3.9.2018, PIGNESS OF PIGS -Salitin, Inclusive vs. Exclusive

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,  that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3.16

Christ's love is for everyone...John 3.16

*161 first, it offers the universality of God's love toward humanity. His interest is not limited to a few exceptional individuals, to one race, type or vocation. it's all-encompassing. second, that love expressed itself in action: a gift of unprecedented and inconceivable value - His only  Son. not one won among many, but the only one.
third, that salvation is given on the basis of belief, not works. of course this theme permeates all of scripture and even became the cornerstone of Martin Luther's epiphany:  'the Just shall live by his faith.  Habakkuk 2.4 what a relief that salvation carries no human price tag except belief. it doesn't require a pilgrimage. it doesn't demand material substance. it's not for sale and entails no

*162  negotiation. it's freely offered to whosoever will. if that's not inclusive, I don't know what is. you don't need a college education or to be born into a functional family. you don't need to become good or have a background of living well. Wow.
I remember well that after i accepted this initial offering at 9, lying in a bunk bed in a cabin at a Christian summer camp, I had real doubts as to whether God had accepted me. was i really saved? for growing up in such a good family, I was a bad kid. lying, stealing, bullying. but every time I  had doubts, I just recited whosoever will and the peace of God's indwelling Spirit flooded over me anew. full assurance followed that simple phrase. whosoever included me; what  a relief.

fourth the verse promises a division between perishing and having everlasting life. in other words, 2 distinct paths exist. this is not allegory and fancy psychobabble. 2 destinies await. where our faith rests sets us upon one course or the other. the notion that all roads lead to heaven is not true. the whole idea of a scale with Grandpa God placing our good deeds on one side and bad on the other to see which way it tilts is not correct.
although God clearly stipulates how to join His family and clearly explains how to know you're in that family, it is absolutely open to all. Democrats, Republicans, Greenies, Socialists ( well, let's not get too carried away - ha!) the whosoever will invitation offers a breadth that embraces everyone.everyone can participate, regardless of education, background, color, socioeconomic status.

this is what it means when God says He is 'No respecter of persons'.  Acts 10.34 Jesus made a big point to spend time with the physically, socially or financially unlovely. if anything defines the raw, unbridled human attitude, it's prejudice, exclusivity, elitism and cliquishness. Goodness, look how God had to work with Paul, Peter, James and the other apostles after His ascension to help them understand that 'whosoever will' included the Gentiles.

for the Israelites, whose whole identity and history were wrapped up in exclusivity as God's chosen people to see God extend His

*163  grace and benefits to the Gentiles struck at the core of their being. God grafted in the Gentiles, breaking down the wall of separation that had always existed. prior to Pentecost, non-Israelites could become proselytes, but that was as close as a Gentile could get. now suddenly all believers, whether Jew or Greek, Iranian or American, enjoyed equal heirship status in this inclusive family.

now let's turn the corner, in the light of these wonderful truths, and look at food and farming. can the food system or a farm system be constructed to reflect these truths?  do these truths have any ramifications for how we design our physical lives or are they just spiritual disembodied theological expressions that end at our sensual universe? if we could build a whosoever will food system, what would it look like. 
for starters. let's look at the 2 currently offered to us. don't get ahead of me -I'm not calling them the one that perishes or the one that leads to everlasting life...yet. let's just stick with the concept of whosoever will. let's start with something simple like eggs. in the industrial model. which is of course today's orthodoxy,eggs come from hybrid chickens that have been selected for a long time to have tiny bodies and lay like crazy. prior to industrialization, the average backyard hen weighed about 6 pounds and laid 150 to 170 eggs per year.

today's commercial bird weighs as little as 3 pounds and lays 300 eggs in a year. unlike her old-fashioned cousin, however, this newfangled industrial bird has some real needs. first, she's extremely fragile. she can't handle rainstorms or frosty nights. second,  she requires exceptionally sophisticated nutrients. if she exercised or ran around, she wouldn't be able to put all her energy into simply laying eggs. therefore, her activity must be restricted in tiny cages inside CAFOs.

to ensure maximum production in as short time as possible, these buildings use lights in a tightly regulated regimen to simulate ever-increasing day length. all birds lay best during increasing day length (spring) and reduce production during decreasing day length....

note: the message of this book is fourfold:
one, due to the anti-nature system of farming adopted by a great majority of USA farmers our land is being denuded of the nutrients so necessary to health giving food to our detriment.
two, this needs to change to a nature enhancing practice of farming...ie. it is best practiced by millions of people (my belief, not stated directly by the book) on small parcels of nutrient-rich land. (look at Proverbs 31)
three, if the current practice is not changed we face a nutritional Armageddon.
four, people who fear God and have believed/received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior need to lead the way back to the Promised Land of life enhancing/blessing nutrition...we need to be the Salt of the Earth. 
I leave off sharing more of it but rather,
I encourage you to buy the book yourself, read and reread thoughtfully... and digest and.... decide to walk the road back to optimal physical health by a thoughtful, hopefully a determined- to-produce and or eat- only- nutritionally- beneficial- food..... and-then- evangelize- the- eaters- of-dead- industrial- 'food'-substances all around us!