Unfinished Christianity

Good things come...

...to those who wait

06 Feb, 2010 | Virgil | Leave comment - 1 -

Tim King on The Ooze

Theooze.tv did an interview with Tim King yesterday, which is definitely worth watching.

From the site:

If we believe that God is reality, a presence, the unnameable, who dwells in mystery beyond us, then we can believe that we are “beyond our belief system.”And we can celebrate together with others of many different belief systems. On the other hand, if we have a conversion mentality that believes we have to convert people to our belief system, then it is as if we’ve drawn a line and said, “We can only fellowship with you if you come over to our side.”

What are your thoughts?

07 Jan, 2010 | Virgil | Leave comment - 92 -

Being "too clean" leading to health problems?

I ran across an interesting article on the disappearing of microbes that have been human "allies" for a long time. I asked myself this before when shopping for soap - nearly everything out there is "antibacterial" but nobody is asking what are the implications of being "too clean" or can a human be too clean to begin with? Some good points are made and examples given:

The vanishing gastric Helicobacter pylori bacteria, for example, have been facing eradication in the U.S. and other developed countries in large part from antibiotic use. Although this bacteria's demise has been pegged to some positive outcomes, such as a decrease in the incidence of gastric cancer, shrinking its populations can also increase the risk for various reflux diseases by upsetting the regulation of hormones and pH levels.

You can read the entire article here.

29 Dec, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 1 -

Wake up, American

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. – Edmund Burke

Exactly twenty years ago today, on December 21, 1989, the Communist façade of Romania cracked, and the entire country erupted into an anti-communist revolt that changed the lives of millions of people, many who are still alive today. Granted I was only a teenager, I count myself among those who were present, eyewitnesses to an epic battle between political ideologies, armed men, and ultimately good and evil.

Not too far north from where I grew up, in Bucharest, a few days before Christmas serious clashes between armed groups ensued, with most casualties being innocent bystanders, even women and children. It was discovered later that within the span of a couple of weeks, mass-graves were created where hundreds of people, victims of the clashes, were buried by the authorities in an attempt to hide their actions.

Soon after, I moved to the United States, fortunate enough to experience life without the consequences of recovering an entire nation from the depths of Communist destruction. But even here I am constantly reminded of how frail liberty is, that even in this greatest country on earth there are constant attempts by politicians to undermine freedom, to constantly minimize the individual’s freedom while expanding the government’s size and power.

It does not take a history buff to recognize that the world we live in is in a constant state of flux, that from a human perspective, without care and sacrifice the world tends to slowly disintegrate into chaos, disorder, violence and tyranny. Consequently we can recognize that it takes real and tangible human sacrifice and intervention to obtain and maintain freedom. The reality is that a majority of the world is wickedly evil, that tyrants run most countries, and that freedom-loving nations are in minority.

So far, America has been a sort of aberration, a freak nation…abnormal but extraordinary nation, breaking the historic trend of tyrannical nations ruled by fear and violence, by putting human freedom at the very center of its existence. This in itself is unnatural in the context of entire human existence. Of course a price had to be paid for that freedom, just as Romanians paid their own price in ’89.

But it has become clear to me that it has been too long since Americans had to fight and pay the ugly price for freedom, and forgetting the sacrifice paid to be free is no worse than choosing tyranny. It has been too long since Americans have preoccupied themselves with something more than excessive consumerism and material wealth, neither being connected with the principles of true freedom of the individual.

Looking back through pictures of what happened in 1989, one thing caught my eye in a manifesto printed back then; it was a list of demands made by the people, starting with free elections, freedom of speech, freedom of travel, with the last item on the list being “better living and better food.” The people of one of the poorest countries in Europe at that time were less concerned with food and quality of life than freedom of speech. Could Americans learn a lesson from the demands made by Romanian revolutionaries in 1989?
Flier from Romania, 1989

During the 1989 revolution in Romania, the Romanian flag was often displayed with a cutout, a hole in the middle, the place where the communist insignia was once printed on the flag. The flag that was once the symbol of tyranny and government abuse has again become a symbol of freedom. The song Wake up, Romanian, which was once the national anthem in the 1800s was again restored, replacing the communist-era anthem. During the revolution, tens of thousands of people were singing:

Wake up, Romanian, from your deadly sleep
Into which you've been sunk by the barbaric tyrants
Now, or never, your fate renew,
To which your enemies will bow to.

Just a week ago I met a fellow Romanian in Columbus, Ohio; it was the first time I met this man, but as soon as I mentioned to him the political situation here in the U.S. his response was, “Remember…we lived through it…we can recognize Communism from 2 miles away. Americans would not recognize it if it stared them in the face.”

Wake up, American, from your deadly sleep.

21 Dec, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 0 -

Meteorite points to possible life on Mars

Compelling new data that chemical and fossil evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars was carried to Earth in a Martian meteorite is being elevated to a higher plane by the same NASA team which made the initial discovery 13 years ago.

Scientists say micro-fossils of bacteria are nested with tiny crystal magnetites that provide additional evidence for life

Sources tell Spaceflight Now that the new data are providing a powerful new case for the Allen Hills Meteorite to have carried strong evidence of Martian life to Earth -- evidence that is increasingly standing up to scrutiny as new analytical tools are used to examine the specimen.

Read the entire article here

27 Nov, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 1 -

20 Years Later

Has it been 20 years already? To think I was there just a few months later...

My thoughts today don't really revolve around the fall of the Berlin Wall as much as they are about where we are today, 20 years later. I have a few quick points to make about where we are today and what I think the future holds:

1. Less than one generation later, many people are already forgetting the horrors of socialism and communism in Eastern Europe. Some even want to go back to that reality. American Christians are buying wholesale into the Kingdom of this World's ability to solve problems, readily rejecting the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven. How is this possible?

2. Those of us who did experience these horrors are speaking up and warning others not to repeat them and get on the slippery slope leading there; we are often being ignored or looked at as weirdos, or nutjobs.

3. Americans are mostly oblivious to history and seem to be bent on repeating it. Many, including President Obama seem to operate under the impression that pacifism will deal with evil effectively and summarily. This is wrong. Evil does not respect truth and cannot be pacified.

4. History is being re-written before our eyes; the name of Ronald Reagan is ignored completely when discussed in the context of the end of the Cold War and all credit is being given to Gorbachev. This is wrong and inaccurate.

5. Many Americans want freedom without any responsibility, leading to the creation of a society which is calloused and indifferent to the needs of those who truly live in poverty and are in need of help; then they become upset when politicians try to solve the problems through government welfare.

6. Consumerism rather than thriftiness and responsible spending has become the norm by which many of us live today: spending beyond our means and getting into substantial debt. This is destroying families and marriages, and in conjunction with irresponsible government spending will most likely lead to a total economic collapse.

7. As crony capitalism is confused with free market capitalism and an artificial backlash is being created against private enterprises, the federal government is slowly being replaced by a class of elite wealthy bankers and lawyers who are using their positions to manipulate markets and economies. Through indebtedness and the pushing of the idea that owning a house is a right and a necessity, a new Serfdom class has been created in our society, where most of us work our entire lives to pay off debt and interest payments to this new politico-eonomic wealthy class.

8. True Constitutionalism has been largely abandoned and is unheard of in the public arena. Communist ideology is slowly being accepted in the U.S. under the umbrella of compassion and care for others. Entire cities and states have now become centers of wealth redistribution. Some Christians are cheering on this injustice rather than opposing it.

9. The Church seems to be more focused on maintaining a status quo in word and deed, spending ungodly amounts of money on buildings, salaries and infrastructure while letting the government step in to attempt to cover the basic needs for healthcare and food for others.

10. Civil disobedience is likely to pickup steam and become a reality in the U.S., with Americans learning the meaning of suffering for their principles. Hunger and work strikes were the means by which freedom was fought for in Eastern Europe, and may show up here in the future as well.

It may sound a bit too critical, but what are your thoughts on this?

09 Nov, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 9 -

Quotables

"Reagan is an unbending politicians for whom words and deeds are the same"
- STASI file on Ronald Reagan

"We do not enforce the Ohio Sunshine Law"
- The office of Ohio Attorney General informing me they do not enforce some Ohio laws

"Carthaginem esse delendam" (Carthage must be destroyed)
- The closing line for all Cato's senate speeches

"Not in all my years in Florida have I known of a gang attack by raccoons on an individual," Sheriff Judd said."
- From an actual news report

"...so what are all the other specs?"
- a coworker asking about our daughter's weight and "specs" at birth

"The Beatles are not merely awful. They are so unbelievably horrible, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art, that they qualify as crowned heads of antimusic."
- William Buckley Jr.

"Let me tell you what we did at Quantico, we reconstructed the whole thing: the angle, the range, the moving target, the time limit, the obstacles, everything. I don’t know how many times we tried it, but we couldn’t duplicate what the Warren Commission said Oswald did. Now if I can’t do it, how in the world could a guy who was a non-qual on the rifle range and later only qualified 'marksman' do it?"
- United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant sniper, Carlos Norman Hathcock discussing the shooting of John Kennedy

"Capitalists will sell us the very rope which we will hang them with"
- Lenin

"We got more than one server per person here..."
- a coworker

"I used to be a much nicer person before I started working here..."
- another coworker

"By the way, I called and left a condolence message and never got a call back!"
- Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm

31 Oct, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 5 -

Greene County: Children Services Bloated Budget Exposed

A few days ago I wrote about a specific instance in which the Greene County Children Services took aim at a local family, and through a proxy (a psychologist in this instance) attacked the ways in which the family approached the raising of their children. Due to Children Services agencies having a track record of targeted abuse and attacks on homeschooling families, I decided to get my hands on the budget and financials of Greene County Children Services.

As I expected, this organization is clearly another government agency which is in a continuous quest to justify its own existence. Out of the 9+ million dollars operating budget, a very small fraction is used to directly help with children housing, while a vast majority of their budget goes to cover salaries, quality medical and dental insurance for 100+ employees, and what seems to be very generous Public Employees Retirement System contributions. Only $709,000 are actually spent on the Children's Home (which operates under a separate accounting code 0101-0903, see pages 3 and 4).

Click on the images to download in PDF format.

28 Oct, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 7 -

Contra libellum Calvini

Today in 1553 Michael Servetus was executed in Geneva by being burned alive for heresy; in response, Sebastian Castellio wrote Contra libellum Calvini, which was recently made available online by Princeton Theological Seminary. Today is an appropriate day to post it, and remind myself of the promise I made to one day make this book available in English:

27 Oct, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 1 -

iPhriday: Sons of God

I saw this gang of bikers wearing these cool jackets and asked if I could take a picture of one of their jackets. They first made sure I was not a cop, and then explained to me that they minister to ex cons and people getting out of prisons, helping them put their lives together. I told them that what they are doing is building up the New Jerusalem - they nodded and said "that's very interesting."

23 Oct, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 9 -

A particle God doesn’t want us to discover

A fascinating (if not crazy) article on Times Online speculates on the many accidents and problems Cern’s Large Hadron Collider experiment is running into. Critics are using a time-ripple explanation to suggest that the experiment is killing itself:

The LHC, they suggest, may be sabotaging itself from the future — twisting time to generate a series of scientific setbacks that will prevent the machine fulfilling its destiny.
...
It is based on mathematics, but you could explain it by saying that God rather hates Higgs particles and attempts to avoid them.

You can read the entire article here.

22 Oct, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 1 -

Greene County: When Children Services Attack!

If you are a resident of Greene County, you may be unaware that for the last few months a real tragedy has been unfolding in our county: an innocent homeschooling family has been at the receiving end of an abusive and extremely aggressive investigation performed by the Greene County Children Services and by assistant prosecutor Alice DeWine, daughter of former senator Mike DeWine.

A while back, Greene County CP case worker Roberta Bogal visited the family and demanded to see the children, speak with them without the parents present and inspect the family’s household; all this without a police warrant, and based on a second hand comment made by a disgruntled relative of the family. As they were within their constitutional rights, the family refused to allow for such a visit – Children Services consequently contacted the office of the Prosecutor, and with the help of Alice DeWine began a systematic legal harassment process of this family.

As the case progressed, the family was forced by Magistrate Cynthia Thompson to put their children through a psychological evaluation with the doctor of the court’s choosing, causing a substantial amount of distress to their family; this evaluation took place without the parents being present, and included questions which would be deemed by anyone to be very disturbing for younger children, questions about suicide, the use of their bodies, and lifestyle choices.

Subsequently, after the psychologist in question released her report and found no evidence of wrongdoing, the Prosecutor’s office attempted to keep the report “off the record” as it would hurt the case Children Services was trying to make.

While the case against the family was eventually dismissed, it is truly disturbing to read a paragraph from the report provided to the Greene County Prosecutor’s office by the psychologist hired by the court:

“If ****** have experienced stress from this investigation, I attribute it to the parents ill advised over reaction to the Agency’s efforts to insure that the children are safe and having their emotional needs met. ...Due to the families relative social isolation, emphasis on behavioral control and strict religious prescriptions the children continue to be at risk in the future.”

It is truly disturbing to observe that someone who is not elected and has no constitutional authority over one’s family could sway the opinion of a court to the extent which this doctor is attempting to do. While this family has been exonerated in a court of law and no evidence of wrongdoing ever existed, the County is convinced that “the children continue to be at risk in the future” – this is simply due to the fact that this family is choosing to live a simple life, on a farm, pursuing home education for the children.

A Public Records Request seeking details on this case which was filed with the office of the Greene County Prosecutor was denied, which is in clear violation of the Ohio Sunshine Laws. This is apparently an attempt by the office of the Prosecutor to block the public from knowing the truth about the abusive techniques employed by the Children Services and give this office a carte-blanche permission to attack, investigate and harass anyone they wish, at any time, for any reason; in the eyes of Greene County, the accused now has to prove his innocence.

Just as a drive-by gang shooting, Children Services should not be allowed to simply drive by, dismantle a family’s life and then move on to the next target when it could not succeed, as if nothing happened; worse yet, in the typical manner of government bureaucrats, they are now blaming the parents for this “mishap!”

As a homeschooling father I am greatly disturbed by the arrogance, the ultra aggressive and narrow-minded approach taken by Children Protective Services; all the while, the Greene County Commissioners are refusing to lift a finger to intervene and speak up in support and defense of homeschooling families living in their county. What a shame.

Virgil Vaduva

21 Oct, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 3 -

Fading U.S. Sovereignty

I thought the U.S. Constitution does not allow the President to sign any treaty that undermines sovereignty...is this right?

19 Oct, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 7 -

Closer to cold fusion?

The Focus Fusion Society reports that the scientists and engineers at Lawrenceville Plasma Physics have finally built an operational Dense Plasma Focus device:

The baby is born! After seven years of theoretical work and raising money, five months of design, five months of construction and assembly, and a week of testing, LPP now has a functioning dense plasma focus, Focus-Fusion-1. The first shot, using helium as the fill gas, was achieved at 5:29 PM today, Oct.15, and the first pinch was achieved at 6:04 PM on the second shot. The fact that a pinch was achieved so soon was evidence of the soundness of the design.

Pretty interesting news - nothing to go crazy over yet, however what is amazing is that their budget is only about $1 million, compared to the billions spent in other circles with no tangible results so far.

Will we live long enough to see a functioning commercial fusion reactor?

19 Oct, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 0 -

iPhriday: Walmart Ménage

Not making this up...actual wine sold at the local Walmart

17 Oct, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 2 -

Canon 7D is out?

This is a fantastic reel shot with a Canon EOS 7D in Beijing; check out the low light quality and the sharp HD picture. Just a few years ago you would have needed about $50K worth of camera gear to do this - today you can do it with an SLR:

Canon 7D movie - Another night in Beijing from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

28 Sep, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 4 -

iPhriday: Ripoff?

Is there something wrong with this picture? I feel violated!

25 Sep, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 8 -

Hack: MMS on jailbroken iPhone

Apple is finally catching up with 1995 and just introduced MMS to the iPhone today. If your iPhone is at version 3.1 you are fine and you can simply upgrade to the new carrier file by connecting to iTunes and checking for an upgrade.

However if you iPhone is jailbroken and you are running 3.0, Apple's stupidity will annoy you to no end - iTunes will try to require you to upgrade to 3.1 first before you get a carrier update.

Here it the workaround this asinine requirement:

1. Download the new carrier file here: http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/content.info.apple.com/iPhone/CarrierBundles/061-7282.20090925.3Sph5/ATT_US.ipcc

2. Close iTunes with Command+q

3. Open Terminal and type in
defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE

This will set an environment variable to force iTunes to allow manual carrier file upgrades.

4. Open iTunes and connect your iPhone.

5. Press option+Update in iTunes; select the carrier file and upgrade

6. Restart the iPhone; you now have MMS on your jailbroken phone without having to upgrade to 3.1

Note: If you have the AT&T carrier logo pack installed in Cydia you need to remove it first, otherwise the ugprade will fail.

25 Sep, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 0 -

Teaching math

I am now going through basic Math with our daughter Jade, and she is having a great time with everything, with the exception of subtraction.

She is particularly having a hard time with instances of single digit numbers being subtracted out of "teen" numbers (10 to 20), so she is getting frustrated with operations like 17 - 9, or 14 - 8...etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help a child understand subtraction better in this instance? She has an artistic mind so I am realizing that she doesn't think in "numbers" in the sense I do as an engineer or scientist, which makes teaching for me even more difficult.

22 Sep, 2009 | Virgil | Leave comment - 18 -

Signs you may be a fundamentalist

You might be a fundamentalist if...

• ...you think the earth is 6,000 years old
• ...you think Democrats are bad people
• ...you think environmentalists worship the earth
• ...you think God spoke in Elizabethan English
• ...you think everyone except your group/denomination are heretics
• ...you think the Bible teaches capital punishment
• ...you think the Bible teaches the right to bear arms
• ...you think the "Left Behind Series" is serious Bible study
• ...you think America was/is a Christian nation
• ...you expect to disappear in a rapture any day now
• ...you think most poor people are lazy
• ...James Dobson is your hero
• ...the only books you've read on opposing viewpoints are written by authors you agree with
• ...you think allowing homosexuals to marry will end civilization as we know it
• ...you think evolution is a plot from the devil
• ...you think "narrow path" is synonymous with "narrow mind"
• ...you think "the simplicity that is in Christ" means that all of the themes in Scripture can be understood by Forrest Gump
• ...you don't know how to explain the director of The Passion of the Christ being drunk and getting arrested
• ...you're afraid to buy sparkling cider because it looks like wine
• ...you can't admit that the water Jesus turned into wine might have been alcoholic, and that people might have gotten intoxicated from drinking it
• ...you think most natural disasters are a judgment from god
• ...you don't know how Christianity survived so long without your denomination
• ...you think the main point of higher education's is to convince you the bible is wrong
• ...you think that only Christians can glorify god
• ...you divide everything into two categories: "Christian" and "secular"
• ...four letter words make you more uncomfortable than malicious intent
• ...you think that a one-world currency will lead to the rapture, but you still try to convince everyone to stay away from a one world currency
• ...you think the gospel hasn't been preached unless an altar call was issued
• ...you think all Catholics are hell-bound
• ...you think two homosexuals living in a committed caring relationship are more sinful than jailing people indefinitely without charges or a trial or bombing the hell out of villages.
• ...you think promiscuous homosexuals are ruining the world, but will cut off your right arm to keep them from being able to commit to each other and be monogamous
• ...you actually think it's a GOOD thing that your pastor is uneducated
• ...you think if you don't have your morning devotions, you're day will inevitably be bad
• ...you think Jesus was white, and have never considered that he may have more closely resembled the look of what you consider to be "a terrorist"
• ...you'll take a bumbling Christian for president any day over someone more qualified
• ...you're pretty sure the four spiritual laws are in the Bible
• ...you are afraid of science, especially biologists and geneticists
• ...you are also afraid of gay people, pro-choice people, Arabs, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, anybody wearing a head scarf, anyone with a red dot or an ash spot on their forehead, blacks who live in the ghetto, immigrants, illegal aliens, Mexicans (by which you mean anyone who speaks Spanish no matter where they are from), liberals, ...
• ...you must keep your children away from all of the above
• ..."Christian values" means anti-abortion and anti-homosexuality. Period. It does not mean dignity, health care, job training, racial reconciliation, relief of poverty, justice, or mercy.
• ...you believe God would be pleased if Israel were to nuke all her neighbors
• ...when someone asks you how you are, you reply "blessed"
• ...you're afraid to use the word "lucky" because it comes from "Lucifer"
• ...You are sure Jesus is coming in 1980...1988...2000...2008...2012
• ...you think the world council of churches got together with the UN & invented global warming
• ...on Halloween, you turn out all the lights and pray for the heathen neighborhood children
• ...you think "Leave it to Beaver" and "The Andy Griffith Show" depict real life in America in the 1950s
• ...you think, "smile, Jesus loves you,” is a valid cure for depression
• ...you think that "pray for your leaders" means to pray that they become republican
• ...you repeat and believe without question every story you hear about a miracle happening in your church, but you have never seen one...even though you've been attending and involved for 20 years
• ...you think that every man of faith down through the centuries would have loved to have had the opportunity you have to be a part of your denomination
• ...you actually believe the FAA doesn't allow both a pilot and a co-pilot to be Christians in case the rapture happens
• ...you tithe 10% of your income to your church, but look the other way every time you see a beggar
• ...you have perfected the art of gossiping through prayer requests
• ...you have at some point owned an "in case of rapture..." bumper sticker, and you don't feel like the biggest moron in the world
• ...your definition of how long a "generation" is keeps changing
• ...too many sixes in a number makes you nervous
• ...you don't understand why everyone can't see the truths in the bible as clearly as you can
• ...you use the phrases "Lord Jesus" and "Lord God" in your prayers like they're commas and the word "just" in replace of "um"
• ...you don't think Obama is the anti-Christ, but you think he's a great example of how the anti-Christ will deceive the masses and rise to power so quickly
• ...your pastor wears mainly Hawaiian shirts in the pulpit, but your church is nowhere near Hawaii
• ...you regularly feel guilty about not having Christian bumper stickers on your car
• ...you believe that most people who have left your church have walked away from god, whether they are going to another church or not
• ...stories about “disappearing hitchhikers” make you cry instead of laugh
• ...you pastor has told your church about a team of scientists drilling into the earth in Siberia who drilled so far that they heard the screams of what sounded like "millions of people" suffering. This story sounds reasonable to you.

(Courtesy of Free Believers Network)

Where I am today is not where I am going...

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