yet another Christian ladies' group what my stand was on polygamy. Naturally, we were very hesitant to elaborate on anything, knowing full well where all this would lead. We weren't asked because someone was genuinely interested in knowing, but to provide a stage for someone to spout off her take on the matter.

And indeed, we were not mistaken, for we woke up this morning to a long rambling about the messed-up psyche of the polygamous man and woman (and of the messed-up psyche of King David, by the way), a long post of yet another person stating her opinion without a shred of Scripture to back it up. She claims to be her "brother's keeper", and yet does nothing else but throw mud at us, claims that polygamy is an abomination, and that we are posting our website link in my yahoo signature in order to impose our false doctrine on innocent and unsuspecting people. She provided no Scriptural foundation for any of her claims and assumptions, but just stated her opinion, which actually turned out to be a lot of psycho-babble.

Read more here.

Technorati Tags: polygamy, plural marriage, group experience, Christian Ladies, King David, Joshuah's House

A Simple Life, but Godly

We have been blogging about a simpler life for nearly two weeks now, sketching what can be done to start living simpler (you still haven't dragged your TV set back into the living room, or have you ?), giving you ideas about what skills you can start to develop right now to prepare for a self sufficient life in the countryside. Are your tomato seeds growing well ? Did you sew a skirt or two and throw out all those low cut tops you used to wear ? Did you get a book from the college library about herbal remedies, or home schooling ? Well, if you did, that would indeed be a good start.

But caution is needed... Read more.

Technorati Tags: simple living, college, back-to-college, TV, christian ladies, modest dress, God's Law

Simple Life Skills

What skills do you need to live a simple life ? Or does this questions sound odd to you already ? "Skills, isn't that something you need if you do something complicated ? Isn't that something that I am going to college for right now ?"

Well, there is no doubt that you might acquire some skills during your college years that will be helpful in the field you chose for yourself. But the skills needed for a simple life are of a different nature.

Read More.

Technorati Tags: Simple Living, skills, college, back-to-college, Christian ladies, Joshuah's House

Simpe Living by God's Design II

Why do people uphold one idea of the bible and take it to extremes, while disregarding other parts of His Law-Word, much like the Pharisees in Jesus' time did with their ritual washing of hands, pots and pans ?

Read more.

Technorati Tags: simple living, God's Law, Christian ladies, Tota Scriptura, Joshuah's House

Simple Living At Odds With the World

There seems to be one thing that stands between God and many people nowadays, and that is the fact that they care about what other people think. Most people care more about what their relatives, friends, neighbors,co-workers and even strangers they pass by on the streets think about them than about what God says is important. They dress up, use make up and elaborate hairdos, buy a car that can compete with their neighbor's, and try to blend in with society as best as they can, while at the same time standing out as being special, yet not "strange" or "weird" or "peculiar". Even if they claim to believe in God, they try to be just like the other girls at college, and don't even find it odd that you cannot tell a Christian lady from any other girl there, they all look the same, wear the same clothing, eat the same things, and are all equally carried away by the cares and concerns of the world. It's obvious that people place man above God in this respect, since they care more about what everyone else thinks than what God wants.

Following God's word puts us at odds with the world, at every turn, as Jesus said it would, so we feel comforted and comfortable being God's "peculiar people".

Read more.

Technorati Tags: back-to-college, college, Christian ladies, simple living, peculiar people, Joshuah's House

Simple Living, Simple Clothing

So now that you don't watch TV anymore and have started your own little vegetable garden, and probably have also considered not using hair spray anymore and just letting your hair grow long, and wear a nice head covering, let us have a look at the clothes people are wearing.

When you go to classes, have a look around. Read more.

Technorati Tags: simple living, simple clothing, skirts, dresses, christian ladies, back-to-college

Time On Your Hands

So, did you do what we suggested yesterday, and finally switched off your TV, probably moved it from your living room up to the attic or into the basement or into some cabinet where you keep things that you usually don't need ? Or did you freecycle your TV set already ? Great !

So you have time on your hands now. Read more.

Technorati Tags: Simple living, TV, growing vegetables, back-to-college, christian ladies

Simple Living in Practice, Lesson #16

Today, we would like to sum up the benefits of simple living, after having addressed so many different issues over the recent weeks. What is the fruit of a simple life that relies on God's Word alone as the standard ?

First of all, simple living under God's authority frees you from the cares and concerns of the world, thereby allowing you to focus on the more important aspects of life. Less clutter in your life, starting with the TV, fashion, gossip, and other mindless spare time entertainment, facilitates a richness of the inner life and brings you back to the roots of our existence, to man as a created being, created to serve and glorify and worship the Creator, and not the creature.

Simple, natural living promotes conversion of the mint and heart, and allows God's Spirit to permeate every aspect of life. Not that it is us that allow God to do anything, mind you. No life style can bring you closer to God if He has reserved you for damnation, and there is no way that we can save ourselves. But if God has opened your mind and heart towards him, if you are allowed to hear what He says, a simple life is going to be the only way to live everything God asks of you, and that is, to live and work as unto the Lord, and to be fruitful, and multiply, and subdue the earth, that is, to be good stewards of creation and build His Kingdom within the family. This includes living with the natural cycles as God created them, and avoid exploitation of any form.

Furthermore, living simply according to God's plan creates relationships of a different quality. Living within the multi-generational family, where everyone is of value to the whole and where everyone has his and her place and role, where everyone supports the other one on his and her way with God, is a very different form of family life than the typical nucleus family life most people are accustomed to nowadays, where the family members are more of a group of individuals who each do as they please most of the time than a family in the biblical sense. Simple Living according to God's design creates communion with each other, and it furthers communion with God, since one of its main features is studying the word of God and putting it into every day life practice.

Technorati Tags: simple life, Christian ladies, God's creation, nature, homesteading, self sufficiency, separation, SAHM, plural marriage, polygamy, dominion covenant, multi-generational family, Joshuah's House

Simple Living in Practice, Lesson #14

Let me develop a thought or two about simple living by God's design in reference to the news we posted in the previous post. Many fish of the Great Lakes died last year, and obviously this year a similar scenario is on it's way. People worry about "infected water" and trying to prevent the virus that befalls the fish from spreading, and their main concern is obviously the sports-fishing industry. To provide them with strong and healthy fish populations is the goal of all the measures taken and restrictions made.

See, you can do the right thing for the wrong reason, and you will be held accountable for your reasons too, and not just for what you did. It is certainly a good thing to try and keep the fish alive, but if you do it for economic reasons, and not as part of the stewardship God appointed to men in Gen 1:28, you are nothing but one of those false prophets Jesus talks about in Matthew 7:15-23, for even if what you do looks good, you are still not doing it in His name, and therefore work iniquity, lawlessness. Just like you can think all you want about how to turn your Sunday into more of a Lord's day, unless you read the bible and do what God tells you to do on the Sabbath (including the specifics of the day itself as the last, not the first day of the week), whatever you do will be for naught. You don't buy bread rolls on Sunday mornings anymore because you don't want to further Sunday work, and Sunday work has been an issue in your church for a while now? Sounds good, but God says, not only should you do no work, but also should you neither buy nor sell on His holy day, and you should rest, and study, not to mention that the Sabbath is not a Sunday... No matter how many religious books and magazine articles you read on the matter, unless you rely solely and completely on God's word as practical guidance, the chances that Jesus will not know you on the Last Day are fairly high.

Why do I say all this ? What does it have to do with simple living ?

The simple lesson from these examples is this: Make sure that you do not come up with your own design when it comes to your simple life, make sure that your manual for life is not men's tradition, not even church tradition, but God's will and Law-Word alone. Teach your children what God says when you home school them, and not something oh so very emotional, but unbiblical. They may believe now with all their heart that churches that aren't charismatic are dead churches by virtue of the fact that their members don't jump during services, but one day your children will be old enough to realize that they made a fool of themselves by proclaiming such nonsense... Beware.

Technorati Tags: simple life, home schooling, Christian ladies, God's creation, nature, homesteading, self sufficiency, separation, SAHM, plural marriage, polygamy, dominion covenant, multi-generational family, Joshuah's House

Simple Living in Practise, Lesson #13

This past week, we have been dealing with a number of different and seemingly unrelated topics, with keeping stock and the issue of household gizmos and gadgets, with the influence of TV yet again and yesterday with a godly farming time frame. So let me take the opportunity today, as the Sabbath approaches, to show how all these, and a million other individual issues, are related.

In today's world, people tend to separate the different parts of their life from each other. There is the family, there is work or college, there is church life, there are hobbies, there are friends, there is social involvement, there is "private time", there is empty time. The latter, of course, is avoided as best as possible, as well as anything that might produce boredom, so constant entertainment and activity are essential, and within a family, often enough each member runs off to a different activity all day long so that members of a family hardly ever see each other anymore, other than, most probably, when they "line up" for the bathroom in the morning. Some families at least are keeping up regular meal times together, but for others, not even that is manageable anymore.

Well, we at Joshuah's House think that this compartmentalization of life is one of the reasons why society is "going to hell in a hand basket" - families are nothing but groups of individuals anymore who live under one roof, the house is divided, and nobody even thinks that's a problem.

But God has different plans for us, He has set up rules and roles and a vision, without which the people will perish, and this vision is closely bound to God's Law-Word: "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he" (Pro 29:18). All of life, every aspect of it, is to be brought under God's authority, the manual for life is His Word as we find it in Scripture (and Scripture alone), and the place where we can live best according to God's plan is nowhere else but in the multi-generational family.

So all the different aspect we have been dealing with, not only those of last week, but everything that we are addressing, is part of family life, and no matter what is done or decided, there is only one standard Joshuah's House goes by: The Heavenly Unrevisable Code.

So much for this week... Have a restful Sabbath, and stay tuned for more next week.

Technorati Tags: simple life, family life, college, Christian ladies, God's creation, nature, homesteading, self sufficiency, separation, SAHM, plural marriage, polygamy, dominion covenant, multi-generational family, Joshuah's House

Simple Living in Practice, Lesson #11

TV again - yes, I know that a while ago, I already addressed TV, but experiences with people who claim to be following a simple living guideline and also classify themselves as born again Christians indicate that another word about TV is needed.

The idea presented by these people was that, although generally speaking, TV is "bad", there are some shows that are just great, like documentaries about animals, cooking shows, and the like, and that, the more channels you have to choose from, the easier it is to find the good shows ! Oh well. I find it highly inconsistent, really.

How much money do you pay monthly for 200 TV channels ? And is it really really worth it, if you are only looking for very specific shows ? Are you not deluding yourself into thinking that you are only using your TV for the good things ?

Well, let me say this: Television is a market, an industry, and it is the one medium that brings the evil right into your living room, or your children's bedroom. It comes in all shapes and sizes, as commercials, news, movies, documentaries, and it catches your attention almost against your will. It teaches you and your children more and more subtly than you are aware of, and it steals time you are supposed to devote to much more important matters - your family, your husband, God.

Can you not go to a library and borrow a book about animals, or a cookbook, and if you like a recipe especially, copy it into your own cooking booklet or folder, or, if you found a really really great book, decide to buy it after all ?

Why in the world would you want TV to educate you and your children ? Why in the world would you want to waste your money on a corrupt industry that doesn't do anyone any good other than generate money for those that run it ? Do you not have better things to spend your money and your time on ?

Technorati Tags: simple life, home schooling, TV, Christian ladies, God's creation, nature, homesteading, self sufficiency, separation, SAHM, plural marriage, polygamy, dominion covenant, multi-generational family, Joshuah's House

Joshuah's House