Patients in ‘vegetative’ state can think and communicate – Telegraph
A very profound article that has lots of implications to the issues of life and death in patients in a persistent vegetative state. For me, it reminds me to never assume that a patient cannot hear or understand you. Even when a patient is unresponsive, treat them as if they are there and respect them as humans.
Claridon Christian Fellowship is partnering with “Mission: Haiti” from Gloria Dei Church in Davie, FL to provide relief supplies to those affected by the recent earthquake. We are now collecting supplies to send to Florida where they will be loaded into a shipping container and sent to Haiti. Supplies will be collected at Claridon Christian Fellowship on January 27, 9 am to 7 pm and January 28, 7 am to 3 pm. The supplies will be taken to Florida where they will leave for Haiti on February 1st.
Please pray for the people of Haiti and for the efforts of those who are helping.
We are collecting the following:
Monetary donations also can be made. Any funds collected will be used solely for disaster relief, to purchase needed supplies, medicine or transportation. Distribution of relief supplies will be through our accountable partners on the ground in Haiti.
MISSION: HAITI is an IRS recognized 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization. All donations are tax deductible and you will receive a tax receipt and updates on the relief effort.
Address for donations: MISSION: HAITI 7601 SW 39th St, Davie, FL 33328
Personal contact:
Dale Miller, Claridon Christian Fellowship, 440-856-5065, zoelavie@gmail.com
Carrie Miller, Claridon Christian Fellowship, 440-477-0427, c.bear70@hotmail.com
Helen Roenfeldt, Mission: Haiti Treasurer, 954-868-8218, hondee1@aol.com
I have long been frustrated by trying to backup my email in Windows. The files seem buried in hard to reach places. Every time I backup and restore, I seem to loose something. I relied on a lot of various methods to try to secure my data.
Now this newly born Ubuntu evangelist has seen the light. Ubuntu’s default email program, Evolution, has a super easy way to backup and restore files. There are some command line tutorials out there but the most useful I have linked to below. Backup is done right from the program and is only a few clicks to get through. Needless to say, I am again impressed.
Working with Evolution Email Client – Back up data « Taufan Lubis – Ubuntu Linux
Well, I had my first unfortunate Ubuntu experience a few days ago. I was cleaning up some junk files using help from some forums. Well, I somehow deleted something important and it froze and eventually wouldn’t boot up. This is nothing new to me. Early in my Windows carrier I did the same thing.
Not knowing too much about restore functions in Ubuntu and having only a couple days of info on the computer, I decided to re-install from scratch. The installation went smoothly and I was back up and running in 1 day. For a comparison, it takes 2-3 days to get everything configured the way I like it in Windows.
Needless to say, even in an unfortunate event, I find myself becoming a fan of Ubuntu and the Linux experience.
Though I am happy that I have migrated from Windows to Linux/ Ubuntu, there are still some things that I have to work out:
1. Command line – There have been several times that I have needed to use a command line in order to install and configure software. Not being familiar with the programming language, I have to rely upon tutorials to walk me through it. Not to difficult if you can follow directions exactly and the tutorial is for what you need.
2. Sometimes glitchy – The Linux system overall is very stable and doesn’t hang up as much as Windows. But I have noticed when I install or remove programs that I get an error message. The program installed but I just get an error.
3. Learning a new “language” – I am used to the terminology that is used with Windows. The same concepts seem to be there in Ubuntu but sometimes the wording is different. Once or twice I have run into a new concept but it may be that it was so buried in Windows that I didn’t know that it existed. Fortunately there is extensive help on web for most of the problems I have found.
4. Not as many software options – Windows, the old behemoth, has so many more developers because of its ubiquity. Ubuntu just does not have as many software options so far as I have found. If I want a media player, I only have a few choices. But the choices I have found are solid and overall are more user friendly.
Overall, I wonder what I would have said 15 years ago about working with Windows. I probably would have many of the same questions as I now have with Ubuntu. Having grown up with Windows, my knowledge has grown in fits and starts with the various new versions of Windows but now I know what I am missing and want instant gratification in Linux. I need to have some patience with my learning curve.
On Christmas day, I converted my Windows Vista laptop to run Unbuntu, a Linux distribution. The decision came after years of looking at Linux and wanting to try it. Finally, I got around to it and made the leap to Ubuntu.
Here are a few of my first impressions:
1. It runs a lot faster than Windows. This may be obvious to some but it still amazed me how much faster it was, especially when recognizing peripheral devices.
2. It takes a lot less room. For me, it reduced the size of the OS installation by about 40 gigs.
3. I don’t need to defragment my hard drive. I am (was?) a big advocate of keeping your hard drive clean: Delete your junk files, clean your registry, and defrag. But with Linux, you don’t need to defrag because the file system constantly keeps it optimized. No need to clean the registry because there is none. Junk files are much decreased as far as I can tell.
4. I don’t need some of the standard Windows internet security features. I don’t need a firewall because Linux doesn’t show open ports (something like that, please excuse my novice ways). No need for antivirus – viruses are theoretically possible but no one writes them, except a few to prove that it can be done. No antispyware software is needed because spyware is written for Windows (similar to viruses in that regard).
The last two of these have been the most difficult to wrap my mind around. It is like getting let out of prison and not knowing how to handle the freedom. It feels wonderfully strange.
Jon Foreman: Compassion vs. Consumption
Jon Foreman of Switchfoot fame writes an interesting article over at the Huffington Post. He basic point: we need to evaluate why we buy in our consumer society and redefine our ideas about wealth. Its a well written article that is intimate and thoughtful.
In my last post, I looked at the statement that Irenaeus made that Jesus was around 50 years old when He died. Today I want to look at this from a different angle. The Jesus Police suggested a good way to approximate the age of Jesus at death. There are certain markers that we know that were in place at the time of Jesus’ birth and death. By locating those markers in history, we can find out a date range for both his birth and death. Then using those date ranges, we can come up with an age range for Jesus at the time of His death.
Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1) Ruled from 27 BC to 14 AD.
Census (Luke 2:1) A census occurred in 6 BC according to Josephus. Quirinius’ census occurred in 6-7 AD.
Herod (Matthew 2:1) Herod died in 4 BC.
Quirinius (Luke 2:2) Governor of Syria from 6-12 AD.
The Star of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:9) Various theories place the celestial occurrence between 12 and 2 BC.
Slaughter of the Innocents (Matthew 2:16) Unknown
It is generally accepted that Jesus was born sometime between 7 and 4 BC.
Tiberius (Luke 3:1) Tiberius reigned from 14-37 AD.
Based upon Tiberius’ reign and that John the Baptist began ministry when he was around 30 years old, Jesus was born around 1 BC.
Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:13) Governor from 26-36 AD.
Caiaphas (Matthew 26:3) High Priest from 18-37 AD.
Herod Antipas (Luke 23:7) Reigned from 4 BC to 39 AD.
The most likely year for Jesus’ death is 33 AD but other years have strong arguments for them.
Now let’s put it all together. The youngest Jesus could have been, based on the latest birthdate and earliest death date, was 20. This is highly unlikely since we know that He was 30 when He began His ministry. The oldest that Jesus could have been was 48. Again this is unlikely since it is based upon an astronomical occurrence and conjecture. The most likely age of Jesus at the time of His death is somewhere between 37 and 41 based upon the most probable dates of birth and death.
Personally, I lean toward the 41, not because I turn 41 this year, but because of the testimony of Irenaeus and John 8:47 which has the Jews questioning Jesus: "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" If the Jews knew the age of Jesus, why didn’t they choose to say “You are not yet 40”? My guess is that Jesus must have exceeded the age of 40 but had not reached 50.
Next:
Does the idea that Jesus was in ministry for 7-11 years versus 1-3 years in popular thought, change your view of Jesus and His ministry?
In dealing with the dates of his birth, there are some irreconcilable differences. Quirinius was not a ruler while Herod the Great as alive. Both play into the nativity narratives. What does this say about Biblical inerrancy? Did Luke goof?
I am new to patristic studies and so my question may be answered in Patristics 101. I was reading in Irenaeus that Jesus was over 50 years old when He died. From my Protestant background I had learned that He was 33 years old.
Here is the text that started me to think about this:
“CHAP. XXII.–THE THIRTY AEONS ARE NOT TYPIFIED BY THE FACT THAT CHRIST WAS BAPTIZED IN HIS THIRTIETH YEAR: HE DID NOT SUFFER IN THE TWELFTH MONTH AFTER HIS BAPTISM, BUT WAS MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OLD WHEN HE DIED.
5. … For how could He have had disciples, if He did not teach? And how could He have taught, unless He had reached the age of a Master? For when He came to be baptized, He had not yet completed His thirtieth year, but was beginning to be about thirty years of age (for thus Luke, who has mentioned His years, has expressed it: "Now Jesus was, as it were, beginning to be thirty years old,"(13) when He came to receive baptism); and, [according to these men,] He preached only one year reckoning from His baptism. On completing His thirtieth year He suffered, being in fact still a young man, and who had by no means attained to advanced age. Now, that the first stage of early life embraces thirty years,(1) and that this extends onwards to the fortieth year, every one will admit; but from the fortieth and fiftieth year a man begins to decline towards old age, which our Lord possessed while He still fulfilled the office of a Teacher, even as the Gospel and all the elders testify…”
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book II, Chapter XXII, section 5
Here are my questions:
For more discussion about Jesus’ age at death:
http://www.jesuspolice.com/common_error.php?id=18
Now I’m Surprised This Wasn’t Used As A Worship Song | internetmonk.com
What can I say. We won’t be using this at our church. But the humor and irony is almost painful.
Be sure to check this link from Don: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer_&_Shipley