My friend, Lucas Necessary, wrote the following.
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I shared the following article about a male-to-female transgender athlete. I consider this to be a part of the war on women, but in a much newer way, and starkly more deleterious. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/3/cece-telfer-franklin-pierce-transgender-hurdler-wi
Below are my thoughts. These represent a mere fraction of what informs my view, and I hope that I present them not stridently, but with some gentleness, and in a way that, should you disagree even most emphatically, is not angering. I also hope that it might be understood that I detest injustice; I will go to bat for anyone who is being oppressed, as I am able, because I highly value the human life, and have been helped in the past by those whom I have only hurt.
Transgenderism is a troubling and, as Dawkins would say, seemingly "memetic" thing. That is, once it entered into the public consciousness, it spread in a manner that is almost viral. It is also associated with a high-rate of co-morbidities. According to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center,
"30 percent of transgender youth report a history of at least one suicide attempt, and nearly 42 percent report a history of self-injury, such as cutting. The study also discovered a higher frequency of suicide attempts among transgender youth who are dissatisfied with their weight." ["Suicidality, Self-Harm, and Body Dissatisfaction in Transgender Adolescents and Emerging Adults with Gender Dysphoria. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior" (19 AUG 2016)]
So, before I mention anything else, I need to be up-front and say that being vicious, cruel, and unloving is simply not needed, nor is it profitable. There is a tendency to simply lose perspective, and to become human steamrollers, covered in spiked words and fueled by bile. This is not what any of us are called to do, nor should we behave so unbecomingly. Every life should be regarded as having amazing potential, no matter how much we disagree with its current state. That said, examining ideas carefully and with charity can be helpful in considering a portion of the population that is seemingly statistically worse-off. We must always be vigilant to tear down ideas, but not people.
At the most fundamental level, I think that encouraging gender transition is not only damaging, but also represents a profoundly troubling view of the human body and mind. Under this view, the body may become a persistent and seemingly damaging impediment to the mind, as one sees the two as entirely disconnected. Broadly speaking, there are three views of the mind-body interaction in this regard. They can be construed as,
A. The body provides guidance as to who one (the mind) is and how one lives one's life.
B. The body is disconnected from the mind and provides no guidance, but may act as an impediment to the mind/spirit.
C. There is no such thing as the will or mind, and such is an illusion. (This is the terminus of atheistic thought, as I've noted before.)
Transgenderism seems to fall along the lines of view "B" above. The body has no guiding force in one's life; it is a mere collection of cells; an allocation of atoms that, in some cases, are seen as having given one a collection of 50% of the wrong chromosomes. It causes a person to ask,
"Why should my body, my identity as male or female, have any voice in my moral choices, what I do sexually? Why should my chromosomes determine in any way who I am?” More specifically, Jessica Savano, a male-to-female model, commented, “Why are you even looking at my penis anyway? I am a woman!” Jessica remarks on Kickstarter,
"Jessica's mission lies in helping people love themselves and break free from dogma and mediocrity and to live a life of true fulfillment and Joy."
Yet it seems that with the memetic spread of transgenderism, true fulfillment does not result. How can it? At the most basic level, it's a view that is thoroughly disrespectful to the human body, which says, "No, my body is not my authentic self." And so, the implication is that all that counts really is my mind, feelings, and desires.
But consider the desires. A person wishing to transition to a different gender often attempts to model the exterior, classic appearance of the other sex as well. That is, one denies that gender is based on exterior genitalia or chromosomes, but, when transitioning, still desires to mimic the exterior of the other sex (upon, which, remember, we are saying that gender is not based).
How can one have true fulfillment when one knows that, no matter the external change, one's external genitalia have been altered? That, no matter what, one's skeletal structure is different than that of what one wishes to be? That one's entire chromosomal makeup is 50% "incorrect." It is a creeping thorn in the flesh that one can deny, but of which one can never truly be rid.
It seems to me that we have a number of different options. We can encourage people to take atheism to its terminus, in which there are no actual choices or free will, and in which case, none of this matters. We can teach people that their DNA—the information that makes them, them—is not only faulty, but that their bodies are not their authentic selves, and that this must be challenged, altered, and trod upon.
Or we can teach people to embrace and love the bodies they have been given; to align the mind and body in harmony. A memetic spread that appreciates the body of the authentic self might perhaps have a population wherein the following is not true:
"30 percent of transgender youth report a history of at least one suicide attempt, and nearly 42 percent report a history of self-injury, such as cutting. The study also discovered a higher frequency of suicide attempts among transgender youth who are dissatisfied with their weight."
There is much more that we should all examine, and ultimately, it is my firm conviction that we need to decide if there is anything such as the mind/spirit, or if determinism is fully sound.
With love,
Luke
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Grace/Faith vs Law-Keeping
Paul never contrasts
Law-of-Moses law-keeping with Law-of-Christ law-keeping; he contrasts
law-(albeit usually of Moses)-keeping with grace/faith.
IOW, the contrast is never between two legal systems; it's between a legal system and a grace/faith system.
When Paul wrote Gal 2:21, he specifically had in mind the Law of Moses, as that's what was poking him in the face over and over. But I think the *context* of Gal 2:21 makes it clear that he wasn't *just* talking about the Law of Moses; as he writes in the next chapter (3:21b), if any legal system could make alive, it would be the law of Moses.
In addition, Paul thrice, and James once, outlines the principle that if you're going to be justified by keeping law, you have to keep ALL of that law. It doesn't matter what law it is:
WEB Gal 3:10b For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
Gal 3:12 The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them."
Rom 9:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
So if you seek to be justified by keeping some system of law, any system of law, you have to keep every jot and tittle. And if that's the route you choose, then you are no longer on the path of grace, the path of Christ, but rather you're on the path of law-keeping (at which you'll fail):
Gal 5:4 You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.
The true law-keepers now are not those who are circumcised (or not), or who keep certain holy days (or not), or refuse to eat certain meats (or who do), or sing without instruments (or do), or keep the Lord's Supper every Sunday morning (or Saturday night), or (dare I suggest it?) who has been properly immersed (or not); the true law-keepers are those who fulfill the law, not in letter, but in spirit:
Gal 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
James 2:8 However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
This contrast between grace/faith and any sort of legal system is the entire thrust of Paul's letter to the Galatians. The "different gospel" of which he speaks in chapter one is not a different name on the sign out in front of our assembly building, or a different understanding of what is a "pastor", or how many cups we can have in the Lord's Supper, or whether women must be 100% silent in the assembly, or 90%, or the same percent as anyone, according to decorum and propriety and submission to one-another; it's the seeking salvation by keeping a set of rules. This is Paul's theme throughout.
Paul has nothing against keeping the law, even the law of Moses (he himself walked according to the law of Moses, even to the point of animal sacrifice in the Jewish temple after having undergone Temple purification rituals, to end his Jewish Nazirite vow - Acts 21ff - a law which he "upheld" - Rom 3:21). What he objects to is *justification* via that law-keeping - *any* law-keeping. That's the "other gospel which is not another".
This is why he is able to say, "don't worry about holy days and eating this and touching that; these things look like good religion, but they're useless in ascertaining what your heart is doing. These things are just external elements of our world, shadows, not the real thing" (Col 2:16ff). It's why he's able to say, "It's okay to come to different conclusions on all these external things; just get along!" (Rom 14). It's why he's able to say, "Jewish believers can be Jewish, and Gentile believers can be non-Jewish - the two are now one, despite the external differences, because in Christ, the wall has been torn down, and now there's one body, not two, so be eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, regardless of your differences" (Eph 3-4).
The specific law spoken of in Gal 2:21 was indeed the law of Moses, but the principle, as seen by both the immediate context, and the context of much of Paul's writing, is of *any* legal system, as opposed to grace/faith.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/06/gracefaith-vs-law-keeping.html
IOW, the contrast is never between two legal systems; it's between a legal system and a grace/faith system.
When Paul wrote Gal 2:21, he specifically had in mind the Law of Moses, as that's what was poking him in the face over and over. But I think the *context* of Gal 2:21 makes it clear that he wasn't *just* talking about the Law of Moses; as he writes in the next chapter (3:21b), if any legal system could make alive, it would be the law of Moses.
In addition, Paul thrice, and James once, outlines the principle that if you're going to be justified by keeping law, you have to keep ALL of that law. It doesn't matter what law it is:
WEB Gal 3:10b For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
Gal 3:12 The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them."
Rom 9:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
So if you seek to be justified by keeping some system of law, any system of law, you have to keep every jot and tittle. And if that's the route you choose, then you are no longer on the path of grace, the path of Christ, but rather you're on the path of law-keeping (at which you'll fail):
Gal 5:4 You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.
The true law-keepers now are not those who are circumcised (or not), or who keep certain holy days (or not), or refuse to eat certain meats (or who do), or sing without instruments (or do), or keep the Lord's Supper every Sunday morning (or Saturday night), or (dare I suggest it?) who has been properly immersed (or not); the true law-keepers are those who fulfill the law, not in letter, but in spirit:
Gal 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
James 2:8 However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
This contrast between grace/faith and any sort of legal system is the entire thrust of Paul's letter to the Galatians. The "different gospel" of which he speaks in chapter one is not a different name on the sign out in front of our assembly building, or a different understanding of what is a "pastor", or how many cups we can have in the Lord's Supper, or whether women must be 100% silent in the assembly, or 90%, or the same percent as anyone, according to decorum and propriety and submission to one-another; it's the seeking salvation by keeping a set of rules. This is Paul's theme throughout.
Paul has nothing against keeping the law, even the law of Moses (he himself walked according to the law of Moses, even to the point of animal sacrifice in the Jewish temple after having undergone Temple purification rituals, to end his Jewish Nazirite vow - Acts 21ff - a law which he "upheld" - Rom 3:21). What he objects to is *justification* via that law-keeping - *any* law-keeping. That's the "other gospel which is not another".
This is why he is able to say, "don't worry about holy days and eating this and touching that; these things look like good religion, but they're useless in ascertaining what your heart is doing. These things are just external elements of our world, shadows, not the real thing" (Col 2:16ff). It's why he's able to say, "It's okay to come to different conclusions on all these external things; just get along!" (Rom 14). It's why he's able to say, "Jewish believers can be Jewish, and Gentile believers can be non-Jewish - the two are now one, despite the external differences, because in Christ, the wall has been torn down, and now there's one body, not two, so be eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, regardless of your differences" (Eph 3-4).
The specific law spoken of in Gal 2:21 was indeed the law of Moses, but the principle, as seen by both the immediate context, and the context of much of Paul's writing, is of *any* legal system, as opposed to grace/faith.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/06/gracefaith-vs-law-keeping.html
Friday, May 31, 2019
Google Docs Desperately Needs Styles
Yes, Google Docs has Heading styles, which can be modified, but:
1) they can't be used as character styles
2) you're limited to just the few styles provided
3) styled paragraphs using heading styles then show up in the Navigator and Table of Contents, etc, making these features useless.
Google Docs desperately needs styles.
(LibreWriter is such a better word processor than Google Docs or Microsoft Word, but LibreOffice.org doesn't maintain an online version (which is needful to move from computer to computer while having access to a centralized document repository), and there are "issues" with the third-party online versions I've tried (https://www.rollapp.com/home and https://www.offidocs.com/index.php/libreoffice-file-manager-online).)
As much as I like LibreWriter, the sharing features and access-from-anywhere feature of Google Docs sometimes makes it the better option. But it sure is a weak word-processor. (And Microsoft Office365's offerings just make me feel dirty.)
Google Docs desperately needs styles.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/05/google-docs-desperately-needs-styles.html
1) they can't be used as character styles
2) you're limited to just the few styles provided
3) styled paragraphs using heading styles then show up in the Navigator and Table of Contents, etc, making these features useless.
Google Docs desperately needs styles.
(LibreWriter is such a better word processor than Google Docs or Microsoft Word, but LibreOffice.org doesn't maintain an online version (which is needful to move from computer to computer while having access to a centralized document repository), and there are "issues" with the third-party online versions I've tried (https://www.rollapp.com/home and https://www.offidocs.com/index.php/libreoffice-file-manager-online).)
As much as I like LibreWriter, the sharing features and access-from-anywhere feature of Google Docs sometimes makes it the better option. But it sure is a weak word-processor. (And Microsoft Office365's offerings just make me feel dirty.)
Google Docs desperately needs styles.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/05/google-docs-desperately-needs-styles.html
Thursday, May 30, 2019
A Biology Experiment
On my drive to work today, a thought crossed my mind.
Since our bodies have more viruses/bacteria than own own cells, we are not really individuals; we're biomes.
I wonder if a married couple sharing their biomes become similar in part because of the shared biome.
So I thought of this experiment:
Find two volunteers (a male and a female, of similar age), who know nothing of one another.
After verifying that neither has a communicable disease, the experimenter would act as an agent to share their biome with each other as much as possible: mouth biome, face biome, genital biome, hand biome, torso biome, hair biome, etc.
After a period of time (three months? a year?), bring the couple together into a common living arrangement for a short while (a week?) and observe how they get along, and whether they have similar habits, etc.
I'm not sure yet how best to do this, how to have a control group, etc, but I think it has potential to be a very interesting experiment.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-biology-experiment.html
Since our bodies have more viruses/bacteria than own own cells, we are not really individuals; we're biomes.
I wonder if a married couple sharing their biomes become similar in part because of the shared biome.
So I thought of this experiment:
Find two volunteers (a male and a female, of similar age), who know nothing of one another.
After verifying that neither has a communicable disease, the experimenter would act as an agent to share their biome with each other as much as possible: mouth biome, face biome, genital biome, hand biome, torso biome, hair biome, etc.
After a period of time (three months? a year?), bring the couple together into a common living arrangement for a short while (a week?) and observe how they get along, and whether they have similar habits, etc.
I'm not sure yet how best to do this, how to have a control group, etc, but I think it has potential to be a very interesting experiment.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-biology-experiment.html
Tuesday, May 07, 2019
Concerning the "Crux of Christianity"
WEB Mark 12:29 Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment. 31 The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. [Matt 22:]40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”It's not about whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, or about what day is our "worship day", or how many cups we have in the Lord's Supper, or whether your body sways in the final verse of "Just As I Am"; it's about our relationship with God, and with one-another.
32 The scribe said to him, “Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he, 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from God’s Kingdom.”
Jesus has repaired our relationship with God; we need to repair our relationships with one-another.
Here's a sampling of what God wants and doesn't want from us:
WEB Amos 5:6 Seek Yahweh, and you will live; ... 7No matter how perfect our solemn assemblies may be on paper, if our relationships are sour with one-another, he hates our assemblies.
You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth: ... 11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him [while you live high and mighty in fancy stone houses] ... how many your offenses, and how great are your sins—you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts. ... 14 Seek good, and not evil ... 15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. ... [As it currently is,] 21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Jesus said this:
WEB Matt 5:23 “If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.Relationship-repairing trumps being at church on Sunday morning.
And remember in Matthew 25, when the son of Man separates the "sheep" from the "goats". Does he make the separation based on their doctrinal beliefs? On their allowing of women to speak in assemblies? On their teaching concerning the so-called "Rapture"? No. He separates them based on how they treated one another.
And James tells us what pure religion is:
WEB Jam 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.James also tells us how to fulfill the Royal Law:
WEB Jam 2:8 However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.Paul tells us how to fulfill the Law of Christ:
Web Gal 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.YHWH tells us what it is to know him:
NIV Jer 22:16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD.and what it is that he requires:
WEB Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?Over and over the message is justice, mercy, burden-sharing, freeing from oppression, healing - it's not "Can we observe Christmas?" or "Is one sip of alcohol going to send me to hell?"
Here's a snippet of the first sermon Jesus gave as he started his three-year ministry:
WEB Luke 3 4:17 The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, 19 and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”(Our churches should be sponsoring college students to study how to be social workers (healing the broken-hearted), to be lawyers (providing justice to the falsely-accused and oppressed), to be medical researchers and doctors (to heal blindness), to be financial counselors (to help get people out of crushing debt), as well as to be preachers - in short, to be Social Justice Warriors (as bad as that term is politically amongst many of us). The students could then pay back the church by offering reduced-price/free services for a decade, or hefty contributions toward the next generation's education, or ....)
Here's what Jesus said about meticulous detail to legalities as opposed to being other-focused, and as to which of the two is weightier:
WEB Matt 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith.Even our assemblies are never stated to be for the purpose of God-focus; rather, they're to be one-another focused.
WEB Heb 10:24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.and
WEB 1 Cor 14:26 What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to build each other up.Yes, worship takes place in the assembly (e.g., 1 Cor 14:25), as it should "day and night" (e.g. Luke 2:37), but that's not the purpose of assembling. It can be perfectly good worship, but if it doesn't benefit the others in the assembly, it doesn't belong in the assembly (1 Cor 14:17); this is because the assembly's purpose is not vertically-focused toward God, but horizontally-focused toward one-another. Even the Lord's Supper, if it excludes the one-anotherness of recognizing the body of believers, is not really the Lord's Supper, and the fix for this is not to "worship better", but to "wait for one another" (1 Cor 11:17-34).
Over and over: It's not about rituals; it's about relationships.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/05/concerning-crux-of-christianity.html
The Crux
The cross is the crux of the work Jesus did, sacrificing himself for the good of others.
The one-anotherness is the crux of the work we are to do; sacrificing ourselves for the good of others.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-crux.html
The one-anotherness is the crux of the work we are to do; sacrificing ourselves for the good of others.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-crux.html
The New Covenant - Relationships
The new covenant is not about swapping out one legal system for another, in order to "be saved".
It's about restoring Eden, wherein there is no violence, disease, death.
As humans, we can only do so much toward this goal (and will have to wait for Jesus' return for most of it), so Jesus emphasized what we *can* do, and that's to have a God-at-the-top community, wherein the citizens treat each other with mutual respect, bearing one anothers' burdens, helping the widow and orphan and sick, never seeking vengeance or responding with "oh no you did'n!" as you plan a way to "teach them a lesson" or flipping off the bad driver who cut you off in traffic.
In short, the good news is supposed to result in a social healing at our hands; the mental and physical healing comes at the hands of God.
It's not about what we eat or drink or what day we worship or our church organization or what rituals we observe; it's about how we treat each other. This is the crux of Christianity - one-another relationships.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-new-covenant-relationships.html
It's about restoring Eden, wherein there is no violence, disease, death.
As humans, we can only do so much toward this goal (and will have to wait for Jesus' return for most of it), so Jesus emphasized what we *can* do, and that's to have a God-at-the-top community, wherein the citizens treat each other with mutual respect, bearing one anothers' burdens, helping the widow and orphan and sick, never seeking vengeance or responding with "oh no you did'n!" as you plan a way to "teach them a lesson" or flipping off the bad driver who cut you off in traffic.
In short, the good news is supposed to result in a social healing at our hands; the mental and physical healing comes at the hands of God.
It's not about what we eat or drink or what day we worship or our church organization or what rituals we observe; it's about how we treat each other. This is the crux of Christianity - one-another relationships.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-new-covenant-relationships.html
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Pressed on Every Side
WEB Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands,
What Paul tells the pagans is one of the things that earned the early Christians the label of "atheists" (seen post-New Testament, mostly, although you do see a hint of it in Acts 19:26).
The Greco-Roman world could not conceive of a god that didn't live in a physical temple, and the lack of a physical temple amongst the Christians led the Greeks and Romans to conclude that whatever these new "Christians" were, they must be atheists.
On the one hand, the Jews were "hearing" the message from Christians that they had rejected their long-sought after Messiah (who looked nothing like what they had expected), and that this Messiah had put an end to the necessity of Law-keeping, and that God was an entirely different Being than they "knew" him to be, while on the other hand the Greco-Romans were "hearing" strange new things they had never heard before (Acts 17:19-20) which threatened their own Deities and livelihoods (Acts 19:27).
The push-back from both Jews and Gentiles drove Paul to say (twice):
We are pressed on every side.... (2 Cor 4:8)
... we were afflicted on every side. (2 Cor 7:5)
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/04/pressed-on-every-side.html
Monday, April 22, 2019
Easter Reflections on Jewish Holy Days
In the Jewish Law of Moses, the Jews were given seven holy days to observe yearly.
The first three of these seven, the Spring Feasts (mid-April-ish), represent the Suffering Messiah. They all occur/begin within three days of each other.
1) Passover (Pesach)
In the middle of the month of Nisan (roughly April), this feast served to remind the Israelites that God had delivered them out of Egyptian slavery (a la "The Ten Commandments" story). The last plague on Egypt, which led to the Exodus, was the death of the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt. The Israelite sons were spared, because the Israelite families had each sacrificed a lamb that night, and painted the lamb's blood on the door frame of the house, signifying that in this house was a firstborn son belonging to the God of Israel, so that the Angel of Death would "pass over" this house.Jesus fulfilled Passover, becoming our Passover lamb. His blood was shed, and covers us. He was crucified on Passover.
2) Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matza)
This week-long festival begins
the day after Passover. The eating of unleavened bread for seven days
symbolizes a perfect period of purity. With leaven being a symbol of
sin, and Jesus being sinless, Jesus makes the perfect representation of
unleavened bread, and like the piercings which form stripes in unleavened
matzo bread, he was beaten with stripes and pierced for our
transgressions, and like the afikomen of the Passover meal (the middle
piece of bread that is broken, wrapped in linen, and hidden for a short
while), the body of Jesus was broken, wrapped in linen, and hidden in the
tomb for a short while.
Jesus, rising from the dead, became the First Fruits of the resurrection; at the end of the growing season, the full harvest will result in the rest of us attaining to the resurrection.
Easter is the early church's celebration of Jesus as the First Fruits of the resurrection.
In Acts 2 we read about another Pentecost, when a new covenant was established, when the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire, and resulted in the saving of about 3000 souls.
All four of the above holy days have had a New Covenant fulfillment.
3) First Fruits
A representative sampling from the first harvest of the summer is offered as the "first fruits". This holy day is the day after the "high sabbath" of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.Jesus, rising from the dead, became the First Fruits of the resurrection; at the end of the growing season, the full harvest will result in the rest of us attaining to the resurrection.
Easter is the early church's celebration of Jesus as the First Fruits of the resurrection.
4) Pentecost (Shavuot)
Fifty days after Passover, this holy day commemorates the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai, when God came down in fire and established the Mosaic covenant. You may recall that at that time the Rebellion of Korah resulted in the death of about 3000 souls.In Acts 2 we read about another Pentecost, when a new covenant was established, when the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire, and resulted in the saving of about 3000 souls.
All four of the above holy days have had a New Covenant fulfillment.
The next three Fall Feasts (September/October) represent the coming of the Conquering King.
5) Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah, Rosh Hashana)
This is the Jewish (civil) New Year, and begins a ten-day period of self-reflection, forgiveness, repentance, remembrance of God's judgment, and joy. God also examines the lives of his people during this time, by opening the Book of Life; if the person's record shows more good than bad, the name remains written in the Book of Life for another year. The Jewish trumpet (shofar) is blown many times during this period.You may be familiar with the New Testament promises of the return of Jesus at the last trump, when the dead in Christ shall be the first to rise, to then stand before the Judgment Seat of God who then searches the records in the Book of Life.
The above Rosh Hashana feast and the next Yom Kippur feast are the two Jewish High Holy Days.
6) Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
Ten days later is the Day of Atonement. It's a day of repentance, prayer, fasting, and reconciliation. On this day, the High Priest entered the Holy of Holiest Places in the Temple, after offering a sacrifice for the sins of himself and the people. He's the only one ever allowed in there (so the Jews started tying a rope to him to pull out his body should the Lord not accept his offering and strike him dead), and only on this one day of the year. When the priest returns from the Holiest of Holies, the people rejoice, for God has accepted the sacrifice. Compare the first half of Hebrews 9.Jesus has gone into the Holiest of the Holies (second half of Hebrews 9), and he "will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation" (Heb 9:28).
7) Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)
Five days after the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths reminds the Jews, who live in temporary booths during this feast, of their forty years in the wilderness, when they lived in tents, until they could move into permanent homes in the Promised Land.In Jesus' day, the people carried torches around the walls of the temple to demonstrate that the Christ would be a light to the Gentiles (non-Jewish nations). It was at this feast (John 7:2) that Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12).
The priest also performed a water ritual as a symbolic pouring out of the Spirit.
You may recall that Paul wrote to the Corinthians about dwelling in earthly tabernacles (our bodies), to be replaced with heavenly tabernacles when we reach the "Promised Land". He adds, "God ... also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit" (1 Cor 5:5).
The fulfillment of these last three holy days are yet in our future.
The better we understand these seven Jewish feasts, the better we'll understand the context of much of New Testament writing.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/04/easter-reflections-on-jewish-holy-days.html
New Conversion Rules for non-Jews
Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit....In the Jewish culture of the time, the "nations" (the non-Jews) could only be joined to the People of God (Israel) by:
-- WEB Matt 28:19
- undergoing circumcision and
- being immersed in water and
- keeping the law of Moses.
But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”After considerable debate, the church, aided by the Holy Spirit, decided that belief and baptism, without being circumcised and without keeping the law of Moses, was enough for the non-Jewish nations, just as Jesus had instructed in the Great Commission.
-- WEB Acts 15:5
And Paul makes it clear that these non-circumcised immersed believers had been grafted into God's People, making one man of the two sects, the Circumcision and the Uncircumcision (Eph 2) becoming one body, via one baptism, in one spirit, in one faith, with one Lord, under one God and Father (Eph 4).
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/04/new-conversion-rules-for-non-jews.html
Monday, March 25, 2019
Immutable Text Sections in LibreOffice Writer
Suppose you have a document in LibreOffice Writer, and you need to prevent changes to one or more sections.
Easy.
Say this is your document:
That line of text is now unchangeable.
And if you're an emacs fan, emacs can do this also by changing the Properties of the text to read-only.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/03/immutable-text-sections-in-libreoffice.html
Easy.
Say this is your document:
This text needs to be immutable.Highlight the first section you need to be unalterable:
This text does not.
This text needs to be immutable.Then go to Insert / Section. In the "New Section" field, change "Section1" (if you so desire) and rename it to something like "Immutable 1". Then tick the "Protect" box, and finally click on Insert.
This text does not.
That line of text is now unchangeable.
And if you're an emacs fan, emacs can do this also by changing the Properties of the text to read-only.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/03/immutable-text-sections-in-libreoffice.html
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
The Fossil Record Testifies of Rapid Deposition
Practically every fossil found testifies to a rapid burial in a catastrophic (locally, at a minimum) inundation of sediment, borne usually by water (but sometimes by wind, avalanche, volcanic ash-fall, etc).
There are billions of fossils world-wide, in layer after layer of deposited sediment, sometimes stretching through several layers. Each of these fossils testify to a rapid burial as opposed to slow, almost imperceptible processes.
Just sayin'.
Originally published at:
There are billions of fossils world-wide, in layer after layer of deposited sediment, sometimes stretching through several layers. Each of these fossils testify to a rapid burial as opposed to slow, almost imperceptible processes.
Just sayin'.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-fossil-record-testifies-of-rapid.html
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Regaining Control of a Wyse 3040 ThinClient
My university workplace has been tinkering of late with thin clients. On the backend we have a VMWare/Horizon/VDI setup. With this setup, we can set up virtual computers for students/faculty/staff to log into remotely.
For example, we have a Math VDI. I used the VMWare tools to build a master image consisting of a virtual PC with certain specs (so many core processors, so much RAM, so much hard drive space, etc), and then installed Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit on it. Then I used more VMWare tools to make ten read-only copies of this master; we refer to these copies as the VDI (Virtual Device Interface) machines, and the group of them make up the Math VDI Pool.
Students/etc can access one of these ten virtual Win10 boxes, each identical to the other, having math-specific software (like MATLAB) either through an HTML (web-based) interface, or a downloaded-client interface called "Horizon View Client" (available at least on Windows, Mac, and Linux - I run the Linux version on my Debian box if I need things like USB- or printer-passthru; the HTML interface otherwise, usually, just because I always have a web browser open and it's more convenient than firing up the client, but only marginally).
In this way, we only have to make one master image per departmental lab, and click a couple of buttons to make a few or a few hundred copies, to make a virtual computer lab. This is much easier than making a master image and copying it to a few or a few hundred physical computers, and then tweaking each machine to have the correct name or be added to the domain, and remembering to lock it down against student-initiated changes, etc, and if a physical machine dies, replacing a physical machine (or its hard drive, or repairing its registry, or cleaning a virus, or...) is much more labor intensive than simply telling the VMWare tools to .. oh, wait, I don't have to tell the VMWare tools to do anything; it automatically makes sure I have 20 working machines if I have specified I always need 20 working machines. Sweet!
As mentioned, the virtual Math lab computers can be accessed via a web-based or a client-based app on just about any Internet-connected device (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, etc). They can also be accessed through a dedicated piece of hardware called a thin (or in some cases, "zero") client.
Now we have acquired three different models of the Dell/WYSE thin/zero-clients; a 3040, a PxN zero client, and a 5040 All-In-One (AIO - monitor built-in). The first two of these are smaller than your typical Louis L'amour western paperback novel; the third just looks like a typical flat-panel LCD computer monitor. They have a very minimal operating system, just enough to allow them to point to a VDI (or other similar thin-client-based solution). We're thinking along the lines of replacing relatively-expensive full-blown PCs in our computer labs with relatively-inexpensive (and much less labor-intensive) thin-client AIOs.
I have gone into the settings of each of these thin-client boxes and pointed them to the Math VDI. Then plug in an Ethernet cable, a mouse and keyboard (and monitor in the non-AIO cases), turn it on, and the system boots up to a login prompt, at which a user can plug in his credentials and be connected to a Math VDI machine, and it's just like he's sitting at a real physical Windows 10 computer in a dedicated Math lab classroom (whether he's sitting at home with a laptop, or in a physical Math lab classroom with a thin-client box), to use the Math-type apps on this very ordinary Windows 10 setup, math department printers included.
So now the student can use his laptop at home, his desktop at his mother's house, or a thinclient set up in the campus Recreation Center, to connect to the Math VDI and get access to his math app (like the quite expensive MATLAB app mentioned above). On his personal computers, he can use the HTML client, or the Horizon View Client; on the thin-client, he just logs in like it's a physical Math lab PC. In all cases, he's actually just running a virtual PC off in another building, but it feels like a local PC.
It would be a pain to have to go each thin-client to set it up to point to the appropriate VDI, or to change its mouse settings, or to allow Math students to log into the Math VDI and Business students to log into the Business VDI, etc. So a centralized management system would be helpful.
Thus steps in the Dell Wyse Management Server (comes in both a free version and a pay-for version, depending on your needs).
So we created another virtual machine (just a plain virtual machine, not a VMWare Horizon/View VDI type setup). It's running Windows Server 2012R2, and is accessed via Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol - RDP. Logged into that machine, I downloaded the Dell/Wyse Management Server software from the "Dell File Download" site (not the "Dell Digital Locker" site), and installed it (easy install (and easy uninstall as I found out later)).
I then went and configured my 3040 thin client to look to the Wyse Management Server (WMS, formerly known as the CCM - Cloud Client Manager) app installed on my 2012R2 server, and rebooted the 3040, and voila! The 3040 device showed up in my WMS console. (After figuring out what I'm doing, I can similarly configure the other two thin clients we have. (Well, maybe not the zero-client PxN. Not sure yet.) Eventually, we may have tens or dozens or hundreds of thin clients, replacing more expensive actual PCs in computer labs, etc, which would be more easily managed via the WMS than by going to each one and manually configuring them.)
Sweet! Now I can remotely manage the little 3040 thin client, specifying things like what background to use, what VDI it should connect to automatically, if any, whether the user can tweak his mouse settings, or get into Admin mode, etc.
Only problem is, during the install of the WMS and the configuration of the 2040, I had some confusion about security certificates, a subject about which I know nothing (and I really should). When configuring either the WMS or the 3040 to point to the WMS, I didn't do anything with the certificate options, because I didn't know what to do, and this was just a test-bed pilot, not a production setup, so I wasn't worried yet about security; I just wanted to see if I could get the thin-client and WMS server talking to each other.
And I did get them talking to each other. For one day. The next day, the client couldn't log into the WMS server, complaining about certificates. I didn't know how to fix the problem, so I went about trying to get into the local settings of the 3040 thin client to tinker in there, but in my setting up of things, either I neglected to leave the Admin mode option turned on, or I intentionally turned it off, and while the two machines were talking for that one day, the client got the message, and now when it no longer will talk to the server, it won't let me get into its Admin-type innards.
I looked for ways to reset the 3040 thin client to factory condition, thinking I could start over. I found a "press G during boot-up" that was supposed to work, but didn't. I found that this feature too was turned off by the server when the two machines were talking to each other. the option to reset to factory specs when shutting down was missing, so that method was unavailable to me. I then discovered that you can "flash the BIOS" back to factory specs, by downloading from the Dell site a flash image file to an 8GB USB stick and boot the thin-client from that and then flashing the software to the thin-client. Wow. Really? Thankfully, not having an 8GB thumb drive on-hand, and running into some complexities (minor, but still new to me, so that it wasn't a totally fluid, easy process), I wasn't able to get around to actually trying this before I thought of one more option for me to try.
I pulled the Ethernet cable loose from the 3040.
Then I rebooted the 3040.
In a few seconds, the system was complaining about not having a network, but in the "Start" menu, the option to get into the admin settings were no longer grayed out. I had regained control of my 3040! W00t!
I document this here, because I was unable to find the information on the web that I have discovered in this process. Hopefully, Duck-duck-go's and Google's spiders will crawl over this blog and garner this info so that if anyone else is looking for this solution, they'll be able to find it.
Originally published at:
For example, we have a Math VDI. I used the VMWare tools to build a master image consisting of a virtual PC with certain specs (so many core processors, so much RAM, so much hard drive space, etc), and then installed Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit on it. Then I used more VMWare tools to make ten read-only copies of this master; we refer to these copies as the VDI (Virtual Device Interface) machines, and the group of them make up the Math VDI Pool.
Students/etc can access one of these ten virtual Win10 boxes, each identical to the other, having math-specific software (like MATLAB) either through an HTML (web-based) interface, or a downloaded-client interface called "Horizon View Client" (available at least on Windows, Mac, and Linux - I run the Linux version on my Debian box if I need things like USB- or printer-passthru; the HTML interface otherwise, usually, just because I always have a web browser open and it's more convenient than firing up the client, but only marginally).
In this way, we only have to make one master image per departmental lab, and click a couple of buttons to make a few or a few hundred copies, to make a virtual computer lab. This is much easier than making a master image and copying it to a few or a few hundred physical computers, and then tweaking each machine to have the correct name or be added to the domain, and remembering to lock it down against student-initiated changes, etc, and if a physical machine dies, replacing a physical machine (or its hard drive, or repairing its registry, or cleaning a virus, or...) is much more labor intensive than simply telling the VMWare tools to .. oh, wait, I don't have to tell the VMWare tools to do anything; it automatically makes sure I have 20 working machines if I have specified I always need 20 working machines. Sweet!
As mentioned, the virtual Math lab computers can be accessed via a web-based or a client-based app on just about any Internet-connected device (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, etc). They can also be accessed through a dedicated piece of hardware called a thin (or in some cases, "zero") client.
Now we have acquired three different models of the Dell/WYSE thin/zero-clients; a 3040, a PxN zero client, and a 5040 All-In-One (AIO - monitor built-in). The first two of these are smaller than your typical Louis L'amour western paperback novel; the third just looks like a typical flat-panel LCD computer monitor. They have a very minimal operating system, just enough to allow them to point to a VDI (or other similar thin-client-based solution). We're thinking along the lines of replacing relatively-expensive full-blown PCs in our computer labs with relatively-inexpensive (and much less labor-intensive) thin-client AIOs.
I have gone into the settings of each of these thin-client boxes and pointed them to the Math VDI. Then plug in an Ethernet cable, a mouse and keyboard (and monitor in the non-AIO cases), turn it on, and the system boots up to a login prompt, at which a user can plug in his credentials and be connected to a Math VDI machine, and it's just like he's sitting at a real physical Windows 10 computer in a dedicated Math lab classroom (whether he's sitting at home with a laptop, or in a physical Math lab classroom with a thin-client box), to use the Math-type apps on this very ordinary Windows 10 setup, math department printers included.
So now the student can use his laptop at home, his desktop at his mother's house, or a thinclient set up in the campus Recreation Center, to connect to the Math VDI and get access to his math app (like the quite expensive MATLAB app mentioned above). On his personal computers, he can use the HTML client, or the Horizon View Client; on the thin-client, he just logs in like it's a physical Math lab PC. In all cases, he's actually just running a virtual PC off in another building, but it feels like a local PC.
It would be a pain to have to go each thin-client to set it up to point to the appropriate VDI, or to change its mouse settings, or to allow Math students to log into the Math VDI and Business students to log into the Business VDI, etc. So a centralized management system would be helpful.
Thus steps in the Dell Wyse Management Server (comes in both a free version and a pay-for version, depending on your needs).
So we created another virtual machine (just a plain virtual machine, not a VMWare Horizon/View VDI type setup). It's running Windows Server 2012R2, and is accessed via Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol - RDP. Logged into that machine, I downloaded the Dell/Wyse Management Server software from the "Dell File Download" site (not the "Dell Digital Locker" site), and installed it (easy install (and easy uninstall as I found out later)).
I then went and configured my 3040 thin client to look to the Wyse Management Server (WMS, formerly known as the CCM - Cloud Client Manager) app installed on my 2012R2 server, and rebooted the 3040, and voila! The 3040 device showed up in my WMS console. (After figuring out what I'm doing, I can similarly configure the other two thin clients we have. (Well, maybe not the zero-client PxN. Not sure yet.) Eventually, we may have tens or dozens or hundreds of thin clients, replacing more expensive actual PCs in computer labs, etc, which would be more easily managed via the WMS than by going to each one and manually configuring them.)
Sweet! Now I can remotely manage the little 3040 thin client, specifying things like what background to use, what VDI it should connect to automatically, if any, whether the user can tweak his mouse settings, or get into Admin mode, etc.
Only problem is, during the install of the WMS and the configuration of the 2040, I had some confusion about security certificates, a subject about which I know nothing (and I really should). When configuring either the WMS or the 3040 to point to the WMS, I didn't do anything with the certificate options, because I didn't know what to do, and this was just a test-bed pilot, not a production setup, so I wasn't worried yet about security; I just wanted to see if I could get the thin-client and WMS server talking to each other.
And I did get them talking to each other. For one day. The next day, the client couldn't log into the WMS server, complaining about certificates. I didn't know how to fix the problem, so I went about trying to get into the local settings of the 3040 thin client to tinker in there, but in my setting up of things, either I neglected to leave the Admin mode option turned on, or I intentionally turned it off, and while the two machines were talking for that one day, the client got the message, and now when it no longer will talk to the server, it won't let me get into its Admin-type innards.
I looked for ways to reset the 3040 thin client to factory condition, thinking I could start over. I found a "press G during boot-up" that was supposed to work, but didn't. I found that this feature too was turned off by the server when the two machines were talking to each other. the option to reset to factory specs when shutting down was missing, so that method was unavailable to me. I then discovered that you can "flash the BIOS" back to factory specs, by downloading from the Dell site a flash image file to an 8GB USB stick and boot the thin-client from that and then flashing the software to the thin-client. Wow. Really? Thankfully, not having an 8GB thumb drive on-hand, and running into some complexities (minor, but still new to me, so that it wasn't a totally fluid, easy process), I wasn't able to get around to actually trying this before I thought of one more option for me to try.
I pulled the Ethernet cable loose from the 3040.
Then I rebooted the 3040.
In a few seconds, the system was complaining about not having a network, but in the "Start" menu, the option to get into the admin settings were no longer grayed out. I had regained control of my 3040! W00t!
I document this here, because I was unable to find the information on the web that I have discovered in this process. Hopefully, Duck-duck-go's and Google's spiders will crawl over this blog and garner this info so that if anyone else is looking for this solution, they'll be able to find it.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/03/regaining-control-of-wyse-3040.html
Friday, March 16, 2018
YAD - Yet Another Dialog
What a wonderful tool for building graphical dialog boxes from Linux shells!
In imaging Windows computers for my workplace, I needed a graphical window to pop up to ask the technician for the computer's name and the Active Directory group into which it needed to be placed. I wound up building the tool using PowerShell.
After building the tool, I got to wondering what it would take to do the same thing in Linux, and finding the tool "YAD" (a souped-up alternative to Zenity, which is a souped-up alternative to Dialog, which is a souped-up version to just the command line), found it is a very powerful little utility for building GUI dialog boxes. ("aptitude install yad" will install it on your Debian system.)
There are a couple of good documents on the web for learning how to use this utility, so I won't try to provide any kind of tutorial. But I thought I'd share the script so that perhaps it might help someone see the bigger picture. Just copy the script to your Linux box, "chmod +x" it, and run it ("./GetComputerNameAndOU.sh").
#!/bin/bash
# RENAME COMPUTER AND GET OU
#
# This script creates an input box with two
# fields, one for the computer name, and one
# for the computer's OU
#
### Set these constants
CONFIG_DIR="/tmp" # Output of this script will be saved here,
CONFIG_FILE="config.txt" # in this file.
DefaultName="ACUxxxxx"
ouDefaultLandZone="Computers,DC=acu,DC=loacl" # If no OU is selected
# Final product = ouLeafNode + selected OU + ouBaseLandZone
ouBaseLandZone=",OU=Departments,DC=acu,DC=local"
ouLeafNode="OU=Computers,OU="
### Specify your Active Directory Organizational Units here.
### The line starting with a caret will be the default
### selection in the pull-down selection field.
ou=$(echo "\
^Not Specified,\
Abilene Library Consortium,\
Academic Development Center,\
Accounting,\
Accounting and Finance,\
ACU Foundation,\
ACU Police Department,\
ACU Press,\
Adams Center,\
Advancement,\
Advancement Services,\
Advancement Stewardship,\
Advancement Strategies,\
Advising Center,\
AG and Environmental Sciences,\
Alpha Scholars and Student Success,\
Alumni Relations,\
Alumni Relations, Annual Projects & University Relations,\
Analytics,\
Art and Design,\
Arts and Sciences,\
Athletics,\
Bible Missions and Ministry,\
Biblical Studies,\
Billings and Receivables,\
Biology,\
Brown Library,\
Brown Library Dean's Suite,\
Brown Library Technical Services,\
Business and Services,\
Campus Center,\
Campus Recruiting,\
Campus Visits,\
Campus Visits and Events,\
Career Center,\
CEHS Dean's Office,\
Center for Christian Service and Leadership,\
Chancellor's Office,\
Chemistry and Biochemistry,\
CIE,\
City Square,\
COBA,\
College of Arts anbd Science,\
College of Education and Human Services,\
Communication,\
Communication and Sociology,\
Communication Science and Disorder,\
Computing Services,\
Conflict Resolution,\
Construction and Risk Management,\
Creative Services,\
Distance Education,\
Doctor of Ministry Program,\
Electronic Resources and Serials,\
Engineering Physics,\
English,\
Enrollment Management,\
Enrollment Management & Student Engagement,\
Enrollment Marketing,\
Enterprise Infrastructure,\
Exercise Science and Health,\
Facilities and Campus Development,\
Facilities Management,\
Financial Operations,\
First Year Program,\
Foreign Languages,\
General Counsel,\
General Education,\
Graduate Admissions,\
Graduate School,\
Graduate School of Theology,\
Graduate Studies in Education,\
Griggs Center,\
Halbert Institute for Missions,\
History,\
Honors College,\
Human Resources,\
Information Technology,\
Institutional Effectivness,\
Investment Services,\
Journalism and Mass Communication,\
KACU,\
Kinesiology and Nutrition,\
Landscape and Grounds,\
Language and Literature,\
Learning Studio,\
Mail Services,\
Management Sciences,\
Marketing,\
Marketing Operations,\
Marriage and Family Therapy,\
Mathematics,\
McNair Scholars,\
Medical Care and Counseling Center,\
Medical Clinic,\
Ministry Events,\
Ministry Programs,\
Music,\
Occupational Therapy,\
Office and Research and Sponsored Programs,\
Online Marketing,\
Online Programs,\
Payroll,\
Physical Resources,\
Physics,\
Political Science,\
Political Science and Criminal Justice,\
President's Office,\
Provost,\
Pruett Gerontology Center,\
Psychology,\
Psychology Clinic,\
Public Relations,\
Public Services,\
Pura Vida Salon,\
Registrar,\
Residence Life,\
Retention and Student Services,\
School of Information Technology,\
School of Nursing,\
Service Learning and Volunteer Resources,\
Siburt Institute,\
Social Work,\
Sociology and Family Studies,\
Special Collections,\
Spiritual Formation Office,\
Spiritual Life,\
Spiritual Life and Chapel Programs,\
SRWC,\
Strategic Planning,\
Student Administrative Services,\
Student Financial Services,\
Student Leadership Development,\
Student Life,\
Systems and Operations,\
Talent Search,\
Teacher Education,\
Team55,\
Technology Support Services,\
Territory Recruitment,\
Test GPOs,\
TestMalwarebytesDeployment,\
The Campus Store,\
Theatre,\
University Counseling Center,\
University Events,\
University Procurement,\
University Relations,\
Upward Bound,\
Vice President for Student Life's Office,\
Video Production,\
WFF\
")
value=$(yad --width=400 --title="Name Computer & Select AD Org Unit" \
--timeout=120 --timeout-indicator=bottom \
--form \
--item-separator="," \
--field="Enter new computer name\:" \
--field="\tAD Organizational Unit\:":CE \
"$DefaultName" "$ou")
### Split response into an array
IFS="|" read -a val_array <<< "${value%;}"
### Convert Name to uppercase
val_array[0]=${val_array[0]^^}
### Save the values to config file
echo Name:${val_array[0]} > $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_FILE
echo OUName:${val_array[1]} >> $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_FILE
if [ $"{val_array[1]}" = "Not Selected" ]
then
echo OU:$ouDefaultLandZone >> $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_FILE
else
echo OU:$ouLeafNode${val_array[1]}$ouBaseLandZone >> $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_FILE
fi
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/03/yad-yet-another-dialog.html
In imaging Windows computers for my workplace, I needed a graphical window to pop up to ask the technician for the computer's name and the Active Directory group into which it needed to be placed. I wound up building the tool using PowerShell.
After building the tool, I got to wondering what it would take to do the same thing in Linux, and finding the tool "YAD" (a souped-up alternative to Zenity, which is a souped-up alternative to Dialog, which is a souped-up version to just the command line), found it is a very powerful little utility for building GUI dialog boxes. ("aptitude install yad" will install it on your Debian system.)
There are a couple of good documents on the web for learning how to use this utility, so I won't try to provide any kind of tutorial. But I thought I'd share the script so that perhaps it might help someone see the bigger picture. Just copy the script to your Linux box, "chmod +x" it, and run it ("./GetComputerNameAndOU.sh").
#!/bin/bash
# RENAME COMPUTER AND GET OU
#
# This script creates an input box with two
# fields, one for the computer name, and one
# for the computer's OU
#
### Set these constants
CONFIG_DIR="/tmp" # Output of this script will be saved here,
CONFIG_FILE="config.txt" # in this file.
DefaultName="ACUxxxxx"
ouDefaultLandZone="Computers,DC=acu,DC=loacl" # If no OU is selected
# Final product = ouLeafNode + selected OU + ouBaseLandZone
ouBaseLandZone=",OU=Departments,DC=acu,DC=local"
ouLeafNode="OU=Computers,OU="
### Specify your Active Directory Organizational Units here.
### The line starting with a caret will be the default
### selection in the pull-down selection field.
ou=$(echo "\
^Not Specified,\
Abilene Library Consortium,\
Academic Development Center,\
Accounting,\
Accounting and Finance,\
ACU Foundation,\
ACU Police Department,\
ACU Press,\
Adams Center,\
Advancement,\
Advancement Services,\
Advancement Stewardship,\
Advancement Strategies,\
Advising Center,\
AG and Environmental Sciences,\
Alpha Scholars and Student Success,\
Alumni Relations,\
Alumni Relations, Annual Projects & University Relations,\
Analytics,\
Art and Design,\
Arts and Sciences,\
Athletics,\
Bible Missions and Ministry,\
Biblical Studies,\
Billings and Receivables,\
Biology,\
Brown Library,\
Brown Library Dean's Suite,\
Brown Library Technical Services,\
Business and Services,\
Campus Center,\
Campus Recruiting,\
Campus Visits,\
Campus Visits and Events,\
Career Center,\
CEHS Dean's Office,\
Center for Christian Service and Leadership,\
Chancellor's Office,\
Chemistry and Biochemistry,\
CIE,\
City Square,\
COBA,\
College of Arts anbd Science,\
College of Education and Human Services,\
Communication,\
Communication and Sociology,\
Communication Science and Disorder,\
Computing Services,\
Conflict Resolution,\
Construction and Risk Management,\
Creative Services,\
Distance Education,\
Doctor of Ministry Program,\
Electronic Resources and Serials,\
Engineering Physics,\
English,\
Enrollment Management,\
Enrollment Management & Student Engagement,\
Enrollment Marketing,\
Enterprise Infrastructure,\
Exercise Science and Health,\
Facilities and Campus Development,\
Facilities Management,\
Financial Operations,\
First Year Program,\
Foreign Languages,\
General Counsel,\
General Education,\
Graduate Admissions,\
Graduate School,\
Graduate School of Theology,\
Graduate Studies in Education,\
Griggs Center,\
Halbert Institute for Missions,\
History,\
Honors College,\
Human Resources,\
Information Technology,\
Institutional Effectivness,\
Investment Services,\
Journalism and Mass Communication,\
KACU,\
Kinesiology and Nutrition,\
Landscape and Grounds,\
Language and Literature,\
Learning Studio,\
Mail Services,\
Management Sciences,\
Marketing,\
Marketing Operations,\
Marriage and Family Therapy,\
Mathematics,\
McNair Scholars,\
Medical Care and Counseling Center,\
Medical Clinic,\
Ministry Events,\
Ministry Programs,\
Music,\
Occupational Therapy,\
Office and Research and Sponsored Programs,\
Online Marketing,\
Online Programs,\
Payroll,\
Physical Resources,\
Physics,\
Political Science,\
Political Science and Criminal Justice,\
President's Office,\
Provost,\
Pruett Gerontology Center,\
Psychology,\
Psychology Clinic,\
Public Relations,\
Public Services,\
Pura Vida Salon,\
Registrar,\
Residence Life,\
Retention and Student Services,\
School of Information Technology,\
School of Nursing,\
Service Learning and Volunteer Resources,\
Siburt Institute,\
Social Work,\
Sociology and Family Studies,\
Special Collections,\
Spiritual Formation Office,\
Spiritual Life,\
Spiritual Life and Chapel Programs,\
SRWC,\
Strategic Planning,\
Student Administrative Services,\
Student Financial Services,\
Student Leadership Development,\
Student Life,\
Systems and Operations,\
Talent Search,\
Teacher Education,\
Team55,\
Technology Support Services,\
Territory Recruitment,\
Test GPOs,\
TestMalwarebytesDeployment,\
The Campus Store,\
Theatre,\
University Counseling Center,\
University Events,\
University Procurement,\
University Relations,\
Upward Bound,\
Vice President for Student Life's Office,\
Video Production,\
WFF\
")
value=$(yad --width=400 --title="Name Computer & Select AD Org Unit" \
--timeout=120 --timeout-indicator=bottom \
--form \
--item-separator="," \
--field="Enter new computer name\:" \
--field="\tAD Organizational Unit\:":CE \
"$DefaultName" "$ou")
### Split response into an array
IFS="|" read -a val_array <<< "${value%;}"
### Convert Name to uppercase
val_array[0]=${val_array[0]^^}
### Save the values to config file
echo Name:${val_array[0]} > $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_FILE
echo OUName:${val_array[1]} >> $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_FILE
if [ $"{val_array[1]}" = "Not Selected" ]
then
echo OU:$ouDefaultLandZone >> $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_FILE
else
echo OU:$ouLeafNode${val_array[1]}$ouBaseLandZone >> $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_FILE
fi
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/03/yad-yet-another-dialog.html
Sunday, March 11, 2018
"That Which is Perfect"
Many in my church heritage have claimed that tongues and prophecies (and by extension all miraculous activity) have ceased, citing 1 Cor 13:8-10 as their proof. This passage says:
This view has been taught as the view by many of our brethren, to the point we barely consider if it's true.
But let me offer a different view. This is not the only place where Paul writes of spiritual gifts and that which is "perfect". It is highly likely that whatever is the "perfect" that results from spiritual gifts in one place is the "perfect" that results from spiritual gifts in the other place. That other place is Ephesians 4.
Paul starts off in Ephesians by writing that gifts are given to all:
First he starts off in 1 Corinthians by explaining that gifts are given to all:
I propose that in 1 Cor 13:10, "that which is perfect" does not refer to the finished word of God, but to the same maturity of the church/Christian which is a core thrust of both passages. The contrast in both passages is immaturity vs maturity, and the gifts are given for that exact purpose of taking us to maturity, and are to last until the maturity arrives.
Originally published at:
http://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/03/that-which-is-perfect.html
WEB 1 Cor 13:8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.Their belief is that "that which is complete" (or "perfect", in the older King James Bible) refers to the word of God, the Bible, and then they use other arguments to say the Bible is now complete.
This view has been taught as the view by many of our brethren, to the point we barely consider if it's true.
But let me offer a different view. This is not the only place where Paul writes of spiritual gifts and that which is "perfect". It is highly likely that whatever is the "perfect" that results from spiritual gifts in one place is the "perfect" that results from spiritual gifts in the other place. That other place is Ephesians 4.
Paul starts off in Ephesians by writing that gifts are given to all:
WEB Eph 4:7 But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Therefore he says, “When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”Then he goes on to explain how some of those gifts are manifested:
Eph 4:11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;Then he explains what the gifts are for:
Eph 4:12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;And finally, he explains how long the gifts were to last:
Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; 15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; 16 from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.The parallel to 1 Cor 12-14 is striking:
First he starts off in 1 Corinthians by explaining that gifts are given to all:
WEB 1 Cor 12:7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.Then he goes on to explain how some of those gifts are manifested:
1 Cor 12:28 God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with various languages? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts.He explains what the gifts are for:
1 Cor 12:18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired. 19 If they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now they are many members, but one body. ... 14:5 Now I desire to have you all speak with other languages, but rather that you would prophesy. For he is greater who prophesies than he who speaks with other languages, unless he interprets, that the assembly may be built up. ... 20 Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature.And then he explains how long the gifts were to last:
1 Cor 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.In both passages, the gifts are for the building up of the body, that we may no longer be children, and will cease when maturity arrives. It should be noted that in both passages, the Greek word behind the English "perfect"/"mature"/"complete"/"full-grown" is the same Greek word, telion. It should also be pointed out that in both passages, love is the dominant gift that runs throughout this maturing process.
I propose that in 1 Cor 13:10, "that which is perfect" does not refer to the finished word of God, but to the same maturity of the church/Christian which is a core thrust of both passages. The contrast in both passages is immaturity vs maturity, and the gifts are given for that exact purpose of taking us to maturity, and are to last until the maturity arrives.
Originally published at:
http://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/03/that-which-is-perfect.html
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Did the Psalms Expire at the Cross?
On Facebook, one poster claimed, "Psalms have already been crucified on the cross with Jesus.
====
Jesus twice refers to the Psalms as "law"; once in John 10:34, when his enemies were about to stone him, as "your law", when reminding them of their legal strictions was definitely apropos to his well-being; and once in John 15:25, as "their law" when referring to those who hated him, which again highlighted their hypocrisy. In both cases, Jesus "twists the knife" in that his enemies claim to live by God's law, but in reality violate it; they are violating their own "law", and he uses "their own law" against them.
What Jesus is not doing is declaring that the psalms are part of the Law of Moses. Every Jew in his culture knew there was a definite separation to the scriptures, so that the Law of Moses was different from the Prophets was different from the Psalms:
WEB Luke 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”
In fact, the Hebrew name for what we call "the Old Testament" came from this three-fold division: the "TaNahK" is a pronunciation of the three initials of the Hebrew names for these three sections: Torah (the Law), Nevi'im (the Prophets), and Ketuvim (the Writings (aka the Psalms & like)).
The Tanahk itself testifies that the Law was given at Mt. Sinai and written in a book, finished, to not be added to, and stored with the ark of the covenant. Both the psalms and the prophets were written/compiled hundreds of years later. If the psalms were indeed "the Law", then they must have been written in that book hundreds of years before most of them had been composed. Now *that's* a miracle!
No, the psalms are not "the Law". The establishment of marriage for life, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. The promise to never again drown the earth, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. The promise to Abraham, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. The command to use musical instruments in the temple, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. And the psalms, not being "the Law", were not crucified on the cross.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/01/did-psalms-expire-at-cross.html
====
Jesus twice refers to the Psalms as "law"; once in John 10:34, when his enemies were about to stone him, as "your law", when reminding them of their legal strictions was definitely apropos to his well-being; and once in John 15:25, as "their law" when referring to those who hated him, which again highlighted their hypocrisy. In both cases, Jesus "twists the knife" in that his enemies claim to live by God's law, but in reality violate it; they are violating their own "law", and he uses "their own law" against them.
What Jesus is not doing is declaring that the psalms are part of the Law of Moses. Every Jew in his culture knew there was a definite separation to the scriptures, so that the Law of Moses was different from the Prophets was different from the Psalms:
WEB Luke 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”
In fact, the Hebrew name for what we call "the Old Testament" came from this three-fold division: the "TaNahK" is a pronunciation of the three initials of the Hebrew names for these three sections: Torah (the Law), Nevi'im (the Prophets), and Ketuvim (the Writings (aka the Psalms & like)).
The Tanahk itself testifies that the Law was given at Mt. Sinai and written in a book, finished, to not be added to, and stored with the ark of the covenant. Both the psalms and the prophets were written/compiled hundreds of years later. If the psalms were indeed "the Law", then they must have been written in that book hundreds of years before most of them had been composed. Now *that's* a miracle!
No, the psalms are not "the Law". The establishment of marriage for life, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. The promise to never again drown the earth, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. The promise to Abraham, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. The command to use musical instruments in the temple, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. And the psalms, not being "the Law", were not crucified on the cross.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/01/did-psalms-expire-at-cross.html
Friday, January 26, 2018
Why the "Norm" for Early Christian Assemblies was Non-Instrumental
In the first-century AD Jewish culture, instrumental music was used in the Temple, but it was not used in the synagogue.
It seems the synagogue developed in the days when the nation of Israel/Judah was taken into captivity in far-off Babylon. There in Babylon, the Judahites (--> Jews) no longer had access to their temple (which was destroyed, and far, far away), wherein joyful worship took place. In this vacuum, the more somber activities of Sabbath study developed, which became the synagogue.
(It should be noted that the synagogue has no scriptural authority for being; apparently it is entirely a human-invented institution, and yet Jesus gave his apparent approval by making it his custom to attend the synagogue every Sabbath - Luke 4:16.)
While in the Babylonian Captivity, the "official" theme developed that the captive Jews were too sad to praise God in joyful ways. This is the thrust of the book of Lamentations, opening with the line, "How the city sits solitary, that was full of people!" The whole book laments that "Judah is gone into captivity...she finds no rest."
When the Babylonian captors asked their Jewish captives to sing about their homeland, the captives put away their instruments and replied, "We're too sad to sing of home" (Ps 137). (Notice the very meaning of "sing" implied the use of instruments; this is the way God uses the term, regardless of how Strong's or anyone else may define it.)
When the Jews were allowed to return home and rebuild their temple, there was great joy. The new temple was inaugurated with great joy:
When the church was established in Acts 2, his apostles knew that Jesus considered the temple his father's house. They knew that Jesus had been participating in temple worship all his life. They knew Jesus participated in synagogue worship all his life. They knew he had prophesied that they themselves would be kicked out of those synagogues for being his followers.
This early church met daily in the temple, wherein the joyful musical assemblies took place. Not one word was spoken against the temple assemblies. They also met in private homes. They met in synagogues (James 2 refers to "your synagogue", although most English translations hide this fact). They met beside rivers. They met in lecture halls. Later they met in underground cemeteries. Later still they built their own buildings for their meetings.
But in these earliest days, when the church existed only in the city of Jerusalem, the main meeting place was the temple.
When the church began to spread out and away from the city and its temple, the natural meeting place was the synagogue. It is here, in the synagogue, where the non-Jew learned "how to do church". And here, in the synagogue, instruments were not used. Not because of any command from God, but because of a human tradition.
Over the next few decades, the Gentile segment of the church outgrew the Jewish segment. This Gentile segment, for the most part, had never experienced instrumental praise in the name of Jesus; all they had ever been exposed to, as a norm, was non-instrumental praise. A couple of generations later, and the kids who had grown up non-instrumental developed the idea that the way they had personally always done things must be *the* way to do things.
When the Jewish population of Christians was snuffed out almost completely by the destruction in 70AD of the Jewish Temple and city of Jerusalem, these Gentile Christians seem to have gotten it in their heads that all things Jewish were condemned by God.
These two factors - "We've always been non-instrumental", and "God hates all things Jewish, including their instruments" - led the late first-century and early-second century churches to solidify on the Gentile/synagogue way of doing things. The Sabbath was Jewish; Sunday was the new Lord's Day. Instruments and joyful dancing and incense were Jewish; solemn head-bowing and sitting quietly is how Jesus wants us to assemble. Everyone contributing their spirit-gifting in the assembly was the mystical Jewish way of doing things; we Gentiles believe in logic and science and that requires the learned philosophers to teach the non-learned, in a lecture format.
Through the intervening centuries, and the Roman Catholic Church, we have inherited this Gentile mindset. And when we go looking in the scriptures, we bring our mindset with us, and gloss over the things that don't fit in with the "way we've always done them", and when we fail to find explicit teachings to support the way we've always done things, we turn to later, post-Bible writings, and sure enough, find support for what we believe.
Although this was long, it should help to explain why it was "the norm", by tradition, not command, for church music to be non-instrumental by the second century or so. This was not because of any command from God, but because of the natural progression of the church moving from the instrumental Jewish temple to the non-instrumental Jewish synagogue to the non-Jewish, non-instrumental assembly.
No command against instruments. No demand for instruments. Total freedom. But tradition, and the practical loss in history of the earlier tradition and the practical highlighting of the later one resulted in the norm for early Christianity to be non-instrumental.
Originally published at:
It seems the synagogue developed in the days when the nation of Israel/Judah was taken into captivity in far-off Babylon. There in Babylon, the Judahites (--> Jews) no longer had access to their temple (which was destroyed, and far, far away), wherein joyful worship took place. In this vacuum, the more somber activities of Sabbath study developed, which became the synagogue.
(It should be noted that the synagogue has no scriptural authority for being; apparently it is entirely a human-invented institution, and yet Jesus gave his apparent approval by making it his custom to attend the synagogue every Sabbath - Luke 4:16.)
While in the Babylonian Captivity, the "official" theme developed that the captive Jews were too sad to praise God in joyful ways. This is the thrust of the book of Lamentations, opening with the line, "How the city sits solitary, that was full of people!" The whole book laments that "Judah is gone into captivity...she finds no rest."
When the Babylonian captors asked their Jewish captives to sing about their homeland, the captives put away their instruments and replied, "We're too sad to sing of home" (Ps 137). (Notice the very meaning of "sing" implied the use of instruments; this is the way God uses the term, regardless of how Strong's or anyone else may define it.)
When the Jews were allowed to return home and rebuild their temple, there was great joy. The new temple was inaugurated with great joy:
WEB Ezra 6:15 This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. 16 The children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.But these Jews also brought the more somber synagogue home with them, and by the time of Jesus, it was a well-developed system with established rules and regulations. Jesus participated in both Temple and synagogue assemblies. (He started as a child, even neglecting to return home with his parents on one occasion so that he could hang out with the temple experts, calling the temple his "father's house". He used this same phrase as an adult when he chased out the marketers.)
When the church was established in Acts 2, his apostles knew that Jesus considered the temple his father's house. They knew that Jesus had been participating in temple worship all his life. They knew Jesus participated in synagogue worship all his life. They knew he had prophesied that they themselves would be kicked out of those synagogues for being his followers.
This early church met daily in the temple, wherein the joyful musical assemblies took place. Not one word was spoken against the temple assemblies. They also met in private homes. They met in synagogues (James 2 refers to "your synagogue", although most English translations hide this fact). They met beside rivers. They met in lecture halls. Later they met in underground cemeteries. Later still they built their own buildings for their meetings.
But in these earliest days, when the church existed only in the city of Jerusalem, the main meeting place was the temple.
When the church began to spread out and away from the city and its temple, the natural meeting place was the synagogue. It is here, in the synagogue, where the non-Jew learned "how to do church". And here, in the synagogue, instruments were not used. Not because of any command from God, but because of a human tradition.
Over the next few decades, the Gentile segment of the church outgrew the Jewish segment. This Gentile segment, for the most part, had never experienced instrumental praise in the name of Jesus; all they had ever been exposed to, as a norm, was non-instrumental praise. A couple of generations later, and the kids who had grown up non-instrumental developed the idea that the way they had personally always done things must be *the* way to do things.
When the Jewish population of Christians was snuffed out almost completely by the destruction in 70AD of the Jewish Temple and city of Jerusalem, these Gentile Christians seem to have gotten it in their heads that all things Jewish were condemned by God.
These two factors - "We've always been non-instrumental", and "God hates all things Jewish, including their instruments" - led the late first-century and early-second century churches to solidify on the Gentile/synagogue way of doing things. The Sabbath was Jewish; Sunday was the new Lord's Day. Instruments and joyful dancing and incense were Jewish; solemn head-bowing and sitting quietly is how Jesus wants us to assemble. Everyone contributing their spirit-gifting in the assembly was the mystical Jewish way of doing things; we Gentiles believe in logic and science and that requires the learned philosophers to teach the non-learned, in a lecture format.
Through the intervening centuries, and the Roman Catholic Church, we have inherited this Gentile mindset. And when we go looking in the scriptures, we bring our mindset with us, and gloss over the things that don't fit in with the "way we've always done them", and when we fail to find explicit teachings to support the way we've always done things, we turn to later, post-Bible writings, and sure enough, find support for what we believe.
Although this was long, it should help to explain why it was "the norm", by tradition, not command, for church music to be non-instrumental by the second century or so. This was not because of any command from God, but because of the natural progression of the church moving from the instrumental Jewish temple to the non-instrumental Jewish synagogue to the non-Jewish, non-instrumental assembly.
No command against instruments. No demand for instruments. Total freedom. But tradition, and the practical loss in history of the earlier tradition and the practical highlighting of the later one resulted in the norm for early Christianity to be non-instrumental.
Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/01/why-norm-for-early-christian-assemblies.html
Friday, January 05, 2018
A Very Simple "launchd" Example for MacOS
Arg. I've been struggling for days! to get a simple launchd example to work. None of the examples I found in the googlesphere got me there. Here's my working example.
Although I generally avoid being root for more than a single sudo command, I'm gonna sudo into root for this. Open Terminal (Cmd-Spacebar to open the Search window, then search for and Enter on "terminal".)
Make sure the file is readable and executable by root:
Okay, so we have a working script. Now we want to use launchd to run this script once at boot-time.
Create a new file named "local.itworks.plist" (# nano local.itworks.plist), and put the following text into it:
Now we're ready to test it. Make sure that you have removed "ITWORKS" from the /Users/Shared/Scripts directory, or we won't know if the launchd item works or not, and then tell launchd to load this new service you have created:
You can get a list of running launchd items with:
Although I generally avoid being root for more than a single sudo command, I'm gonna sudo into root for this. Open Terminal (Cmd-Spacebar to open the Search window, then search for and Enter on "terminal".)
$ sudo -iThen move into the /Users/Shared directory, and create a "Scripts" directory, and then move into that directory:
# cd /Users/SharedCreate a very simple Bash script here using nano:
# mkdir Scripts
# cd Scripts
# nano mysimplescript.sh(You could also use any other plain-text editor, such as TextEdit (yuk!) or TextWrangler (yum!, but it's a third-party download). Whatever text editor you use, put the following into your "mysimplescript.sh":
#!/bin/bashExit out of your text editor, saving the file. (If you use TextEdit, make sure it's a plain text file, etc.)
touch ITWORKS
Make sure the file is readable and executable by root:
# chmod +x mysimplescript.shAnd test it to make sure it works. Currently, there should be no file named "ITWORKS" in the /Users/Shared/Scripts directory. After you run it, there should be such a file.
# chown root:wheel mysimplescript.sh
# ./mysimplescript.shIf the script worked properly, you'll now have an empty file named "ITWORKS" in the /Users/Shared/Scripts directory. (You'll want to remove this file manually (# rm ITWORKS) afterwards for additional testing.)
Okay, so we have a working script. Now we want to use launchd to run this script once at boot-time.
Create a new file named "local.itworks.plist" (# nano local.itworks.plist), and put the following text into it:
Now this file needs to be placed in the appropriate directory for launchd items. If it was an Apple-provided .plist file, it'd go in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons (for root-run items) or /System/Library/LaunchAgents (for user-run items). (Daemons and Agents are the same thing; just named differently for who runs them, root or users.) But we're not Apple. If we wanted the item to be a launchd item for just "me", it'd go into my home folder's Library directory, ~/Library/LaunchAgents. But we want this to run as root, on startup, so we'll put it in /Library/LaunchDaemons.<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Label</key> <string>local.itworks</string> <key>ProgramArguments</key> <array> <string>/Users/Shared/Scripts/mysimplescript.sh</string> </array> <key>RunAtLoad</key> <true/> </dict> </plist>
# mv local.itworks.plist /Library/LaunchDaemonsAnd we need to make sure it has the correct permissions:
# chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.itworks.plist(You could be more restrictive with the perms, such as chmod 700, but this should be okay for our purposes.)
# chmod 755 /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.itworks.plist
Now we're ready to test it. Make sure that you have removed "ITWORKS" from the /Users/Shared/Scripts directory, or we won't know if the launchd item works or not, and then tell launchd to load this new service you have created:
# launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.itworks.plistIf you see no errors, that's good. If you now see an "ITWORKS" file in the /Users/Shared/Scripts directory, that's great! Your new launchd service works!
You can get a list of running launchd items with:
# launchctl listor you can narrow that list down with:
# launchctl list | grep local.itworksIf you need to edit the .plist file, you'll need to first stop/unload the service:
# launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.itworks.plistHopefully this will get you started with a successful launchd experiment, that will cause your mysimplescript.sh script to run at each boot of the Mac.
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Dying Assemblies
Our assemblies are dying because they're not fulfilling their God-given purpose.
Our church leaders "learned" in the 1950s that the purpose for assemblies is to "worship correctly", which puts the focus on singing right and preaching the right message and doing the Lord's Supper right and controlling who can say what when and all these "regulations", which have the appearance of wise worship.
There's nothing wrong with these things, but that's not what our leaders should focus on. Our leaders were given to us for a different purpose:
Our church leaders "learned" in the 1950s that the purpose for assemblies is to "worship correctly", which puts the focus on singing right and preaching the right message and doing the Lord's Supper right and controlling who can say what when and all these "regulations", which have the appearance of wise worship.
There's nothing wrong with these things, but that's not what our leaders should focus on. Our leaders were given to us for a different purpose:
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Even Whores Matter
- Tamar, the presumed prostitute, was declared more righteous than the ancestor of Jesus' tribe - Gen 38.
- Rahab the prostitute was a heroine of the faith - Heb 11:31.
- One of the judges of Israel, Jepthah, was the son of a prostitute - Judges 11:1.
- Hosea married a prostitute - Hos 1:2.
- The woman who wiped Jesus' feet with her hair was a "sinner" - Luke 7:37.
Not sure what meaning I'd take from this, but I find it interesting.
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