Expelled!

Hi friends!

Well, if you're going to go see a documentary this summer, you should see THIS ONE!

Very interesting, both fun and serious, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" is an important discussion starter for people on any side of the creation-evolution-intelligent-design debate, and people interested in freedom of speech concerns. Check it out at a theatre near you!

We've been in the news....

The census stuff I've been involved with has gotten me into the news. Front page news. It was a little embarrassing but in the end very helpful to the cause. Here are some of the articles from the Kingston Whig Standard:

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1085859&auth=ERIN+FLEGG+FOR+THE+WHIG-STANDARD

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1087613

Let me know what you think.

Freedom Sale

Come one, Come all to the House Famous Freedom Sale at 49 and 51 York Street this Saturday from 7am to 1pm!!!!

We are raising money for the Kingston Crisis Pregnancy Centre by selling some of our possessions. You're welcome to come and drop off some of your own as well! Or come and support a good cause by picking up a few trinkets!

19-21

Most of our discussion of Genesis 19-21 focussed on 19: the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We lamented Lot's lingering, his plan to send his daughters out to the rapist crowd, and his eventual fathering of Moab and Ammon, perpetual enemies of Isreal, who eventually get destroyed in the end anyway. I would also like to point out that Moab and Ammon would have grown up like wild inbred hillbillies based on their isolated homeland in the hill country! I wonder how often they went back to check on their mom.

We discussed how living in a town like Sodom would make you the lingering type. The people of Sodom had gone so far wrong that they had the gall to accuse Lot of being judgemental for not letting them rape his houseguests. They were a liberal and progressive city unencumbered by the prudish morals of their forefathers!

We also talked about Abraham and how he must have felt after he saw the ruins of Sodom smoking in the distance only days after his bargaining with God in hopes of their salvation. Did he feel disappointment, resignation? As far as we could tell, he had no news of Lot either, so would he assume Lot was destroyed as well? I imagine he had a hunch that Lot was headed down a bad path and was quite worried about him.

Later our discussion moved to the recurring Old Testament theme of treating women like dirt. Abraham tells 2 major leaders that Sarah is his sister, saving his life by leaving her to their lusts. Lot offers his virgin daughters to the crowds. It's amazing how prior to the fall, men and women equally walked with God, and then the curse allowing men to rule over women sent things to such an awful tailspin. Praise God that in Christ there is now no Jew or Gentile, Male or Female, Slave or free. The curse is broken.

Finally we discussed the blessing of Ishmael the supposed father of the Arabs and Islam. The fact that God blessed Ishmael presents an interesting problem: if both Isaac and Ishmael are blessed, could all the religions of Abraham be blessed? We didn't really want to go there, but it got us thinking. We'd love input if you have some!

The God Who Sees...

El Roi. The God who sees.
Hagar, a mistreated slave impregnated by her mistress's husband, runs away from her oppressor with no other plan but to escape. This story sounds familiar. It happened in the USA on numerous plantations. It happened in Canada in residential schools. It happens in brothels and sweatshops. I hate that it has been happening since before the writing of Genesis. But it continues to happen no matter how much I or any human hates it. It continues to happen whether we fight it or not. And that is why we need a God Who Sees.
Though the oppressor wins time and time again. Though the enemy of the oppressed encroaches on territory that includes their very bodies. There is a God Who Sees.
And He is on the side of the oppressed. Justice will be served. And there will be a better world.
Our job is to live like that Justice is obvious, that the better World is already here, and that though we seem to fail, our attempts at this Life are worth the effort.

A Tale About Genesis 13-15

Abram sat down on the dusty, dry ground as he surveyed his days work. What a day it had been. First the LORD told him to track down a bunch of three year old animals and 2 birds and kill them. That wasn't so bad but the birds made life a little difficult. But then he had to cut them all in half. It seemed like it would be easy at first but then he discovered that a bone would not easily yield to his axe of bronze and that made life very difficult because cows have a lot of bones. It took him most of the day to get through the cow, the goat, and the ram but at last he was finished with that.

He wiped some sweat from his brow and looked over the odd scene; animals laid out, cut and mangled into two rough halves, and a pair of birds laying out. He wondered how long it would take for God to do whatever it was he intended to do. He had no doubt that this God would do something but he just wasn't sure when. Maybe it would be like that time when Melchizedek came out to bless him but only AFTER he started walking home. God always had his own timing for blessing for Abram, as long as Abram followed God.

After a while when the sun began heading downwards, the vultures began to circle overhead of Abram and he wondered if they would go after the gruesome scene before him while he was seated here. Sure enough, a little while later one of them got daring and headed for the heifer. Abraham got up and chased after it, yelling. It looked at him for a moment and then flew away. He returned to his seat but as soon as he had gotten comfortable, another one swooped down and headed for something hanging out of the ram. Abram leapt to his feet and chased after it, once again yelling. He decided it would be best to stay standing near the animals.

Then came night and Abram grew tired of standing. He sat and looked up; no vultures. He found the ground to be quite comfortable now and laid down to have a nap. He was sure God would wake him when he came.....

I'm going to court on Friday

Why I refused to send in the 2006 census...

As a Christian I believe a big part of my witness for Christ is to take a stand for the gospel of peace wherever the opportunity arises. Jesus taught us that peacemakers will be blessed, and so I try to live my life in a way that would receive some of that blessing. So when I discovered that the 2006 census was being counted by Lockheed-Martin (a producer of weapons of war, a corporation benefitting from the war in Iraq, and a producer of depleted-uranium weapons that make civilians and soldiers sick), my wife and I felt our consciences gave us no other choice but to withhold our census in non-violent action, understanding we were at risk of a $500 fine or 3 months jail time.

We, however, are not against the census itself in the least. We see it as a legitimate and useful tool for the government when used correctly. We feel that the government made a bad decision based on the bottom line, largely that Lockheed Martin could count the census more efficiently or cheaper than StatsCan could. When we eventually did hand in our census it was because we felt a census was useful, however, we defaced it's bar codes in hopes that it could only be counted by StatsCan rather than Lockheed-Martin technology. We also expressed our outrage in the comments section of the census and in a letter detailing our reasons for withholding.

In the bible, King David called a census once to count his available soldiers for future wars. The scriptures state that God was very displeased with this test of military strength, as our God would rather us trust in him than weapons or soldiers. In the end David wished he had never called the census and repented of his actions. In a similar fashion I hope that the Canadian government would repent from its use of a census intimately tied to a weapons manufacturer. In the future I hope our government will choose what is peaceful and responsible rather than what is financially efficient.