Along with the other things going on in my life, I've had this underlying concern or worry about my faith.  I had some people praying for me (thank you- you know who you are) and today I've had some insight into what is going on.


I think it goes back to having watched "Food Inc."  The movie itself has nothing to do with religion or faith.  What hit me was the obvious "conspiracy," for lack of a better word, regarding food production and methods used.  In general, I am not one who believes in conspiracy theories.  I don't believe people can keep a secret.  What's the joke, the only way a secret can stay a secret between two people is if one of them is dead.  I fall into that camp.  Even the remote viewing as an actual military attempt into psychic wars was not just discussed on Coast to Coast -- but made into a movie with major stars (Men Who Stare At Goats with Clooney and some other guy whose name escapes me currently).  I personally found the movie quiet hysterical, but that could be that I've heard the stories of the guy who supposedly started the whole thing.  (I still whole heartily recommend the movie!)

In Food Inc you see how we've basically been very slowly separated from the source of our food and left with images from another era (happy cows on happy farms kind of thing).  But business wants to earn more money and people want cheaper food and thus spawns a change in industry that cares less for the conditions of the animals being raised for food and more about squeezing another dollar out of the industry.  Genetic modification comes in, hormones are introduces, etc.  We've all heard about or seen evidence of these things.  We've heard (and mostly closed our ears to) the horror stories those "greenies" tried to tell us about.  I think the perspective of this movie being fairly low key and still painfully poignant makes it hit home all the more.  If it were some ranting, screaming, protest I would find it much easier to dismiss the information given.  

This movie made me realize conspiracies can be real.  That ultimately rocked me pretty hard.  Harder than I realized.  It opened up the problem of evil to me in a way that I've never experienced it.  I care about animals.  there is something that really speaks to me about God in the animals He created.  The love the domesticated give, the food the farm animals give, the beauty and ability of the wild.  I think of Adam naming them all and God giving man dominion over all the earth.  And the cruelty that we have allowed to occur -- that I have allowed to occur -- stuns me.  

So, I started shopping at Whole Foods.  I want to "eat mercifully" as the Humane Society puts it.  It's the idea that the animals that give their life for my nutrition should not be treated cruelly, but live in a healthy environment until "that day" comes.  I think about how the poor living conditions must effect the quality of the meat and what else might be a part of it.  Sin has an impact on us.  Cruelty is sinful.  Even if I don't know about it, it has an impact.  My world view is such that I think sin is ultimately the cause for so much of what is wrong in the world.  Greed, power hunger, selfishness, pride -- we see them everywhere.  People doing things because it's expedient or will give them a gain regardless of who else it might effect.  I believe that is how disease has spread even to the point of birth defects and homosexuality.  I think our world breeds the effects of sin until someone is willing to stand up and stop the link.  We have many major historical figures who saw horror in their lives that had to be stopped.  Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King stood up to slavery.  America & England stood up to Hitler.  There has been so much evil in generations past and perhaps I've just had my head in the sand and the reality of the evil in today's world has really it me hard.  

If you've not seen the movie, it's not just about animals being treated cruelly (and disgustingly), it's about the people whose lives have been ruined when they won't participate in it.  

My life, it's such an allegory to the end times and those crazy 70's movies about what it's going to be like.  Almost down to the people being led to a guillotine because they refuse to renounce Christ and worship 'the bunny" (sorry, little Veggie Tales humor there).

I started to say that I now shop Whole Foods and try to buy organic food.  But that's not enough.  It's not enough because organic isn't always.  To be organic, some pretty small standards have to be met.  (see: Manipulation of regulations towards the bottom of this link)  So the problem is our government and the lobbyists who convince the government that the rules shouldn't really apply to them.  The idea of having an organic label is to allow people like me to 

I'll end on a funny note:  If you've never seen Portlandia is it pretty funny.  I can't take it in large doses but I totally laugh.  This is a clip from their first episode about organic food.