Is God Unfair?

I have a big 'fairness button'. Lately, I have become more aware of my emotional response to unfair situations and am trying, with some success, to moderate my reactions. One thing that helps is becoming aware of where my reaction to unfairness began.

I have a very clear memory from early childhood. I was two or three years old. My parents were living in an apartment in a small town in upstate New York, near the Canadian border. This is about my first experience with unfairness. I think this is where my anger began.

My parents went out for the evening and left me with a baby sitter - a teenage girl. As soon as my parents had left, she asked me if I had a 'victrola'. I had never heard of a 'victrola', so I said no. I remember her grabbing me by the hand and marching me to the hall closet, where on the top shelf there was a record player. She called me a liar and sent me straight to bed. I remember crying myself to sleep, angry and humiliated at having been called a liar.

I realize now that I had been set up. The girl just wanted an excuse to get me out of the way so she could listen to her records in peace.

I make a connection between this memory and the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible. Adam and Eve were innocent and naive. They were like babies. God knew that they were going to eat the forbidden fruit. It was a setup from the start. Why did God put the forbidden fruit in the garden in the first place? Why did God allow Satan to tempt Eve?

There are many other examples in the Bible of seemingly unfair behavior on the part of our creator. I personally have so many questions about the Bible and God and what our lives mean. However, I have chosen to love God in spite of those questions and I have never regretted that.

Here is a question for my agnostic friends. You instinctively know, even as a young child, what is fair and what is not. You even understand fairness in context and can distinguish between fairness in different situations. Yet you were not taught this. Where do you think your sense of fairness came from?

Making Soup

A couple of years ago I got a mental message which very clearly, out of the blue, said "Make soup". So I started making soup. A few months later, someone told me about a local soup kitchen that needed people to make soup for homless people in our area. Now I make soup with a friend of mine, about 20 L. at a time. I find it both satisfying and relaxing. Here is a recipe for Split Pea Soup that I like a lot.

Split Pea Soup:

For every 2 L. (or 2 qts.) of soup:

1 lb dried split peas (450 grams)

1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk - all small dice

1/2 tsp dill
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp chopped rosemary
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste

Use a nice stock - either a chicken stock or a stock made with ham, smoked pork hocks or smoked turkey legs; reserve the meat when making stock for adding to the soup. If you want to make a vegeterian version of this soup, use a good vegetable stock instead.

Tips on making stock
When making stock from scratch, take the meat off the bones after it has cooked for no more than an 3/4 of an hour and continue simmering the bones for a stronger stock. If you simmer the meat too long all the goodness will be in the stock and the meat will taste like rubber. For even more flavorful stock, add some coarsley chopped onion, celery, and carrots. Be careful to simmer the stock very gently, don't let it boil. Strain the finished stock through a fine sive and store in the refrigerator over night. Skim off as much fat as possible before re-heating the stock to make your soup.

Add the split peas to stock and simmer for about an hour. Skim off any foam that floats to the surface.

Saute the vegetables in butter and olive oil with the spices and add to the soup. When I'm making 20 L. of soup I do this in three batches.

Simmer for another hour or so until peas are mostly mush and vegies are tender. Add reserved meat at the end.

Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

This soup keeps well refrigerated for at least a few days, and is even better when left in the refrigerator overnight and reheated the next day. It also freezes well.

For a little extra flavor, garnesh with crutons, yogurt or sour cream.

First Post

This is my first post. It's also my first time blogging. My main worry is that I don't have anything meaningful to say. My secound worry is that I will bore everyone to tears with my 'meaningful' drivle.