One day at Choir I mentioned a Bible passage, 2nd Corinthians 2:15 & 16. This passage tells us that Christians smell bad to non-Christians. You can look it up at http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/2-15.htm which will give you the passage in a bunch of different versions of the Bible. Our Choir director mentioned that while he had read the passage he had never really thought about it.
I consider the aroma to be more like what we call a “vibe” these days, but, I also believe that there are some damned people who really do think saved Christians smell bad. I believe this because there are actually posts on the internet discussing how Christians smell bad.
I am currently reading a book that is pretty stupid, but, interesting because it represents the search in the secular world for understanding in the religious world. In fact, this guy presents a lot of the things I originally believed when I first became saved and began seeking understanding. The book is called “Who Really Goes to Hell”. http://www.amazon.com/Who-Really-Goes-Hell-Protestant/dp/0981826601
The basic idea behind the book is that Christ never taught that all humans sin and believing in him was required for going to heaven. This is just something Paul taught and none of the four gospels mention it.
Total crap of course. Christ tells us: Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
So Christ does tell us that none of us are Good. I could go into the Greek here, agathos, which means honorable, good, happy, noble, etc. Taken in the negative we could also say that all of us are the opposite of good. All of us are sinners, as Paul put it.
Of course that does not address the idea that all must accept Christ to go to Heaven. There are a lot of places that Christ tells us that he is that path and no one can get to the father except through him. The best known of course are the passages that are behind Communion. People believe that Communion goes back to the last supper. Not exactly true, it does and it also goes even further back to John 6:53
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Unless we engage in Communion, the accepting of the path which the Mosiach, the Messiah, Christ has laid down we can not live.
This guy wrote an entire book of ridiculous crap that people probably read and accept as well researched, well documented fact. Essentially he did the same thing most of us do, instead of accepting Christ he tried to “figure” it all out. I remember doing that. I look back at all the time I spent studying the Hebrew and Greek, the different versions of the Bible and I have to laugh at myself. I hope someday you can look back and laugh at your self and this guy can look back and laugh at himself.
God tells us that Proverbs 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
Something that the author of this book and I have in common is the search for knowledge. We love knowledge and we study. God sometimes hides the obvious things from us, from me, from the author of this hilarious book “Who really goes to hell” and from my Choir director. That does not make us fools or hypocrites. It means we are still seeking knowledge and fear of the Lord. It means that some of us want to just accept Christ for who Christ is and accept people for who people are without trying to figure out and understand all the quirks and the angles and the motivations.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Koran burning and Mosque building
If you follow current events you are aware of two news stories making headlines these days, a small church of 50 people in South Carolina is going to burn some Koran's and a group of Muslims in New York city are trying to build a Mosque near Ground Zero in New York.
Don't hand he the “community center” crap, every Church, Mosque and Synagogue is and always has been a center for community activities. Including a Mosque inside of a community center is ridiculous.
We used to have a basket ball hoop out n the parking lot at Church. Some of the membership became upset because kids in the community were using it so they took it down. This is not typical of a Church trying to grow. This is typical of a dying Church. Growing Churches attract community involvement. Dying Churches reject community involvement. A successful religious institution will always become a center for community activities. Every place of worship is a community center.
Not every community center is a place of worship. They become a place of worship when you include facilities for worship inside of them. Not every fruit is an apple. Every apple is a fruit.
The people building this Mosque are going to do what they want regardless of what other people think and they have every right to.
The people burning Koran's are going to do what they want regardless of what other people think and they have every right to.
Personally, I think both groups are screwed up narcissistic jerks
As people we belong to communities. We all belong to multiple communities and we balance what we do against the greater good for these communities. Very few people or groups are so narcissistic that they totally ignore what other people in their various communities think.
At the same time, I also believe that God may have his hand in this. God may very well be leading the Pastor of the SC Church to burn the Koran's and the media groups to create a news sensation out of this situation because it does appear so narcissistic, exactly the way the Mosque at Ground Zero is narcissistic. Remember that Nebuchadnezzar was a servant of God. (Jeremiah 27:6)
Our “scareddy cat” “fearless leader”, Obama, is claiming that the organized burning of Koran's will result in terrorist attacks. Oabama's entire campaign has always been based on fear. Make people fear the status quo and demand change. Make people fear terrorism and eliminate freedom of speech. Make people fear terrorism and help narcissists build Mosques where ever they want. Obama has not taken a position on the Mosque in New York because he is afraid. Obama has taken a position against the Koran burning because he is afraid.
I am disgusted with Obama and his fear and anti-free speech sentiments. I am disgusted with narcissists building Mosques and I am disgusted with narcissists burning Korans.
I don't believe that any of this serves God. God can call on his servant to make a burnt offering and then at the last minute call on the servant to not light the fire. Is this God's plan? Maybe. I don't believe God would call on anyone to actually burn Koran's anymore than God would call on people to sacrifice their kids.
Not all of God's servants are followers of God. Satan, for example, serves God by managing those who choose the chaotic anarchism of Hell over the directed order of Heaven.
I hope that the narcissists in New York stop their disgusting actions. I hope the narcissists in South Carolina stop their actions. I hope Obama quits preaching and living in fear.
In the end I expect the US government to live in fear because Obama is afraid. I expect the Mosque to be built. I expect the Koran burning to be stopped.
As long as the people in the US elect leaders who make choices based in fear the US will continue down a path of destruction.
Don't hand he the “community center” crap, every Church, Mosque and Synagogue is and always has been a center for community activities. Including a Mosque inside of a community center is ridiculous.
We used to have a basket ball hoop out n the parking lot at Church. Some of the membership became upset because kids in the community were using it so they took it down. This is not typical of a Church trying to grow. This is typical of a dying Church. Growing Churches attract community involvement. Dying Churches reject community involvement. A successful religious institution will always become a center for community activities. Every place of worship is a community center.
Not every community center is a place of worship. They become a place of worship when you include facilities for worship inside of them. Not every fruit is an apple. Every apple is a fruit.
The people building this Mosque are going to do what they want regardless of what other people think and they have every right to.
The people burning Koran's are going to do what they want regardless of what other people think and they have every right to.
Personally, I think both groups are screwed up narcissistic jerks
As people we belong to communities. We all belong to multiple communities and we balance what we do against the greater good for these communities. Very few people or groups are so narcissistic that they totally ignore what other people in their various communities think.
At the same time, I also believe that God may have his hand in this. God may very well be leading the Pastor of the SC Church to burn the Koran's and the media groups to create a news sensation out of this situation because it does appear so narcissistic, exactly the way the Mosque at Ground Zero is narcissistic. Remember that Nebuchadnezzar was a servant of God. (Jeremiah 27:6)
Our “scareddy cat” “fearless leader”, Obama, is claiming that the organized burning of Koran's will result in terrorist attacks. Oabama's entire campaign has always been based on fear. Make people fear the status quo and demand change. Make people fear terrorism and eliminate freedom of speech. Make people fear terrorism and help narcissists build Mosques where ever they want. Obama has not taken a position on the Mosque in New York because he is afraid. Obama has taken a position against the Koran burning because he is afraid.
I am disgusted with Obama and his fear and anti-free speech sentiments. I am disgusted with narcissists building Mosques and I am disgusted with narcissists burning Korans.
I don't believe that any of this serves God. God can call on his servant to make a burnt offering and then at the last minute call on the servant to not light the fire. Is this God's plan? Maybe. I don't believe God would call on anyone to actually burn Koran's anymore than God would call on people to sacrifice their kids.
Not all of God's servants are followers of God. Satan, for example, serves God by managing those who choose the chaotic anarchism of Hell over the directed order of Heaven.
I hope that the narcissists in New York stop their disgusting actions. I hope the narcissists in South Carolina stop their actions. I hope Obama quits preaching and living in fear.
In the end I expect the US government to live in fear because Obama is afraid. I expect the Mosque to be built. I expect the Koran burning to be stopped.
As long as the people in the US elect leaders who make choices based in fear the US will continue down a path of destruction.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
e-Book readers, Blog 2, Android Tablet
This is my second blog on e-book readers. This blog is about Android tablets as book readers.
I picked up an Eken M001 Android Tablet from E-Bay. The hardware quality on these is a shot in the dark, but, it looks like it has some potential for the future.
This unit has a tilt sensor so you can use it either "vertical" or "horizontal". Nice feature. I used three different e-book software systems, the iBook reader, the Peanut Press (palm) e-reader and FBReader.
All the reader software systems had problems. I am used to FBReader which I use on my XO and the Peanut Press e-reader, neither of these worked very well. They were slow and clunky. The iBook reader worked best.
The bad things are the fingerprints on the reading area, the processing and library management.
The nice thing about the Android is that you have choices of e-reader software. I have not actually read an e-book on the reader yet, but, it is better than the Nook. There are lots of smaller issues, but, if you are willing to install different software and use standard file management techniques to manage your library it is useful.
On a scale between 1 and 10 I give the Android Tablet a 4 out of 10. I think the Android tablet will be the way to go, but, it is a little early in development for prime time.
The screen needs a setting similar to the XO so you can change to low power B&W display. The processor needs to be faster (on my system). I also really like the idea of the 3G connection on the Nook and Kindle so to get better the Android you need a decent 3G connection. The only other suggestion I have is that you need an e-book library management system similar to calibre as well as a variety of reading software.
In my opinion the software of an e-reader needs to be installable and customizable. Different people like different interfaces, different buttons, etc.
For digital rights management Microsoft, the Nook and the old Palm reader use credit card numbers. This is a total disaster, I know because I have purchased books using different card numbers. I won't discuss how I have managed addressing that issue, but, most of you can guess.
I would use something like a PGP key. You plug your private key into the book reader and it opens up the books. Unlike credit card numbers people could share PGP keys, but, with a 3G book reader the key could be checked on the server the same way a cell phone ID is exchanged with the phone server and if people had the same PGP key the book seller could request an explanation from the key registrar. Some people, like me, may have multiple forms of book readers. Some may be sharing. With the 3G network connection it would be pretty simple to determine if two people were reading the same license at the same time.
The Nook had the capability to loan some books out. By registering a loan or license transfer with a 3G server you could exchange e-books the same way people exchange print books.
My favorite used book store in the Detroit area is John K King in downtown Detroit. The current e-book system is a both extraordinarily cheap and a huge rip off. Free e-books are great. The e-books you pay for cost more than a paperback. When you finish reading you can't trade it in to a used book store for credit so you totally lose your investment. You can't give it away at the homeless project at church. You can't lend it or give it to your daughter.
By using a network identification similar to the cell phone network you can eliminate those issues.
I picked up an Eken M001 Android Tablet from E-Bay. The hardware quality on these is a shot in the dark, but, it looks like it has some potential for the future.
This unit has a tilt sensor so you can use it either "vertical" or "horizontal". Nice feature. I used three different e-book software systems, the iBook reader, the Peanut Press (palm) e-reader and FBReader.
All the reader software systems had problems. I am used to FBReader which I use on my XO and the Peanut Press e-reader, neither of these worked very well. They were slow and clunky. The iBook reader worked best.
The bad things are the fingerprints on the reading area, the processing and library management.
The nice thing about the Android is that you have choices of e-reader software. I have not actually read an e-book on the reader yet, but, it is better than the Nook. There are lots of smaller issues, but, if you are willing to install different software and use standard file management techniques to manage your library it is useful.
On a scale between 1 and 10 I give the Android Tablet a 4 out of 10. I think the Android tablet will be the way to go, but, it is a little early in development for prime time.
The screen needs a setting similar to the XO so you can change to low power B&W display. The processor needs to be faster (on my system). I also really like the idea of the 3G connection on the Nook and Kindle so to get better the Android you need a decent 3G connection. The only other suggestion I have is that you need an e-book library management system similar to calibre as well as a variety of reading software.
In my opinion the software of an e-reader needs to be installable and customizable. Different people like different interfaces, different buttons, etc.
For digital rights management Microsoft, the Nook and the old Palm reader use credit card numbers. This is a total disaster, I know because I have purchased books using different card numbers. I won't discuss how I have managed addressing that issue, but, most of you can guess.
I would use something like a PGP key. You plug your private key into the book reader and it opens up the books. Unlike credit card numbers people could share PGP keys, but, with a 3G book reader the key could be checked on the server the same way a cell phone ID is exchanged with the phone server and if people had the same PGP key the book seller could request an explanation from the key registrar. Some people, like me, may have multiple forms of book readers. Some may be sharing. With the 3G network connection it would be pretty simple to determine if two people were reading the same license at the same time.
The Nook had the capability to loan some books out. By registering a loan or license transfer with a 3G server you could exchange e-books the same way people exchange print books.
My favorite used book store in the Detroit area is John K King in downtown Detroit. The current e-book system is a both extraordinarily cheap and a huge rip off. Free e-books are great. The e-books you pay for cost more than a paperback. When you finish reading you can't trade it in to a used book store for credit so you totally lose your investment. You can't give it away at the homeless project at church. You can't lend it or give it to your daughter.
By using a network identification similar to the cell phone network you can eliminate those issues.
E-Book Readers, Blog 1
I have been reading e-books since the late 90's. I started reading on my computer, then moved to the Palm Pilot. My favorite Palm Pilot was and is my Tungsten W. Great, but, small. I typically used the Palm Reader.
When Palm did the Tungsten W they really screwed up. The Palm Treo phones were a mess too. I switched to the Treo and hated it. Time for the Blackberry, but, what to do about a book reader? I used my Tungsten W as a reader and my Blackberry as a phone. Eventually Mobipocket came out with a free reader. It sucked, but, it was better than nothing and the screen resolution on the Blackberry was better than the Treo.
A couple years ago I picked up an OLPC XO laptop and began using it as a book reader. Excellent device, but kind of large and clunky. I kept trying to turn pages by touching the screen :-)
A few weeks ago I started looking into the new book readers. Like readers in the past the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Amazon Kindle make it difficult to use common formats like *.pdb, and *.txt, but, I figured I would test the system out.
I bought an Android M001 tablet and tested it out.
I plan on purchasing and testing out a Kindle.
I will blog on my experiences with these e-readers and hopefully you can learn from my experiences. The first unit I am blogging about is the Nook.
To sum up my experience with the B&N Nook:
Essentially, it sucked.
*.pdf files sent to me by colleagues were displayed using whatever title Acrobat had assigned when published and not using the file name so I had no idea what the dissertation/thesis or paper name was.
*.pdb files published with the Barnes and Noble Drop Book program could not be opened on the Nook.
*.pdb files downloaded from gutenberg.org could not be opened on the Nook.
*.epub files could downloaded from gutenberg.org could not be opened on the Nook.
e-books purchased from B&N back around 2004 could not be opened on the Nook.
B&N is charging for books that are in the publish domain and can be freely downloaded.
B&N "loses" track of books that you have previously purchased and you have to submit proof that you purchased them to download them.
I was unable to open any of the "free" books I had purchased from B&N on my Nook.
Phone technical support was no help at all.
I returned the Nook after owning it less than 24 hours.
A simple subjective analysis of Nook user reviews on C-Net
Something I have noticed reading the 120 reviews, it looks like people who read for a living, students, researchers, professors, etc, and who have a lot of experience with e-readers typically give the Nook a very low score. People who read for fun, fiction, etc, and have actually gotten the download your purchases feature to work seem to like the product or at least do not hate it.
Typically, the people who like it seem to be new to e-books and purchased e-books from B&N
From my experience and after reading the reviews:
Buy one and try it out. It will either work foryou or it won't and you will return it immediately.
If it works use it every day for at least an hour or two. You will either have frustrating power, lock-up and lost book mark problems or it will work fine for you.
If after 12 days you have any doubts at all, take it back.
If you have no doubts about how well it operates after 12 days I wish you happiness and good luck.
When Palm did the Tungsten W they really screwed up. The Palm Treo phones were a mess too. I switched to the Treo and hated it. Time for the Blackberry, but, what to do about a book reader? I used my Tungsten W as a reader and my Blackberry as a phone. Eventually Mobipocket came out with a free reader. It sucked, but, it was better than nothing and the screen resolution on the Blackberry was better than the Treo.
A couple years ago I picked up an OLPC XO laptop and began using it as a book reader. Excellent device, but kind of large and clunky. I kept trying to turn pages by touching the screen :-)
A few weeks ago I started looking into the new book readers. Like readers in the past the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Amazon Kindle make it difficult to use common formats like *.pdb, and *.txt, but, I figured I would test the system out.
I bought an Android M001 tablet and tested it out.
I plan on purchasing and testing out a Kindle.
I will blog on my experiences with these e-readers and hopefully you can learn from my experiences. The first unit I am blogging about is the Nook.
To sum up my experience with the B&N Nook:
Essentially, it sucked.
*.pdf files sent to me by colleagues were displayed using whatever title Acrobat had assigned when published and not using the file name so I had no idea what the dissertation/thesis or paper name was.
*.pdb files published with the Barnes and Noble Drop Book program could not be opened on the Nook.
*.pdb files downloaded from gutenberg.org could not be opened on the Nook.
*.epub files could downloaded from gutenberg.org could not be opened on the Nook.
e-books purchased from B&N back around 2004 could not be opened on the Nook.
B&N is charging for books that are in the publish domain and can be freely downloaded.
B&N "loses" track of books that you have previously purchased and you have to submit proof that you purchased them to download them.
I was unable to open any of the "free" books I had purchased from B&N on my Nook.
Phone technical support was no help at all.
I returned the Nook after owning it less than 24 hours.
A simple subjective analysis of Nook user reviews on C-Net
Something I have noticed reading the 120 reviews, it looks like people who read for a living, students, researchers, professors, etc, and who have a lot of experience with e-readers typically give the Nook a very low score. People who read for fun, fiction, etc, and have actually gotten the download your purchases feature to work seem to like the product or at least do not hate it.
Typically, the people who like it seem to be new to e-books and purchased e-books from B&N
From my experience and after reading the reviews:
Buy one and try it out. It will either work foryou or it won't and you will return it immediately.
If it works use it every day for at least an hour or two. You will either have frustrating power, lock-up and lost book mark problems or it will work fine for you.
If after 12 days you have any doubts at all, take it back.
If you have no doubts about how well it operates after 12 days I wish you happiness and good luck.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Attitudes and the people of Israel
I am reading a book called “Lord, Change my Attitude before it's too late”. The premise of the book, which is so far okay, is the idea that the Lord punished Israel for their bad attitude by making them wander in the desert for 40 years.
The problem is that I don't believe that punishment had anything to do with making the children of Israel wander in the desert.
Here is my take on what happened.
God took a bunch of people who were used to following orders and being slaves to Egyptian leaders. God gave them an Egyptian leader (Moses) who was actually one of them and had that leader tell them what to do. That worked really well right up to the point where they actually had to show some initiative in battle and fight for their new land.
When it came time for those people to fight, those slaves who had never raised a hand to their oppressors, they balked. Why wouldn't they balk? They were salves, essentially bred to be subservient to their masters. Aggression and the attitudes for risk taking were essentially bred right out of them. They were tough as nails and as mild as sheep. They had been bred and trained to be exactly that way.
God needed a new generation of people to fight, people who were not born into slavery, who were not bred and trained to be sheep. God needed a people who were willing to fight, whose very existence depended on their ability to survive.
God took a bunch of slaves and stuck them in one of the most hostile environments in the world to train them to become the warriors they needed to be.
Sheep who have no confidence in God need to have confidence in their leaders.
People who have no confidence in God need to have confidence in themselves and their leaders.
I am a desert trained warrior and let me tell you that the people who trained me while I was in the US Army were some of the baddest ass people I ever met. Israelis and Arabs. People who fought for every breath because they were breathing in an oven. People who fought for water because without water they would die. People who did everything they had to do and nothing that they did not have to do.
That 40 years of wandering in the desert created some of the toughest soldiers in the world. It was the ultimate basic training, probably three generations separated the youngest from the oldest. Generations who had become tough, aggressive and smart about the desert.
God is not interested in punishment. God is interested in building people and sometimes you have to destroy old attitudes to build new ones. Sometimes it takes some pretty harsh treatment, Basic Training, Prison, Wandering, to destroy the old attitudes.
Sometimes the treatment is too harsh and it destroys the person, when people are in charge of the training.
God is perfect. God's training is always perfect. We don't even understand what he is training us for, we just need to know that God is helping us to become the best people we can become.
The problem is that I don't believe that punishment had anything to do with making the children of Israel wander in the desert.
Here is my take on what happened.
God took a bunch of people who were used to following orders and being slaves to Egyptian leaders. God gave them an Egyptian leader (Moses) who was actually one of them and had that leader tell them what to do. That worked really well right up to the point where they actually had to show some initiative in battle and fight for their new land.
When it came time for those people to fight, those slaves who had never raised a hand to their oppressors, they balked. Why wouldn't they balk? They were salves, essentially bred to be subservient to their masters. Aggression and the attitudes for risk taking were essentially bred right out of them. They were tough as nails and as mild as sheep. They had been bred and trained to be exactly that way.
God needed a new generation of people to fight, people who were not born into slavery, who were not bred and trained to be sheep. God needed a people who were willing to fight, whose very existence depended on their ability to survive.
God took a bunch of slaves and stuck them in one of the most hostile environments in the world to train them to become the warriors they needed to be.
Sheep who have no confidence in God need to have confidence in their leaders.
People who have no confidence in God need to have confidence in themselves and their leaders.
I am a desert trained warrior and let me tell you that the people who trained me while I was in the US Army were some of the baddest ass people I ever met. Israelis and Arabs. People who fought for every breath because they were breathing in an oven. People who fought for water because without water they would die. People who did everything they had to do and nothing that they did not have to do.
That 40 years of wandering in the desert created some of the toughest soldiers in the world. It was the ultimate basic training, probably three generations separated the youngest from the oldest. Generations who had become tough, aggressive and smart about the desert.
God is not interested in punishment. God is interested in building people and sometimes you have to destroy old attitudes to build new ones. Sometimes it takes some pretty harsh treatment, Basic Training, Prison, Wandering, to destroy the old attitudes.
Sometimes the treatment is too harsh and it destroys the person, when people are in charge of the training.
God is perfect. God's training is always perfect. We don't even understand what he is training us for, we just need to know that God is helping us to become the best people we can become.
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