Recent Complaint Got Results (see 10/24 blog)

Now fully approved

Remember the October 24 blog registering our complaint about the insurance regulations regarding our wood stove? After notifying our insurance company about the blog post on Monday, I got both a phone message and the following email today:

Hi Harvey,

I just got word back from ________’s underwriting department. Good news!  The stove and clearances are approved. They went ahead and added the wood stove to your policy and an endorsement is being issued. This will include a $35 annual wood stove charge that will be billed.

I’m glad we were able to get this done. Thanks for your help!!

Tithes and Taxes: Very Modest Forms Of Rent

Created for lease to responsible tenants

"Much is required from those to whom much is given, for their responsibility is greater."

Luke 12:48b (TLB)

In the Hebrew Bible, a tithe (10%) of ones produce or income was to be set aside for the support God’s work and for the benefit of the poor (Leviticus 27:30, 32). The New Testament does not explicitly mandate a tithe, but promotes generous giving of the kind that helps bring about equality.

It would be hard to justify any North American Christians giving less than a tithe in light of how blessed we are in comparison to the majority of the world's people. Ten percent should be considered a most reasonable form of “rent” for the privilege of living on the most hospitable planet imaginable.

Think of all the benefits: endless beauty and enough food, water and fresh air for all (providing we take proper care of the earth), along with the priceless gift of life itself. This is to say nothing of countless other examples of pure, unmerited grace and non-physical blessings.

But what about taxes? We could also think of them as a modest and reasonable “rent” we gladly pay for living in a country that offers so many benefits and services we could never provide for ourselves.

For example, we have roads, schools, a postal system, police protection, and health care for the elderly and most needy, plus a host of other blessings we regularly take for granted. Of course we can always find examples of waste and misuse of tax dollars that need to be addressed, but instead of complaining (or considering taxes to be an unwarranted form of "theft") we should seek to correct problems and to be grateful for the fantastic bargain we get for these “rent payments”.

Lest we be guilty of a serious case of “Gratitude Deficit Disorder”.

You might also want to read  "Christmas Economics:How Both Pentateuch and Pentecost Promote Wealth Redistribution"

Are You Smarter Than a Third Grader?

My oldest grandson John, age 8, made up the following math puzzler for me to work on during our recent visit. I did manage to solve it after working on it for awhile, but found it a challenge.

Here are his clues:

1. The correct answer is larger than 999, but less than 10,000.

2. The sum of the all the numbers, added together, is 16.

3. Multiply the last two digits and you get a "0".

4. The second digit, minus 3, is the correct number for the third digit.

5. The first digit is 1.

If you can figure out the answer to this third grader's puzzler, post it below in the comment section, and I'll confirm it here in a couple of days!

P.S. Monday, October 28: Congratulations to two friends from New York state who responded via comments (below) along with Brad Yoder, Chad Heatwole, Clint Yoder, Janice Miller, Brad Lehman, Elizabeth Vredevelt, Rosemary Hunsberger, Dale Gingrich and Lester Blank for submitting the correct answer, 1960. This means you are at least as smart as a third grader!

A Reasoned Reaction to Irrational Regulations

If you think government regulations are bad, insurance industry regs can be pretty frustrating, too.

Take the case of the new Jøtul (pronounced Yodel) wood stove I installed last winter, replacing the Shenandoah we owned for a decade prior. A few weeks ago a nice inspector representing our home owners insurance came by to check to make sure the installation of this Norwegian-made heater met industry standards.

Let me be clear, I'm all for going the second mile to avoid even the remotest danger of having a house fire. After all, this is our home, and contains most of our earthly belongings.

But here are the issues I've been told need to be addressed:

1) The stove pipe needs to be six inches from the brick behind it instead of two inches. I would totally agree if this were a flammable wall, but this is solid brick against a solid concrete block basement wall (I know, because I laid up the brick myself). What kind of fire hazard does that represent?

2) The stove also needs a heat shield under it, I'm told, or we must buy an expensive fire proof mat. Our stove has an ash pan compartment underneath and is "mobile home approved", so it might pass. But again, for whatever it's worth, this highly efficient unit is on a solid brick hearth on a poured concrete floor. Could that possibly be a fire hazard?

Or am I the one being irrational?

Old Massanutten Lodge Celebrates Ten Years as a B & B

Guy and Margie Vlasits, hosts of the Old Massanutten Lodge Bed and Breakfast are members of our house church and are among our favorite people. 

Their home, the former Massanutten Caverns Lodge near Keezletown, in the shadow of Massanutten Peak, will be the site of a special story-telling event and concert this Saturday, October 26, that you won't want to miss!

Here is the schedule:

OPEN HOUSE: 1-5 PM

*Tours of the lodge
* Wander the grounds
* Variety of food truck vendors: Couldn't be better!
* Variety of Local Keezletown musicians: Terrific!
* Bonfire to roast marshmallows
* Stories told and recorded: Bring your stories and memories of your visits to this historic community center, first opened in 1925, and meet and greet new and old friends!

SPECIAL CONCERT: 7 PM $10 at the door

* Local musicians & storytellers: Mack & Joan Swift, Eve Watters, Connie Muscenti, Colin Ramirez, Lili Gill, Jim Harrington, Mel Lee, and Bill Painter.

*We are reviving the Folk Arts Revival Society Halloween Concert, serving spooky punch and homemade refreshments.

CONTACT:

      Margie & Guy Vlasits

Old Massanutten Lodge B&B

3448 Caverns Drive

Keezletown, VA  22832

540-269-8800

www.oldmassanuttenlodge.com

Ten Things You Can Do For Your Country

From John F. Kennedy's January 20, 1961 speech

In times like these, here’s the kind of message I would love to hear from politicians, educators, presidents and religious leaders everywhere:

My fellow Americans, the only way a country can become truly great is for its citizens to become truly good. So in the spirit of John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you...” here are ten good things you can do for your country:

1. Become friends with people who are different from you. Respectfully share good things from the diversity of your cultures, traditions and faith convictions.

2. Be generous with your neighbors in need. Government programs must do their part, but each of us needs to volunteer more of our time and resources to help those less fortunate across the street and around the world.

3. Live a life of honesty and integrity. Show up on time at your work or school every day. Do your share and more. Never defraud your workers, employers, government agencies, insurance companies, or any other persons or institutions.

4. Obey all legitimate laws, and work to change unjust ones. Be law abiding not just for fear of being caught but simply because of who you are and the good example you want to set.

5. Respect all life from the womb to the tomb. Honor the unborn, and help spare the already born from the ravages of abuse, hunger, disease, war and poverty.

6. Save lovemaking for the married love of your life. Be faithful to your spouse, and take responsibility to bring up children in loving, stable and nurturing environments.

7. Take special care of the planet’s soil, air and water. Reduce wasteful consumption by reusing and enjoying more of what you already have, recycling everything you can, and by relying less on forms of  energy that pollute the atmosphere and waste scarce resources.

8. Don’t harm your body with tobacco, illegal drugs, or other harmful substances. Take personal responsibility for your health by eating right, exercising every day and maintaining a good level of emotional and spiritual well-being.

9. Honor your parents, grandparents and all aging and dependent persons. Care for them as you would want to be cared for yourself.

10. Avoid entertainment media that promote pornography, denigrate women, and glorify violence--and make sure to protect children from their destructive influences. Spend less time with TV, movies, video games and the Internet and more time in wholesome interactions with real people.

With God’s help, we could truly make ours a great country and the whole world a better neighborhood. In the process we could save billions in law enforcement and court expenses, in health care costs, and in prison and social service programs.

Best of all, none of the above would require special legislation or more tax dollars, only more personal responsibility by people like you and me.

A revised version of a July 11, 2011 blog.

Subversive Submission: A Non-Violent Response to Power

A dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.

Luke 22:24-26 (NIV)

Our house church is currently studying the New Testament book of I Peter, a letter written to scattered and persecuted congregations around the year 64.

Peter, one of Jesus' closest friends and followers, is often associated with cowardice and denial, but he was actually the only disciple of Jesus prepared to defend him with force. When Jesus reproved him for doing so, Peter withdrew in a state of confusion and bewilderment, broken hearted at having his hopes for a triumphal, messianic outcome dashed.

Caravaggio's "Crucifixion of Peter"

According to Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost Peter emerges as the primary spokesperson and courageous leader of the non-violent Christian movement. And in the end, tradition has it that he was crucified upside down, as he didn't feel worthy to die in the same way as his Lord.

In chapters 2 and 3 of his first letter to persecuted and scattered believers, Peter describes how the crucified, self-sacrificing Jesus is the basis for a radically non-violent response to those in positions of power. He fully reflects the radical teaching of Jesus that in the new, heaven-headquartered reign of God, those who would be the greatest must become servants of all. The first are last and the last first in this upside-down kingdom, with all of its citizens on a level playing field.

Here are his major points:

Subjects are to live as free men and women (2:16). Peter exhorts believers to submit to rulers, but not because they are inferior to them, but because they are subject to a far higher authority than any of the temporary powers God has ordained (2:13-14). Christians are also to show "honor" to heads of state (even to Nero, the current Caesar), but they are to show that same kind of respect to everyone (2:17-18).

Without a doubt, a rapidly growing number of Christians practicing this kind of "subversive submission" (declaring "Jesus is Lord!" rather than the obligatory pledge of "Caesar is Lord") undoubtedly contributed to the eventual fall of the empire.

Slaves who suffer unjustly are rewarded by God for doing so (2:18-21). Here again they are not defined by, or limited to, their temporary servant status, but are to behave honorably by choice, as a demonstration of their calling to imitate the suffering Prince of Peace. Peter goes to great length to describe how Christ willingly offered himself up for us as an expression of God's unconditional love for all (2:22-25).

"In the same way..." Peter then goes on to say,

Wives' submission to husbands is no longer based on their having inferior status. It would have never occurred to most people in the first century that women should have to be taught to submit to their husband's authority. They were, after all, considered property up to this time, and had virtually no power or say in their homes or communities, period. But here they are asked to voluntarily live in such an honorable and empowered way as to "win over" even their unbelieving husbands. And they were to do this without a trace of fear or intimidation (3:1-6).

"In the same way..." Peter repeats,

Christian husbands are to honor their wives as they are to honor everyone, including the emperor. A form of the same Greek word for honor (τιμᾶτε) is used in each case, which means that husbands are to respect their wives as "co-heirs with them of the grace of life" (3:7). To fail to do so is to risk having God turn a deaf ear to their prayers.

To me, all of this is truly revolutionary, and far, far ahead of its time.