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They immediately ask me if I enjoy my job. I love my job. Why? Why do I love my job? Well, I have a fantastic boss and work with some awesome people, but more precisely.

I was six years old and I went squirrel hunting. When I returned to the cabin, Mawmaw asked me if I got anything. I was excited to tell her, “No! But I missed that squirrel by this much! I almost got him.” as I pinched my thumb and forefinger together allowing no more than a sliver of light to pass between them.

Pawpaw walked in, overhearing the conversation, and he flatly injected, “Almost don’t count son. You can’t eat almost. Miss by an inch or miss by a mile, you’re still going hungry.”

That simple teaching of wisdom in my grandparent’s kitchen buried itself deep in my psyche, putting down roots that plumb the depth of my thoughts. I became a man of absolutes, there are no grey areas, everything is black and white. I struggle to comprehend how the rest of you people live. There is only the data and the logical conclusions, True or False.

Could have? Might have!? Could have does not count! Maybe doesn’t count. I took a shot, doesn’t count. Almost doesn’t count!

I love what I do for a living because my career is a sanctuary from the variables in the outside world. In this profession, we deal with absolutes. Period! In this job, this is what counts!

This is boolean algebra, denoting a system of algebraic notation used to present logical propositions. True and False are never equivalent, this is the solemn vow of boolean logic. In this profession, False is never going to break that vow and decide that it doesn’t need to not be True and it is just going to run off and become logically independent of True because it decided that it wanted to become Maybe, Might Have, or What If!

False is never going to come home from work one day and say you know what, I think I need my own logic space, see ya. Then George Bool has to come in and tell True, no, you can’t let False do that. You gotta go get False back!

Laying the foundation (in the 1800s) for the information age, Bool maintained that :

No general method for the solution of questions in the theory of probabilities can be established which does not explicitly recognize, not only the special numerical bases of the science, but also those universal laws of thought which are the basis of all reasoning, and which, whatever they may be as to their essence, are at least mathematical as to their form.

Pure boolean logic is the bedrock of digital circuitry and modern computing, and my job is to shape the stuff. As with squirrel hunting, almost just doesn’t count. If my solutions are not absolute, I go hungry … and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I am innocently reading the same verse they are, and seeing the verses say that the issue at hand is derived from the creation and celestial origins, and they just keep saying “cultural” over and over again. I’m looking at you 1 Corinthians 11:1-16.

Maybe I do not comprehend the context. These are clever folk, I should go back and see.

• 1 Corinthians 11:1 – Imitate Paul, as he imitates Christ.
• 1 Corinthians 11:2 – Commended for remembering Paul and maintaining traditions. Traditions is maybe cultural, but I doubt it because these particular traditions were imported to the Corinthians, in that Paul (not a Corinthian) delivered the traditions to them.
• 1 Corinthians 11:3 – But – meaning in contrast to. In contrast to what? It seems to be, in contrast to the traditions. What is in contrast to traditions? Understanding God’s design for headship and submission in His creation as opposed to maintaining traditions?
• 1 Corinthians 11:4-5 – Describes the design for headship and submission and points out some specifics. Men who pray or prophesy with their heads covered, dishonor Christ. Wives who pray or prophesy with their head uncovered dishonors her husband because it is as if her head were shaven.
• 1 Corinthians 11:6 – Women ought to cover their head. It is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head. Why? Verse 14 says we should know this because creation tells us this. But I am getting ahead of myself. At this point, we just know it is disgraceful because the Bible says so.
• 1 Corinthians 11:7 – Men ought not to cover their head.
• 1 Corinthians 11:8 – Woman was made from man.
• 1 Corinthians 11:9 – Woman was created for man.
• 1 Corinthians 11:10 – That (because of the way woman was created – there is that creation concept again) is why a woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head … and because of angels (there is the celestial concept).
• 1 Corinthians 11:11-2 – Despite the creation order and causes, men and women are not independent of each other and both are created by God.
• 1 Corinthians 11:13 – Judge (form an opinion or conclusion) for yourselves … Judge what? The rhetorical question! Paul is the master of the rhetorical question. Just check out Romans 3:1-9 for some other easy examples. “Is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered?”
• 1 Corinthians 11:14 – How do I conclude it is rhetorical? Because he answers it himself. He points out that creation (not culture) itself teaches you the answer. Specifically, creation tells us that if a man wears long hair, it is a disgrace for him.
• 1 Corinthians 11:15 – Creation itself also teaches us that if a woman wears long hair, it is to her glory. A woman’s hair is given to her as a covering.
• 1 Corinthians 11:16 – If anyone wants to argue for another view (ref 1 Timothy 6:3-4), they are arguing for something apart from Paul and every other (in separate cultures) Church of God.

I simply can not find a context for culture. It seems particularly awkward to attempt to claim the context is cultural when, by all appearance, Paul militates against that by clearly articulating that the issue is a deviation from creation and celestial causes.

Yet folk still desire to be contentious.

What about Nazarites!?

Clearly, the hair on the head is of some great importance to God. While God created a normative framework of hair length and head coverings for men and women, He also chooses to use the hair on the head as a symbol of vow keeping before God, making the head particularly holy and consecrated (which is not natural in a fallen world) to God (ref. Numbers 6). So, God has decreed an exception to the natural order. He is God, He can do that. If you are male, and take a Nazarites vow, grow your hair long and … keep all the other old testament laws regarding Nazarites. Good luck. Women do not need a Nazarite vow to grow their hair long, but they would still have to shave their head at the end of the vow.

What about illness? What happens if a woman gets cancer .. or lice?

Scripture prescribes shaving the head for a number of illnesses. Leviticus 14 for example. Scripture is not against shaving a woman’s head for health reasons. However, illness leading to shaved heads for women is not normative, it is another exception to the rule.

How long is long? How short is short?

I believe when we get to this question, we see that the person asking the question is no longer concerned with the scripture, but are concerned with getting what they desire. The implication, if not the outright statement, is that if there are no discreet measurements to keep, then the whole passage is invalidated because in some culture, men wear their hair down past their shoulders and that culture does not consider that long. Or women cut their hair above their shoulders in this culture, but still, consider that long.

What in the world!? Here is how we do it in our household.

I desire to glorify God in everything I do, including how I cut my hair. So I work diligently to make it a point to keep my hair trimmed to the point that no one accuses me of having long hair. I strive to keep every hair on my head under four inches … because I was military. That can be a challenge with those weird hairs that grow on my ears.

I typically shave the sides of my head and keep the hair on top of my head short. Sometimes, I go a month without getting my hair cut, and some of my hair might actually touch my ears. I do this primarily because the scripture in question tells me that the length of my hair communicates my honor of Christ to … God, Christ, angels, and other Christians.

Tracey desires to glorify God and honor me in everything she does, including how she cuts her hair. So she works diligently to make it a point to grow her hair as long as she is able and maintain it in all of its glory. So she gets the dead ends cut, keeps her hair in good order, and wears it to her glory. She does this primarily because the scripture in question tells her that the length of her hair communicates her honor of her husband and Christ … to God, Christ, angels, her husband, and other Christians.

We train our children in this, and every one of them has rebelled. My boys all want to grow their hair out long. My daughters have all wanted to cut their hair short. We tell them that when they move out, they can choose for themselves, and as long as they live in our house this is one of the ways we will serve the Lord.

I suppose the list goes on and on. People who do not want to follow this prescription for hair in the family of God will poke and prod at anything. To return to the point of this post, it seems clear to me and mine that whatever it is, it is not cultural.

If you are inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, neither does the Apostle Paul nor do the churches of God.

The short answer is that we believe all contraception is bad, that is how we live, how we raise our children, and what we teach.

1. We believe God is sovereign (Isaiah 46:10, Job 42:2, Proverbs 19:21, Hebrews 6:17, Et al.)
2. We believe God causes all things to work together for our good and His Glory. (Romans 8:28, Ezra 8:22, Et al.)
3. We believe every good gift is from God (John 3:27, James 1:17, Psalm 85:12, Et al.)
4. We believe every soul ever conceived is a good gift, a heritage, AND a reward from God to the parents that soul is entrusted to. (Psalm 127:3, Genesis 33:5, Deuteronomy 28:4, Deuteronomy 7:13, Deuteronomy 30:9, Genesis 49:25, Et al.)

Because we believe these four things, we necessarily believe that any attempt to avoid conceiving a soul is sinful in that it places us in opposition to God and demonstrates an unbelief that a sovereign God knows how best to knit souls together.

Every time my wife and I have sex, I pray that God will give us another child. Everytime.

A few questions are invariably asked:

• Celibacy – What about celibate people?
• Abortifacient Contraception – You are talking about abortifacient contraception, not methods that prevent fertilization, right?
• Risk of Life – But the doctors said it would kill my wife. You wouldn’t risk your wife’s life, would you?
• Miscarriage and Stillbirth – We have already lost babies in pregnancy, you wouldn’t understand the emotional suffering that causes. If that was the case for you, do you really believe you would feel the same way?
• Good Stewardship – We just can’t afford more kids. If you were in our financial state wouldn’t you focus on being a good steward?
• Tired & Exhausted – We just don’t want to deal with more kids. If you didn’t want to deal with more kids, you wouldn’t have more kids either.

Celibacy

We think you missed the point, or have some other notions in mind. We do not think celibate people are having sex, and thus we do not think celibate people would be practicing contraception because there would be nothing to prevent. You probably thought we would argue from the creation mandate (Genesis 1:28) that it is commanded for everyone to make babies. We didn’t. We have a high view of the creation mandate, but God simply did not call everyone to marriage.

Abortifacient Contraception

We think you missed the point here as well. We are not addressing the murder of a soul after conception. We are specifically speaking to the issue of avoiding that conception altogether. We are wholeheartedly lumping it all together as bad, we want nothing to do with any of it. But for what it is worth, we are not against all abortion, just almost all of it. We counsel for abortion when both the mother and the child would die without it. If ever one of the two lives might be saved, save the life that can be saved.

Risk of Life

This drives directly to the heart of the matter. What we believe is not convenient. We do not believe God’s Word only when it is convenient for us, we believe all the inconvenient bits as well. Would a sovereign God kill my wife to give life to another soul? We believe a sovereign God killed his own son in order to give life to all those who believe.

The rejoinder is typically an accusation that while that sounds all well and good, everyone knows how that would work out in practice, we just haven’t been in that situation. The fact of the matter is that is precisely the situation we have been in before Bethany was born. We were told, prior to Beth being conceived, that if Tracey got pregnant again, it would kill her. To this day, we do not practice any contraception and keep in mind that I am constantly praying (well, as constant as we have sex, but that is fairly constant) that we have more birth children. We are indeed living what we believe.

Because of the four points above, if my wife losses her life conceiving, carrying, or giving birth to another soul, we are absolutely convinced that it is for our good and God’s glory. We trust God to know how to knit together souls and to determine the cost of doing so and we have indeed trusted Tracey’s life to God in just such a case.

Miscarriage and Stillbirth

An excellent question. These things happen. We aren’t attempting to speak to why they happen or how they happen. We do have to deal with the reality that in a fallen world, these things happen.

Once again, we are not speaking from an ivory tower. We have also experienced the pain and heartache of miscarriage. We know our own distress at this. The guilt, the shame, the frustration, and all the hurt at discovering such joy only to have it removed so severely. Tracey’s life was also at risk in our case, which made the issue exponentially more tragic.

Tracey was on the Emergency Room table in Manama, Bahrain. That is a Muslim country if you did not know. So, there she was dying, and the doctor comes out to chat with me and tells me in broken English that she and our child are both dying. He calmly asked if I would rather they both die or if he should abort the baby and save Tracey. He was prepared for either to happen.

We know something about living out the hard things we believe from scripture. Yet we believe and continue to believe. So yes, we have indeed risked continued miscarriage and stillbirth to not oppose God in choosing whether to create more souls through our marriage.

Good Stewardship

We can’t get behind this. Typically whoever is asking the question seems to think bringing a soul into existence is on par with getting a new car loan and sorting out whether you believe you can make the payments each month, as if they have control over the future in which they might make payments.

We trust God to be wise enough to determine whether to entrust us with another soul. He is simply wise enough to refrain from gifting us with another soul to nurture and cherish if He does not intend to provide (Philippians 4:19, Et al.) for all that we need. We do not believe we are capable of providing for the family we have on our own, we already rely on God daily to provide for us. So it is not a stretch for us to continue to rely on Him to further provide if He is already providing. Not only are we not capable of providing for ourselves, we aren’t wise enough to determine when a soul should or should not be knit together, so we do not attempt to steward what we are not wise enough to steward, we pursue being open to the gift and let God to the stewarding.

That is what we believe and how we live. Others can perhaps provide for themselves and are wise enough to steward the knitting together of souls, which only God has ever claimed stewardship of.

Tired & Exhausted

Yes, we get it. What we believe is not convenient at all when all we desire is a little peace and quiet at the end of the day. Empty Nest!? Please! Yet, that is not what God has decreed for us.

We could, perhaps, decide that God is not wise enough to give us the gift of an empty nest and keeps screwing up by giving us more children. However, that seems fairly arrogant and lazy. God prepared good work for us before the foundations of the earth, and we believe that this is good work, if not the best work … if you can get it.

Is Pregnancy Prevention Preventing God From Knitting Souls?

Every soul that should have existed, will. We can not prevent God. But we can oppose Him. We call opposing Him, sin.

Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature. We see any attempt at contraception as opposing God’s rightful sovereignty in the knitting together of souls.

My daughter once asked me, “Is not a synonymous statement ‘Any attempt at preventing death opposes God’s rightful sovereignty in the elimination of souls?‘ So we should not use medicine to save ourselves for the same reason we shouldn’t use birth control to prevent ourselves?”

This becomes an underlying question of God’s revealed will and whether we are in opposition to or in harmony with His revealed will. Deuteronomy 30:19 seems an appropriate reference (amongst a lot of others) in showing that life is a blessing and death is a curse.

Life Is A Blessing

When we talk about conceiving souls, we should look at God’s stated will for that. The creation mandate (Genesis 1:28) tells us that it is God’s will for His people to fill, subdue, and rule over the earth. So we can see that God wills for souls to be born. We can see that God gives good gifts (Matthew 7:11). We already know God proposes it is a blessing to be trusted with a soul (child). So it seems consistent to say that God’s will is to see children conceived and we desire to be in harmony with that.

Death Is A Curse

2 Timothy 1:10 demonstrates that God is violently opposed to death. Jesus was sent to earth to abolish death. It seems consistent, to us, with God’s will to use all resources available to us (including medicine) to fight death so that we might live, and live more abundantly. (John 10:10)

So, are they synonymous? No. We believe attempting to prevent conception opposes God’s will and attempting to prevent death is in harmony with God’s will.

Summary

We read the Bible, we believe the Bible and we came to some conclusions about how God designed us to live. So we attempt to diligently live our lives according to our beliefs, especially when those beliefs are counter-cultural, inconvenient, and God-glorifying. A lot of smart people do not agree with the conclusions we come to, and subsequently, disagree with how we live our lives. We wouldn’t have it any other way. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17

In other news. No protestant body accepted contraception until 1930, when the Anglican bishops, meeting at their Lambeth Conference of that year, overturned all previous Lambeth pronouncements to make a narrow exception to the historic Christian teaching, allowing married couples – for “extraordinary reasons” – to practice birth control. Five hundred years earlier, the Protestant Reformers to a man thundered against all forms of birth control in words more vehement than any pope’s. The early Reformers, with no exceptions, were staunchly anti-birth control. A partial list of Reformation figures and their followers who led the charge includes Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, A. W. Ping, Cotton Mather, Matthew Henry, and Adam Clark.

They said they did it in order to bring light to the vast injustice they saw taking place. No one else agreed that there was any injustice going on, or if they did, they did not seem to bring any attention to it. What was brought to attention was the fact that these boys were not doing what the nation thought they ought to do when the music played. Some folks even took the issue to the leader of the country, and that fool got involved and escalated things instead of paying attention to what the boys were saying.

See, these guys believed that they, and their ethnic people, were being unjustly treated and required to live in a way that was unacceptable. There are consequences for their actions, and they accept the consequences in order to bring attention to the problem. There wasn’t a point that they attempted to be swayed by the consequences. They simply told the people, and the fool that leads the country, to punish them however society saw fit, but they refused to honor the symbol when the music played.

I mean, sure, they and their people were conquered and hauled off to this country in bondage, but look at how they have prospered! Is it not strange that these men live in palaces, as princes? They probably had a chauffeur and an expensive ride to the event. How could they believe their show of solidarity on the issue would help one person or even scratch the surface of social injustice? I mean, they disrespect the very country that provided them with an education, training, jobs, and the very trappings of social royalty that they are trying to leverage. They are not real activists, are they?

Yet, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to honor the empty symbol and changed the policy of an entire nation.

It was very nice. Eventually, it was time to eat pizza, and all the girls sat down around the table, Samantha at the head of the table with the two young leaders on either side of her. The two young ladies turned the topic toward the upcoming Halloween festivities, and who was going to which party and what they would all dress up as. Samantha was quiet and simply ate her pizza while everyone else excitedly shared their costume plans. Tracey and I stood back to observe.

Eventually, one of the young ladies thoughtfully exclaimed, “Oh my goodness! Samantha, it is your birthday and we haven’t heard what you plan to dress up for. What will go to school as on Halloween.” Between bites of pizza, Samantha calmly stated, “I will just go as myself.”

You could have heard a pin drop, time stood still as their brains replayed with incredulity what their ears had recorded.

We do not engage in Halloween celebrations. We see nothing to redeem in the annual event, much to condemn or avoid, and can not comprehend how it could glorify God. When folks tell us what a great opportunity it is to spread the gospel because people are coming to their door, I tend to have two unkind thoughts. The first is, how lazy do you have to be to wait for kids to come to your door for a treat so that you can trick them with the question, “If you die tonight, where will you go!? Muahahahahaha!” I mean, come on, go ye, therefore, do not sit and wait to trick instead of treat.

The other one is, who takes their children to a strip club because it is a great opportunity to share the gospel? Look, son, these folks are clearly sinners out celebrating this horrid thing, so we are going to join in what they are doing so we can share the gospel with them. Oh, we won’t put candy in their underwear, we will use gospel tracts.

I know! I have a lot of other uncharitable ideas about people who claim to love Jesus and participate in Halloween … or, what do the Christians try to call it? “Trunk or Treat” … “Fall Festival” … because we couldn’t have a fall festival any other time of the year…

Well, by now, you are getting the gist of how Samantha was raised and trained. Tracey and I were very interested to see what would happen next.

When time started up again, the young ladies had come to the conclusion that they had clearly misheard. Laughing nervously, one asked, “Seriously? Come on, don’t keep it a secret. Tell us what your costume will be.”

Samantha stopped eating, looked down the table at her classmates, and said, “Seriously. We do not celebrate Halloween. I will just wear what I normally wear and I am not going to any parties.”

The other kids visibly drew back from her. It was somewhat sad to watch, but they were clearly and visibly offended by her words, and one of the girls down the table exclaimed, “But the candy! What about the candy!? You do not get candy!?”

Samantha went back to munching on pepperoni pizza and between mouthfuls she calmly told them, “Look, my dad has a good job and makes plenty of money. If I want candy, I ask for it, and I usually get it. In our home, we do not have to go to the neighbor’s houses to beg for candy.”

So … that is all Samantha and I have to say on the matter.

I share this not to make an appeal to authority, but rather to demonstrate that I have a depth of knowledge and experience that informs my opinion, which I dare to say is an expert opinion. I literally fought for liberty, and I personally lost much in that fight while my family, community, and those close to me have continued to pay the cost of what I lost. That is to say, me and mine bought and paid for my opinion, and it is an expensive opinion.

Men go to war for various reasons and causes. Some volunteer to serve in the military thinking it will be a good experience and to get some tuition assistance, they never actually thought they would see combat. Others volunteer because they seek glory. Many volunteer out of a desire to protect and defend an idea or concept, such as liberty.  Others are forced to war. The US drafted 25% of the men who fought in Vietnam and 66% of those who fought in World War II.

It is easy to see why someone who was forced to go fight for something might have a different opinion on what they fought for than someone who volunteered to go fight for something. It is also easy to see how someone who never went and fought would have a different opinion than those who did go and fight. I volunteered to protect and defend the idea of liberty that the past three generations of men, on both sides of my family, had volunteered to protect and defend.

I volunteered twice. The first time, I signed a check with my life when I joined the US Navy in August of 1990. You might recall that the Gulf War began on August 2, 1990, so I had no confusion about what I was volunteering for. The second time, I volunteered to be deployed in the war zone, at the tip of the spear. The detailer gave me five options to choose from, and only one of those options would take me into the combat zone, I chose that one.

I did this in order to defend and extend this concept of liberty that allows me and mine to hold beliefs and take actions that would be contrary to other citizens beliefs and actions. Many, not all, of those I stood on the front lines with had the same motivation. Let’s be clear, there were plenty that were not there to defend liberty.

They were there for other reasons of their own and they thought little of liberty. The world is full of people who only care for their own liberty and are willing to stomp on the liberty of others. The war I served in had plenty of those types of people as well. They fought, they died, they paid a price, but they did not do it for liberty.

I fought for the right to personally hold the belief that government-sponsored welfare is a hideous thing, that the oppressive act of racism (both casual and systematic) ought to be annihilated, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only salvation, that men are created to enjoy God by glorifying Him forever, and that marriage is a holy ordinance between one man and one woman. I fought for the right to salute the flag of my choice, to stand for the national anthem of my choice, to live where I choose, to marry whom I choose, to attend the church of my own choosing, and to raise my children according to my own beliefs and actions.

My father had taken great pains to educate me on why the men in our family would go to war. Not only do we fight for our right to hold beliefs and take actions counter to others, but we also fight for the right for others to hold beliefs and take actions counter to ours! This is the inherent nature of liberty, the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by others on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.

It is important to me that you comprehend that. I paid a high price to ensure that you have the liberty to disagree with me … so that I have the liberty to disagree with you. When we do not defend and strive for this balance, we are pursuing oppressive restrictions. I realize that because you are convinced that your beliefs and actions are good, you are also convinced that they are not oppressive. Because they do not oppress you.

Perhaps an example is in order. Let us say that you believe the flag (i.e. the US Flag) of your choice should be honored and respected by saluting it at certain times and in certain places. Liberty states that you are allowed to choose that. But when society or government requires you to honor and respect a flag (i.e. the Nazi Flag) that you do not choose at certain times and places, that becomes an oppressive restriction and liberty dies.

To further beat, oppress, and restrict a dead horse, I will point out that to make the statement, “I wish we were all in agreement on how and why we honor and respect the flag of my choice.” Is a good way to express the thought in liberty. However, the moment one makes the statement, “Everyone ought to agree with me on how and why we honor and respect the flag of my choice.” That one has moved from coexisting with others in liberty to attempting to oppress and restrict others that are in disagreement.

Social media is full of outrage over how some individual athletes are choosing to exercise their liberty. On the one hand, some folks are offended by the athlete’s choice. On the other hand, some folks are offended by the previous folks who are offended by the athletes choice. In all cases, there are a bunch of people trying to tell a bunch of other people how they should behave and what they should believe.

What really gets my goat is the people that invoke my good name, and it is only those that are offended by the athletes choice that seems to invoke it, although that may just be the echo of my chosen chamber. Their argument is that somehow, by exercising their liberty, these athletes dismiss, minimize, invalidate, or otherwise ignore my personal sacrifice for their liberty to do so.

The truth of the matter is that the best way for anyone, these athletes included, to accept, maximise, validate, and otherwise approve of my personal sacrifice is for them to exercise their liberty to do so! The irony is that folks invoke my good name and service to defend liberty so that they might oppress and restrict those that disagree with them!

“If they knew the price that was paid for them to exercise their liberty, they would stand for the flag!” is the logical equivalent to “If they knew the price that was paid for them to exercise their liberty, they would not exercise their liberty.”

“If they sit, they should be forced to enlist, to see why WE stand!” is the logical equivalent to “If they exercise their liberty to sit, we should draft them and send them to war to defend the very liberty that we do not want them to exercise!”

Each of these statements argues for oppression … not for liberty. We sacrificed for liberty. Claiming that our sacrifice, or the sacrifice of others who also fought for liberty, ought to restrict the liberty of those you disagree with dismisses, minimizes, invalidates, and otherwise ignores our personal sacrifice for that liberty.

I fought for your liberty to believe and act as you will, within the confines of liberty that allow others to believe and act as they will.

If you do not want to go to a sports ball tournament or support sports balls because athletes do not behave according to your personal standard, I fought for your liberty to not do that. I think it is awesome for you to express your opinion of people you disagree with. Do you think they are disrespectful? That is fine. I probably agree with you.

Do you want to express your opinion to those that will listen to your reason? So do I! Do you want to nod sagely and not get involved? That is awesome. Perhaps you would like to quietly ask questions of those that support the ones you disagree with in an effort to work through the logical fallacies that they support. Me too!

You have a lot of reasonable and good options and I personally paid the prices to ensure that you have the liberty to exercise all of them. Please do that. If the sports ball athletes want to sit or do jumping jacks or play the hokey pokey while you think they should do what you want them to do … well, I fought for their liberty to do that as well.

But I did not fight for one person to exercise liberty at the cost of another’s liberty.

That ceases to be liberty, that is oppression. Oppression is the thing I fought so hard against.

Oppression is the very thing that demanded such a high cost, that I voluntarily paid, to defend liberty.

When you use my blood, sweat, and tears to justify your oppression of others, you insult me and my service in the deepest and gravest manner.

I am a 60% mentally disabled combat veteran and I have an opinion.

Scripture clearly teaches that borrowing money automatically creates a slave/master relationship. (Deut 15:6; Deut 28:12-14; Deut 28:43-44; Ne 5:2-5; Proverbs 22:26-27; Proverbs 6:1-5, Matthew 18:21-35; Proverbs 22:7)

God rewards His people by delivering them from slavery, granting them stewardship, making them lenders and rulers. (Deut 8:18; Matthew 13:12; Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 16:11; Genesis 39:4-6; Luke 19:11-27, Deut 28:12, Deut 15:6-8; Jer 30:3)

God punishes His people by selling them into slavery. (Judges 2:14; Judges 3:8–10; Psalm 44:12; Jeremiah 15:13-14)

God describes the righteous and just man as one who restores to the debtor his pledge, does not lend at interest or take any profit and that such a man will surely live. (Ezekiel 18:5-9; Ezekial 18:14-18, Psalm 15:5)

God describes unrighteousness as failing to restore a pledge, lending at interest, and taking profit. (Ezekial 18:10-13, Exodus 22:26)

It is explicitly sinful to lend money to Gods people with interest. (Exodus 22:25; Deut 23:19-20; Leviticus 25:36-38, )

God explicitly and implicitly command His people to rely on and provide for each other. (Leviticus 25:35-37, Deut. 15:7-8; Ps. 41:1; 112:5, 9; Prov. 14:31; Acts 11:29; 1 John 3:17, Acts 2:44, Acts 4:32-35; Matt. 19:21, Matt. 5:42)

God explicitly commands His people to lend, even to their enemies, expecting nothing in return. (Luke 6:34-35)

There is nothing in scripture that even remotely indicates God provides for His people through financial debt.

We believe it was for freedom that Christ set us free; and that we are commanded to stand firm in that freedom and not be subjected again to slavery (Galatians 4:1-7; Galatians 5:1; Romans 8:15; John 15:14). It seems a heinous offense (Galatians 4:8-9, Galatians 3:3) against God that we would willingly sell ourselves into slavery (Proverbs 22:7) after he frees us because we do not trust Him to provide (Phil 4:19; Heb 11:6; Ps 81:10; Matthew 6:25-34; Romans 8:32; Ephesians 3:20; Jer 29:11; Mal 3:10; John 15:7) for us … apart from financial debt?

Even worse, not that I need provision but that we simply desire more? (i.e. We are borrowing this money so we can start a business.) What sort of fool subjects themselves to financial slavery in order to win financial freedom?

Especially given the call that we have the body of Christ to rely on and provide for each other. Why would we go to a money lender to borrow money at interest and rob our siblings in Christ of the opportunity to give to us expecting nothing in return? Simply put, we would have to believe the promise of God to reward our brother in this instance would bring God less glory than subjecting ourselves to slavery in order to borrow money at interest.

We teach and believe that as we have the opportunity, we out to do good to everyone, and especially to those of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). That we are no longer strangers or aliens, but members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 3:6).

The household of God takes priority over the household of flesh (Luke 14:26; Matthew 10:36-39; Galatians 3:7-9; Galatians 3:26-29, Romans 9:7, 2 Corinthians 6:18; John 1:12-13)

As such, when we teach that anyone who does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8), we do not merely teach what the world reads as relatives by the flesh, we understand and teach the profound mystery that it refers to the family by the spirit (John 3:6, Matthew 25:40).

Perhaps, as many of our brothers in Christ say, borrowing money is merely foolish, not a sin. These brothers ignore Ephesians 5:14, 2 Timothy 2:23, Titus 3:9, Ecclesiastes 7:5, Ecclesiastes 5:1, Proverbs 13:20 to their peril. It seems to us that only a child (Galatians 4:3) or a fool would happily argue for splitting the hair between foolishness and sin.

Perhaps they do not comprehend that they are commanded to renew their minds (Romans 12:1; Titus 3:5; Ps. 51:10; 2 Cor. 4:16; Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10) and put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11). Proverbs 26 is dedicated to convincing us not to do foolish things.

We submit to you that one who knows it is foolishness and does it anyway, for him it is sin (James 4:17; Luke 12:47-48; 2 Peter 2:21; John 9:41).

We believe our God will care and provide for us and ours apart from financial debt. We pursue living our life according to what we believe. We believe some things that are very inconvenient and impractical. We live a life that others wonder at because they are baffled at how inconvenient and impractical it is, while at the same time they glorify God because of the life they see us live.

Treat financial debt like an adulteress, and like a wise man, avoid her at all cost. Listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

So we did some research on what scripture teaches about the Sabbath. Canon 29 of the Laodicean council specifically refers to the Sabbath: “Christians must not Judaize by resting on the [Jewish] Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.” So clearly it seems that this has been something important to Christians for a while. This is the first time the church seems to have taken a stance on the topic, and from this point on, we see people resting on the Lords Day (if they can) but not on the Sabbath, and eventually confusing the two for the same thing.

When we did our research, we found the following:

• Something about resting (Exodus 20:10)
• Something about refreshing (Exodus 31:17)
• Something about dedicating the day to the Lord (Exodus 20:10)
• Something about a seven-day periodicity (Exodus 20:9–10)
• Something about remembering my deliverance (Deuteronomy 5:12–15)
• The Sabbath was created for me (Mark 2:27– 28)
• My Savior is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27– 28)
• Applies to Livestock as well (Exodus 20:10)

We decided from this that it is important for us to observe a sabbath. So we chose a day (Sunday) to be the day we observe as our Sabbath. Not because it is a particular day of the week, but because it fits our lifestyle the best and we believe we have the freedom to chose that.

On that day, we seek to rest from the labors of the other six days. We get up, we go to church, we come home, and we relax. However, it is also important that we keep the day holy. It is very easy, trivial even, for us to set aside a day of rest, where what we mean is a day to do what we want to do.

Investing in my own passions may be restful, but it is probably keeping the day holy to me and not keeping the day holy to the Lord. So we are careful to consider what activities we undertake and to be in agreement as husband and wife that what we do fits into our own minds as to what this day is about.

It is easy for a church service to literally be the second job and career. We have some bold lines drawn as to what we will do and how we will serve the congregation on Sunday in order to ensure that we are pursuing a Sabbath in our worship.

It is no secret that we go hard as a family. We did not truly realize how desperately we needed a Sabbath. Having now practiced Sabbath Keeping for a few years, we are excited to encourage others to do the same. We are settled in our minds that the Lord of the Sabbath is most glorified by us keeping the Sabbath he created for us and that we are most satisfied and refreshed by doing as He commanded in this.

You, however, need to be settled in your own mind.

Dark thoughts flooded his mind, years of struggling day after day, he was so tired, he simply wanted to be done. But my friend called me, and he asked me to remind him why men don’t quit, because he couldn’t remember, and he wanted to quit so desperately.

I reminded him of our hope and our reality, that we rejoice despite the reality of our sorrow. Then, when we got off the phone, I thought about it.

I wrote this for my friend, and he encouraged me to share it. He is watching to see what I will do, transparency is challenging. When I consider giving up, I remember who is watching.

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;  as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

It can be so easy to believe this lie…

“No one knows what I’m going through, no one comprehends my situation.”

As if the unique elements of my experience assure that there is no overlap with anyone else’s experience, thus they can not comprehend nor speak into my experience.

I remember asking the question, “What does this mean, sorrowful yet always rejoicing?” Will it assist me? Can I attain it? What does it mean?

People lined up to tell me what it looks like.
But can you tell me what it feels like?

Take Femininity; as a man, I can tell you what it looks like.
But I can’t tell you what it feels like to be a woman.

It is likely that you are telling me something true, good, and important;

but I want to know what it feels like. I desire a conversation with someone who comprehends intellectually and emotionally.

When I believe this lie, it simply doesn’t seem that you can authentically tell me what it means, if you can’t tell me what it feels like.

What does it feel like, to be a soldier?
What does it feel like, to be a sailor?
What does it feel like, to be a fighter?
What does it feel like, to stand on the front lines of war?
What does it feel like, to see your best friends broken body laying before you and bleeding out, knowing that there is nothing you can do?
What does it feel like, when the fist connects with your temple?
What does it feel like, when the bullet rips your flesh?
What does it feel like, when the blade slices through you?

What does it feel like, to be a horrible husband?
What does it feel like, to be a terrible father?
What does it feel like, to experience your infant’s death in a warzone and keep drawing your own ragged breath, year after year?
What does it feel like, to hear a loud noise and crawl under a table while everyone else in the mall stares at you?
What does it feel like, to attempt to drown it all in alcohol, drugs, and distractions?
What does it feel like, to live in pain and fight depression?
What does it feel like, to flirt with suicidal tendencies and to court death?
What does it feel like, to be committed to a military mental institute, to watch the doors lock behind you and meet your roommates, who “survived” Vietnam?

What does it feel like?
Do you truly understand?
Can you speak to me of these things?
Do you know the answer to my questions?

I do. I can tell you exactly what it feels like.

Sometimes, it seems surreal when people attempt to tell me what it means, and they can’t tell me what it feels like. I find it hard to trust their descriptions of what it looks like because they don’t know what it feels like.

My savior stepped out of heaven, lived a perfect life, endured a perfectly agonizing torture to die a perfect death, and raised himself from the grave.

I don’t know what that feels like and yet I feel something in response to it.  

I can tell you what His sacrifice feels like for me.   

I can tell you what it feels like when God sacrifices Himself for the soldier, for the sailor, for the fighter, for the friend, for the husband, for the father that is me…

In the same way, though I can’t feel your pain, I can tell you what your pain to feels like to me.  

What my love for you feels like to me.
And I can tell you what it looks like.
I can tell you what it means, and it means something important to me.

for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
   I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”

It means that I find it easy to trust that my own burdens are light, my own yoke is easy, in comparison to his redemptive work. Do you know what that feels like?

I can tell you what it feels like, to handle my sorrow!
I can tell you what if feels like, to wake up in the morning, looking forward to the new day!
I can tell you what it feels like, to overcome present pain and have victory over constant depression!

I can tell you what it feels like, to be transformed into a good and loving father!
I can tell you what it feels like, to step into the role of a godly husband!
I can tell you what if feels like, to have an abiding hope!

I can tell you what it feels like, to experience healing and watch scars fade!
I can tell you what it feels like, to be a warrior in the Kingdom of God!
I can tell you what if feels like, to have brothers in Christ!

I can tell you
…. what it feels like
…………. to have joy everlasting!

Can you tell me what it feels like, to live in between these two realities?
I can! I can tell you exactly what it feels like!

My every conscious moment is experiencing the overwhelming weight of the glory of his sacrifice to redeem me.

This is more than balancing out the experience of what my burdens feel like, and in the midst of my sorrow, it feels so very good that I share it and I rejoice!