Who are these people you are referring to? I work in an IT department at a major university and I don't see these extreme geeks you appear to be referring to. Even if they are there, why the hate? What are they doing to you?
The real problem here is inherent in the academic system. Research faculty are in a situation where they are being judged by the amount of papers they put out, and not on the quality or the potential of their work. This leads to unscrupulous individuals doing "whatever it takes" to get ahead.
What needs to be done is to reform the way merit is assigned in academia. Research funding and tenure need to be allocated based not only on the quantity of publications but on other factors which may be harder to measure, factors that would be better indicators of the value of their research.
A somewhat related issue is that more and more private sector funding is flowing into universities and along with that funding comes the expectation of a quick return on investment. This creates more pressure to pursue short-term goals with little long-term impact on the field of study.
Taken together, US scientific research is destined to fall behind and stop making new breakthroughs. Seemingly, the only apparent solution to this is to increase the amount of public funding available for basic research. It would seem, though, this is not likely to happen given the current regime in Washington. A more likely outcome will be that our scientific institutions will all be doing R&D for the big corporations in the near future.
So are the books they are digitizing all in the public domain? It doesn't seem like there would be that many books in the public domain that haven't already been made available on the net. Of course I could be wrong.
Well you seem to have it all figured out don't you?
I will pray for you Nightpaw. It is apparent to me that God is dealing with you based on what you have said so far, and I have got to give thanks to Him for that.
Father God, I pray that Nightpaw's eyes would be opened to who you are, and that anybody else reading this would be blessed with a revelation of your awesome and loving nature.
Okay. I just want to know something. Do you, on any level, realize how silly this whole God thing is? Here, read this [theonion.com].
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Cor. 1:18 (NIV)
What you believe is the most important thing in your life at this time. I understand you don't know God, but he wants to know you. If you really care about understanding what I have to say, just ask this: "God I don't know if you are real, but if you are, show me in a real way who you are." If you ask this with a sincere heart, I guarantee he will answer you.
So, if you had read the Koran first, and it said it was the truth, would you have believed it and never read the Bible?
No, I read the Bible before I got saved, but it didn't make any sense to me. I got saved via a movie gospel presentation at my university. The story of Jesus' life was presented to me and I believed it to be true. Only after I became a Christian did the truth of the Bible become clear. It was a spiritual understanding, not an intellectual understanding, and so I think if presented with the beliefs of the Koran, I would not have responded this way.
If you say no, what is it about the Bible that makes you believe that it is true, and how do you know that same "something" isn't in the Koran if you've never read it?
The Bible is self authenticating. The Holy Spirit living in me validates the truth that is presented to me. In the same way, the Koran shows itself to not be authentic. The Bible is also totally exclusive. There is only ONE WAY to salvation. Which makes sense since real truth requires that anything contradictory must be false.
I have also found the Bible to be remarkably consistent. There is somewhat of a circular aspect to it, I agree, but what do you expect for something that claims to be the very Word of the creator of the universe. God himself says "I am that I am"!
So, if you had read the Koran first, and it said it was the truth, would you have believed it and never read the Bible?
No, I read the Bible before I got saved, but it didn't make any sense to me. I got saved via a movie gospel presentation at my university. The story of Jesus' life was presented to me and I believed it to be true. Only after I became a Christian did the truth of the Bible become clear. It was a spiritual understanding, not an intellectual understanding, and so I think if presented with the beliefs of the Koran, I would not have responded this way.
If you say no, what is it about the Bible that makes you believe that it is true, and how do you know that same "something" isn't in the Koran if you've never read it?
The Bible is self authenticating. The Holy Spirit living in me validates the truth that is presented to me. In the same way, the Koran shows itself to not be authentic. The Bible is also totally exclusive. There is only ONE WAY to salvation. Which makes sense since real truth requires that anything contradictory must be false.
I have also found the Bible to be remarkably consistent. There is somewhat of a circular aspect to it, I agree, but what do you expect for something that claims to be the very Word of the creator of the universe. God himself says "I am that I am"!
The problem with evolution is not in the actual mechanics of it. There is sufficient evidence that given the right pressures, life evolves. The problem is that it doesn't have any explanation for the origins of life. There are plenty of theories, but none has been sufficiently proven and anybody who says otherwise is a science zealot.
Hey buddy, Christianity isn't 100% proven either. In fact, the only proof you've got is the Bible, and all it does is assert the correctness of itself. That's what's called "begging the question". And if you're going to get all semantical on the "theory" of evolution, I'll have to ask you to look up "faith" and how it's compared to "proof".
You misunderstand my point. I never claimed Christianity was proven. I only claimed that I believe it is true. My point is that evolution is not 100% proven, and that if you say, 'It's the truth', you are implying a belief in the truth of it. I don't believe you can PROVE that God exists. Abraham was justified by FAITH. He believed God was talking to him, not some voice in his head, and he did what God said.
Science is the quest for knowledge. Religion is the opposite.
Christianity is not about knowledge, but about truth. The truth of who God is and who we are in relation to him. This truth can not be revealed by questing after it, but by faith in what God has revealed to us.
You have to understand, I don't discount science and anything that has been discovered over the centruies. Its just that in addition to this, I have faith in God, and despite the fact that I can't reconcile every detail of the Bible with every detail of the theories of man, I am not going to throw either of them away. The nature of science is that it never knows everything. It is always stumbling forward based on the limited knowledge it has, in search of more knowledge. Who are you to say that everything that science theorizes about is fact, when any good scientist will tell you that he hasn't answered all the questions.
With religion, you're supposed to continue to have faith despite being proven wrong.
You can't prove religion wrong, its basis is in faith.
Religion is intellectually bankrupt.
Again, religion is not meant to be intellectually anything. It is simply about what you believe.
You ask why we're here and religion says, "Because of God. Go pray and stop asking questions." Why do you want to take the easy way out? That kind of reason barely even works on little kids; even they know that "because I said so" is not a good reason. And even if you play along with the whole God created Man thing, you're in for it when you ask where God came from. Because, it turns out, He's always been here. Well, golly, I guess I'll just stop trying to figure stuff out and let others just tell me what to think.
I can't throw out everything the Bible teaches just because I don't understand how it all can be. I acknowledge my limited capacity for understanding God and His creation. An honest scientist will do the same. That doesn't mean I can't think about how creation and evolution could be consistent, but that does mean that I won't stop believing that the creation account is true.
The reality is that whether evolution is or is not true is irrelevant to the most important message in the Bible. God loves you, and wants you to be reconciled to Him, and he sent His son to die so that could be accomplished. You can choose to reject that sacrifice or not, but you can't ignore it.
No, I absolutely don't have any personal issues with this. In fact I have read some of the Koran, and what's interesting about it, is how much it stands in contradiction to the teachings of Jesus, and yet how much it claims to believe in Jesus as a prophet of God. Jesus came to fulfill the OT law, and then Mohammed comes along and claims that we need MORE law in order to be righteous. Salvation can not be attained by any amount of religiosity, no matter what religion. It can only be had by receiving it as a free gift from God.
I am a full gospel Christian. I am also a well educated computer geek type with multiple technical degrees. I believe the Bible to be absolutely true. I think the theory of evolution has a great deal of evidence in its favor. Unfortunately, it is not 100% proven, and if you take it as fact, you are espousing faith in the theory. This is a subtle point that I don't think many people realize. Much of what we take to be fact, is really just a belief. Very little in this world can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt (some might say nothing can be proven).
It upsets me that so many people who believe in God imply that simply because someone does not believe in God they cannot have any true morals or ethics.
If you really look at this statement, you will see that it has some serious logical problems. In order to have 'true morals' you would have to have some standard by which to judge something as being more moral or less moral. There would in fact have to be some perfect definition of what it means to be moral. If you call yourself a moral person, you really have to ask the question, by what standard am I moral? I don't believe that you can divorce morality from a standard of morality which is defined by God alone.
I am sure there are just as many drones on the right who simply believe in God because it is easier. Most Christians (the majority of religious people in America) have not read the Torah, Koran or Bhagavad Gita. Why is this? Is it because they know after reading the Bible that nothing else can possibly be correct? They may say that to themselves, but I doubt it is the truth.
I do not read the Koran or the Bhagavad Gita because the Bible claims to be truth and I believe what the Bible says. The Bible teaches that there is one way to the Father, and that is through his son Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) It would be going against what I believe to be truth to read these other texts in search of 'some other truth'.
The fact is, as Christians, morality is not what earns our salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God. All men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If our sins are what determine whether we are saved, then none would be saved. True morality only comes when you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Once we have received salvation we do good works because of the love God has shown us, and because of his Spirit living in us.
Confess and repent of your sins. Turn away from your idolatrous ways. Ask Jesus into your heart as Lord & Savior and you will be saved!
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Who are these people you are referring to? I work in an IT department at a major university and I don't see these extreme geeks you appear to be referring to. Even if they are there, why the hate? What are they doing to you?
Live and let live already!
The real problem here is inherent in the academic system. Research faculty are in a situation where they are being judged by the amount of papers they put out, and not on the quality or the potential of their work. This leads to unscrupulous individuals doing "whatever it takes" to get ahead.
What needs to be done is to reform the way merit is assigned in academia. Research funding and tenure need to be allocated based not only on the quantity of publications but on other factors which may be harder to measure, factors that would be better indicators of the value of their research.
A somewhat related issue is that more and more private sector funding is flowing into universities and along with that funding comes the expectation of a quick return on investment. This creates more pressure to pursue short-term goals with little long-term impact on the field of study.
Taken together, US scientific research is destined to fall behind and stop making new breakthroughs. Seemingly, the only apparent solution to this is to increase the amount of public funding available for basic research. It would seem, though, this is not likely to happen given the current regime in Washington. A more likely outcome will be that our scientific institutions will all be doing R&D for the big corporations in the near future.
So are the books they are digitizing all in the public domain? It doesn't seem like there would be that many books in the public domain that haven't already been made available on the net. Of course I could be wrong.
I am with you man, Deep Space 9 was the pinnacle of star trek. TNN will be getting DS9 in 2004.
Uruk is a city in Iraq.
Well you seem to have it all figured out don't you?
I will pray for you Nightpaw. It is apparent to me that God is dealing with you based on what you have said so far, and I have got to give thanks to Him for that.
Father God, I pray that Nightpaw's eyes would be opened to who you are, and that anybody else reading this would be blessed with a revelation of your awesome and loving nature.
Okay. I just want to know something. Do you, on any level, realize how silly this whole God thing is? Here, read this [theonion.com].
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Cor. 1:18 (NIV)
What you believe is the most important thing in your life at this time. I understand you don't know God, but he wants to know you. If you really care about understanding what I have to say, just ask this: "God I don't know if you are real, but if you are, show me in a real way who you are." If you ask this with a sincere heart, I guarantee he will answer you.
I have also found the Bible to be remarkably consistent. There is somewhat of a circular aspect to it, I agree, but what do you expect for something that claims to be the very Word of the creator of the universe. God himself says "I am that I am"!
I have also found the Bible to be remarkably consistent. There is somewhat of a circular aspect to it, I agree, but what do you expect for something that claims to be the very Word of the creator of the universe. God himself says "I am that I am"!
The problem with evolution is not in the actual mechanics of it. There is sufficient evidence that given the right pressures, life evolves. The problem is that it doesn't have any explanation for the origins of life. There are plenty of theories, but none has been sufficiently proven and anybody who says otherwise is a science zealot.
Hello? It is a theory. Nothing more nothing less. It is an explanation for a set of observations. It is not set in stone.
The reality is that whether evolution is or is not true is irrelevant to the most important message in the Bible. God loves you, and wants you to be reconciled to Him, and he sent His son to die so that could be accomplished. You can choose to reject that sacrifice or not, but you can't ignore it.
No, I absolutely don't have any personal issues with this. In fact I have read some of the Koran, and what's interesting about it, is how much it stands in contradiction to the teachings of Jesus, and yet how much it claims to believe in Jesus as a prophet of God. Jesus came to fulfill the OT law, and then Mohammed comes along and claims that we need MORE law in order to be righteous. Salvation can not be attained by any amount of religiosity, no matter what religion. It can only be had by receiving it as a free gift from God.
The fact is, as Christians, morality is not what earns our salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God. All men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If our sins are what determine whether we are saved, then none would be saved. True morality only comes when you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Once we have received salvation we do good works because of the love God has shown us, and because of his Spirit living in us.
Confess and repent of your sins. Turn away from your idolatrous ways. Ask Jesus into your heart as Lord & Savior and you will be saved!