No iPad For Me Thank You

January 31, 2010 3 Comments

This past week saw the much heralded announcement of Apple’s new device, the iPad. Apple’s products are legendary for spawning a legion of devoted fans. As someone who has been using Apple computers since my Apple II+ in the 1980’s I am well aware of the wonderful innovations that Apple has been responsible for.

This time however, I just can’t justify this device. I have a couple of nice laptops, a MacBook and a 17” Dell Inspiron. I also have an iPhone, or as Andy Ihnatko is now calling it, the iPad Nano. Steve Jobs is hawking the iPad as the device that is supposed to fit between the laptop and the iPhone. For some reason though, I’m not feeling like there is a huge gap there that needs filling.

Maybe an ebook reader is a niche between laptop and iPhone, but I already have a Kindle. In fact I love my Kindle. One of the best features of the Kindle is the E-Ink display which is very easy on the eyes and is a very close approximation of reading paper and ink. Apple’s iPad has a backlit LCD display that while likely gorgeous, is probably not going to be as good a reading experience as the Kindle’s E-Ink.

Also, as the proud owner of several iterations of Apple Newtons, I can tell you that sometimes being an early adopter of groundbreaking Apple products isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I’d caution anyone wanting an iPad to wait for v.2, or at least v1.2 of the product before taking the plunge. I don’t doubt that it’s going to be a huge, groundbreaking success but I don’t see it gaining momentum for a few years yet. Sort of like what happened with the iPhone.

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Husbands Love Your Wives…

January 13, 2010 Leave a Comment

Chris Matyszczyk writes the Technically Incorrect blog over at CNET.com. He’s got an interesting post comparing Google searches that start “How can I get my wife/husband to…”

Chris wrote this based on another bloggers exploration of Google searches that started “How can I get my girlfriend/boyfriend to…”

In a way the results are a bit sad.

You will be moved to tears, or perhaps St. Petersburg, when I tell you that husbands’ most frantic search is, "How can I get my wife to love me again."

Before you reach for your handkerchief to dry your eyes, might I tell you that the next most popular googling suggestion is, "How can I get my wife to swing."

You will feel that your world has been temporarily righted when I tell you that the next two pleas involve losing weight and shaving. However, the list is completed with wanting to know how to get your wife to trust you again, love you and, that perennial source of friction, shut up.

What of the wives? Once they are betrothed, do they come to terms with their man’s foibles and failings?

Well, the prime Google search for "How can I get my husband to…" is followed by the words "fall in love with me again." Yes, husbands and wives apparently want to be loved by their partners but have no idea how to achieve it.

It seems that for both husbands and wives, their most urgent desire is to find out how to get their spouses to love them again.

Isn’t that sad? What happened during the journey that started with vows “to love honor and cherish” but ended up with the desperate plea of “How can I make my spouse love me again?”

The Bible admonishes husbands with:

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” – Ephesians 5:25 ESV

If you’re married, does your spouse know you love them? Do you tell them with both words and deeds? Might be a good time to do just that before they turn to a search engine for advice. Your spouse will not likely doubt your love if you serve them in a Christ like, self-sacrificing way.

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A Mile Wide and A Quarter Inch Deep

January 9, 2010 Leave a Comment

There was an article over at USA Today that had an interesting bit this week. TV anchor Brit Hume caused a kerfuffle when he suggested that Tiger Woods turn to Christianity to find forgiveness in the aftermath of Tiger’s marriage meltdown.

I’m not entering the fray over Tiger’s adultery or the logical outcome of adultery, a marriage implosion. The part of the article that piqued my interest was in that the article referred to Wood’s dabbling in Buddhism. It seems that in 1996 Woods said in an interview that he “believed in bits and pieces” of Buddhism.

The USA Today article had this bit I found interesting.

It’s that "bits and piece" phrase that puts Woods square in the mainstream of American believers. Unlike Fox News commentator Brit Hume, who has found new life as a televangelist since retiring as an anchor, most Americans ignore — or don’t know — religious doctrinal distinctions. We think all good people go to heaven, by and large.

It’s the idea of taking “bits & pieces” that I find so problematic. Just like Tiger takes a syncretistic approach to Buddhism, many people do the same with Christianity. Many of the “bits & pieces” are incompatible with what the Bible says about the faith. There was another linked article at USA Today that has this quote from Albert Mohler.

"This is a failure of the pulpit as much as of the pew to be clear about what is and is not compatible with Christianity and belief in salvation only through Christ," Mohler says.

Both articles are worth the read so hit the links. I do want to offer this observation about them. As I was reading a devotional this morning, the verse at the beginning quoted Matthew 3:8 from the New Living Translation which puts that verse this way:

Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.

Does a syncretistic approach to Christianity prove your repentance? If you combine practices that are incompatible with what the Bible says about the faith, does that show your disbelief of the faith? Aren’t you by implication really saying that the orthodox faith isn’t enough to save?

Might be a good time to review the concept of Sola Scriptura, one of the five solas so important to orthodox, Biblical Christianity.

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