Robbing the Doubter of Faith

In a recent conversation--one of those precious rare conversations that go late into the night--someone asked us, "How is a person who doesn’t believe in God somehow considered worse in God’s eyes than, say, a murderer?" He was referring to the scripture Matthew 12:31, “And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” He had come to understand that to "blaspheme God" meant to doubt or disbelieve. And thus he thought disbelief was the unforgiveable sin. He couldn't accept the idea that the Christian who beats his wife is better in God's eyes than the Atheist who treats his wife with love... and rightly so...

This man was made to feel evil for questioning his faith. He was made to believe that doubt was unforgiveable. And because of this, he was prevented from asking the questions which would help him find answers to dispel his doubts. And because he doubted, he believed he was disqualified from salvation. And that is the real tragedy in my eyes. He was robbed of his faith by fellow believers.

Too often, in the church setting, when someone has a question—one that challenges why we believe what we do—the response is to shut it down. When we don't know the answers, at best we patronize them. At worst we take offense. Or if we are dogmatic, we label them rebel or dissenter and exclude them from our social groups. We might even gossip about them and discredit their statements to others. We communicate with our actions that asking tough questions leads to rejection.

Why is that? Is it because we were taught not to question our pastors? Is it because we ourselves don't know the answer and we're too prideful to admit it? Are we afraid because the questions threaten our own faith?

We've been prevented from questioning, so we've had to simply accept what is fed to us from the pulpit. And sure, a lot of good comes from the pulpit. But if my faith is built solely on what my pastor says, then what's to stop me from being swayed by a more compelling, more charismatic person? That is a shaky foundation to build faith upon. If I’m not allowed to think critically about my deepest faith, how can I hold on to it when challenged by critical thinkers? 

Why do we think so many young people lose their faith when they go to college? When they are taught how to think critically--a vital component to learning--they start to ask more critical questions about their own faith. At church they're often given inadequate answers. Some, like my friend, don't feel they even have a right or a place to ask questions--because doubt is unforgiveable, right? But if you don’t know why you believe what you do, then you are not, “… prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”? (1 Peter 3:15).

Doubt is not the unforgiveable sin.

Many important characters in the Bible doubted God. Abraham let Sarah talk him into sleeping with her handmaid because she clearly doubted God would give her a child. God still gave them a child. Moses doubted that God could use him, lacking the talent to speak and questioned God. God still used Him to lead. Gideon put out a fleece three times because he doubted that God wanted him to be a leader on the basis that he was terrified. God still led him to save Israel. Thomas told his fellow disciples that he wouldn't believe Jesus had been raised from the dead unless he could touch the wounds on his body. And what did Jesus do? He walked straight up to Thomas and let him touch those wounds. God did not shun these people for doubting. He gladly and patiently answered their questions. He didn't say, "how dare you question me!" and abandon them. No! He remained faithful, and for each he took every opportunity to address and deal with their doubt. Sure, there are examples of God being frustrated by peoples' lack of faith, but their doubt was clearly and easily forgivable.

The strongest faith is one that has been confronted, questioned, wrestled with, and sought out. How can you love someone if you can't search them out and get to know them? How can you trust God if his people shut you down for asking questions? Without the ability to question your faith, you cannot build it well. You end up building your house on sand. That kind of house doesn't last. It crumbles in the storms of life.

A grounded person is one who can entertain and wrestle with the deep questions.

Lets give our fellow believers the tools to build their foundations strong.  Here's hoping that more of us will tackle those questions head-on.

(See Part 2 of my series, "Robbing the Giver of Joy")

Hosting Your Vegan Friends: A Vegan Starter Pack

Are you having your vegan friends over for a long weekend, but have no idea what to cook? Here are 8 recipes and a shopping list for you and your friends to try! I've included 2 breakfast recipes, 1 easy dessert, and 5 lunch/dinner meals. But first, let me explain a few things...

My husband and I have been vegan for the past two and a half years now and we love it! You might not know that because you've probably seen us eating meat and cheese at your house, or at social events, or trying new foods on vacations... Well, that's because when we became vegan, we made two decisions: 1) that we would allow ourselves to eat meat and dairy on occasion, and 2) that we would not impose our diet on our friends, since we are doing it for health, and not because of allergies or religion or politics or anything like that. We just eat the meals our friends make, and even sometimes look forward to eating those meals because we haven't had them in so long (so don't feel bad if you didn't know, please don't!). 

When I stayed with my sister for a week this past New Years, she asked me what to buy and took me to the grocery store so she could make some vegan meals for us. It was amazing, and it kinda caught me off-guard so I had to really take time to think about what recipes I wanted to make. Since then, I thought I'd put this blog together as a help, not as a guilt-tripping expectation, and partially for my own reference.

Maybe you yourself are feeling constant heartburn, feeling heavy and bloated and low on energy and just need a week or two for your body to recharge and want to try this vegan stuff. Well, here's a good "starter pack." I suggest trying it for two weeks as a sort of cleanse, and by the end of it, you'll feel like a new person. And if these recipes aren't enough for you for 2 weeks, I have more vegan recipes on my pinterest board here, but I haven't tried them all yet (I particularly like the potato soup on there). There's also a ton of amazing recipes I have not tried at forksoverknives.com. If you're trying this for yourself, go get a vitamin B supplement. That's the only vitamin we've found to be lacking in our diet thus far, though we are doing research on the omegas. If you're deciding on going full vegan, let's talk! There are some things you need to know! If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

This list is meant for having your friends over for a long weekend and includes enough food for 4 people for 3-4 days. If this is too much for you I've also added a second shopping list with only the ingredients for breakfast, the loaded chili, and the dessert. This should be good for 4 people for a 2-day weekend (the loaded chili makes 16 servings, and therefore could cover lunch and dinner for 2 days, or more if you add the macaroni noodles).

So here we go. First the recipes, and then the 2 shopping lists at the bottom.

Breakfasts

For breakfast, we eat oatmeal. Regular old oatmeal made with water. Because I don’t use milk or butter, the best way to eat oats is with a chopped fruit (apple, pear, banana, peach, berries, etc.), about 5 crushed walnuts, a sprinkle of chia seeds, and a bit of brown sugar or maple syrup. The fruit, walnuts, and chia seeds add a huge amount of needed nutrients to the mix. But on a low budget, a plain bowl of oats with brown sugar will suffice. In the summer we enjoy cold oats or overnight oats, which is nice because we make it in individual jars which we can grab on the go in the morning. I've added it below, but really, plain old oats is good enough!

          Oatmeal

Most people know how to make oats so I hesitate to add this recipe, but just in case your regular way involves milk or butter, here's how I do it:

·       ½ cups per person of dry oats (whole or quick)

·       ¾ cups per person of water

·       Brown sugar or maple syrup

·       Optional to add after cooking

o   ½ chopped fruit per serving

o   5 walnuts per serving

o   ½ tsp chia per serving (or sprinkle it on)

Add water and oats to pot and turn heat to medium, stirring occasionally until it comes to a boil and desired thickness has been reached. Remove from heat and serve. Keep note that your friends will not be adding milk, so you will want the oats to be more moist than dry.

Cold Oats 

Soaking oats overnight actually makes your oats more nutritious. By soaking the oats, the phytates will break down. Phytates are natural preservatives which prevent the grain from biodegrading when dry. They also prevent you from absorbing some of the nutrients in the oats. So breaking down the phytates makes the nutrients in the oats more "bio-available," which means you absorb more nutrients.

If you want to get fancy, there are more variations of this recipe, here and all over the internet.

·       ½ cup whole oats *

·       ½ cup soy milk **

·       1 tbsp brown sugar or maple syrup (or to taste)

·       After soaking ***

o   ½ chopped fruit per serving

o   5 walnuts per serving

o   ½ tsp chia seeds per serving

Add oats, soymilk, and sugar to small mason jar. Cover with lid and leave in fridge the night before you want to eat the breakfast. In the morning, add fruit, nuts, and chia.

* The heartier the whole oats, the better. DO NOT use steel cut oats as they never 

    seem to fully soften, and avoid using quick oats as they get unpleasantly mushy.

** May use any preferred liquid. Soy milk produces the best creamy texture, while 

    water leaves the oats lacking in flavor (some say just add a dash of salt if using 

    water).

*** Some people like to add the fruit and chia and nuts together the night before, but I 

    find the fruit can get a bit too soggy for my taste, and the chia messes with the
    water to oat ratio, which is why I add it in the morning.

Lunch and/or Dinners

One Pot Rice and Curried Butternut Squash from NaturallyElla.com

 

For the recipe, click here. This is one of my favorites. It is hearty, satisfying, filling, and even some of my curry hating friends love this dish. I made this blog with the intention of hosting friends, so I have doubled it for you in the shopping list below to serve 4. And because it has so much flavor, most people won't notice that there's brown rice in it rather than white rice (for those brown-rice haters out there, hehe. I have not tried this with white rice).

Loaded Veggie Chili by Lee on Veggie-Quest.com 

For this recipe, click here. This recipe goes really well with brown rice macaroni noodles or corn tortilla chips (brown rice pasta is as healthy as whole-grain pasta but without the sandy texture). The recipe calls for no salt so the individual can add their own. We also love to add hot sauce to our own bowls. You can substitute 2 cups of water for 2 cups of beer for a richer flavor. This calls for an extra large stock pot, so if you don't have one, just halve the recipe. It makes a lot (16 servings) and will last a few days, and gets tastier over the next few days. My husband often makes this on the weekend and we eat it the next day or two for work.

 Lentil and Cauliflower Rice Taco Filling by Susan Voisin on blog.FatFreeVegan.com

 

For this recipe, click here. This recipe is meant to replace rice in a taco, but being a vegan, I use it to replace meat. And if you get a good fresh chili powder (Indian variety is my favorite), it will make all the difference. The recipe is for the filler only, so here's the rest of the ingredients to make tacos (which are included in the shopping list):

o   Lentil and cauliflower rice taco filling

o   1 bag taco-sized Corn tortillas

o   4-5 ripe tomatoes, chopped

o   refried beans

o   black beans

o   1 bottle of Tobasco's Chipotle Pepper Sauce

o   Chopped or snipped cilantro

o   2 green peppers chopped

o   ½ or 1 cup chopped onion 

o   1 jar salsa verde

o   1 cup brown rice

o    sliced avocados

• Make cauliflower and lentil dish as per recipe and place in large bowl or serving dish (will require a large high-sided skillet or dutch oven). 

• Make rice: Add 1 cup brown rice and 2 cups water to a pot. Bring to boil and then cover and lower heat to simmer for 25 minutes or until rice is soft. Take rice off of heat. 

• Sauté onions and green peppers together in a pan with oil until onions are translucent and green peppers are soft. Place in bowl. 

• Rinse and drain black beans, and heat in water on the stove until boiling, then drain and put in bowl. 

• Heat refried beans in separate pot until simmering (may need to add water), then place in bowl. 

• Chop the tomatoes and put them in a bowl. 

• Snip or chop cilantro and put in a bowl. 

• Then set all the separate ingredients with the salsa and hot sauce and tortillas, and let everyone make their own tacos! 

Tacos are great because each person can choose their own ingredients. Often when we have friends over, we'll make chicken and grate some cheese and have sour cream for them since they probably will be craving the usual taco ingredients. 

Rustic French Green Lentil Soup by ComfyBelly.com

For this recipe, click here. I have experimented with this recipe by changing the veggies many times, and it's always good. But the kale is what makes it so hearty. I've even put okra in this one and made it in the crockpot on low for 5 hours. Careful with okra because it adds a slimy texture that not everyone likes (I LOVE okra). I once removed half the veggies/lentils with a strainer when it was done and used a hand blender to blend the remaining contents to thicken it and then added the strained veggies back in. I preferred this way best. Basically, this is one of my favorite recipes that I've experimented with. But even when I wasn't a vegan, I never tried it with cream.

Creamy Vegan White Wine Sauce with Peppers and Pasta by Brandi Doming on thevegan8.com 

For this recipe, click here. When I made this, Dustin almost cried because he thought he'd never be able to eat a vegan meal with this kind of creamy texture. Now, the original recipe calls for 1 part cashews blended with 3 parts of water for the cramy base. But because I was in a pinch when I made it and didn't have cashews or a blender, I just used soymilk and added one teaspoon of white flour at a time until it was the thickness I wanted (maybe 4 or 5 teaspoons total). But it can get clumpy, so whisk it like crazy when adding the flour. If you're not up for spending the extra cash for the cashews, just use soymilk and flour! This dish isn't the same without the roasted peppers. They make this dish! Roasted cherry tomatoes also work too!

Dessert

2-Ingredient Banana Oat Cookies by Lauren on TheBurlapBag.com 

For this recipe, click here. These are insanely easy. Once batch is 2 ripe bananas mixed with one cup of quick oats and any 3rd ingredient of choice (baked for 15 minutes!). I suggest making at least 2 batches if you have friends over, and so I have doubled it in the shopping list, and I went ahead and added chocolate chips to the list as the 3rd ingredient. These never last more than a day because everyone loves them and never feels guilty eating them. It's the only vegan dessert I know so far... But I'm about to try some new things.

Full Shopping List (all 8 meals)

(note that many of the ingredients on this list will be divided among recipes)

• 10 tsp, & 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 medium red onion
• 2 cups of chopped Kale
• 8 large white or yellow onions
• 16 cloves of garlic
• 10 bell peppers (2 yellow, 2 orange, 4 red, 2 green)
• 1 large head cauliflower
• 1 bunch cilantro
•  4-5 ripe tomatoes (for chopping and eating on tacos)
• Assorted fruit (lots of fruit!)
• 1 bag taco-sized Corn tortillas
• 3 cups brown rice
• 16 oz Brown rice spaghetti pasta
• 3 cups 1/4-inch cubed butternut squash about 1 lb
• 1 cup canned chickpeas drained/rinsed
• 3 tablespoons mild curry powder
• At least 5 tsp salt (some recipes call for salt to taste)
• At least 2 tsp black pepper (one recipe calls for a generous grating of cracked black pepper)
• 1 ½ cup crushed tomatoes
• 84 oz. (3 large cans) roasted tomatoes (I can never find reasonably priced fire roasted or roasted tomatoes here in Israel, so I use canned diced or whole peeled tomato)
• 1 small can tomato paste (6 oz)
• 1 bottle of Tobasco's Chipotle Pepper Sauce
• 3 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
• 3 cups green lentils (one recipe calls for 1 cup brown lentils, but green lentils will work)
• 4 15-oz cans of beans (about 7c) (any type, we use cans of mixed beans)
• 1 can refried beans (pork free)
• 1 can black beans
• 3 16-oz bags of frozen mixed vegetables (NO lima beans)
• 1 16-oz jar mild salsa
• 1 jar salsa verde
• 6 or more tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (One recipe allows for either cayenne or chipotle powder)
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (smoked is important for flavor, though regular paprika works)
• pinch of cinnamon
• 2 tbsp dried green onions
• 2 tbsp dried Italian spice blend
• Whole oats or quick oats (at least 1/2 cup per person per breakfast meal)
• 2 cups quick oats (for banana oat cookies)
• 1 quart soymilk or 2 cups raw cashews for pasta (buy more soymilk if you want to make cold oats rather than cooked oatmeal. See below in optional list)
• 1/2 cup + 4 tablespoons white wine chardonnay
• 4 large bananas (preferably overripe for sweetness)
• Bag of walnuts
• Scallions for garnish
• Brown sugar or maple syrup
• Optional

§  Handful of dairy free chocolate chips (for banana oat cookies)

§  Berries (for breakfast oats)

§  Chia seeds (for breakfast oats)

§  Soymilk for cold oats (if making cold oats rather than regular oatmeal. 1/2 cup soymilk per serving. 1 quart makes about 6 servings)

§  Bag of brown rice macaroni elbows (if you like noodles with chili)

§  Bag of Corn tortilla chips (if you usually like to eat chili with crackers)
§  Avocados for tacos

2-Day Shopping List (Breakfast, Banana cookies, Loaded Veggie Chili)

• Assorted fruit (lots of fruit!)
• 2 large or 4 medium onions
• 4 bell peppers (2 yellow, 2 orange)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 large cans fire-roasted tomatoes (diced) (or regular diced tomatoes)
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 4 15 oz cans mixed beans
• 1 16 oz bags frozen mixed veggies (NO lima beans)
• 1 16 oz jar mild salsa
• 4 tbsp chili powder, plus more to taste
• Whole oats or quick oats (at least 1/2 cup per person per breakfast meal, and if you plan on only making cold oats, only buy whole oats for that)
• 2 cups quick oats (for banana oat cookies)
• ½ gal Soymilk
•  4 large bananas (preferably overripe for sweetness)
• Bag of walnuts 
• Brown sugar or maple syrup
• Optional

§  Handful of dairy free chocolate chips (for banana oat cookies)

§  Berries (for breakfast oats)

§  Chia seeds (for breakfast oats)

§  Bag of brown rice macaroni elbows (if you like noodles with chili. This will aso extend the chili for more servings)
§  Bag of Corn tortilla chips (if you usually like to eat chili with crackers)