Interesting thing with this recently respected uk magazine, they had on their A-list for some months last year:- openoffice as the only office suite... until (the ms moguls gottem and) both OpenOffice and emmessophice now appear together -- the latter appears with a "corporate" tag (whoops wotta wopping spelling mistake -- must start using ispell again).
Spearking as an ICT teacher in England - we have apparently been offered 15K GBP per year for four years off our licence cost. Don't like Windows myself, but I don't want to rewrite course material -- and my fine boss certainly doesn't.
Key thing is we are a bit behind US. IT people in schools need to be particularly brave to go Linux.
What else can I say, apart from 15K off what...?!
Hey Ho, I watched the TV the other night. It being UK election season I didn't get too freeped out by the possibility every other commentator had a view one way or the other.
Then I got to thinking about the ads in between times. It didn't bother me most multinationals want me to buy what I don't need and most folk in the world can't afford. Perhaps it should have done.
Then I got round to thinking about slashdot comments. The fact that supernatural proposals for people of different religions (and none) to learn to tolerate each other are in short supply didn't bother me too much, either. Perhaps that was a mistake. People are interested in this. There are more books in my town bookshops on spiritual things than Linux -- so that got me thinking.
Then I read most of the other posts on fundies and evangelicals, and I certainly didn't buy the "controlling the politics of the west" theory of some. Economics and ah, um,... plain-old-unadulterated-power seem to be far more the name of the game in our respective capitals. I guess it may change -- but sadly no sign real soon now.
Talking of miracles (if only those hoped for), I was really impressed to read so much about C.S. Lewis and his journey in faith. Like CSL I love Jesus and I know He loves us people on planet earth and I am looking forward to seeing the Narnia stories on the big screen. But I know that Aslan would never force me to follow if I didn't want to.
That said I regret touchiness and suspicions of manipulation of Christians who evidently are alive to defend themselves. I wouldn't want to judge all people of a particular faith on the actions of a minority -- even an apparently powerful minority. In my experience the evidence for the Christian faith is when you see in the life a new believer more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control than what they had before. There is no law against these things. Surely we wouldn't want to stop anyone talking about it? Whatever happened to free speach?
But hey, far be it from me to propose..., would anyone else like to suggest another way forward for normal human relations to resume between people of different faiths, and of no faith...?
Thank you for your questions, Travis. I hear what you say about a substance with no active component, but I don't remember saying anything about always feeling great.
What I cannot reconcile with your use of the word placebo is what I see in the lives of Jesus and his followers, then and today. The reason is no-one ever promises an easy life if you follow Jesus. But there is a new life that meets all the challenges without sweeping them under the carpet.
There are some interesting pointers as to how this works in the historically verified stories of Jesus. One of his earliest followers had the following words to say on the matter:-
"And it was only right that God--who made everything and for whom everything was made--should bring his many children into glory. Through the suffering of Jesus, God made him a perfect leader, one fit to bring them into their salvation.... And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven."
I hope this is interesting to you. If you would like to check my sources please feel free to follow up the references that follow:-
It is a shame that so many people want to belittle the wonder of the universe. Though I am an athiest, I don't see how an understanding and acknowledgement of evolution in any way conflicts with the idea that there is some supreme being. All it does is call into question the Bible as a historically accurate document that carries the authority of God.
I am a scientist and I marvel at the wonder of the Universe. Clearly the bible having been written by people who died some years before Darwin was born (history) this supernaturally inspired set of documents seems very interesting from a wide range of natural perspectives.
But I don't see any of that "calls into question... the authority of God". When I read the books in the bible I interpret them as the revealed story of the God of all gods who so loves all people that he would do anything to rescue those who would turn to him.
The facts that he does rescue people and it works:-
in the bible stories people turned to Jesus
throughout history people have turned to Jesus
I turned to Jesus
and also that in each rescue Jesus show people how they can leave behind things that drag them down
only confirms the ultimate authority of God (His story).
In my experience the supernaturally inspired stories in the bible are evidence of the authority of God that is indeed greater than the merely natural. If you would like to check out more evidence for the power of god to change what humankind naturally cannot, please check the following website:-
Slashdot Mirror
Same news more public forum:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/72465/british-schoolki ds-overcharged-for-software.html
Interesting thing with this recently respected uk magazine, they had on their A-list for some months last year:- openoffice as the only office suite... until (the ms moguls gottem and) both OpenOffice and emmessophice now appear together -- the latter appears with a "corporate" tag (whoops wotta wopping spelling mistake -- must start using ispell again).
Cheers,
Joc
Spearking as an ICT teacher in England - we have apparently been offered 15K GBP per year for four years off our licence cost. Don't like Windows myself, but I don't want to rewrite course material -- and my fine boss certainly doesn't. Key thing is we are a bit behind US. IT people in schools need to be particularly brave to go Linux. What else can I say, apart from 15K off what...?!
Hey Ho, I watched the TV the other night. It being UK election season I didn't get too freeped out by the possibility every other commentator had a view one way or the other.
Then I got to thinking about the ads in between times. It didn't bother me most multinationals want me to buy what I don't need and most folk in the world can't afford. Perhaps it should have done.
Then I got round to thinking about slashdot comments. The fact that supernatural proposals for people of different religions (and none) to learn to tolerate each other are in short supply didn't bother me too much, either. Perhaps that was a mistake. People are interested in this. There are more books in my town bookshops on spiritual things than Linux -- so that got me thinking.
Then I read most of the other posts on fundies and evangelicals, and I certainly didn't buy the "controlling the politics of the west" theory of some. Economics and ah, um, ... plain-old-unadulterated-power seem to be far more the name of the game in our respective capitals. I guess it may change -- but sadly no sign real soon now.
Talking of miracles (if only those hoped for), I was really impressed to read so much about C.S. Lewis and his journey in faith. Like CSL I love Jesus and I know He loves us people on planet earth and I am looking forward to seeing the Narnia stories on the big screen. But I know that Aslan would never force me to follow if I didn't want to.
That said I regret touchiness and suspicions of manipulation of Christians who evidently are alive to defend themselves. I wouldn't want to judge all people of a particular faith on the actions of a minority -- even an apparently powerful minority. In my experience the evidence for the Christian faith is when you see in the life a new believer more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control than what they had before. There is no law against these things. Surely we wouldn't want to stop anyone talking about it? Whatever happened to free speach?
But hey, far be it from me to propose..., would anyone else like to suggest another way forward for normal human relations to resume between people of different faiths, and of no faith...?
Thank you for your questions, Travis. I hear what you say about a substance with no active component, but I don't remember saying anything about always feeling great.
What I cannot reconcile with your use of the word placebo is what I see in the lives of Jesus and his followers, then and today. The reason is no-one ever promises an easy life if you follow Jesus. But there is a new life that meets all the challenges without sweeping them under the carpet.
There are some interesting pointers as to how this works in the historically verified stories of Jesus. One of his earliest followers had the following words to say on the matter:-
I hope this is interesting to you. If you would like to check my sources please feel free to follow up the references that follow:-
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=heb%20 2:10;%2012:2;&version=51;.
My earlier post has url pointing to similar life stories of 21st century followers.
I am a scientist and I marvel at the wonder of the Universe. Clearly the bible having been written by people who died some years before Darwin was born (history) this supernaturally inspired set of documents seems very interesting from a wide range of natural perspectives.
But I don't see any of that "calls into question... the authority of God". When I read the books in the bible I interpret them as the revealed story of the God of all gods who so loves all people that he would do anything to rescue those who would turn to him.
The facts that he does rescue people and it works:-
- in the bible stories people turned to Jesus
- throughout history people have turned to Jesus
- I turned to Jesus
and also that in each rescue Jesus show people how they can leave behind things that drag them down only confirms the ultimate authority of God (His story).In my experience the supernaturally inspired stories in the bible are evidence of the authority of God that is indeed greater than the merely natural. If you would like to check out more evidence for the power of god to change what humankind naturally cannot, please check the following website:-