Have we Traded Freedom for Safety?

You may be asking yourself, "What the heck do you mean"? I have a bit of difficulty navigating it myself. What I do know is that I believe in freedom. There are several things that I may disagree with or may think is down right stupid, but as long as my tax dollars aren't contributing to it, or my insurance premiums paying for it, I think people should pretty much be permitted to do what they want as long as it doesn't hurt others. If people want to question what gender they are born as and pursue the procedures that the medical world has made available to change that, I'm fine with that, but I should be able to know that I'm not paying for it. (Please understand that I'm not picking on anyone here, it's just the most extreme example that comes to mind)

There lies the trouble. I do have to pay for it if I want to have health insurance. Or if I want to be a law abiding citizen, I must pay taxes that are used for who knows what. I am enslaved to pay for things which then can enslave me to contributing to things that I have deep moral convictions about. That to me is unfair and furthermore unjust! Now I know that no-one ever said that this life was to be fair, but we live in a land that has a "Declaration of Independence" and when I look at our society closely, I see that our "independence" is limited to certain areas. Maybe this limiting is what keeps tose of us with the "free" mind consoled enough to comply with the limitations that have become the norm.

I'm not trying to approach these thoughts with resistance towards compliance, it's from a position of trying to understand why the words don't mean what I understand them to mean. In many areas I see hypocrisy and I want to know the "why" of it. I must confess that I'm not equipped to know all the reasons why, but that doesn't justify blind compliance within myself. Outwardly, I play along like any other citizen, and if I'm honest, I think that's just one of the issues within this much greater movement of unquestioned compliance. For example, when I ponder on or discuss with others that I understand the colonists fled England for religious freedom and over gross taxation, yet we get taxed on what we earn, what we own, and what we buy, I just have to give my head a scratch and wonder how we ended up here? It doesn't compute. Our religious freedoms have given way to adopt more worldliness than the pursuit of holiness in many areas. It too has become yet another venue to be marketed.

In summary I think that we are seeing the repercussions of losing the resolve of the early colonists. Not that I agree with all of that, but they wanted freedom and they got it. In my opinion, what we've lost is the desire for freedom. We've traded it for dependence on others to decide what is "safe" and that is coupled with comfort because it takes us out of the driver's seat and places us in the passenger seat. Comfort is what attracts us, dependence is what we become and this has gone on for enough generations that I feel like I can see a huge impact on society. Loss of skills, loss of the ability to problem solve, loss of the ability to make sense. We've traded in good 'ole common sense for what we've been told makes dollars, not sense. Now we have entered into an age that is going to move faster in a worse direction than ever before due to the mass adoption of AI and Chat GPT. I admit that I've used it a couple of times, just to see how creepy it is. I know business owners and managers that think it's just the cat's meow, yet I fail to see the appeal. I'm used to telling the machine what to do, not asking it what I should do. This will birth next level dependence. A natural law of nature is that for something to be born, something has to die. So what is dying?

I think that we can agree that who we are dependent on is who will gain our allegiance. I think by God's design, we are first to depend upon Him, then ourselves, then the church, when our personal God given fortitude fails. What I see in our culture is that government has stepped into those roles. Many churches got PPP (Payroll Protection Plan) during the pandemic, which on the surface may have seemed like a good idea, to preserve the wages of staff and clergy, but the shadow that was cast from such, revealed the church was a government funded corporation, which inherently is dependent upon such government from which it receives financial aid. Most churches fall under a 501c corporation which in the plainest terms I can explain is that the government chooses to give tax exemption but the political endorsement is out of bounds. (Thanks Lynden B Johnson)

This is similar to what I see when I look at the influence that some say is attributed to the book "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. According to Joel Salatin, it has changed the way we approach food safety. Where the book may be truthful in part, there are gross exaggerations and erroneous input also, but the book was definitely influential in our Food Safety Police today.

This rings another similarity by which the pandemic yielded evidence of the drastic restrictions encouraged or enforced. We can't help but to identify that we are very subjective to what our government says to do. I then have to ask, "Who is really on the throne of the hearts of the descendants that once sought religious freedom in a new land"? Have we not become the very thing from which we came? Was it really "safer to stay indoors" as argued by specialists during the pandemic? On the other hand, be careful if you go out, you are not to be in contact with anyone else because when you return home you may infect an elderly loved one whom you care for. 6 feet minimum at all times. I'm not saying that measures couldn't be taken, nor shouldn't be taken, but at what cost? If they come at the cost of making sense, then there must be another motive. Right? That time was horrific for much of the world, on the other hand it revealed a lot about us as a people.

Thanks to a dear brother in Christ our Lord, I've begun reading a book by Paul Kingsnorth entitled "Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity". I am only in the second chapter, but I find it very thought provoking and yields a lot of input from what I think are credible resources. I encourage a read or listening. I would be happy to hear your thoughts on this blog or on the book. Below I have listed some of the resources from where I got some of this information.

https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/colonial-life-today/early-american-economics-facts

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html

In closing, I believe the Bible is God's Word to mankind and if we align with the instructions given to us through it, we can live as the most harmonious people this side of heaven. With that I must agree that we are to submit to our governing authorities as specified in Romans Chapter 13:1-2. One of the things I love about the US is that it was founded upon the Constitution, which is similar to Christian beliefs agreeing to be founded upon the Bible. If there is anything of concern, we can go back to the Word or the Constitution. If it doesn't align with it, it is unlawful. The problem comes when we stop holding ourselves and others accountable to the truths in either.

Farm News

Things are happening on the farm! We recently restocked and have plenty of pastured whole chickens.

Contact me thru text, call, or email if we can help you.

Thanksgiving is upon us and as we may not be able to fulfill desires for turkeys for all of our members, we can surely provide an additional chicken to your spread.

These will be the last chickens we will have available for the year.

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement that has provided an opportunity for us to offer products that align with our convictions lawfully.

Your local stewards,

Gordon and Elizabeth