I like the way this guy (admittedly, he's a Mac fan already) thinks!

I think Panther is going to bring about a major increase in the number of people switching to Macs from Windows. Let's face it, Windows is a security nightmare. Seemingly every week there's a new patch, a new worm or virus to worry about. People are fed up with Windows, and Macs have been getting a great buzz of publicity lately.

[...]

Could hackers write viruses for a Mac? Sure. But because Panther is based on the much harder to hack, industrial strength UNIX foundation, they're not likely to have nearly the success they do with Windows worms.

This is a drum I've been hammering for a while. Good to see it in the mainstream media. :)

What is up with the BBC? I've notice a PC bias there but in their story on the release of Panter, they make this snipe:

The company are touting the re-design of its interface, Expose, which lets users to see all the windows which are open at once, as "revolutionary".

This isn't exactly correct. Exposé does more than just let you see the windows, it makes it easier for you to navigate them if you have a lot open at once. What's revolutionary about Exposé is that you can touch one button and have all of the windows you're not using dim and shrink slightly. Hit another and the ones you are using does the same thing. Hit a third and you get the desktop. Not much about the other 149 changes in the article either.

I think they're still mad because Steve Jobs didn't pronounce "Jaguar" the way they do. That and the fact that it is harder to make an é on a PC ('cause notice that they didn't) than it is on a Mac. :)

I've added a link to Derek Webb's website. Derek did chapel a week ago and I was very impressed with the young man. He was in Caedmon's Call and I love God of Wonder, so that was a plus. His recent album She Shall and Must Go Free is excellent and challenging.

So here's the deal. I usually don't go to chapel. I just don't have enough time in my life since I'm working full-time and going to seminary full-time, I have to study sometime. Margaret Becker was going to be at chapel and I used to have a CD of hers so I thought this time I'd go. I needed to worship and I thought this might be a chance. Well, Becker was there the day before and instead it was this young, shaved-headed, tattooed, guitar-playing kid I'd never heard of. Okay, I was there so I thought I'd see what the Lord had in mind so I stuck around. Glad I did.

Derek is deep. He loves Reformed Theology and the Church! You don't see those two thing going together very often. Too often you have what I call the "Mike Horton Syndrome" where you love Reformed Theology and are very suspicious of the rest of the Body of Christ. I even started drifting down that path at one point. Well Derek sang some good songs, played the guitar excellently and preached to me the message I needed to hear. He talked about feeling uncomfortable in church but sticking with it any way. He said that he thought we should hate about every third song we sing on Sunday. The reason is that there is someone else who loves that song and is blessed to be singing it, so sacrifice your preference for the other believers in the body. He railed against having a traditional and contemporary service, against having age-specific worship and Sunday School and he did it for all the right reasons. The 20 year olds need to hear what the 50 year olds have to say. The 40-somethings need to see things from the 20-somethings' perspective. We need the differences to build each other up.

What his talk did for me was to affirm that I was doing a good thing in sticking with a church I wasn't entirely comfortable with and to fight against the flesh in order to worship every Sunday.

Here's a snip of some of Derek's lyrics that really hit me:

The Church
'Cause I haven't come for only you
But for my people to pursue
You cannot care for me with no regard for her
If you love me you will love the church

Lover
I found thieves and salesmen living in my father's house
I know how they got in there and I know how to get 'em out
I'm turning this place over from floor to balcony
And then just like these doves and sheep oh you will be set free

I strongly recommend the CD.

Gospel in Context

God loves you, and offers a wonderful plan for your life. - Bill Bright, The Four Spiritual Laws

I could see no purpose in putting the Christian proposition before a man unless it was made in such a way that forced him to struggle with it in terms of surrender to the ultimate and most basic demand that could be placed upon him. In order to know what had to be addressed to the depths of his being I had to wade down to it through what I was convinced were only outward displays of a deeper need in his heart. - William D. Reyburn, Identification in the Missionary Task

I have no huge problem with the Four Spiritual Laws per se, but I wonder if they as an evangelistic tool really address the needs of the human heart cross-culturally. For example, in the presentation of the gospel in our Western culture an emphasis is placed on sin and forgiveness. Though this emphasis may have become less successful in the past few decades, it did address a basic psychological need. In an animist context, this aspect of the gospel (vital though it is) does not have as much impact. What resonates more with them is the power that Jesus has over sin and death. Westerners seek comfort (hence forgiveness) and animists seek control over the environment that threatens them.

When we share the good news of Jesus Christ we cannot exclude any part of it. Death for sin, burial, resurrection for justification, ascension for present rule. What we need to understand is where to place the accent on that presentation. I once shared with a coworker about law and grace. He understood and repeated it back to me with clarity but remained unconverted. Why? I don't know for sure, but I suspect that for him is was not a matter of the heart but a philosophical discussion. There is no magic accent placement for each person that will turn the key in the lock of sin on their heart, but I think it is part of witnessing that we need to be more sensitive to.

What has "to be addressed to the depths of [the] being" of those we live amidst today? What aspect of the gospel will resonate more soundly in a post-modern context? What part of the gospel should we accentuate that will cause a Muslim to "struggle with it in terms of surrender to the ultimate and most basic demand that could be placed upon him"? God may continue to use the Four Spiritual Laws and evangelist methods like them to grant faith and repentance, He is able to do that. But that doesn't excuse us from working hard to present the gospel in a fashion that speaks to those we intend to hear it and to do that without changing the content of the good news.

State sponsered witchcraft.

Here's a twist on the warning to not let gas build up in your trousers!

I wasn't planning on buying Panther (Mac OS 10.3) because I don't need any of the great things they're adding and I didn't feel like shelling out $120 for something I can't use. However, I can get the education discount and pick it up for $69. It doesn't look like they have the family pack (a site license of up to 5 machines) in the Education Store so that isn't an option. :-/

Windows is smarter than I thought!
I'm running Virtual PC on my iBook when Hebrew Tutor (Windows program) crashes and recommends restarting Windows. Okay fine. While Windows is rebooting I open Safari to surf the web. I accidently clicked on the trash can in the dock and Virtual PC pops up with the Windows 95 logo. Trash. Windows. Sure, that works for me! It did crash after all...

What ever we do, we can't let Bin Laden find out about this. He'd be crushed.