Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

I would be interested in seeing the translation of this find.

The study of Etymology can be quite interesting but it can also be quite difficult. As you indicate languages of different groups of people do get mixed together tainting the original language. It is known that besides using a form of written language (perhaps a type of Hieroglyphics as you suggest) that much of a families history, scriptures and such was passed down orally as well. This most likely was done in their original language as closely as it was possible. I do say 'most likely' as we do not have anything definite to tell us this for certain and some conjecture based on what little information we have must be used.

From: http://www.physorg.com/news182101034.html

 This inscription is similar in its content to biblical scriptures (Isaiah 1:17, Psalms 72:3, Exodus 23:3, and others), but it is clear that it is not copied from any biblical text.

More information: English translation of the deciphered text:

1' you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].
2' Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3' [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4' the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.
5' Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.

Provided by University of Haifa

Oldest Hebrew Writing discovered:

http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?s=history&c=bradford-columnist-153x65&l=on&pic=100115-hebrew-02.jpg&cap=The+ancient+text+shown+in+this+drawing+was+discovered+on+a+shard+of+pottery+in+Israel%2C+and+turned+out+to+be+the+earliest+known+example+of+Hebrew+writing.+Credit%3A+University+of+Haifa&title=

Notice it isn't written in what would be said to be "Hebrew" today, but in a script nearly identical to Phoenician. It is claimed to be Hebrew because of the words used and the way they are used.

If you really think about it, only about 70 Israelites went down to Egypt, too small a group to retain their own language and culture - and they had been living among the Amorites and Canaanites and likely spoke those languages, not a unique one of their own. (Abraham was a Chaldean and would have spoken Chaldean originally).

After 430 years in Egypt the Hebrews probably only spoke Egyptian at the time of the Exodus, and the minority who could read and write would have done so in Egyptian Hieratic. (Moses was probably fluent in several languages). The ten commandments would have been engraved in Hieroglyphics (usually what was used on stone) or Hieratic to be intelligible to them.

Hebrew would have developed later as they picked up the languages of the surrounding nations and mixed them with Egyptian. They spent 40 years on the borders of Moab, so would have picked up a lot of Moabite.

So while we view Hebrew as an "ancient" language, it is probably actually rather recent.

Something to think about...

I believe that has been the case for a long time, though it is becoming more obvious. However, I believe the people really in power behind the scenes don't change with the party that holds the White House - they control both parties, though on issues unimportant to their agenda they allow the parties to do their thing, either liberal or conservative.

Their ultimate agenda seems to be a one-world government controlled by the multinational corporations and financial institutions.

Yes, scripture does use the word elder in the context of spiritual maturity quite frequently. Even though scripture does not give the specific ages of the Apostles it is figured by statements and circumstances of what they were doing at the time that they were in the ages of 17 to 30 at the start of Jesus' ministry.

The word was indicative of a person aged physically when used by the Jews but used in the spiritual aspect when used by the celestial council or Christian “presbyter” (Heb 5:14). Keep in mind also that the average age of a person at that time in Jerusalem was 35.

I agree the word "elder" primarily refers to spiritual maturity, not physical age. There are a lot of older believers who are still spiritual babies. However, in Jewish culture, men didn't begin to be respected and followed as "elders" until they were over 30 years old. Jesus himself didn't begin his public ministry until he reached that age. I don't think many people even today would respect a 17 year old "elder". There is a loose connection between physical age and spiritual maturity, as it takes time to become spiritually mature.

Also be careful of the last statement you made. I once listened to a public school teacher tell her class that people in early America had to marry young because the average lifespan was about 45 and they had to be able to raise their children before they died - a totally untrue conclusion drawn from an accurate statistic. Most men in early America were in their late 20's when they married and the women in their early twenties. The reason the average lifespan was so low was the high infant and child mortality rate. If you made it through your teens you were likely to live nearly as long as people do today. This situation was also present in Israel in Jesus' day.

I listened to it at work on my wife's MP3 player (which has an fm radio).

It was the first time I have heard him speak (other than "sound bites" on the news), and technically it was a good speech and he did a good job delivering it.

There was really nothing new in it except a provision to legally require cutting costs if it went over budget. As predicted, Obama said he was for a public option but was open to other means of accomplishing the same ends and that it wasn't essential to the plan.

Of course I couldn't "see" anything, but it seemed like there was a lot of booing and groaning at times!

Unfortunately, I see a lot of the Republican protesting as "sour grapes" . They have had ever since Hillary's horrible health care plan failed (as it should have) to come up with a plan of their own and do something about the problems, and have done nothing whatever. Even now, they have no real plan except to just say no" to Obama's plan.

Incidentally, there really is no "Obamacare" plan. The president can't introduce legislation in Congress. Right now there are four different committee plans with a fifth on the way. Until the five plans are reconciled and a final plan begins being debated by Congress, it is hard to debate the issues sensibly.

Having lived in a country that had "socialized medicine" I am not terrified of it as most seem to be on this forum, (not that the US has actually had "free-enterprise" medicine in my lifetime anyway - not since the 1800's for that matter!). Even though I am largely conservative, I am getting really turned off by the scare tactics and outright lies being used by the far right. I don't have much faith in government, but I have even less in business, and have had more than one row with my health insurer.

As I remember the problem with laser weapons was range. In the atmosphere, dust and moisture scatter and degrade the beam. In space, it isn't a problem. Therefore I expect that an airborne antimissile system would work much better than a ground based weapon system. A ground based system would require an enormous amount of power to overcome the dust and moisture in the atmosphere.
This would be a problem with air-to-ground and would limit it to relatively close range use.

Hello Brother Rhys,

I would agree that something like this might not reduce crime, but I do know that things like this make it easier to catch criminals. The same would be true for putting a stolen license plate on your car because police can easily and quickly find out that it doesn't belong on that car. Stolen license plates are also put into national law enforcement databases that can return results now in seconds. This would just be another good tool for law enforcement to use. One could have like discussions about false and/or stolen identifications. As a matter of fact, the same is true for all information placed in law enforcement databases for quick retrieval (i.e. stolen property, fingerprints, methods of operation for specific criminals, behavioral profiles for the worst criminals, etc., etc.). Citizens can do many common sense things to reduce their risks of becoming a victim (i.e. locks, lighting, alarms, etc.). These things do reduce crime, but the biggest challenge is catching the criminal and putting them out of business behind bars. As another example, a neighborhood forming a Neighborhood Watch and putting up signs usually does result in a significant reduction of crime in that neighborhood. Many cost effective measures either serve as a deterrent or aid ON THE CATCHING END! Remember the old saying:  criminals will usually pick the softest target - one with the best chance of getting away. So, I would say that these cameras will have a positive effect for an extremely low cost. The camera is a smart investment for the same reasons why a computer in each patrol car is a good investment.

I agree it might put the amateurs out of business, but it would have little effect on the professionals.
Stolen license plates may be put in a database, but only after they are reported stolen. The smart crook would steal them just before he committed the crime.

The real problem is not catching criminals, but the other uses that these cameras can be put to in the hands of the unethical, or by a corrupt and oppressive government.

[Welcome to Tiburon - Click - Every vehicle that crosses city limits to be recorded]

Welcome to Tiburon - Click - Every vehicle that crosses city limits to be recorded     

sfgate.com/


Welcome to Tiburon - Click

Your presence has been noted.

The posh and picturesque town that juts into San Francisco Bay is poised to do something unprecedented: use cameras to record the license plate number of every vehicle that crosses city limits.

Some residents describe the plan as a commonsense way to thwart thieves, most of whom come from out of town. Others see an electronic border gate and worry that the project will only reinforce Tiburon's image of exclusivity and snootiness.

"I personally don't see too much harm in it, because I have nothing to hide," commodities broker Paul Lambert, 64, said after a trip to Boardwalk Market in downtown Tiburon on a recent afternoon.

"Yet," he said, "it still has the taint of Big Brother."

Tiburon's camera idea is a marriage of technology, policing and distinct geography.

Situated on a peninsula, Tiburon's hillside homes and waterfront shops are accessible by only two roads, allowing police to point the special cameras known as license plate readers at every lane that leads into and out of the town of 8,800.

The readers, which use character recognition software, can compare plates to databases of cars that have been stolen or linked to crimes, then immediately notify police of matches, said Police Chief Michael Cronin.

If someone burglarized a Tiburon home at 3 a.m. one morning, he said, detectives could consult the devices and find out who came to town in the hours before - and who rolled out soon after.

'Very low-key'

"It's very low-key," said Town Manager Peggy Curran. "The whole point of license plates is that people can be identified by them."

If the Town Council gives final approval, Curran said, officials hope to install the readers on Tiburon Boulevard and Paradise Drive by late fall.

Tiburon plans to spend grant funds on the project and ask two other governments that could benefit from it to contribute to an expected price tag of $100,000 - the city of Belvedere, a bump of land on the southeastern edge of Tiburon, and Marin County.

Cronin called it a sound investment. He pointed to a frustrating twist in Tiburon crime: Residents feel so safe that they don't lock their cars and homes.

In all of 2007 and 2008, Tiburon recorded 196 thefts, 37 burglaries and a dozen stolen cars. The chief said every alleged thief who was arrested in those years was from outside Tiburon.

Finding suspects

Once the street cameras are installed, Cronin said, hunting a burglary suspect could be easier. "We'll look for a plate that came and went," he said. "That's going to give us a very short list to work on."

Detectives could then check to see if any of the cars has been linked with crimes in the past. Between 300 and 400 cars use Tiburon Boulevard to travel in or out of the town from midnight to 6 a.m. on weekdays.

"It's much more efficient than having an officer sit on the boulevard, watch passing cars and guess who might be a burglar," Cronin said.

Nicole Ozer, who directs policy on technology for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, isn't as supportive. She called the cameras a "needle in a haystack" approach that may waste money, invade privacy and invite unfair profiling.

"To be under investigation simply because you entered or left Tiburon at a certain time is incredibly intrusive," Ozer said. "Innocent people should be able to go about their daily lives without being tracked and monitored."

City leaders promise to prevent abuses. Information on which cars enter and leave town will not be available to the public, they said, and will be erased within 60 days. Police officers will be granted access to the information only during an investigation.

License plate readers have exploded in popularity in recent years, but Tiburon would be one of the first to mount them at fixed locations - and perhaps the very first to record every car coming or going.

California Highway Patrol officials have put the readers on 18 cruisers and at four fixed locations. CHP officers have seen a huge increase in recoveries of stolen cars since the devices were installed starting in August 2005, the agency said.

Devices help CHP

Through December, officials said, the CHP had used the devices to recover 1,739 cars and arrest 675 people.

San Francisco gave the devices to police as well as parking control officers, allowing them to track cars parked for too long in one spot. Some cities use the cameras to assess anti-congestion tolls on motorists, while casino bosses get an alert when a high roller - or a cheater - pulls in.

Outside Tiburon's Boardwalk Market, where a flyer in the window offered a $2,000 reward for the return of a stolen Pomeranian, residents seemed split on the plan.

Robin Pryor, 66, of Belvedere said the most important issue was whether the cameras made people safer.

"It's just like locking your door," Pryor said. "If they have reason for it to bother them, they shouldn't be coming in."

But Fred Mayo, 62, who lives in Tiburon and owns a travel agency in Mill Valley, said the cameras would invade privacy. "Where does it end?" Mayo asked.

He referred to the crime blotter in the local newspaper, which listed two incidents recently of kids tossing water balloons at cars, and noted, "It's not like Tiburon's a high-crime area."

Essentially it gives people a false sense of security, as Britain's ubiquitous security cameras have done nothing to lower crime rates.

If I was a criminal, I would either steal a car elsewhere and then hit Tiburon, or else steal or make some plates and put them on just before passing the cameras.

I keep seeing this term on some of the news I subscribe to and thought I would finally ask something about it. It appears to be subscribed media - something like Itunes - except I'm seeing the term as free offers from Christian Providers, including the American Family Association.

I rarely ever get anything but text, docs, and PDFs because of the large size of other media and the software required to view them.

Ok - question one:  Is a podcast like a mini-video?

Two:  Is there a simple Firefox add-on that works good enough for podcasts?

I thought about trying podcasts, but I thought it would be wise to ask some questions first. As it turns out, many outstanding Christian Providers offer podcasts. I don't really want to install any complicated software, especially something that would increase the risk of virus or other problems. Can anyone help me with some recommendations please?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!

I haven't played with podcasts as i have dial-up, but I believe that you could record a sermon, for instance, and put it up on your church website - then people could download it and listen to it. They can be put onto Ipods and MP3 players for listening, hence the name "podcast". I don't believe video is commonly used. Maybe someone else can give you a better explanation.

Perhaps the real lesson here is we shouldn't be relying on parts and equipment made overseas by countries that are either actively hostile to us or in competition with us. Unfortunately, almost all our electronics are now made in China. Much of our military equipment is made in the US, but uses parts from other countries, and almost all the electronics comes from overseas. How easy it is for them to build spyware right into the chips!

We also shouldn't be using insecure operating systems such as Windows in defense or utility systems. I believe the French already had trouble with a virus in their fighter jets due to this. Probably the best course here is to take a relatively secure system such as Linux and produce a new, more secure version that would just be used in these systems, but not released to the public. That would make it harder for hackers to crack. They also should have their own networks that aren't connected to the internet, or to each other.

["boots on the ground"]

Obama Considering Deploying Troops to U.S.-Mexico Border
Obama tells regional reporters it is "unacceptable if you've got drug gangs crossing our borders and killing U.S. citizens."

FOXNews.com

Thursday, March 12, 2009

President Obama says he's considering whether to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, after Texas Gov. Rick Perry made an urgent call fort 1,000 more "boots on the ground" to deal with the growing violence.

I believe the National Guard is under control of the States unless it is Federalized in an emergency, which means the Texas governor could himself send it to the border at any time. My guess is he doesn't want to either take the heat for doing so or bear the expense.

 :'(Vermont just became the 4th state to legalize Gay "marriage".

It's time for the church to take back marriage, at least for Christians. The church opened the door for this back in the 18th and 19th centuries by allowing the State to define and regulate marriage. Before that marriage was a private affair. New York State didn't even keep records of marriages until 1880. Once the State started regulating marriage, it went downhill. Easy divorce was the first crack in the dam. The church had turned marriage over to the State, so it had no choice but to go along, even if reluctantly. Now Christians divorce at the same rate as non-Christians and no one says much against it, though in the Bible God says He "hates divorce".

 The church should opt out of the State-regulated legal/civil marriage system and perform its own marriages with its own standards. Certainly the State won't recognize these marriages as legal or valid, but who cares what the State thinks. Half the country seems to live together without marriage with State approval, and the State is making a mockery of marriage.

The only reason to get a State-sanctioned marriage is to get government benefits. Christians could get a second State-sanctioned marriage if they want to do that, or better yet avoid State marriage altogether by utilizing the Civil Unions laws!

The way the government is creating money and going into debt, State benefits aren't going to be worth the paper they are printed on in  a few years anyway. Christians really need to start taking care of their own, as the Amish do.

[Long-Term]

Global warming is defined as a Long-Term increase in global average temperatures, particularly night-time temperatures. Long term means hundreds of years.

A cold year, or even a cold decade, doesn't disprove global warming.

Scientific data overwhelmingly supports global warming:

Atmospheric CO2 increases:
http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/datasets/mauna/image3b.html

Global Average Temperature 1850 - 2008:
http://hadobs.metoffice.com/hadcrut3/diagnostics/comparison.html

Yes, there has been a slight decrease in the last few years, but this is likely due to the sunspot cycle (see below) and will reverse a few years after the cycle resumes. It is a reprieve that buys us some time, but not a reason to dance on the grave of global warming. http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-03/pronouncement-global-warming%E2%80%99s-demise-thin-ice

Even the Bush administration admitted the reality of global warming http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0530-bush.html.

Much of the so-called research that debunks global warming comes from the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, a small institute which has no scientists qualified in meteorology or climate and whose methods are extremely questionable (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Oregon_Institute_of_Science_and_Medicine). Their petition naming 19,000 "scientists" who oppose global warming pretended to be endorsed by the National Academy of Scientists, although they had never heard of it, and only a few dozen who did sign had anything to do with climate research. In other words, it was an attempt at fraud by people who claim to be Christians.

While I am not going to speak to how much global warming is caused by man, NOAA estimates about 60% is. That means it might still take place without us, but at a much slower pace. There is no good reason not to do what we can to slow it down. Being good stewards of the earth God gave us demands it.


The Maunder Minimum  http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/SunspotCycle.shtml

Early records of sunspots indicate that the Sun went through a period of inactivity in the late 17th century. Very few sunspots were seen on the Sun from about 1645 to 1715 (38 kb JPEG image). Although the observations were not as extensive as in later years, the Sun was in fact well observed during this time and this lack of sunspots is well documented. This period of solar inactivity also corresponds to a climatic period called the "Little Ice Age" when rivers that are normally ice-free froze and snow fields remained year-round at lower altitudes. There is evidence that the Sun has had similar periods of inactivity in the more distant past. The connection between solar activity and terrestrial climate is an area of on-going research.

[not Barak Obama]

Now we find that we have "Fusion Centers" nationwide collecting information against the citizens of the U.S. that decide to take a stand against this garbage. Yes, even those that are doing so legally and labeling them as "threats".

Secret document leaked: The Obama administration is branding libertarians and abortion opponents as hidden terrorists

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/23/fusion-centers-expand-criteria-identify-militia-members/

I didn't vote for Obama and am no Obama fan, but as a Christian I believe it is our obligation to be fair. This report was published on Feb. 20, which means it was researched and written over a fairly long period before that, during the time George Bush was president, not Barak Obama.

Bush and Cheney had absolutely no problem with trashing constitutional rights, spying on Americans, etc. Nor were they either conservatives or Christians. Certainly the Obama administration will probably take these things to new levels, but Bush was the one who made it possible!