Dancing With God

Michael R. sent me this today, and I liked it, so I thought I would post it here.

Dancing With God

When I meditated on the word Guidance,

I kept seeing ‘dance’ at the end of the word.

I remember reading that doing

God’s will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.

The movement doesn’t flow with the music,

and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,

both bodies begin to flow with the music.

One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back

or by pressing Lightly in one direction or another.

It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully.

The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness

from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.

When I saw ‘G’: I thought of God, followed by ‘u’ and ‘i’.

‘God, ‘u’ and ‘i’ dance.’

God, you, and I dance.

As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust

that I would get guidance about my life.

Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that

God’s blessings and mercies are upon you

on this day and everyday.

May you abide in God, as God abides in you.

Dance together with God,

trusting God to lead and to guide you

through each season of your life.

Bible Study magazine from Logos

Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win on the Bible Study Magazine Mark Driscoll page, then take a look at all the cool tools they have to take your Bible study to the next level!

The Funeral of a Great Myth

I am not a big fan of Answers in Genesis, but I stumbled across this summary of a great essay by Lewis. The summary is good, as far as it goes, but the essay is much better. I am posting this in hopes that someone will be tempted to read the actual essay. It is found in the collection of essays titled Christian Reflections.

http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/5519/

Here is a link to the book on Amazon: Christian Reflections

Unfortunately, the Great Myth is alive well on planet earth, so Lewis’ funeral oration was a bit premature.

Paley’s Much Maligned Divine Watchmaker Argument

After over 150 years, Paley’s argument for intelligent design is still as cogent as ever. Darwinian naturalists hate the argument, of course, and ridicule it as irrelevant. However, it is my belief, based on, among other things, the ever increasing evidence of irreducible complexity in the cellular mechanisms of the human body, that Paley’s argument will finally win the day. Here is the argument, in Paley’s own words:

“In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there; I might possibly answer, that, for anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain there forever: nor would it perhaps be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer.

But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer which I had before given, that, for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. Yet why should not this answer serve for the watch as well as for the stone? Why is it not as admissible in the second case, as in the first?

For this reason, and for no other, viz. that, when we come to inspect the watch, we perceive (what we could not discover in the stone) that its several parts are framed and put together for a purpose, e. g. that they are so formed and adjusted as to produce motion, and that motion so regulated as to point out the hour of the day; that if the different parts had been differently shaped from what they are, of a different size from what they are, or placed after any other manner, or in any other order, than that in which they are placed, either no motion at all would have been carried on in the machine, or none which would have answered the use that is now served by it.

To reckon up a few of the plainest of these parts, and of their offices, all tending to one result: We see a cylindrical box containing a coiled elastic spring, which, by its endeavor to relax itself, turns round the box. We next observe a flexible chain (artificially wrought for the sake of flexure) communicating the action of the spring from the box to the fusee.

We then find a series of wheels, the teeth of which catch in, and apply to each other, conducting the motion from the fusee to the balance, and from the balance to the pointer; and at the same time, by the size and shape of those wheels, so regulating that motion, as to terminate in causing an index, by an equable and measured progression, to pass over a given space in a given time.

We take notice that the wheels are made of brass, in order to keep them from rust; the springs of steel, no other metal being so elastic; that over the face of the watch there is placed a glass, a material employed in no other part of the work; but in the room of which, if there had been any other than a transparent substance, the hour could not be seen without opening the case.

This mechanism being observed (it requires indeed an examination of the instrument, and perhaps some previous knowledge of the subject, to perceive and understand it; but being once, as we have said, observed and understood,) the inference, we think, is inevitable; that the watch must have had a maker; that there must have existed, at sometime, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers, who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use.”

– From the opening pages of Natural Theology: Or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity.

13 Years – Let this one be the last!

I received the following message in my inbox from Amy Greenfield of Christian Solidarity Worldwide:

Dear Friends,

On Friday, 24 October Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will have spent a total of 13 years in detention. In the past year, the number of political prisoners in Burma has almost doubled, to over 2,100, despite calls from the United Nations Security Council for their release.

We are writing to ask you to join with us in a protest to call for the release of all political prisoners in Burma.

The Burmese community in exile in London, supported by a coalition of campaign groups including Christian Solidarity Worldwide and the Burma Campaign UK, will hold a demonstration on Friday 24 October from 12pm-1pm at the Chinese Embassy in London, at 49 Portland Place W1B 1JL (near Oxford Circus tube).

This demonstration comes on a day when Asian and European leaders will meet in China for the ASEM summit, and that is why the decision has been taken to demonstrate outside the Chinese Embassy. We are calling on Asian and European leaders to put pressure on Burma’s military regime to release all political prisoners.  This would be a first step towards progress, before UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visits Burma in December.

Ban Ki-moon’s proposed visit to Burma is an historic opportunity. For the first time, a UN Secretary General is visiting Burma to discuss the political crisis in the country, following his visit earlier in the year which focused on the humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. European and Asian governments, including China, have supported calls expressed by the UN for the release of political prisoners, and now the time has come for them to work together in pursuit of that goal. For too long the UN has engaged in rhetoric with little action.  It is now time to secure real change.  It is time to set some specific benchmarks of progress, with deadlines, for the regime to meet, starting with the release of political prisoners by the time Ban Ki-moon visits Burma in December.

Please join the protest and send a message to world leaders that they must turn their words into action.  If you are not able to be present on the day, please join us in praying for all the political prisoners in Burma and their freedom from oppression.

Don’t leave Burma’s democracy activists suffering in jails.

Yours in Christ,

CSW Advocacy Team

Yet Another Reason

Thanks to Dawn H. Jewell of Escaping the Devil’s Bedroom:

“Lisa recently recommended this new book: “Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids” by Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne. Here’s a brief summary:

Thong panties, padded bras, and risqué Halloween costumes for young girls. T-shirts that boast “Chick Magnet” for toddler boys. Sexy content on almost every television channel, as well as in books, movies, video games, and even cartoons. Hot young pop stars wearing provocative clothing and dancing suggestively while singing songs with sexual and sometimes violent lyrics. These prod­ucts are marketed aggressively to our children; these stars are held up for our young daughters to emulate-and for our sons to see as desirable females. Without the emotional sophistication to understand what they are doing and seeing, kids are getting into increasing trouble emotionally and socially; some even engage in pre­cocious sexual behavior.”

I see this as Yet Another Reason to finally unplug the television set, once and for all; especially if you have children in the home.

Just Letting Off a Little Steam

I just need to post a quick note to get this off my chest. I don’t know if anyone will ever read this, but it doesn’t matter anyway. I’m supposed to be working on my papers for class this Thursday, so this will be short.

I just came home from church. It was great. Really, no sarcasm. I love our church. We just started a new fall emphasis, called “Count Me In,” in which we will be focusing on the four core values of our fellowship:

• Gather
• Group
• Give
• Go

Today we focused on “Gather,” and Eddie preached a great sermon on the necessity of gathering regulary with other Christians for worship, teaching, etc. 

So why do I need to let off some steam? Because I am upset at how much money our church, and so many others in America, spend on “creating a great experience.” I know our church must have invested thousands of dollars in this four-week emphasis, what with all the flyers, promo items, etc. The American church spends billions of dollars every year on buildings, programs, staff, etc.

What’s wrong with that, you ask? What’s wrong with spending billions of dollars on ourselves so that we can create a great worship experience for ourselves, and make an inviting atmosphere so that the un-churched will be drawn in, and made to feel comfortable?

I guess there is nothing wrong with it, except that while we are spending billions on ourselves, we have family members who are starving to death, who are suffering from disease and malnutrition, who lack clean, safe, drinking water, and who consider it an unaffordable luxury just to own one bible.

Not only do we have millions of family members in these desparate conditions, but there are hundred of millions more around the world who have never even heard the Good News of God’s salvation, and who are also suffering from hunger, thirst, and disease.

Right now I know where hundreds, thousands even, of Christians are suffering starvation because of a rat-plague-induced famine. Do we hear about this in the news? Are we reminded of our duty to our brothers and sisters in need on Sunday mornings? Do we receive fancy emails from our church leadership telling us of our duty to provide for those who are in need? How much money is spent raising awareness of the “experience” of these starving villagers?

I hope that when we get to weeks three and four that our church leadership will really emphasize our sacred duty to not just give to the needy, but to really take care of them holistically, just like we would if they were our own family members living in our own homes.

While we in America keep investing billions in our buildings, our programs, our staff, and our “worship experience,” the Body of Christ keeps suffering and dying all around us.

How can God be happy with this?

Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 82:4 

Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
  and the writers who keep writing oppression,

to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

What will you do on the day of punishment,
in the ruin that will come from afar?

To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?

Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.

For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
Isaiah 10:1-4

 

P.S. If you are reading this and feeling a little guilty, then good.

Do something about it!

Today…

Now…

What are you waiting for?

 

Logos Bible Study Software Rocks

I use Logos Bible study software when I study the Bible. It is the best Bible software that I have ever used, hands down. I own the Scholar’s Gold edition, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to study the Scriptures in their original languages (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic), but there are editions that are appropriate for everyone.

The Logos website has a number of instructional videos that you can view to get an idea of how the software works, and what sorts of benefits you can derive from it.

If you are serious about your Christian faith, you need to study the Bible on a regular basis. Studying the Bible is a lot more than just reading and reflecting on the text, although that is certainly part of the process. In my opinion, it is nearly impossible to get to the true meaning of the underlying text without seriously studying the historical, social, political, and religious contexts in which the text was written. To do this, you need tools – books, Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias, maps, timelines, etc.

You also need to have at least a basic understanding of the differences between English (or whatever your native language is) and the original languages of Scripture. This also requires tools, such as lexicons, interlinear Bibles, dictionaries, concordances, etc.

All of the tools, and many more, are available in Logos, and are very easy to use. In addition, Logos allows you to perform simple and complex searches (in your language and in the original languages) across every book in your collection. In the Logos Scholars Gold edition there are over seven hundred reference books. Think about how long it would take to perform a search across that many print books!

I encourage every Christian, young or old, to check out Logos.

If you have your own blog, they have a current promotion going where they will draw names to give away free books for those people who add the Logos Blog to their blogrolls, and mention the Logos promotion in their blog.

iTextSharp Code

I’m posting this here just for future reference.


Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.IO
Imports iTextSharp.text
Imports iTextSharp.text.pdf

Public Class PDFPrinter

Public Function ImagesToPDFByteArray(ByVal Images As List(Of Bitmap)) As Byte()

Dim myResults As Byte() = Nothing
Dim myDocument As iTextSharp.text.Document = Nothing
Dim mySize As iTextSharp.text.Rectangle = Nothing
Dim ms As IO.MemoryStream = Nothing

Try

myDocument = New iTextSharp.text.Document(PageSize.LETTER.Rotate, 0, 0, 0, 0)
mySize = myDocument.PageSize
ms = New IO.MemoryStream

pdf.PdfWriter.GetInstance(myDocument, ms)

myDocument.Open()

If Images.Count > 0 Then
For i As Integer = 0 To Images.Count - 1
Dim mySource As Drawing.Image = CType(Images(i), Bitmap)
Dim myImage As iTextSharp.text.Image = iTextSharp.text.Image.GetInstance(mySource, Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
myImage.ScaleAbsolute(mySize.Width, mySize.Height)
myDocument.Add(myImage)
Next
End If

myDocument.Close()

If Not ms Is Nothing AndAlso ms.GetBuffer.Length > 0 Then
myResults = ms.ToArray
End If

Finally

ms.Flush()
ms.Close()
ms = Nothing
myDocument = Nothing
mySize = Nothing

End Try

Return myResults

End Function

Public Function ImagesToPDFBase64(ByVal Images As List(Of Bitmap)) As String

Dim myResults As String = String.Empty
Dim myDocument As iTextSharp.text.Document = Nothing
Dim mySize As iTextSharp.text.Rectangle = Nothing
Dim ms As IO.MemoryStream = Nothing

Try

myDocument = New iTextSharp.text.Document(PageSize.LETTER.Rotate, 0, 0, 0, 0)
mySize = myDocument.PageSize
ms = New IO.MemoryStream

pdf.PdfWriter.GetInstance(myDocument, ms)

myDocument.Open()

If Images.Count > 0 Then
For i As Integer = 0 To Images.Count - 1
Dim mySource As Drawing.Image = CType(Images(i), Bitmap)
Dim myImage As iTextSharp.text.Image = iTextSharp.text.Image.GetInstance(mySource, Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
myImage.ScaleAbsolute(mySize.Width, mySize.Height)
myDocument.Add(myImage)
Next
End If

myDocument.Close()

If Not ms Is Nothing AndAlso ms.GetBuffer.Length > 0 Then
myResults = Convert.ToBase64String(ms.GetBuffer, Base64FormattingOptions.None)
End If

Finally

ms.Flush()
ms.Close()
ms = Nothing
myDocument = Nothing
mySize = Nothing

End Try

Return myResults

End Function

End Class


How to Inoculate Your Children Against Advertising

I read this article today on the Get Rich Slowly website:

How to Inoculate Your Children Against Advertising

The author gives some great examples of the power of television advertising, especially over children.