Monday, July 7, 2008

Junk

Have you ever noticed that the more fast food "restaurants" and junk food resources we have - the more indigestion we have and the more "supplements" we need to get in our minimum daily requirements? Have you also ever noticed that the more sex everyone seems to be having the more "help" they seem to need to actually do it?

Now, tell the truth. When was the last time you pigged out on carrots? Hmmm? Ever eaten an entire pound of cherries at once? But I'll bet there is an occasion or two in your past that you'd like to forget where you ate a whole pizza or a whole bag of chips without noticing. Be honest.

The more junk we consume, the more we need to consume to feel satisfied. If we eat the good stuff, however, we don't need a gastric bypass to whittle down our bulges or the "purple pill" to take care of the indigestion.

I still remember the first time I had one of my favorite meals. Simple and yet, oh so gorgeous. It consisted of a small bottle of Perrier, I swear those little bubbles are smaller and ticklier than most fizzy waters. Then there was the cheese. It was a small wedge the color of a Colorado sunset that tasted like the warmth of midday. Next came the tomato. It was the perfect red and smelled of earth yet tasted like the sweetness of your first real kiss. There was a handful of nicoise olives, soft and with the perfect note of brine. Last was the rosemary-scented roll with a salty crust. All that was missing was a blanket, a sunny hillside and someone to share it with.

Isn't it amazing how those perfect, simple little things satisfy us in lasting ways that a greasy double-cheeseburger with soggy fries never could?

It is the same way with the "junk food" known as religious feminism. It will never be satisfied and will need to consume more and more and those who adhere to its tenets will become increasingly frenzied in their attempts to achieve validation. Just over ten years ago the leaders of CBE promised that their support for the NIVI and inclusive-language bible translations would stop with language for humans, it would never be applied to God. And yet at a recent Cornerstone Festival, the president of CBE was advocating that we call God "mother"! It will never be enough and they will never be satisfied because they aren't feeding on the good, the true and the beautiful - those things the give a lasting satisfaction.

I had a junk food day and you know what? I feel awful. I'll probably still feel awful tomorrow. But I do have some luscious green grapes, a nice piece of cheese and some walnuts on hand for tomorrow's lunch. Doesn't that sound better than stale tortilla chips with french onion dip? I think so.

And, as for spiritual junk? I'll leave the bitter fruit to the religious feminists while I contemplate the beauty of The Dance.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nicely said! It brought to mind Ransom's experience in Perelandra, when he first tasted of the fruit of that planet.

"It was, of course, a taste, just as his thirst and hunger had been thirst and hunger. But then it was so different from every other taste at all. It was like the discovery of a totally new genus of pleasures, something unheard of among men, out of all reckoning, beyond all covenant....

As he let the empty gourd fall from his hand and was about to pluck a second one, it came into his head that he was now neither hungry nor thirsty. And yet to repeat a pleasure so intense and almost so spiritual seemed an obvious thing to do. His reason, or what we commonly take to be reason in our own world, was all in favour of tasting the miracle again; the childlike innocence of the fruit, the labours he had undergone, the uncertainty of the future, all seemed to commend the action. Yet something seemed opposed to this 'reason.' It is difficult to suppose that this opposition came from desire, for what desire would turn from so much deliciousness? But for whatever the cause, it appeared to him better not to taste again. Perhaps the experience had been so complete that repetition would be a vulgarity--like asking to hear the same symphony twice in a day."

Anonymous said...

> Now, tell the truth. When was the last time you pigged out on carrots? Hmmm?

Carrot cake?

> But I'll bet there is an occasion or two in your past that you'd like to forget where you ate a whole pizza or a whole bag of chips without noticing. Be honest.

Or just one donut. You don't even have to pig out to be sorry.

> Isn't it amazing how those perfect, simple little things satisfy us in lasting ways that a greasy double-cheeseburger with soggy fries never could?

Is this why people today often go around looking so junky? "You are what you eat."

> It is the same way with the "junk food" known as religious feminism.

But they think they are the ones eating healthy and we are the ones eating what's harmful. However, they reject the pure food of God's Word as unwholesome, and create artificial substitutes for it, claiming it is better than the Real Deal.

> It will never be satisfied and will need to consume more and more and those who adhere to its tenets will become increasingly frenzied in their attempts to achieve validation.

Maybe it's the sugar buzz that makes them so hard to converse with.

> I had a junk food day and you know what? I feel awful. I'll probably still feel awful tomorrow.

I thought the egals just had a chip on their shoulder, but maybe it's indigestion?

> Have you ever noticed that the more fast food "restaurants" and junk food resources we have - the more indigestion we have and the more "supplements" we need to get in our minimum daily requirements?

Yes, just like feminism, the society at large goes down hill health-wise, and we can't ever seem to figure out what is the reason.

> And, as for spiritual junk? I'll leave the bitter fruit to the religious feminists while I contemplate the beauty of The Dance.

Right -- go green, be responsible -- dispose of feminism and other pollutants properly.

On one of those morning shows this week, they had a segment on a couple who decided they would cut their budget in half by responsible choices, doing more things themselves, and not being such mindless consumers. The thing that struck me is how much time it took to save money. It was a science, hard work, a skill. And the solution wasn't to go out and get a second job, it was to do more yourself on the home front.

Maybe homemaking as an honored profession will make a comeback in this era of insanely rising living expenses?

--Michael