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May 28, 2005

Evil

Back in Navy Nuclear Power School, which I attended during the Cold War, I had an interesting conversation with my teacher, a Lieutenant. Although we both agreed in the malevolence of the USSR's government, I suggested that given the same restrictions on the press, Americans would degenerate to the same types of actions. The Lieutenant felt otherwise -- somehow we were intrinsically better. (In fairness to him, I suspect if I bluntly asked him if Americans were individually "better" than Russians, he would have said no. But I digress.)

In a National Review review of Theodore Dalyrmple's new book, The Doctor Is In, David Pryce-Jones quotes a perfect summary of my thoughts:

"Men commit evil within the scope available to them."

I suppose that makes me sound like a glass half empty kind-of-guy, but I do feel that the lust for power aligns with the propensity for evil, so unaccountable human governments, regardless of philosophical foundation (e.g. capitalism or communism), will deteriorate into tyranny.

Those of us who believe in Christ can see past this negative world-view -- we have read the back of the book, and have seen that there is a happy ending. All pain and suffering, and the sin that leads to it, will go away...

And we don't have to wait until the happy ending to see glimmerings of how it will be. I subscribe to the RSS feed of RZIM.org's A Slice of Infinity. In her article, "The Course of Waterfalls," Jill Carattini writes:

...Their claim is clear: Humanity has adapted to a blind and indifferent universe like water to the shape of its container.

Ernest Gordon may have at one time agreed. An officer of the British army during the Second World War, he was captured by the Japanese while at sea. At the age of 24, he was sent to work in the prison camp that would be constructing the Burma-Siam railroad.

...Treated like animals, the prisoners became themselves like beasts trying to survive. Adapting to their harsh captivity, theft was as rampant as disease among them...

Each night the Japanese guards would count the work tools before anyone was permitted to return to camp. One evening, when a shovel was found to be missing, a guard shouted relentlessly that the guilty man must present himself. When no one responded, he ordered callously, "All die! All die!" At this, a young man stepped forward, confessing to the theft, and was immediately killed before them.

...

After the incident with the shovel, upon returning to the camp, one of the guards discovered a mistake in their counting. There had never been a missing shovel. One innocent man had sacrificed his life to preserve the life of his fellow inmates.

Attitudes among the camp began to change dramatically. Instead of men in a detached game of survival of the fittest, they began to look out for each other...

Since my excerpts don't do Ms. Carattini's piece justice, please read it for yourself. And then think, if the voluntary death of one man for other prisoners who previously could have cared less about his welfare could have such a marked effect on the whole camp, what greater effect can the voluntary death of a sinless Son of God for a world that mostly continues to reject Him have on all of us?

Posted by alan at 11:05 AM | TrackBack

May 10, 2005

Amusing Ourselves to Death

An interesting RSS feed today from RZIM.org, "Amusing Ourselves to Death." A great caution to our age -- where entertainment is more readily available than ever...

In Sabbath School class two weekends ago, we discussed the parable of the sower. I said I felt pretty confident I didn't have the issues outlined in the earlier verses, but worried about verse 19. How about you?

13 And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." (Mark 4:13-20, ESV)

And...does verse 19 fit with Stuart McAllister's RZIM.org article?

Posted by alan at 8:15 AM | TrackBack

Benny Hinn & Oral Roberts

Flipping through Sky Angel, I ran into a show with Benny Hinn and Oral Roberts chatting...quite a historical convergence in a Pentecostal televangelist sense...

I didn't really pay a whole bunch of attention. Oral Roberts talked about a meeting he had where the whole audience was healed at once, his folks picking up myriad crutches, hearing aids, glasses, etc. the following day preparing for the next session. Benny Hinn said he hoped for the same thing, and Evangelist Roberts prayed for that, starting off with speaking in tongues...

Personally I'm more than just skeptical, but am interested because of curiosity and not wanting to close my mind to what might be...

P.S. In an awful trick of TV and lighting, Oral Roberts looked like he had red eye the whole time...a demonic effect...

Posted by alan at 8:01 AM | TrackBack

May 5, 2005

iPod Shuffle is a gateway drug (device)

You know how some substances, like marijuana, are called gateway drugs? Well, I'm convinced Apple is doing the same kind of thing with the iPod Shuffle...it's only a "gateway device"...

A few weeks back someone gave me one of those (thanks again to my unnamed benefactor), and it only took the flight home from California to get hooked. That MP3 player couldn't have worked better.

But then...it made me want more. Was 512MB enough? Wouldn't it be nice if when a good song from a group I like came on, putting me into the mood for more, I could choose more songs by the band? The questions were flooding my mind...I had to get a "real" iPod!!! (Strangely enough, before getting a Shuffle myself, I insulted a friend's one by calling it "almost an iPod.")

I started priming my wife to let me buy one...making sure she knew how much I loved my Shuffle...stopping by the iPod display at Best Buy, but acting like I didn't want to spend that much money. It was only a matter of time...and I would have it...

And then I remembered my American Express points!!!

So, now I have an iPod Mini...which I love even more...but...do I really think I'll be satisfied until I get a 60GB iPod?!?!?!

And...of course...now that my wife has my Shuffle, how long will it be before her addiction requires a bigger and better iPod?!?!?!

It's all a terrible evil plan by Apple to rule the world!!!

(And lest you think I'm making this all up, read this article about how the Shuffle has better sound than any other MP3 player, including the "real" iPods...)

Posted by alan at 9:08 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

iPod Mini and not playing iTrip stations in Shuffle mode

Mostly with AMEX points, I got a new 6GB iPod mini -- awesome. Today in the mail I got the Griffin iTrip for it. To allow it to tune to any open station, it uses mp3 files for each frequency. In shuffle mode, this leads to...well...from their documentation:

In Shuffle mode, iTrip Stations get played. Can I avoid this? The iTrip stations are included in the iPod's library, so they might occasionally get played - but there is a great way to avoid this. Create a Smart Playlist that includes all your music except the iTrip stations. See our website for specific instructions on how to do this - http://www.griffintechnology.com/support.

I actually went at it another way. I converted the mp3 files to AAC, and then changed the extension from .m4a to .m4b. When these files are transfered to the iPod they show up under audiobooks, and audiobooks do not automatically get played in Shuffle mode.

Of course, this may not be the best option for those who actually use audio books a lot on their iPod...but it works well for me :-)

Feel free to download a zip file of the .m4b files I created.

Posted by alan at 8:57 AM | TrackBack