Its a sin

The Oxford's new dictionary aimed at children has taken out words such as sin and added words like blog and MP3 player. While I understand the need to keep up with the times, the words they took out were important. (Read the story: here) Baudelaire wisely noted that: "the devil's best trick was to convince us he doesn't exist". In a world that is increasingly falling apart we would do well to remember the definition of sin. Of course there is the religious implications of a society that blurs the lines, but in the late 1800s Durkheim (a Sociologist) came to the conclusion that the moral confusion that comes with modernity led to higher suicide rates. This is a phenomenon he called anomie.

Only so much one can do.

I look around me and see so much cruelty so much hate. I do believe love will triumph one day, but in the meantime it can be so hard to take. I wish I had an endless amount of time and money and words to give to the causes I care about, but I don't. Especially money this time of year and with the way the economy is going.... It's so frustrating sometimes. There's only so much one person can do. I feel like I'm trying to drain the ocean with an eyedropper.

Goulash

I cook much like the way I was raised (minus the meat.) For the most part it is simple cooking with non-expensive ingredients. Both my parents are decent cooks who don't really use recipes. They throw stuff together that sounds good and it usually ends up being tasty. This is why I don't really post recipes often, but for some reason I have had the urge too.

This is a meatless take on a meal growing up that my parents called "Goulash"
(measurements are basically guesses)

1 cup cooked pasta (elbow or shells)
3/4 cup spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup garbanzo beans (also known as chickpeas)
any other veggies you want.

Throw it in a pan and heat and serve.


Now for some ideas for giving back this season:
Donate cans to your local food pantry. Canned food can be bought relatively cheaply. Here you can buy a can of veggies, fruit or beans for $1. You can spend less than $5 to help someone who needs food. All over the news is stories of longer lines at food pantries with less to go around.

An eco-tip:
There are many ways to save wrapping paper: Use bags that you can reuse or reuse old wrapping paper. Wrap presents in old paper shopping bags, cloth or old ads.

Have a merry Christmas all and a happy holiday season. :)

Vegan Cookies part 2

Argh! The pictures aren't working.... oh well.
Here is the link to the recipe I thought some might want it:
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour (I use organic, unbleached, white flour)
1/2 cup sugar (I use Florida Crystals)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 egg replacer
cinnamon and sugar for coating
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6394.0

The changes I made were instead of egg replacer I used a tablespoon of lemon juice and added an extra tablespoon of maple syrup. They came out a little crumbly but otherwise perfect. I also decorated them instead of putting cinnamon and sugar.

Joyful Vegan Baking

I love Christmas cookies!
I baked and decorated sugar cookies tonight, I felt like a little kid.
I'll probably post pictures later.

Attacks on Free speech

Thank you to the Canadian blog: ProWomanProLife
to alerting me to the threat to free speech that is occurring. For more information check out the blog (p.s. if you enjoy the blog as much as I do please vote for them for the Canadian bloggie awards) but I will give you a basic rundown of what happened. Pro-life groups are being told they can not hold up signs showing the realities of abortion,because they are too graphic. I would like to point out that as a life activist I do not use graphic images. However, this is a college campus, not an elementary school. These are adults and if they are old enough to have an abortion then they should be old enough to see what the aftermath looks like. Not to mention that you don't have to be pro-life to be outraged by the University's decision. You just have to enjoy free speech and want others (even those whom you may disagree with) to be able to enjoy that as well.
So, please take a look at this well-written sensible blog.

Recent Elections

One good thing to come out of the recent elections was that Proposition 2, in California, passed. I was ecstatic. Prop 2 banned confining animals in crates. After all the sweat,tears,prayers,emails,blogs,flyers... I can't believe it passed!!

Not all the news was good. Proposition 4 or Sarah's law would have made it mandatory to inform gaurdians of a minors intent to have an abortion. It lost by 4% Pro-lifers will need to double their effort now. We can do it. I have faith. More sweat and tears and prayers are needed.

The dangers of abusing knowledge

"Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."
Luke 11:52

I was reading a post from a blog I frequent that is called R.A.G.E. Media. This is how they describe their mission

"R.A.G.E. Stands for Rebellious Affirmation of Greater Existence.

The phrase has a double meaning: First, that there is a greater existence for humanity than we generally realize. We sell ourselves short, in other words, of our potential and our purpose. Secondly, that there is a superior being greater than ourselves. "

The post was about embryonic stem cell research specifically, but I have been thinking a lot about how many scientists are abusing the knowledge that our creator gave to us as a gift. Their is great danger in doing so. It sounds silly, but you can look at old science fiction novels to see where our society is headed and how eerily accurate they have been so far. Yes, it is still fiction, but all fiction is rooted in some fact. Schindler's list is a good example of this point. The blog quotes a sci fi computer game where a robot sings about science. Read the lyrics and blog here. One of the things the robot says is 'we do what we must because we can.' It really struck a cord with me. This seems to be the philosophy of the many unethical scientists of today. It must have been a divine appointment then when I was reading C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet and came across these quotes:

"You cannot be so small minded as to think that the rights or the life of an individual or of a million individuals are of the slightest importance in comparison with this [advancement of science] "

"I happen to disagree," said Ransom, "and I always have disagreed even about vivisection[animal dissection/testing]... " (pg.29)

I added the words in the brackets to elaborate. It just chills me that some people really feel this way. So, what will history say about us? That we wasted the brain God gave us or that we used our knowledge wisely? That we created something terrible and monstrous such as in the movie I am Legend or that we created (ethically) something that enriched and/or saved lives? Will the history books declare "Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.(Deuteronomy 4:6) With the way things are going I am glad we have a master author with a plan.

Mother's day

Proverbs 10:31
"10A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her.
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."

I cut parts of it out, only because it is a very long passage, but worth reading all of it. If you are a young woman (such as myself) it should be the reference for the characteristics we should strive for. I thought these verses were relevant to today. Especially the last few where we are called to praise and bless our mothers for all they do for us.

Now, I'd like to speak about two issues close to my heart. (No, I will not let politics take a holiday off as a subject of my blog. Injustice never sleeps, so neither will I.)

The first is abortion. Please give pregnant mothers hope and an alternative option. Please support local pregnancy centers. Donate time, money or items to them. You can even donate for free by using the search engine good search. I bring up abortion as a topic for mothers day because abortion not only effects the child, but the mother as well. I love and respect women. The "pro-choice" movement has deluded America into thinking being anti-abortion is the same as being anti-woman. How can I be against my own gender?



The other issue is the treatment of mother hens and cows in factory farms. Please take a look at these other blogs:
universal mothering
Maternal instincts belong to all animals

because they deserve better.

I wanted to post a few lyrics from Relient K's song Death Bed. It is a beautiful song/story about redemption.

[Jon Foreman of Switchfoot sings, as the voice of Jesus:]
I am the Way
Follow Me
And take My hand
And I am the Truth
Embrace Me and you'll understand
And I am the Light
And for Me you'll live again
For I am Love
I am Love
I, I am Love

(thanks to http://www.findlyrics.com/relient_k/death_bed/)

It is a long song, almost 11 minutes, but well worth it. It is so well written.

The face of abortion

In 1970, three years before Roe vs. Wade knocked down all laws against abortion in the United States, California had already legalized abortion. Sarah’s mother, Betty, had an abortion in Los Angeles. Neither she nor the the abortionist realized she was carrying twins. As a result, one of the twins--Sarah--survived the abortion.

"Somehow, miraculously, I survived!" says Sarah. "My twin brother wasn’t so lucky. Andrew was aborted and we lost him forever. Several weeks later, my mother was shocked to feel me kicking in her womb. She already had five children and she knew what it felt like when a baby kicked in the womb. She instantly knew that somehow she was still pregnant." Sarah’s mother went back to the doctor and told him she was still pregnant, that she had made a big mistake and that she wanted to keep this baby.

"To this day, my mother deeply regrets that abortion," says Sarah. "I know the pain is unbearable for her at times when she looks at me and knows she aborted my twin brother. Mom says ‘the protective hand of Almighty God saved my life,’ that God’s hand covered and hid me in her womb, and protected me from the scalpel of death."

Sarah survived the abortion, but was born with bilateral, congenital dislocated hips and many other physical handicaps. Nine days after her birth she was taken to an orthopedic surgeon who applied a cast to each of her tiny legs. "My mom would remove these casts with pliers every Monday morning and take me to the doctor to have new casts put on," she recounts. "At six weeks I was put into my first body cast. Many surgeries and body casts followed over the next few years."

Sarah’s life has been painful in many ways, and her future holds more painful surgeries for her. Yet Sarah says she continually thanks God she survived the abortion. But the pain is not hers alone and not merely physical. The emotional pain continues, she says, for everyone in her family. "In memory of my brother Andrew, we bought a memorial gravestone and placed it in a cemetery in Southern California. It reads: Andrew James Smith, Twin Brother of Sarah - in our hearts you’ll always be alive - November 1970."

On April 24, 1996, Sarah Smith delivered a powerful address at the international "Congress for Life" in Rome, organized by the Legionaries of Christ to celebrate the first anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae - The Gospel of Life. Sarah told the conference how she came to discover the dreadful secret that she had somehow intuitively felt:

"I did not know of the abortion until I was 12 years old. I grew up feeling that I was the same as my friends, except for having numerous surgeries and physical complications. The only difference I felt was an incredible loneliness and a knowledge that something was missing. I never felt whole.

"I battled with severe depression and found myself dying of anorexia nervosa at age 12, when my mother knew it was time to tell me the truth. She sat next to me and took my hand and looked me in the eyes and said, 'Sarah, you are a twin. I aborted your twin brother and tried to abort you. Please know I did not know what I was doing and I pray someday you are able to forgive me. I love you and need you to know that you are a welcome part of our family.'

"At that moment I knew what I had been missing all my life and that I was called to something much greater than I had knowledge of. Immediately I felt the overwhelming pain of the knowledge that I should be dead.

"As I stand before you today," Sarah told her Rome audience, "I am painfully aware that this is only possible because my twin brother took a scalpel for me, and I stand in his place and memory, giving him honor and a face. Statistics are coldly impersonal and cannot convey the human tragedy of the abortion slaughter. Thirty-two million babies [have been] killed in the United States alone. Yet every one had a face, a life, a Creator who loved them and created them in His image. As you look at me today, you realize that I am no different than you, yet I stand before you today a representative of the dead - a representative of the innocent lives who today may lose their lives. Who will speak for them?"

politics

What is wrong with people? Why do so many people feel you can only support animals or humans and not both? This isn't Sophie's choice. It is quite possible to dedicate half your time,money and effort to both causes. Must animals suffer just because humans do? I poise this question to both animal rights activists and pro-life activists. You are both, generally, hypocritical and inconsistent. Animal rights activists: Please consider the basic right of unborn humans to live. Also, consider the welfare of the mother. Abortion isn't the easy choice. There are women who suffer physically and/or mentally from abortion. To pro-life activists: Stop this insane crusade against animals. Especially, those of you who are religious. Take a moment to actually read your bible and consider the fruits of the spirit in Galatians: "For the fruit of the spirit is love, joy,peace,patience,kindness,gentleness and self control. Against such there is no law"
and to all: Don't blindly swallow the common thoughts of those around you. Don't blindly swallow anything I have to say either. Use criticial thinking. USE YOUR BRAIN.

Though I do not agree with 100% of the content on these websites here are some good links:
"Abortion and Animals rights: The connection"
http://www.all-creatures.org/discuss/abor-ar.html
"Coming to terms with Abortion and animal rights"
http://www.notmilk.com/abortion2.html
pro-life vegan group on livejournal
http://community.livejournal.com/prolife_vegans/

It has been pouring rain here in "sunny" southern California. A few days ago after a particularly bad day at work I got into my car to drive home and grumbled at the weather. "How appropriate" I thought as the gloom reflected my mood. Then, suddenly I saw it or rather them. Not one but two rainbows flashing colorfully in the sky. A sign perhaps. A gentle whispering from God. I'm still here. I care.

"God continued, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I'm putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth."
-Genesis 9:12-16

America is a nation of walking dead. Britney Spears is a good example of this. She is slowly killing herself and destroying the lives of her children. Our media looks on and treats her like a freak show instead of getting her the help she needs. Now more than ever do we need God's healing. So many youth are trapped in by mind-numbing materialism, vanity and the despair that comes from being so far from your loving creator. So many lost souls. So many turning to eating disorders, self-mutilation and suicide. I am but one person trying desperately to shake the senses into my generation. Awake America's Christians! We have the key to unlock the chains these lost souls do not even realize bind them. How can you not be moved by their plight? In the least you should be praying for them. If your spirituality begins and ends on a church pew you have not fully understood the gospel!

Don't We All
Author: Unknown

I was parked in front of the mall wiping off my car. I had just come from the car wash and was waiting for my wife to get out of work. Coming my way from across the parking lot was what society would consider a bum.

From the looks of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no money. There are times when you feel generous but there are other times that you just don't want to be bothered. This was one of those "don't want to be bothered times." "I hope he doesn't ask me for any money," I thought.

He didn't!

He came and sat on the curb in front of the bus stop but he didn't look like he could have enough money to even ride the bus. After a few minutes he spoke.

"That's a very pretty car," he said.
He was ragged but he had an air of dignity around him. His scraggly blond beard keep more than his face warm.
I said, "thanks," and continued wiping off my car.

He sat there quietly as I worked. The expected plea for money never came. As the silence between us widened something inside said, "ask him if he needs any help." I was sure that he would say "yes" but I held true to the inner voice.

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

He answered in three simple but profound words that I shall never forget. We often look for wisdom in great men and women. We expect it from those of higher learning and accomplishments.

I expected nothing but an outstretched grimy hand. He spoke the three words that shook me. "Don't we all?" he said.

I was feeling high and mighty, successful and important, above a bum in the street, until those three words hit me like a twelve gauge shotgun.

Don't we all?

I needed help. Maybe not for bus fare or a place to sleep, but I needed help. I reached in my wallet and gave him not only enough for bus fare, but enough to get a warm meal and shelter for the day. Those three little words still ring true. No matter how much you have, no matter how much you have accomplished, you need help too. No matter how little you have, no matter how loaded you are with problems, even without money or a place to sleep, you can give help.

Even if it's just a compliment, you can give that.
You never know when you may see someone that appears to have it all.

They are waiting on you to give them what they don't have. A different perspective on life, a glimpse at something beautiful, a respite from daily chaos, that only you through a torn world can see. Maybe the man was just a homeless stranger wandering the streets. Maybe he was more than that.

Maybe he was sent by a power that is great and wise, to minister to a soul too comfortable in themselves.

Maybe God looked down, called an Angel, dressed him like a bum, then said, "go minister to that man cleaning the car, that man needs help." Don't we all?

I recieved this story from a pal on the care2 website. Thank you!

Soothing Lentil soup

Well, I've been sick for the last few days and haven't cooked much. I know I don't post recipes often anyway, but the last two things I baked turned out poorly. So, I've been relying on cans of chili and baked beans etc. They are fine but not as well balanced as I normally try to eat. Luckily I turned to some fool-proof comfort food. I pulled out the crockpot (or slow-cooker), tossed in the ingredients and let it do the work while I went to church. When I got home I had a big pot of steaming soup waiting for me. A perfect lunch for a sore throat.

Lentil Soup
-4 cups water
-1 cup dried lentils (picked through)
-2-3 baby carrots
-1 small potato or 1/2 a medium sized one
- 1 radish
-1 celery stalk
- 1/8 cup onion, diced
-salt and other spices (i.e. dried oregano,pepper) to taste

Plug in crockpot and pour water and lentils in. Turn on high w/ lid off while preparing veggies. Wash and chop veggies and add to pot. Add a small amount of seasonings. Put lid on and leave for about 3 hours. Towards end you can check and taste to see if you want to add more seasoning, but try to leave lid on. Note: you may substitute split peas with lentils and just use carrots and celery (maybe even some zucchini.)
Enjoy!