My Response to Viral Video

There has been a video shot in Greensburg that has gone viral.  In the video, filmed at a Christian Church, a little boy no more than 5 or 6 years old paraphrases Romans 1:27 saying “ain’t no homo gonna make it to heaven.”

I felt compelled to respond to the video and the comments it has been receiving.  First, no one can get to heaven by his action, inaction, faith or lack of faith.  Only by the grace of God can one get to heaven.  Second, homosexual activity is immoral but so is heterosexual activity outside of marriage.  A sin is a sin, sin being something that severs our bond with God.  Even if we were to rank sin by severity, both homosexual acts and heterosexual acts outside of marriage would fall under the same category of sexual sins.  Third, Romans 1 paints a grim image for any sinner not just homosexuals and as humans we are all sinners, all undeserving of heaven, God’s love, grace and forgiveness.  It is because He loves us that we live.  If we had to depend on our limited human understanding of love for life, we would all be doomed.

  Starting at verse 18 (quoting from the New American Bible translation), “The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness.  For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them.  Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.  As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks.  Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.  While claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.  Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies.  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever.  Amen. 

“Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions.  Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another.  Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.  And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper.  They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite.  They are gossips and scandalmongers and they hate God.  They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents.  They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Although they know the just decree of God that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

I think it is this very last verse of Romans 1 that we should pay extra attention to.  “They not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”  There is a lot of debate about homosexuality.  Is it something learned?  Is it genetic?  Can you unlearn it?  Could you truly be happy suppressing it?  And on and on and on it goes.  Homosexuality is immoral.  That is a simple fact.  You can dislike that it is immoral because, as quoted above, you are “vain in (your) reasoning” but it will still be immoral.  It is also immoral to condone homosexual behavior.  It is a distinction to be made that loving your neighbor does not equal approving everything he does.  Hate the sin but love the sinner. 

As Christians and believers in the word of God, we have to sacrifice a lot to walk in the light.  We give up pleasure of the flesh for the permanent pleasure of heaven.  We give up acquiring large quantities of stuff here on earth so that we may be filled with God’s grace and radiant light in heaven.  Our lives here on earth are not meant to be enjoyed.  They are supposed to be full of hardship.  If life were easy, we would easily slip away from God, seeing no reason to pursue the tough life that a true Christian leads.  I hope and pray that you can all be filled with the grace of God and be given strength, fortitude and persistence to live this tough life with humility.

God Bless!

Hannah

The Farmer’s Wife

Technology and Music

Yesterday, Leron and I went to an Amish produce auction.  I bought 18 perennials.  I can't wait to be able to plant them and make my front flowerbed look less like a dirt pit.  My mother in law bought 115 quarts of strawberries.  These aren't just any old strawberries.  These are the most juicy, freshest, reddest, most delicious strawberries you will ever taste. 

On the way back from the auction, it was a good 1.5 hour drive from Batesville, Leron was musing on the value of being Amish and living a simple life.  It got me thinking a little.  For 2 weeks after the move we were without internet and landline phone service.  It drove me crazy being so disconnected.  We haven't yet installed any type of television service (we don't plan to either).  Now we are far from Amish for several reasons like the computer I am currently typing on or the radio I am listening to or the electric lights I am using in my house or the electric stove I used to turn those delicious strawberries into jam this morning.  I came to the conclusion that while they are most definitely a dedicated and hardworking people, I don't think you have to be Amish and completely divested of modern conveniences to be dedicated and hardworking.

Technology is a tricky thing.  It is first introduced as a way to make our lives more efficient, like the telephone allowing communication faster than telegram or letters, but then it becomes something we can't live without.  How many of you have handwritten a letter recently?  Now the telephone has morphed into cell phones, texting, smartphones and being 100% available all the time.  Becoming this dependent on technology makes us less dependent on ourselves and those around us. 

We no longer need to entertain ourselves because we have television, internet, movies, dvds, and the radio to help us out.  I like to think back to a time when people learned music and played instruments to entertain themselves.  The episodes of The Andy Griffith Show with the Darlings are some of my favorites for the amazing pure music they create.  It wasn't about having a perfect voice or amazing fingering technique.  It was about creating a beautiful sound. 

Can you imagine a world without music or dancing or art?  With all of this distraction caused by technology, I am seeing less and less attention given to these wonderful things.  Music and art was a large part of my life growing up.  I owe a huge thank you to my parents for taking me to music lessons, buying instruments and music books and listening for hours as I banged on the piano, blew on the flute or belted out a tune before I got the melody down.  I am sure it was less than pleasant at times. 

I hope my girls enjoy music as much as I do.  We have dance parties all the time and I have them sing to me in the car when we are running errands.  If we have to disconnect from technology to allow for time to enjoy music, we will do it.  That is one huge benefit I am looking forward to living in the country.  We do not have to pretend to get away from it all.  We truly can get away from it all, disconnect, relax, listen to the corn grow while sitting on the front porch and "play some back home come on music that comes from the heart, play something with lots of feeling cause thats where music has to start."

God Bless!
Hannah
The Farmer's Wife

God's Time

After a short and unintentional hiatus due to moving and a lack of internet, I am back to blogging at least once a week.

Can you think of the last time you weren’t waiting for something or someone?  When you are single, you are looking for Mr. /Mrs. Right.  When you are engaged, you are waiting for that wonderful wedding day.  When you are pregnant, you are waiting for the baby to make its grand entrance.  But we also wait for the smaller daily things.  We wait for a red light to turn to green.  We wait for the commercial to end to return us to our TV or radio program.  We wait for a phone call, email or text.  We wait for the repairman or installation guy.  If you are like me, you hurry through the grocery store just to wait in the checkout line.  Most days, I wait for the girl’s bedtime for a little peace and quiet.  With all this waiting, it is easy to wonder if God is listening to those big and little prayers for time to speed up.

Building a house is all about waiting.  We waited until we had the time and money to get started.  We waited for the weather to be dry enough to start excavating the basement.  We waited for our builder to finish another house before starting on ours.  We waited for each stage of building to be completed, knowing each stage brought us closer to our goal of living there.  In the past few months, we have waited for the finishing touches to be finished.  This seems like the most painful waiting.  Small, seemingly minor details that I have been mentally obsessing over for months seem to drag on at a snail’s pace.  And then is the day you have been waiting for and time ceases to exist.

When you meet Mr. /Mrs. Right time seems to stand still, the past seems insignificant and the future seems infinite.  The engagement seems like it flew by as you are heading down the aisle in a white gown.  After 9 months of pregnancy and several hours or days of painful labor, the doctor hands you your baby and the pain disappears.  A few days later a nurse is letting you walk out of the hospital completely responsible for another life, and then you blink and are celebrating her first birthday, then high school graduation then her wedding.

My 26^th birthday was Monday, May 7.  I thought the last 4 birthdays were pretty awesome.  When I turned 22, I was celebrating my first real job, my first apartment and being a college graduate.  When I turned 23, I was celebrating being engaged and busily planning our wedding.  At 24, I was pregnant with Nalley and couldn’t imagine my life getting any better.  Then at 25, I was able to celebrate with Nalley while being pregnant with Felicity, certain my life was about as close to perfect as possible.  26 topped them all.  I doubt this year will be as notable as any of the previous years, but the actual day will be one I remember always.

At 8:00AM, we received an offer for our house in town.  At 1:30PM, we received our occupancy permit for our new house in the country.  This unique timing got me thinking about how amazing God is.  In His infinite wisdom, He knew the perfect gift for me was a little peace of mind, a little less stress and a big deep breath.  This timing is easier to see on the big things like home sales, but it is there on the small things too.  Red lights lasting just long enough for your favorite song to come on the radio.  While waiting for an email, you notice an opportunity to catch up with friends on facebook.  While waiting for bedtime for quiet time, the kids take an awesome nap.  I am sure there is some God timing in waiting for the phone install guy but after waiting on 2 different days only to receive bad news, I am having a hard time seeing it right now.

God is amazing.  When we don’t receive something we ask for in prayer, it is not because He isn’t listening.  It just isn’t time yet.  Dream big, pray bigger and wait for God’s perfect timing.

God Bless!

Hannah

The Farmer’s Wife