I have started what I think is going to be a good read, ‘What’s So Great About Christianity’ by Dinesh D’Souza. Early in the book he speaks about the rise of the militant, evangelistic atheism we have seen here and in the USA in the last few years. The confidence and arrogance of this group has been illustrated in the way they speak of the Christian faith.

Now it turns out that¹ some atheists would like to be known by a new collective term which, they believe (should I use that word - believe?) better describes them. The name is ‘Brights‘! Now I have looked it up on the internet I see the name has been around for a few years with the Guardian mentioning it as far back as 2003. As I said, I don’t know how I have missed it.

“Ha! Dims!” is what I guffawed when I read it. Dim because they seem to overlook their arrogance in their name. Dim because they fail to see their link to the ancient Gnostics. The Gnostics too had an arrogant belief in their own status, that they were the enlightened ‘bright sparks’ because of their special knowledge (or gnosis). They even made a religion out of it.

Once I had finished laughing though I thought that a better to describe them is ‘God dodgers’. Not a new name, I have been using that one for over thirty years. But I do think it sums up the mindset of those on the run from God.

See my earlier post on Richard Dawkins.

1. WSGAC, D’Souza page 24

To understand just what an insult it is within that part of the world I was enlightened by the Ipinions Journal.

But what happened to him? Where is he now? I am not trying to justify the man’s insult but I heard he got arrested and was beaten. Surely that is a bit over the top for simply insulting the main man behind the invasion of his country. If you can not insult someone what sort of freedom of speech is that?

In the mean time, until we learn more about the journalist, you too can throw a shoe at George W Bush on the online game here.

I believe this old poem points us to missing components of our age.

The full text is as follows, though when we sang it in school as children we were never taught more than the first verse

Jesus bids us shine
With a pure, clear light,
Like a little candle
Burning in the night.
In this world of darkness
So let us shine-
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.

Jesus bids us shine,
First of all for Him;
Well He sees and knows it,
If our light grows dim.
He looks down from Heaven
To see us shine-
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.

Jesus bids us shine,
Then, for all around;
Many kinds of darkness
In the world are found-
Sin and want and sorrow;
So we must shine-
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.

I remember when it was fashionable in Christian circles to define this poem as being about relationships, or the lack of them. “You in your small corner” was taken to mean separation and the isolation some Christians choose and which at one time was encouraged. This then gave the writers something to rage about as they called believers to Christian unity and come out of their “small corners”.

Of course it is not about relationships, its aim was far higher and far nobler. Now, thanks to the wonders of the Internet I can know that it was written at the end of the American Civil War by Susan B Warner, and published in the children’s magazine ‘The Little Corporal’ in 1868.

The song/poem was using a military metaphor to teach children to make a difference in their world by the quality of the lives they would live.

I am not aware, now that this song is no longer taught to children, that they are taught to reach for such high goals and ideals. Where now are children called to join the fight against injustice and to shine as a light in the world, after first of all shining for Jesus?

The reason it came to my mind as a song for our time is that I was remembering the closing refrain of each verse, “You in your small corner and I in mine.” It seems to be to be a call to contentment. Contentment seems an alien thing now, and not often encouraged in adults or children.

Some children will grow to have positions that will be highly visible while others will feel their efforts will be hardly notices - their small corner. In fact no matter how highly acclaimed any person’s light will be, in the context of history and of the size of the human race it is still one person’s small corner.

And what of the matter of money and material possessions? This call to contentment with the path our Jesus has set for us must include those things too. Just the thing to remember at Christmas time.

I enjoyed the effects and found Keanu Reeves convincing as an alien living in an uncomfortable human body. He is ideal for the part. There is a comment about the strangeness of the name of the alien, Kiatu. I think Keanu is just as strange.

It was not quite as mindless as I expected though. It turned out to be interesting for the portrayal of a world view i do not share. I think little science fiction is about the future, it is really about the present viewed from a different perspective.

In this film death was handled in a hopeless way. By hopeless I am referring to the words of the Aposle Paul when he said that Christians do not grieve as those who have no hope. To a heart-broken child at the grave of his lost father, the best comfort offered was that nothing truly dies, that the universe recycles everything. What comfort is that from an alien supposedly superior in wisdom, knowledge and evolutionary advancement? Those I love will become compost! Is that the best he could come up with? Compare that with the words of Job in the Old Testament, “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”

People do die in this film, rather a lot of them, yet it appeared we were not invited to get attached to them or value them as characters.

All in all then, it left me with lots to think about. Would I recommend it? Yes but with the warning that the story is uncomplicated, there is little surprise if you already know the story, and there is little character development.

See the Telegraph article.

A team of Japanese scientists have created a device that enables the processing and imaging of thoughts and dreams as experienced in the brain to appear on a computer screen.

I wonder what a jumble of odd images would be the record of one person’s dream?

It would be possible for someone with the power or authority to scrutinise our dreams. This marvel would have been seized upon by some totalitarian states in the past if they had had the technology. Perhaps it will be developed as a means of getting information out of reluctant prisoners. Just to late to be used in Guantánamo Bay!

I would not like someone seeing into my dreams. It is not because I have anything to hide, I just feel it is the ultimate loss of privacy. Imagine someone somewhere knowing your every thought, your every dream. Imagine having to give an account for them at some future time. Ah… there is.

It is a good job I know I am on his side.

The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving towards all he has made. The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfils the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. (Psalm 145:17-20)

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel- which means, God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

I think much detail in the Christmas story can be lost in the fog of all the familiar Christmas themes and the additions added from our own traditions and culture. But I have been thinking about Joseph, what he must have thought and why he believed such a story about how Mary was pregnant.

Some might say that after a visit from an angel anyone would believe too. Yes, but it was a dream, so could he not have found a dream like that easy to dismiss?

Before I get on to the dream and the angel’s announcement, I want to make it clear where I stand on the matter of the virgin birth. I believe it. I believe in the miraculous nature of the conception of Jesus. For those who think this is far fetched and therefore find me naive, my reply is simple. It is this - if the miraculous nature of of his coming to earth can be doubted then every miracle he offers to you and I today can also be in doubt.

For example, what of the claims of Christians down the centuries that he gives hope in a needy world, that he gives comfort to the grieving and that he heeds the prayers of those who call upon him?

If that has already stretched your credibility, let me go further. I will tell you three more.

First, it is Jesus who claims to be able to transform his followers so completely that he used a special term to describe what it would be like. He called it being “born again”. Yes Jesus came up with that one - it is not a modern term. Those who have experienced this change down the centuries have attested to this.

Second on my list, it is Jesus who fills his people with his power to live a better way by filling them with his spirit.

Third and last in this short list (but I could add many more), it is Jesus who declared that when a Christian dies he, Jesus, in person, will return for them and take them to their eternal home. He said,

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

And I have not even got on to the bit about Jesus one day giving the great command so that the dead are raised physically in resurrection never to die again!

But all that is an aside. Back to the matter of the angel’s announcement. Why would Joseph believe his dream?

The coming birth of Jesus was announced to Joseph in his dream but this was not the first time it had been spoken of. The prediction of his birth had been made down the centuries before.

• The book of Genesis spoke of one who would mortally wound Satan, the enemy of the human race.
• The book of Leviticus spoke of a perfect sacrifice that would take away a person’s sin.
• The ancient prophets spoke of one who would come and change peoples hearts, releasing them from sadness and the prisons they find themselves in.
• One of the prophets, Isaiah, even spoke of how this predicted saviour would die.

So I don’t think Joseph was a fool or was gullible.

There is one ancient prediction that Joseph may have had in mind. It spoke of someone called “Shiloh,” meaning “the peaceful one,” or “he who is to be sent.” Christians would now understand this to be a reference to the coming Lord, Jesus Christ.

The prediction declared that when the ruler of the Jewish people was no longer from the household of Judah, then it was time for the Messiah to arrive.

The prophecy went like this, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” See (Gen. 49:10)

Of course, added to Joseph’s own e3xperience, the angel’s announcement, and knowledge of the ancient prophecies, he had Mary’s account. Altogether these different voices must have added up to something compelling.

Joseph would not have long to wait. The sky would fill with angels, shepherds would add their stories to those he had already heard. The the Magi would come and bow to worship the baby.

Shame we know so little about Joseph.

Let’s not dumb-down Christmas into just a nativity play. We are celebrating something outrageously far-fetched or outrageously true.

I believe Jesus gives hope in a needy world, gives comfort to the grieving and heeds the prayers of those who call upon him.

See the following:

Watchdog says Bible quotes are indecent

School moves nativity in favour of Muslim festival

Surveys will question on sexual preference

I will be interested in the results as it was not until the last one that it was discovered that there were fewer homosexuals and lesbians in our society than we had been led to believe. At one time we were told that 10% of the population was gay!

Benefits of religious upbringing overlooked

Abortionist: life only matters if it’s wanted

See also - Mental health risk linked to abortion

When I talk about which Linux use, it is just that while Linux is a free operating system, different people put a style on top of that and package it. Groups, companies or individuals add features and ways of updating the system and adding programmes, then make them publicly available. These different types of Linux are called ‘distributions’ (or a ‘distro’ for short).

I started mucking about with Linux in 1999 with a boxed set of floppies and a book from SUSE. This was my first distro. I would not recommend SUSE now though due it’s flirting with Microsoft.

In those days it was quite a feat to partition the hard drive and decide on sizes of each partition. There was lots of reading required but eventually I got it working. The problem I could not overcome was that I had a printer that was not compatible and without a printer the machine could not be a usable work station for me. SUSE was put back on the shelf, though I would play with it from time to time.

I then started to experiment with some of the smaller distros and found that a live cd was a powerful tool for sorting computers that were playing up. A live cd is one that you put in the computer before booting up. The computer then bypasses its own operating system - great if your Windows has crashed and you want to recover files.

A live cd is not installed on the computer and leaves no trace after it has been removed.

Of the live cds I was impressed with Knoppix. I particularly liked Slax and was amazed at the speed of it. I used Slax for a wide range of task as a live cd. I tried Peanut, Beatrice, DSM and a load more.

The first distro I got to work properly in a work setting was Madrake (it later merged with another distro and now called Mandriva).

Mandrake was very good in that the look of the desktop was good and it did everything I needed at the time. It gave an old machine a new lease of life by replacing the Windows95 (yes really) with something more modern. That machine worked for about two years in the office, but that was a few years ago now.

The next one I used in the work setting was SUSE. I had been using a Windows machine but my then assistant tried to stop the Nortons anti-virus which was competing with an existing Macafee anti-virus. Removing Nortons proved almost impossible and in the process he lost the drivers for some the hardware such as the dvd drive. So much time was wasted I decided to abandon Windows and installed an up to date SUSE I had got free. It was a relief to be free of computer slowing anti-virus software, something Linux doesn’t need it. I stuck with SUSE for a few years but I eventually got frustrated with it because of the problems I encountered when I wanted to add programmes.

Then Ubuntu! I first decided to try it on my home machine as a dual boot with XP and found it so good that I stopped using Windows altoghether. I went on to replace the SUSE on the office machine with Ubuntu. I now have Ubuntu on a number of machines including a server. Also in the office, my colleague has his gorgeous Dell Mini 9 which came from Dell with Ubuntu already installed.

When changing from SUSE to Ubuntu I decided to change from KDE to Gnome as the desktop manager. KDE is more ‘Windows’ like but I have come to prefer the simple elegance of Gnome which is more ‘Mac’ like.

An advantage with Ubuntu is the online support that is available throught the community forums. Most problems I have encountered have been encountered before by others so I can get good advice there.

All in all I can recommend Ubuntu.

I had to stop and think as I had thought things had changed over the years. I had enjoyed the action and had categorized it in my mind just mindless entertainment.

Later, Penny and I went to see “Easy Virtue” based on a story by Noel Coward at City Screen (great place, rubbish website). We expected a relaxing, pleasant period drama with some delicious humorous bitchiness between the two leading ladies. At least that is what we were led to expect from the trailers. What we got was something far darker.

The film subversively promoted euthanasia as a grand act of love. That is a notion which I of course reject as a Christian. Not only that, but one feature of the film is the crumbling of two marriages. At the end I felt that we were meant to celebrate the collapse of marriage, and be glad it was exchanged for something better.

All in all I decided I would rather watch a Bond and see people pretend to be shot. At least I know that is meant to be mindless rubbish!

The BHA is the same group that ran the adverts recently on London bendy buses carrying the slogan, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

The bus adverts were praised by many Christians as they thought that anything that encouraged people to think about eternal things was good. Some Christians even contributed financially, they thought it so good. Especially appreciated by believers was the pathetic content of the slogan which lacked conviction and suggested to purpose to life other that the one that the Apostle Paul had quoted two thousand years ago refering to those who had no hope of resurrection. His words were, “If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

This move though is more sinister than when they shot themselves in the foot with the bus adverts. Now they are to offer ‘training’ to councils and local authority workers about their version of ‘equality’.

Bradley Brady, Director of Stakeholder Relations at the Commission, promised at a meeting of homosexual rights activists that the body would work to combat ‘homophobia’ in religion.

Simon Calvert of The Christian Institute said at the time:

“The Commission is saying it will tackle homophobia in religion. But many activists regard biblical teaching on sexual ethics as inherently ‘homophobic’.

“Furthermore, can you seriously imagine a senior figure from the Commission saying it will tackle homosexual groups that interfere with religious liberty? No, nor can I.”

See The Christian Institute website for more details.