musings

I've always found it annoyingly unethical for reporters to say something like this, "I've got a source who says this, he's breaking a judge's order to give you this information." There's something wrong with that. I'm not the only one that thinks that, right? I guess it's more common these days to have sources like that. I guess most people would say, the djinni's out of the bottle so I have to report this no matter where it comes from.

"...attorneys intend to appeal Thursday's decision to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Lake Charles, Louisiana, said the source, who requested anonymity because of the gag order imposed by the judge."

Naseated and awake

I'm still awake...It's 5:12 am EST. I even took an Ambien. Yikes. I feel so nauseated. I can't move without getting waves and waves of it. I'm trying to be very still. I hope I'm not coming down with a virus or something. Yuck. Ugh, thinking about it is making me feel worse.

Well, this hasn't been a very uplifting post.

Have a great day at school, work or where ever you are.

warning on books

Yahoo! News - Judge Rejects School Board Evolution Stand

Once again craziness rules our court system.
The ACLU argued that a warning on a biology book "effectively pushing the teaching of creationism" should be removed from a Georgia school district. This is absolutely ridiculous. If the warning on the books really said,

This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.

How is it promoting Creationsim?

Here's the entire article in case they take it down:

Judge Rejects School Board Evolution Stand

By Paul Simao

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered a Georgia school district to remove stickers challenging the theory of evolution from its textbooks on the grounds that they violated the U.S. Constitution.

In a ruling issued in Atlanta, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said Cobb County's school board had violated the constitutional ban on the separation of church and state when it put the disclaimers on biology books in 2002.

The stickers read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

"We are pleased. The law was pretty clear," said Maggie Garrett, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the board on behalf of a group of parents who were opposed to the disclaimers.

The ACLU argued that the school board had demonstrated a clear bias about the material, effectively pushing the teaching of creationism and discriminating against non-Christians and followers of a number of other religions.

Creationism refers to the belief that life was created by God. Evolution, which is accepted by most scientists, contends that life developed from more primitive forms and was dictated by natural selection.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that creationism could not be taught in public schools alongside evolution.

The Georgia school board, which introduced the stickers at the behest of hundreds of parents, many of them religious conservatives, contended that the stickers only advised students to keep an open mind.

The board's lawyer was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.

The federal ruling came about two months after the re-election of President Bush, who won the overwhelming support of religious conservatives with his stands against gay marriage and abortion.

The Cobb County case also evoked memories of the 1925 "Monkey Trial" of John Scopes, a Tennessee biology teacher who was found guilty of illegally teaching evolution.

upgrades can be a pain...

Well, I have been pleased so much with Firefox, it grieves me to complain now.

I want to point out that I am still endorsing Firefox as the best internet browser I've ever used. (Much better than Microsoft's IE, in my opinion.) Nevertheless, I had problems upgrading from 0.8 to 0.9.

From what I have read, several other people had similar troubles. The truth is, the browser part worked fine, it was the Extensions and Themes that wouldn't work.

I suppose if you don't care about extentions or themes, this complaint will seem trivial. But as one who likes to change themes from time to time and enjoys the creative extensions that people come up with, I needed these things to work.

Especially since the theme 0.9 was stuck on was particularly horrid.

Maybe this complaint should be leveled at the Firefox website. It was there that I couldn't find any answers, after all.

Okay. I just finished dinner, things seem much better now. I'll stop complaining. I got Firefox 0.9 to work. It took hours of searching, and then some blind guesswork, but if you have problems with upgrading (either with the extensions or themes not working). I might have your solution. E-mail me.

assorted thoughts and pictures

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while. I'm sorry. I need to write more. And I don't mean fluff. I want to really write some of the crazy things in my head. For posterity. And for your amusement.

I have been working on my constructed language. That has been nice.
And I composed a new tune for Fanny Crosby's poem To God Be the Glory. I have been "working."

And as a special treat I have pictures for you. These are from my little vacation to CO for Ben and Stephanie Young's wedding. The pictures are not that good. I'm working on the whole photographer thing.

pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Things I've learned about cameras and taking pictures

1. recharge camera before you leave


2. turn off flash when taking pictures through windows


3. push Kammer out of frame


4. recharge camera when you have arrived at hotel


5. don't forget the 35mm

____baptist[joke].org

Oh how I regret going to this "christian" website I found somehow. It is a joke of course. It isn't Christian at all. I'm not going to give you the real URL. It isn't worth your time. But it made me think...and write...

What is really sad: How much their mocking reminds me of how so many Fundamental Indepedent Baptists preach/come across (especially on some websites I've seen). I see now very clearly some of my dissatisfaction in our circles is our heart attitude.

I know the world will always think we are crazy (1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 2:14), hence their mocking. But there are ways...I think biblically approved ways, to deport ourselves that show God's glory (Matthew 5:16).

oops...

Something I did to my Comments Templates have affected several other blogs:

Grace and Peace (David Morris)
A Glimpse...that Place
Simplicity
(hopefully, not more, I didn't see any others)

I will take that code out as soon as I can and I'll talk to Ben about that little problem. Okay? Nothing to worry about, really!

staccato moments of mush

I was practicing the piano just now and something snapped/popped in the pedal mechanism and now the pedal is really loose and won't sustain very much. It sounds like I am playing mushy staccato. Very sad.

Unfortunately, I do not know how to fix pianos.

salt in the fresh water

Why do so many Christian blogs have swear words on them? It amazes me how I can read such fascinating, insightful, biblical entries, but in the comments or the very next entry there are vulgar expressions and curse words.

How do you distinguish a Christian from a non-believer if both speak the same way. Jesus said "For out of the heart proceed...blasphemies" (Matthew 15:19). James said, "Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be" (James 3:10 NIV).

Here is a thought-provoking quote from chapter four of Christian Education: Its Mandate and Mission (BJU Press ©1992):

The believer's speech should be "seasoned with salt," not salty; it should communicate "alway with grace" (Col. 4:6). The enemies of Jesus tried but failed to "catch him in his words" (Mark 12:13)--words that had keen edge but also graciousness (Luke 4:22). The Biblical standard, today as then, is "sound speech, that cannot be condemned" (Titus 2:8).

spam blocking

If you use an e-mail address on your blog (or web page) and you are afraid of spammer bots getting your e-mail address, use this site to create a java script that will protect your address.

hide e-mail

I suppose I am taking this guy's word that this really works. Any thoughts?

let him that stole steal no more

Someone stole tools off our driveway (our driveway extends all the way up past our house to the back yard where the garage is) in broad daylight in the middle of the afternoon.

My brother ran out of the house, calling out to the guy. He got a good look at him, and memorized the kids' license plate as they drove off. But the police said since it was an out of state plate, they couldn't find anything that matched their records. So, the policeman promised to drive around the neighborhood and look around.

How reassuring it is that in a neighborhood as good as ours, there are people who will steal right out there under the sun.

How reassuring to me that God doesn't let anything happen but by His Sovereign will.

Firebird vs. IE

I use Mozilla Firebird (thanks to Benjamin), so if you use Internet Explorer and my post doesn't make sense, please ask me to check it in IE. I forget to do that sometimes. IE isn't smart enough to figure some things out. It took me forever to get that stupid poll to show up in IE in my last post. And something that was fun at first became a hassle. Oh well, I learned things from it. I'll try to check IE since it is still used so often (needlessly: download Firebird here).

Sometimes I think the Borg were right:

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. Your biological and technological disticntiveness will be added to our own.

mélange

What's going on these days? Why do people think that repackaging the Bible will actually help the cause of Christ? I freely admit that the Bible has a power of its own that can't be defeated by human thinking. But we want genuine faith and belief in Christ not hip Christians who "walk the walk and talk the talk" because it's the "cool thing" to do.

I'm talking about this article from ABC News. My friend Jen commenting on the article said, "We need to reach the lost." But she also said, "We are not like the world," and gave a very good example from Scripture: (Romans 12:2) "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

We shouldn't be ashamed of the Word of God. We don't need to hide it or disguise it in a magazine. We are in a free country. We are blessed. We can freely speak Jesus' Name aloud and we don't have to fear that police will take us away from our homes and family. Are churches aren't in danger from the government. But the people of the church are in danger if this is our method of winning the lost and keeping young Christians reading their bibles.

We need to reach the lost. But we are supposed to do it the way Jesus and the Apostles did. We need to stand out. We need to preach the Word and share the Gospel.

We aren't supposed to mix into the system and become some worldly spiritual mélange.

Ashamed

Somehow I stumbled onto a very sad website (http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/). I suggest you go there (if you are a grounded believer in Christ) to see how Satan is fighting the Word of God.

Yet I am not writing this blog to comment on what a wicked website I found, but how wicked I really am. It is no secret that I read the Bible�I even study it (2 Timothy 2:15). (Not many Christians can say they do more than read through their Bible-in-a-year program; I do not say that to mock. If we love the Lord, we want to be in His Word!) This blog, however, is about how ashamed I am of my study of the Bible. I am a Christian. I am a child of God! Yet I hardly know His Word. There is a song that says quite well what we need to hear, �I want to know You more.�

The fact is, we can only know Him better by learning His Word.

The Bible says, (Psalm 119:165-168 NASB) �Those who love Thy law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble. {166} I hope for Thy salvation, O LORD, And do Thy commandments. {167} My soul keeps Thy testimonies, And I love them exceedingly. {168} I keep Thy precepts and Thy testimonies, For all my ways are before Thee.�

To love God�s law one must know it; to keep God�s commandments one must know them. If we want great peace, let us keep God�s precepts and His testimonies. Let us know Him more.

jmb