Timothy's Thoughts

T here’s an article going around titled What Happens When Computers are Cheaper Than LEGO Block? . The premise is that because computer hardware is so cheap there will be a renewed hacker movement. You can literally walk into Radio Shack and walk out with an Arduino board for less than $40. And yeah, that probably means a trip to Radio Shack is in my future. Let’s be honest. For most people, this means nothing. If you’re hoping to replace your PC, this isn’t what you’d buy. But if you want to build a robot in your garage, or if you want to create a special controller for your Christmas lights, this might be the brain you need for the project. This computer is for hackers. And those hackers just might be fathers working with their sons on a really cool project in the garage.

W hen defining a character, it is more important to ask what the character won’t do than to ask what a character does. We often question what motivates a character to take a particular action. The problem with that is that we end up thinking of some action and then struggle with finding something that would persuade the character to take that action. What, for example, would cause a woman to kill her children? Or what would cause a man to leave a wife that loves him? It isn’t easy to come up with an answer. So how does turning the question around help? For one thing, it causes us to develop the motive before the action. Suppose a woman has spent all day listening to her children yelling at each other. What will she not do? Most women won’t kill their children in that situation. But they might be short with their husbands. Now, consider who we are as people. We might talk about the things we do, but the things we don’t do are far more interesting. What if a person were born without ...

T o catch you up, a few days ago a press release from The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) claimed victory over Chick-fil-A, saying that “In meetings the company executives clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations.” This left many of us scratching our heads and asking the Chick-fil-A company for an explanation. Chick-fil-A obliged us with a lengthy statement that I will summarize as saying, We’re going to continue with the same policy we’ve always had. [1] Within that document is the statement “The Chick-fil-A culture and 66-year service tradition in our locally owned and operated restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.” That statement is not new, but it is essentially the same wording that TCRA references when claiming victory. What is Really Going On? The last part of the statement just clarifies what they mean by “every person,” so it really comes down to wh...

I n recent years, there has been a push among some Baptists for elder ruled churches. Even among some BMA pastors, I’ve heard people say, “it’s the biblical way.” So, I went looking to see if I agreed with that claim. I found that there are some rather lengthy papers written about it. I intend to get to the point much more quickly. What Is An Elder? When referring to elder rule today, most people are using the term elder to indicate a church member who serves on a board that oversees the business of the church. You won’t find this definition in the Bible. The only support you will find in the Bible for anything near this definition is 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the Word and doctrine.” The thing that makes this verse controversial is the word especially . Some people believe that it implies that there can be those who rule while they “labor in Word and doctrine” and those who rule, but don’t “lab...

This video shows the development of the human body from conception to birth. Truly, only God can do this.

W ho is your audience? Many times, we an author sits down to write, he thinks of someone to whom he is writing. As he weaves his yarn, he thinks of that person sitting across from him and he is just carrying on a one-sided (usually) conversation. But though we might write to that person, that person is not the audience who will receive the book. I began thinking about the average church size. 59% of the churches in America have fewer than 100 people who attend. There’s nothing wrong with that. I have known many small churches and have a great love for them. But think about the Christian books you’ve read that were written to help in the ministry of churches. How often do we see them reference things that we simply do not find in small churches? Occasionally, you’ll find a book written specifically for small churches, but I’ve read some of those and have often thought that the author didn’t get it. Instead, what you find are books written to churches with hundreds in attendance. Th...

— A federal judge threatened “incarceration” to a high school valedictorian in Castroville, Texas, unless she removed references to Jesus from her graduation speech. — City officials prohibited senior citizens in Balch Springs, Texas, from praying over their meals, listening to religious messages or singing gospel songs at a senior activities center. — A public school official in St. Louis physically lifted an elementary school student from his seat and reprimanded him in front of his classmates for praying over his lunch. T hese statements all just three of some 600 in a recent report on religious hostility. The report claims, “America would be unrecognizable to our Founders.” I’m not sure that true. Our founding fathers were no strangers to religious hostility. I remember reading about Patrick Henry attending a trial in colonial America. The story goes that two Baptist men had been arrested because they were preaching outside of the authority of the religion in that area. P...