50% not popular

Teachers are complaining about the ridiculous rule that no student can earn less then 50% on a test or assignment. They say its grade inflation. And it most certainly is. It is ridiculous that this was even considered to be a good idea.

ESV Study Bible Coming in October

Crossway will be releasing the ESV Study Bible on October 15, 2008. This looks like a real winner of a study bible. Based on the limited pdfs I've seen, the NIV Study Bible has some competition finally. I just wish they'd offer some samples from the Old Testament instead of just Luke and John.

An earlier date would be better though. After all schools are more likely to switch to the ESV Study Bible if they could see it in July and August and then have the campus bookstores have them in stock at the end of August. I think waiting until October 15 is really making it harder for the ESV Study Bible to make enroads.

Plus I want this study bible now. And if someone at crossway wants to send me a review copy I would be quite pleased to give a more detailed impression of it here.

You can also see the introduction to Luke here

Christianbook.com has this on pre-sale for $29.99. which is $20 off the listed price and I don't make a dime from giving you this link.

WordSearch 8

I have used Quickverse since around 1996 and its been an ok program. They sorta broke it in 2005 and I never upgraded again. In fact I kept using the older Quickverse 7 because 2005 just never worked right. Well I decided I was sick of Quickverse 7 and was going to upgrade to 2008. Well one thing that quickly annoys me is charging me more for shipping then it would cost to ship it to me. Lets see it would cost about .60 to send the cd in the mail and they wanted to charge me $10. I closed the browser and never went back.

Instead I began looking at WordSearch. And I ended up buying it. I like it a lot. Their Strong's actually works instead of the disaster that was Quickverse 2005. When I click on a link in WordSearch, it actually OPENS the link unlike Quickverse 2005 where I sit there trying to look at a map and it never opens and you have to switch to Quickverse 7. I was able to convert many of the Quickverse books into the WordSearch format rather cheaply. I only converted the ones I use so that's why it was cheap.

The only thing lacking in WordSearch that Quickverse was better on was Smarttags in Word. Other than that, I am quite happy with WordSearch. Presently, you can get WordSearch with a limited number of books by purchasing the one I did WordSearch 8 Thomas Chain Reference Library for $34.95. If the price is 49.95 goto the main page and click the Spring Sales and ad and the price will be adjusted. But that price certainly beats the $80 it would have cost to upgrade to 2008 of Quickverse Deluxe. It cost another $30 to upgrade the books I had in Quickverse that I wanted converted. To convert them all would have cost $255. I decided that if I really want to use one of those books, I'll open up Quickverse which remains on the computer.

Moral of the Story: Don't overcharge on shipping because it just makes me mad.

Systematic Theology paper

On Wednesday I'm supposed to turn in a paper on my theological method. It has to be done under 750 words. It has to deal with how do we get our theology in regard to scripture, tradition, reason, ect... What to do when the different sources contradict? And then look at an example. All under 750 words...

Now if you start with scripture, the professor's question becomes how do we know what is scripture. Because it was the tradition of the early church that determined what was and was not scripture. If you start with tradition, the tradition is built on scripture. If you go with reason, then how do you explain the importance of scripture and tradition. And there is another source from his lecture that I can't remember right now...

I hate assignments where its just a trick so they can tell you why you're wrong. At least in the mind of the professor.

I got a headache. Grumble.

Intelligent Design Professor Loses Appeal for Tenure

The Iowa Board of Regents rejected on Thursday an appeal by a professor who said he was wrongfully denied tenure by Iowa State University because of his views supporting intelligent design.

While ISU officials have maintained that their decision last spring on Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez 's bid for tenure had nothing to do with intelligent design, e-mails exchanged by ISU faculty – who voted against his tenure and statements in Gonzalez’s tenure file – suggest otherwise.

Gonzalez, assistant professor of astronomy and physics, has written papers on intelligent design and has asserted his views in a book which was published in 2004. He is also a senior fellow at Discovery Institute, the nation's leading think tank on intelligent design.

Isn't it grand the freedom of academia to question all truths? Everything is up for study and debate. Wait a minute...

California pro-Gay bill taking effect

California legislation that will ban grade school textbooks and teachers from including any instruction that "reflects or promotes bias against" homosexuality, transgenders, bisexuals or those with perceived gender issues will take effect next month and opponents are circulating referendum petitions to place the measure before voters.

SB-777 was introduced to the House on May 24 was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Oct. 14. The bill will affect textbooks and instructional materials for students in kindergarten and grades 1-12 and will change the typical concept of family, conservative groups argue.

“This reverse discrimination is an outright attack on the religious and moral beliefs of California citizens,” says Karen England, executive director of the pro-family group Capitol Resource Institute (CRI).

This is what happens when you depend on the government for anything. Everyone should take their children out of public school and enroll them in private schools that are safe from agenda driven legislation.

Most idiotic Dissertation ever conceived

First posted over at the Reformed Pastor

A doctoral researcher at Hebrew University discovered that the Israeli army rape less Palestinian women then other armies in similar situations. So instead of concluding the Israelis must be more moral then the other armies, the researcher argues:

that the lack of IDF rapes of Palestinian women is designed to serve a political purpose.

The abstract of the paper, authored by doctoral candidate Tal Nitzan, notes that the paper shows that “the lack of organized military rape is an alternate way of realizing [particular] political goals.”

Could this be any more ridiculous? That someone earns a degree with this utter garbage? Could it be any more plain that the researcher just hates Jews? And if she herself is a Jew that that this is an example of self hatred?

This is like these fools that wont procreate because it harms the planet.

One thing about that at least it means they won't be raising a kid with their wacko beliefs. To bad there can't be something done about stupid dissertations that have no merit.

Why you should learn Hebrew...

I'm looking at a passage across Bible translations: Hosea 11:5

NIV: Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent?

ESV: They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

TNIV: “Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent?

NRSV: They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

RSV: They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

ASV: They shall not return into the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian shall be their king, because they refused to return to me.

Now, when you look at the Hebrew, it begins with a Lo which is the Hebrew word for no or not. So the NRSV and the RSV are thrown out right there.

And the first verb is Yashoov which is a third masculine singular verb for return or turn. That's he or it. Not they. That just throws out all the remaining translations. The verse actually appears to translate to me as

He/It will not return to the land of Egypt but Assyria will rule him/it because he/it turned from me.

But I sit here scratching my head on where all these translations are getting a third common plural translation. And wondering if I'm mistaken...

Reformed Theological Seminary offers Free Lectures

Is everyone aware of this?

RTS offers http://virtual.rts.edu/ a lot of course lectures via itunes for free. A more direct link is http://itunes.rts.edu/

They have three Old Testament courses:

Genesis to Joshua 29 lectures
Judges thru Poets 36 lectures
Isaiah thru Malachi 34 lectures

Three New Testament Courses
Gospels and Acts 48 lectures
Pauline Epistles 47 lectures
Hebrew thru Revelation 45 lectures

5 courses in Church History
Church History 1 32 lectures
Church History 2 30 lectures
Church and the World 27 lectures
History and Theology of the Puritans 16 lectures
History of Missions 35 lectures

2 Courses in Prac Theology
Disabilities in the church 29 lectures
Education Ministry in the church 24 lectures

9 Courses in Theology
Intro to Pastoral and Theology 22 lectures
History of Philosophy and Christianity 36 lectures
Theological Foundations 24 lectures
Systematic Theology 1 (38 lectures) 2 (20 lectures) 3 (38 lectures)
Pastoral and Social Ethics 43 lectures
Christian Apologetics 26 lectures
CS Lewis 26 lectures

Plus different small sets on different things like 3 lectures on New Perspectives on Paul

And that's not to do away with the great deal of courses offered by Covenant Theological Seminary. They offer 20 courses as well at http://www.covenantseminary.edu/worldwide/default.asp

Including

Ancient & Medieval Church History
Apologetics & Outreach
Biblical Theology
Calvin's Institutes
Christ-Centered Preaching: Preparation and Delivery of Sermons
Christian Ethics
Christian Worship
Francis A. Schaeffer: The Early Years
Francis A. Schaeffer: The Later Years
God & His Word
God's World Mission
Hebrews to Revelation
Humanity, Christ & Redemption
Life & Letters of Paul
Life & Teachings of Jesus
New Testament History and Theology
Old Testament History
Psalms & Wisdom Books
Reformation & Modern Church History
Spirit, Church, & Last Things
Youth Ministry

My Class at church

Hey did I say 6 weeks? I actually meant 9 weeks. Yeah. We're right on schedule. I have no idea what you're talking about. This is a nine week course and always has been.

We're now at Slide 111 of 298. We talked about the 12th Dynasty of Egypt today and also threw in the minor Dynasties 13 and 14 which were concurrent dynasties. Not a good thing when two dynasties claim to be the rulers of Egypt at the same time.

Next week we continue the history of Genesis starting with Abraham at Sodom and Gomorrah. The schedule will be to go up to Joseph then return to the 15th Dynasty of Egypt and move through to the Merneptah Stele. Then we'll go back to Moses and face off against the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Otherwise known as Amenhotep II.

Sunday Adult School

Today I taught the first of several classes on Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament upto the the Exodus before church service today. I started the class with the general introduction given in most Ancient Egyptian classes. I started with how we know about Ancient Egypt which is the Hieroglyphs. And also how the Hieroglyphs came to be deciphered.

Which involves Napoleon, War with the Mameluks and finally A British invasion and them taking the Rosetta stone off the French.

The only bad thing is my hour long lecture came in at 45 minutes. Oops.

While this week was heavy on the Ancient Egypt side of things, next week is heavy on the Abraham story.

One thing for sure about Finals

Some are ridiculous and annoying. Its suggested as the terms runs down that we've seen all the questions for the previous sections of the course on the quizes and that if we study the quizes, we're good for the first three sections of the class. Not the case. There was at least 17 more questions on the previous sections that never appeared on the quizes. How do I know that? Because I went through and counted the questions I wasn't sure of. 17 was the magic number. Ok maybe a handful of those were from the fourth part of the class but... the majority wasn't. I suppose I shouldn't be too annoyed since each question was only worth half a point so we're talking about 8.5 points out of a 150 or something like that. And I most likely got a few of them right. Considering on quiz three I wasn't sure about 10 of them and only missed three.

Oh well, I got the OT books in the right order and the map.

I could get all the way to Hosea without trouble but the last few books refused to stay in my mind so I backed up two books and came up with three sentences:

Data has just about one joke.
Mexico needs hero Zorro.
Help Zorro Malachi.

Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habukkah
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

Society of Biblical Literature

I have finally become a member of the Society of Biblical Literature earlier tonight. I probably should have become a member before this.

Alabama adopts Bible Textbook for schools

Link

has become the first state to approve a Bible textbook for statewide adoption, makers of ”The Bible and Its Influence” announced Monday.

Enlarge this Image
(Photo: Bible Literacy Project / Handout)The Bible Literacy Project, an interfaith group that released the book in September 2005, said the decision by the Alabama State Board of Education last Wednesday also makes ”The Bible and Its Influence” the first textbook for academic study of the Bible to be adopted statewide.

“This is major news in the field of education,” stated Bible Literacy Project Chairman Chuck Stetson. “While academic study of the Bible is legal in all 50 states, this decision means that any school in the state of Alabama can purchase our textbook with state-provided funds until 2013.”

According to standards set forth by the Alabama School Board, the approval declares the textbook, which is intended for use in high schools, as "sufficient to be used as the sole textbook/program for a particular grade or course and meet[s] 80% or more of the standards outlined in the state course of study and/or is sufficient to be used as the sole textbook for an elective course.”

Stetson reported that 543 high schools in Alabama will soon receive a list of approved curricula.

Currently, there are 163 high schools in 35 states that have adopted the 387-page, full-color textbook, which covers the Old Testament and New Testament, for semester-long or full-year courses.

So who thinks this will be ignored by the so called American Civil Liberties Union? The same organization that sees nothing wrong with public school students before forced to take Muslim names and follow Muslim practices for a day. Or a public university having a Muslim foot washing pool.

Living on Campas vs. Living Off

I decided to see if I could move onto campas for term II and it doesn't look like I can. All the rooms in the dorms are currently filled. But they said that might change and I've been put on a waiting list. They do have an apartment available but those are unfurnished and well, it would still be unfurnished probably if I tried to move in there with the exception of an old chair and old table and chairs that I could put in there. The lack of a bed would be bad.

So why would I want to live on campas? The bus ride is getting to me. 5:30 is just to early for me. Plus I'd really like to join in some of the fellowships like the Evangelical Fellowship.

Woe to 5:30

Ok I'm so ready to see if I can be a resident student next term. I am tired of getting up at 5:30 on MWF so I can catch the 6:25 bus to Pittsburgh so I can switch over to the 7:40 500 to the Seminary and be on campas at 8:12 for a 9:00 Hebrew class.

So you might ask why not catch the 7:00 bus to Pittsburgh. Oh that's because the 500 leaves that stop TWO minutes before the 7AM bus arrives in Pittsburgh. Two minutes so I have to get up at 5:30.

But don't feel to bad for me. If I just drove, I could leave my house at 7:30 and be at the seminary at like 8:40. But gas would probably bankrupt me.

Well I have to say that Orientation is tiring

After attending three colleges/universities previously, the first orientation that I didn't get out of has worn me out. It wasn't until this afternoon that I discovered away to get online. And I felt like I was doing something wrong and kept looking over my shoulder.

I stayed on campus for three days and two nights. I was able to rent a room for the two nights for only $45 and it was a nice room. About the only complaint was that if I rolled at all I would have fallen out of bed. Luckily I realized that while sleeping because I never fell.

I arrived shortly before a community cookout and since I hadn't ate since 9 that morning I was pretty happy to find food. I sat around for about an hour and talked to a few people. After I noticed that it was time for the Pirates, I headed to my room and turned on the game. It was quickly 5-0 reds and I opened up my suitcase and out came the John Grisham novel, the Broker, that I bought earlier in the day. I quickly read over half the book and fell asleep around two in the morning.

At 7:00 I woke to the horrible sound of an alarm clock and I crawled out of bed to the first bit of orientation at 8:00. Yes it took an hour to convince me to get up. We heard about the business office, the security, the computer system.

Next up was a skit about the things you never expected to hear at seminary. It was things like Hebrew is hard, Moses didn't write the Books of Moses, ect. Of course they're wrong about Moses.

Next was a talk about the curriculum and we heard from the registar. The moral was take the classes in order.

Next was chapel and communion.

Finally we had a workshop on sexual harrasment and racism. I'd rather have my fingernails pulled then go through that again. Or go to the zoo where the students family's got to go.

Finally a tour of the library. The third best theological library in North America. And I think I remember hearing top ten in the world.

Then it was back to the room for the rest of the John Grisham novel. Unfortunately it only lasted about an hour and a half. So I pulled out Jurassic Park after discovering Fox Sports Pittsburgh had the feed from the Steeler's preseason game on. Like anyone in their right mind wanted to watch a bunch of people destined for the cut list. And fell asleep around 12:45.

Then this morning was a Financial Aid presentation which I found out I still had to do some stuff. Sigh.

Then it was meet with my advisor and get my schedule set. A very fast meeting. Lasted only eight minutes. Good thing I finally got around to filling out the schedule instead of waiting until the meeting like I planned. I happily was able to talk my way into the Ezekiel class I really wanted to take.

Then a writing assessment. I figure they'll hate it since I tend to edit things I turn in about twenty times and this was a handwritten rough draft.

Then I ran to the parking lot and headed home. Collapsed on my bed and the cat found me and joined me on my bed.

Why is it always Petty people who get to be in charge?

Link
Have you ever noticed that its always the people who are idiots that get put in control of businesses or schools. So now because a student is cheered at graduation the student is punished and doesn't receive their diploma. Talk about a Draconian system. This school should be ashamed of itself. Anyone who is attending this school should be ashamed. And anyone who's tax money is paying for this school should be ashamed. This is plain and simply outrageous.

Now the school official claims that if they receive an apology, the students will get their diplomas. Even if the apology is anonymous. What a jackass. Just give the students their diplomas and then resign. You have no business being in charge of a school.

Creation Museum

Link
Today the Creation Museum opens in Cincinnati. It costs $27 million dollars and has plenty of Protests going on. I saw one article earlier then this one and in my local paper quote a protester proclaiming that they are teaching children fairy tales and hurting their education and that's why they're protesting.

Now I can understand protesting government actions and corporate actions. But to protest a museum that the children are taken to by their parents and its not required, I don't see how its "hurting" their education. Or threatening science. Its a private museum and they can put their information and items out there any way they want.

But Genesis 1 is an interesting chapter of the Bible. I have a Biblical Studies degree and am attending Seminary this fall. There are many different ways that scholars look at the chapter. Some take the literal 24 hr day approach. Others believe the days are vast ages. Then there's one called a gap theory where there are days but's time between the days of creation. Finally there's a literary Framework approach.

Now the others are mentioned in the article that I link to at the top so I'll describe the one that's not mentioned. The literary framework looks at the days of creation and notices that Day one and Day four go together, Day Two and Day Five go together, and Day Three and Day Six go together. It claims that the days are literary devices to explain the creation. Or in other words, the first chapter is in topical order instead of chronological order.

And an interesting thing about the original Hebrew of the Bible. The word yom that is translated as Day in most modern translations can mean the following:

from crosswalk.com lexicon on the Old Testament
day, time, year
day (as opposed to night)
day (24 hour period)
as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1
as a division of time 1b
a working day, a day's journey
days, lifetime (pl.)
time, period (general)
year
temporal references
today
yesterday
tomorrow

And in the New American Standard, it was translated like so throughout the Old Testament:
afternoon* 1, age 8, age* 1, all 1, always* 14, amount* 2, battle 1, birthday* 1, Chronicles* 38, completely* 1, continually* 14, course* 1, daily 22, daily the days 1, day 1115, day of the days 1, day that the period 1, day's 6, day's every day 1, daylight* 1, days 635, days on the day 1, days to day 1, days you shall daily 1, days ago 1, days' 11, each 1, each day 4, entire 2, eternity 1, evening* 1, ever in your life* 1, every day 2, fate 1, first 5, forever* 11, forevermore* 1, full 5, full year 1, future* 1, holiday* 3, later* 2, length 1, life 12, life* 1, lifetime 2, lifetime* 1, live 1, long 2, long as i live 1, long* 11, midday* 1, now 5, older* 1, once 2, period 3, perpetually* 2, present 1, recently 1, reigns 1, ripe* 1, short-lived* 1, so long* 1, some time 1, survived* 2, time 45, time* 1, times* 2, today 172, today* 1, usual 1, very old* 1, when 10, when the days 1, whenever 1, while 3, whole 2, year 10, yearly 5, years 13, yesterday* 1

The number after the word indicates how many times it was translated that way.

So you might ask, well how on earth do you know what word to use when your translating the passage. You have to use the context of the rest of the sentence. Its obvious that the passage is dealing with time so all the possible words that don't deal with time, can be removed like holiday, whole, while, ect...

The use of the Hebrew words ereb translates into evening. Which makes the context seem to indicate day for Yom. However, ereb can also mean the following according to the Lexicon:

evening, night, sunset
evening, sunset
night

And in the NAS its translated into the following:

evening 114, evening* 1, evenings 2, every evening 1, night 2, sunset 1, twilight 11

And the use of the Hebrew word boger or boqer depending on how you want to pronounce it translates into morning. However the word can mean the following according to the Lexicon:


morning, break of day
morning
of end of night
of coming of daylight
of coming of sunrise
of beginning of day
of bright joy after night of distress (fig.)
morrow, next day, next morning

And the NAS translates it accordingly:
dawn 1, dawn* 2, day 1, daybreak 1, every morning 5, morning 195, mornings 2, soon 1, tomorrow morning 1

In addition to those meanings I've seen at least one Lexicon that gives the meaning high tide and low tide to these two words.

But this all seems to indicate that we are in deed talking about the typical day. But like English with words can be combined and used outside their meaning. Like "Get Out of Here" it can mean get out of here. It can also mean that's so off the wall I don't believe you. Could the phrase that we're translating "And there was evening and morning the first day" mean simply that time passed? Hence the Day Age Theory...

In addition for the young earth creationists who take it literally, how long did Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden without sin? The Bible does not indicate. It could have been any number of years so to hold onto the earth is only 6000 years old is not Biblical. The Bible does not say how old the earth is because its not important.