It’s taken me all these years (14+) to find out what I believe, make decisions because they are right for me, stop feeling superior because I’ve never done such-and-such. Leaving legalism behind to find the God who died for me (imperfect me!).

I feel really sorry for those kids, actually.

Just a thought…

Bless your heart you are going in the right direction and God is and will bless you for it.

I am on a Yahoo Group that is about spaying and Neutering our dogs and cats in California bill Ab 1634.

I agree with them, but that is where it stops. Exactly what you wrote and are talking about is being discussed as a OT Topic and pushing buttons.

My religion is for the most part vegetarian, but some do eat meat, but I have found that my own life and well being has improved so much since I stopped eating all meat, but even before when i ate meat sparingly I saw improvements in my health and well being.

We raise a dozen chickens here and sell their eggs, we do not eat them ourselves, but we feel that those that still want to eat eggs we sell them so that people will at least be eating healthier eggs and feel good about what they are eating.

We have free range chickens that have their little beaks and are quite happy with rooster controlling and disciplining. His job is to keep order and he does.

If we follow God’s principles and care and treat animals as we should, God does indeed bless our efforts and we give glory back to God.

The bottom line is we are what we eat.

Liane, the Zoo Mama

When my son got divorced we felt so much shame because in our world, entrenched as we were in the conservative homeschooling movement, careful parenting is supposed to prevent this kind of thing.

But instead of condemnation, people came out of the woodwork to offer support. Especially people who had personal experience with the mess that surrounds divorce and betrayal. Pillars of our church shared stories about their own early first marriages and divorces. My initial reaction was “WHAT??? You were married before??? But you’re so perfect!!!” I was shocked to learn that several marriages I assumed to be first and always marriages were actually second marriages. That were now 25 or 30 or more years long.

God is a redeeming God. When Plan A doesn’t work out, He’ll take Plan B and make it Plan A.

I don’t wish hurt and pain and mistakes and sin on anyone, and I’d prefer to avoid them myself, and to save my children from them. But since it’s fairly inevitable that hurt and pain and mistakes and sin will befall us and entangle us, I will say this, it is nice to find a redeeming God working in the mess.

Nevertheless, I suspect your analysis carries a flaw. You assume we can know the consequences of our actions. That’s a large assumption. I fear that in far too many situations that simply isn’t the case. We don’t know or cannot know the consequences. In fact, disobedience often has results that are unforeseen and far larger than we suspect. So even though you raise a fascinating point, it doesn’t help. Adopting one of the other of the views could be far more devastating or detrimental than you calculate. The world is simply too fallen.

Consequently, study the Word. Do what you believe to be right and biblical regardless of the consequences. Solid exegesis, I argue, trumps suspected results every time.