Yesterday, I penned a story for my weekly column on Hydrapinion on eBooks.

Why eBooks suddenly matter (to me): I've never really understood the whole eBook thing. I've tried - really, I have. I've also given audio books a go and quite like the idea of the convenience they offer. Studying requires that I read a wide variety of different references in addition to my lecture notes. This has lead me, for the first time, to establishing an electronic reference library so that I can carry my reference books with me.

By sheer coincidence, Drew Turney, who's standing in for Stephen Withers on the Mac column, also wrote a story on eBooks that's worth a look.

 eBooks

For the most part, Google's ads do a reasonable job of matching ads to content. Put simply, Google looks at a web page, works out what the page is about by looking at the placement and recurrence of words and then delivers ads that are in context. However, while researching the theological issues of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 I got the following.

You can get a full-sized (280kb) version of the image by clicking.

Google has taken the main subject, Christianity, and I think the word "seminal" on the right side next to the book's cover-page and come up with a link to an ad for Christian Masturbation (under the main text on the page.

 Google ads

At Ridley this week we looked at the letter to the Hebrews. It was a very challenging study but one particular verse has had my brain doing cartwheels as I try to work out its purpose.

From the NRSV:

For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt.

It's like the author is saying that Christians who fall away from their faith have no chance of returning to God. In other words, the door opens only once. If this literal interpretation is correct then it has extreme ramifications.

On the other hand, is the author saying that when we turn away from God, no matter how subtly, that we are placing God and Jesus' saving sacrifice secondarily and treating God contemptuously.

The really trick element of this text, in my view, is "For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened...". Is is really impossible to be restored to repentance? I pray that the literal interpretation of this is incorrect as, through our fallen, sinful nature, we all put God aside at some time. On occasion, this is subtle but at other times it's more extreme.

Brown, in his commentary "The Message of Hebrews"[Affiliate Link] suggests that the ones who have "fallen away" are those that have completely rejected Christ. Brown says:

Some believers, who made an apparently excellent beginning in their Christian lives, are now not merely chronic invalids or spiritual casualties, but have become fierce opponents of the Christian gospel.

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In other words, this is a response to apostasy, not just the daily (or even more frequent!) straying of faithful but fallen human beings.

Hopefully my thoughts and reading on this important segment of scripture is helpful to others grappling with the meaning of this text.

 apostasy • Hebrews

Over at Hydrapinion today, I pose the question - what handheld would you want at the end of the world?

Sure, it's a little unusual as blog topics go but I thought it would be a fun thing to explore

 Armageddon • Handhelds

Just following on from my post on Logos for Mac, it's worth mentioning another application that those into biblical scholarship might be interested in.

The Sword Project has the following mission:

Its purpose is to create cross-platform open-source tools, covered by the GNU General Public License, that allow programmers and Bible societies to write new Bible software more quickly and easily. Its secondary purpose is to amass a library of Bibles and other Scripture-related texts that can be used by all SWORD Project-based software.

I've used the Mac and Linux versions. The Mac version is my main Bible for preparing studies and searching for key texts. It'd be nice to have a version that works with Logos but coming at the perfect price (free) and with a wealth of different public domain resources including Bible translations, dictionaries and commentaries it's definitely worth a look.

 Bible • Sword Project

As a theology student (I'm at Ridley College in Melbourne) one of the tasks I regularly face is research. Finding articles for specific topics or for when I'm running a Bible study can be quite tricky. While the index in the back of the book is handy, having to trawl through the indexes of many books is very time consuming and is pre-supposed on the idea that I know what book the information I'm after is in. That's where e-Books come to the fore.

Many theological reference books are now available on CDs or DVDs. A substantial subset of those books are published in a specific format so that a common front-end can be used to access the entire library and then search across the library. Windows users have had access to the Libronix software for some time. However, Mac users have only recently been able to enter the fray with the release of Logos Bible Software for the Macintosh. Logos for Mac is currently in its first public beta release following no less that 11 alpha releases.

I've been using Logos for Mac since the last couple of alpha releases and now have the beta installed. The beta does have some limitations. For example, you can only install and access books that you have already unlocked using the Windows version of the software. This feature will be implemented in the final release.

The heart of Logos for Mac (the icon on the Dock is labelled as Libronix DLS) is the Library. this is where all the books in your electronic library are listed. At installation, you can choose where to store the books. If hard disk space is at a premium you could store your books on a USB stick. I chose to put mine in a specific folder in the Documents folder on my Mac (a MacBook Air running OS X 10.5.4). I'd previously purchased the The Essential IVP Reference Collection and BST New Testament CD-ROM [Affiliate Links] and installed them to a Mac running VMWare Fusion. That meant that I'd generated a license file that unlocked the resources in my library. Until the final release of Logos for Mac comes out, you'll need a system running Windows.

From my Windows installation, I synchronised my licenses with the Logos license server. When I ran through the Mac installation, I synchronised my licenses from the license server to my Mac. If I add any new books to my library I'll need to do that on my Windows set up first and then sync the licenses.

The proof of the pudding with software such as Logos is in the speed with which search results come back. I must say that I was very impressed. I was writing an essay on the teaching of the apostle James on wealth and poverty. The various queries I ran all returned their results quickly in a list that was categorised by book. A "by rank" sort option for search results didn't seem to make any difference but this is a beta so i don't expect everything to be working perfectly yet.

Reading a book on the screen was surprisingly good. Many people much prefer to be able to hold a book and flick the pages but some of the books, particularly many of the volumes in the The Essential IVP Reference Collection[Affiliate Link] are very large and a little unwieldy as bed-time reads go. However, the Libronix document/database format makes it easy to jump to specific sections using the book's table of contents. It'd be nice if the font that the book was displayed in could be changed but that's a minor issue as the serif font that's employed is pretty good.

If you're working on an essay or sermon and have opened a number of different reference works and need to stop working for a while, you can save a workspace easily so that you can return and keep working from where you left off.

I love books. I have a reasonably extensive library of fiction and non-fiction at home. However, for study, electronic books hold huge advantages over paper. For Mac users that are studying theology I'd strongly suggest looking at some of the electronic options that are available. Logos for Mac ought to be on your shopping list.

 Bible Study • Libronix • Logos

I don't often use PocketMojo to proselytise or rant but I'm compelled to do so today. iPhone 3G reviews are starting to flow now that the NDA has lapsed and the phrase "Jesus Phone" is being thrown around as if it isn't highly offensive and blasphemous.

If you're a journalist, blogger or any other commentor on the iPhone:

STOP CALLING THE IPHONE THE "JESUS PHONE"

Would you call it the "Allah Phone" or "Buddha Phone"? It seems that mocking Christianity is OK but other religions are off limits. We may not all share the same beliefs but that's not an excuse to mock the beleifs of others.

In case you missed it the first time:

STOP CALLING THE IPHONE THE "JESUS PHONE"

Thanks

You might have noticed that I'm not posting as frequently as usual. That's because I'm in full-on study mode. I'm 10 days from an exam on the Content and Settings of the Gospels. My study is not focussed on several specific, thematic areas. These are

• Intertestamental history and its influence on what the Jews expected from Jesus
• The death and resurrection of Jesus
• The Kingdom of God - what is it?
• The titles of Jesus - what do they tell us about him?
• What are the Gospels? How do we interpret them? The Synoptic Problem.
• The significance of Miaracles
• The importance of Parables

Over the next ten days I'll have assembled a list of major topics within each theme and which specific verses from the Gospels I need to illustrate my views on each topic area.

At this stage I'm finding my key references are:

Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels

Jesus and the Gospels by Craig L. Blomberg

[Note: Both these links will take you to Amazon. If you purchase from those links I get a commission.]

 Bible • Jesus • Study

Easter is THE most important event on the Christian calendar. Christmas might be more celebrated, at least by commercial interests, but while Christmas marked the beginning of Jesus' mission, Easter is the culmination of his time on earth. Thinking, praying and reading the Bible about this over the last week or so has made me think about Jesus life and what I can do to live a more Godly life.

Rather than lapse into a long, theological discussion I'm going to focus on three practical applications from what I've learned.

1 - We need to abandon our self-interest if we want to live with Jesus.

The parables on Mark 2 20:22 about the new cloth on the old cloak and new wine in old wineskins tells us that to follow Jesus we need to be renewed in our spirit and faith. In other words, we need to abandon our current system of worship (wealth, commercialism, personal pleasure), or our old cloaks and wineskins, so that we can we receive God's propititation through Jesus.

2 - Anger is OK, when it's worth being angry. Just don't carry that anger around.

I don't know about you but there are times when I lose my temper. Sometimes it's when another driver cuts me off, or I'm running late or one of the kids does something that really bugs me. Jesus exhibited anger several times but it was always for a good reason. The most famous example is the turning of the moeny changer's tables in the temple but there are also numerous times when he rebukes the disciples when they fail to really listen to his message and teaching.

Proverbs 12:16 says "A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult". Next time someone cuts you off on the road, remember that proverb and pray for the other driver arrives safely and sees God's love for him/her. Then pray for yourself that you remain patient.

3 - We all have a God given obligation to be good stewards of the world.

It's pretty clear, to me at least, that God gives us responsibility to look after the Earth. He didn't give it to us as a plaything to be broken and discarded. Recycle whatever you can, by energy efficient appliances when you shop and try to use the car less. We have an obligation to look after the world. Here endeth the Green Sermon!

This Easter, between eggs and bunnies, let's not lose track of what easter really is. Not only is it the time we remember and celebrate Jesus' saving death that atones for all the sin ever committed and yet to be committed, but also that it was the culmination of his ministry on Earth.

 Easter • Gospel Fulfilmnet • Jesus

Fishing is one of Hedland's greatest past times. A small team from HTD braved winds, a strong swell and sea-sickness to head out to sea to catch some fish. Glen from the mission team shared the story of his Christian walk before departure - very inspiring.

At the same time most of the rest of the team were at the South Hedland Shopping Centre running the Rainbow Club. This is an art and craft activity that we ran for local kids. About 25 kids from the area came along as we supervised some craft activities, conducted a sock-puppet theatre and provided some fruit for nourishment and refreshment.

One of the main events of the sporting calendar, the AFL Grand Final, dominated the afternoon. Daniel and Rhia, a local couple, hosted the mission team as we watched the Geelong Football Club demolish the Port Power.

In the evening, we ran a Trivia Night that was attended by around 45 people. As well as lots of fun Keiron from the mission team shared her testimony. I was struck by how diverse our group is and that all Christians come to the Lord in different ways. It was a great encouragement.

There are pictures of the day's activities in the gallery.