It's an ominous sign... Microsoft to win approval for Skype deal. Who knew James Cameron had a gift of prophecy?
This was in our church notice sheet last week..
The Pope was cruising along the beach in the Pope-mobile when there was a frantic commotion just off-shore. A helpless man, wearing an England rugby shirt, was struggling frantically to free himself from the jaws of a 25-foot long shark.
As the Pope watched in horror, a speedboat pulled up with three men wearing Australian rugby jerseys. One quickly fired a harpoon into the shark's side while the other two reached out and pulled the hapless English fan from the water. Then, using long clubs, the three beat the shark to death and hauled it into the boat.
Immediately the Pope shouted out and summoned them to him, "I give you my blessing for your brave actions. I heard that there was bitter hatred between Australian and English rugby fans, but now I have seen with my own eyes that this is not true."
As the Pope drove off, the harpooner asked his buddies: "Who was that?"
"It was the Pope," one replied. "He is in direct contact with God and has access to all of God's wisdom."
"Well," the harpooner said, "he may have access to God and his wisdom, but he doesn't know anything about shark fishing. Is the bait holding up ok, or do we need to get another one?"
I am a Christian. I believe that when we turn back to the Father and repent of our sins, we are truly forgiven through Jesus' blood shed on the cross, and given new life through his resurrection and in the power of the Holy Spirit. (And as you can probably tell from that sentence, I am also a theologian with a postgraduate degree!)
But what does that forgiveness mean? What are the consequences of that forgiveness, as opposed to the consequences of my sin? When we are forgiven by God, do we still have to face some consequences of our wrongdoing, or are we given a genuine second chance?
I read this article with great interest.. and I'm sold! Tau beats pi any day.. read it and find out why..
Surprisingly (or not) the world is not ending today – probably! This guy has the right idea:
An atheist and entrepreneur from North Hampshire, Bart Centre, is enjoying a boost in business for Eternal Earth-bound Pets, which he set up to look after the pets of those who believe they will be raptured.
He has more than 250 clients who are paying up to $135 (£83) to have their pets picked up and cared for after the rapture.
They would be disappointed twice, he told the Wall Street Journal. "Once because they weren't raptured and again because I don't do refunds."
The arguments are well-worn: the Bible does not contain hidden 'codes', that's not what Jesus meant when he said he spoke in parables; the Bible tells us no-one knows when Judgement Day will occur, not even Jesus (Matthew 24.6), and that it will come 'like a thief in the night' (1 Thessalonians 5.2-4); similes are not literal statements (2 Peter 3.8).
And, the 'rapture' is a North American conceit, having little to do with what the Bible actually says about the end of the world. It is founded on half-truths, snippets of verses, and who knows what else. If you want to read a really careful exploration of the end of the world as the Bible tells it, I recommend Simon Ponsonby's book, 'And the Lamb Wins' (available here).
The 'end of the world' syndrome is not unique to religious nuts – I think it is something to do with being human. Remember the Millennium bug, or the Large Hadron Collider creating a black hole at the centre of the earth? Or how about the regular scares about asteroids hitting the earth, or the North and South pole switching polarity and heralding a new ice age?
People are people – crazy, impressionable and gullible. But also wonderful and beautiful, inquisitive, caring and loving. Whatever you think, please don't write off all Christians because a few people do crazy things. Most of us are really quite sensible!
I woke up this morning to the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed and buried at sea by American forces. He was found in Pakistan, which is not a surprise, but near Islamabad rather than in a cave, which is a surprise.
He is personally responsible for leading terrorist attacks around the world, and deserved to be brought to justice. Given al Qaeda's tactics, it is probably better he was captured dead rather than alive, to stop reprisal kidnappings of innocent NGO workers.
However, I'm not comfortable with the scenes outside the White House. I understand the depth of feeling – this man led one of the largest ever terrorist attacks, on American soil, killing over 3000 innocent civilians. However, the dancing and cheering is no better than the dancing and cheering seen after 9/11.
Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, but that doesn't exclude seeking to bring people to justice, and even punishing them for their crimes. We must protect the innocent, and we must seek justice, especially against those who kill indiscriminately, but we should never gloat over our enemies, and we should not celebrate the death of anyone, even Osama bin Laden.
With the recent nightmare scenario surrounding Sony's Playstation Network (PSN), a lot of people are concerned about online security. Sony have admitted that personal information, including dates of birth, mother's maiden names, addresses and credit card numbers are included in the data stolen by hackers. This is a major incident in the world of the web, one of the largest security breaches ever.
Is the web safe? How can I protect myself from fraud and identity theft? Is there any way I can protect myself?
The web is by definition a public area. Celebrities especially seem to forget this when posting on Twitter or Facebook. The greatest strength of the web – that you can access all of it, from anywhere in the world, all the time – is the reason why security breaches like the one affecting the PSN are inevitable. The web is not inherently safe, but you can protect yourself to a certain extent if you follow the following guidelines:
- Use credit (not debit) cards
- Use different and strong passwords (a password manager helps)
- Protect your data
- Use up-to-date software
If you keep these things in mind when using the web, you will protect yourself from the majority of attacks, and minimise the impact an attack has if you do fall victim to one. The web is a wonderful resource, I love it and can't imagine living without it now, but common sense should prevail with these things, always remembering: the web is public, not private.
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