Sci-Tech watch, 23: Identity theft warning on a political outing of personal info in Kentucky, USA . . . a wake-up call

Identity theft is a serious issue, which makes all too commonly seen "outing" tactics used by unscrupulous online advocates a serious matter indeed.

Video:



Let us take due note, next time a web or blog troll pretends he has a right to broadcast personal information. 

Anti Intelligent Design trolls, this warning is for you. But then, you know what you are doing so scratch that: this warning is for the naive who don't realise the danger of outing tactics or may be naive enough to divulge personal information online. END

Sci-Tech watch, 22: KABOOM, a NASA rocket explodes on takeoff . . . U/D, appar command detonation

Video (HT, CNN):



It seems that a NASA supply rocket for the space station has tipped over, broken and blown up [U/D: began disintegrating, gone out of control and been command destroyed] takeoff from a contract facility in Virginia, reminding us that a rocket on launch is first and foremost the dynamic equivalent of an inverted broom balanced on a finger-tip, making for a difficult control problem indeed. 

As in, it's Rocket Science!

US$200 mn up in smoke.

(Most expensive firework of this Guy Fawkes season!)

Ouch!

Developing. END

PS: U/D ABC News . . .

6:22 p.m. EST: The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to lift off. Thousands of space buffs gather along the coast to watch the launch.

6 seconds later: The rocket starts going awry.

14 seconds later: The range safety officer sends a self-destruct command. The rocket explodes into a fireball over Wallops Island, Virginia.

>>>>>>>>>

Abby and Brittany Hensel -- twins sharing a common body

Abby and Brittany Hensel are dicephalus conjoined twins (having two heads and sharing one body) born in 1990, who have now completed College and teach Math in grade school. Thanks to Buzzfeed, here they are driving a car -- they have one driver's licence each:

Wikipedia notes:

Abigail Loraine Hensel and Brittany Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990) are dicephalic parapagus twins, meaning that they are conjoined twins, each of whom has a separate head, but whose bodies are joined. They are highly symmetric, giving the appearance of having just a single body with little variation from normal proportion. In fact, several vital organs are doubled up; each twin has a separate heart, stomach, spine, and spinal cord.

Each twin controls her half of their body, operating one of the arms and one of the legs. This means that as infants, the initial learning of physical processes that required bodily coordination, such as clapping, crawling, and walking required the cooperation of both children. While each is able to eat and write separately and simultaneously, activities such as running and swimming must be coordinated and alternate symmetrically. Other activities as diverse as brushing hair and driving a car require that each twin perform a sequence of separate actions that coordinate with the other.

The following video was made when they were in high school:

A reminder of the human spirit and ability to triumph in the face of adversity. Food for thought, especially on a day that may have you down. END

PS: Anatomically:

Asia Bibi to appeal High Court ruling

According to an NBC report:

A Pakistani Christian mother-of-five who was sentenced to death for blasphemy will appeal her sentence in a last-ditch effort to escape a judgment that has been condemned around the world. It was “a victory in itself to get a hearing for this appeal, as no judge was interested judging this case,” said Sardar Mushtaq Gill, Aasia Bibi’s lawyer, referring to the Thursday decision. The 46-year-old was convicted in 2010 of making derogatory remarks about the Islamic Prophet Muhammad during an argument with coworkers at a farm in the Punjab province, home to most of the country’s four million Christians.

Even more disturbing is this, from the same report:

her lawyer claims, all criminal cases pending from 2010 have been heard, except hers. “There was pressure on the court”, said Gill. “It was obvious from the beginning. They were not listening to our arguments. We almost didn’t get a date of hearing.”

It is obvious, there is something seriously wrong with the state of justice in Pakistan, and it is obvious Bibi has no serious case to answer to.

Let us act in her defense:

A petition for Asia Bibi -- let us sign

Just go here and sign. It may help save a life. Don't delay.

And:

Matt 24 watch, 254: Calling for action by Caricom to stop the judicial murder of Asia Bibi of Pakistan on a false charge and dangerous blasphemy law in Pakistan

Pakistan is a Commonwealth member state, and so are many territories in the Caribbean. That is why I am calling on national, legal and media leaders across our region to stand up and be counted on a blatant, potentially murderous miscarriage of justice now under way in Pakistan . . .

Let us act. END

A petition for Asia Bibi -- let us sign

Just go here and sign. It may help save a life. Don't delay.

Matt 24 watch, 254: Calling for action by Caricom to stop the judicial murder of Asia Bibi of Pakistan on a false charge and dangerous blasphemy law in Pakistan

Pakistan is a Commonwealth member state, and so are many territories in the Caribbean. That is why I am calling on national, legal and media leaders across our region to stand up and be counted on a blatant, potentially murderous miscarriage of justice now under way in Pakistan.

Today, I saw in my inbox, notification that the High Court in Lahore Pakistan has upheld the blasphemy-death sentence verdict against Asia Bibi on a charge that is blatantly false, made under a dangerous but violently upheld blasphemy law.

So, I am following up on my post last year on the case.

The damage to her health and family are bad enough, this desecration of justice and abuse of the good name of God have gone beyond all decency and reason.

Stop, stop, for God's sake . . . STOP!

As a first, public mark of protest, we should publicly refuse to play International Cricket with the team of a nation that has such a murderous, worse than apartheid law on its books.

If boycotting South Africa was important to send a message, this is worse.

If you doubt me, notice the Guardian on the law under which Asia Bibi has been sentenced to death by hanging:

  Blasphemy [under the Pakistani law] carries a maximum penalty of death, yet the law sets out no standards for evidence, no requirement to prove intent, no punishment for false allegations and, indeed, no guidance on what actually constitutes blasphemy.

The accuser can refuse to repeat the offending statement in court, and judges can choose not to hear evidence in case it perpetuates the blasphemy and offends religious sensibilities. This means that in some cases, the accused can go through a whole trial without knowing what they are supposed to have done or said.

The law is open to massive abuse. As such, it is frequently used to settle personal vendettas and to persecute minorities . . .

 In the case of Bibi Asia (and other similar cases), as the article continues:

Bibi’s alleged blasphemous comments were supposedly made after co-workers refused to share water that she had carried; they said it was unclean because she was a Christian (this is a hangover from the caste system, as most of those who converted to Christianity in pre-partition India were members of the lower castes). She has always maintained her innocence, claiming that these neighbours simply wanted to punish her. The British citizen Mohammed Asghar, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, also faces the death sentence for blasphemy. Allegations were made against him in 2010 by a tenant with whom he was having a dispute. No concessions have been made for his mental health condition.

Despite these obvious flaws in the legislation and the way it is applied, reform is not coming. When Bibi’s case came to prominence in 2010, three politicians – Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti and Sherry Rehman – all from the Pakistan People’s Party, which was then in power, took up the case and called for reform. The consequences speak for themselves. Taseer was shot dead by his bodyguard in January 2011. In March the same year, Bhatti was killed by Taliban assassins. Rehman was forced into semi-hiding. The then prime minister shelved all reform, cowed into retreat by the potent mix of extremist threats and mob violence.

Blasphemy excites strong emotions among parts of Pakistan’s public like no other issue. Many people accused of blasphemy are killed by mobs before they even make it to trial. (According to the Islamabad-based Centre for Security Studies, at least 52 people have been killed over blasphemy offences since 1990). Taseer’s assassin was showered with rose petals when he arrived at the courthouse for his murder trial. Many took this as evidence of the way that extremist groups have infiltrated elements of Pakistani society, exploiting the public’s strong religious sensibility and pushing it further towards intolerance . . .

So bad is the situation that when the author of this report, while living in Pakistan, authored an article for a leading newspaper there, the editor suppressed it for fear.

I think we in the Caribbean need to pray, and to act:

1 --> Let us call on the political leadership of our region to use our Commonwealth status to protest the patent injustice of this case and the destructive law.

2 --> Let us determine not to support any Test matches or International Cricket series involving Pakistan, making it clear that justice must be done and what is worse than Apartheid must be stopped. (This would use the international stature of the West Indies Cricket team to do a world of good. And, the message would be sent to every city, town and hamlet across Pakistan, that enough is enough.)

3 --> Let us support one or more regional offers of refuge for this poor, oppressed woman and her family. (Italy, France and Spain have made offers, let us make one too. Surely, Asia Bibi and her family would classify as refugees under any reasonable standard.)

4 --> In every international forum of which we are a part and Pakistan is a part, let us send the same message to the Pakistani delegation. Let me sum it up:

Stop the hate, false accusation, corruption of justice and murder under false colours of justice and pretense of outraged religious sensibilities . . . murder of one in the image of God under false colours of law and justice is the REAL blasphemy here.

5 --> Only shame, deep wounding shame will move those caught up in entrenched depravity like this, to act.

6 --> The time for public, persistent shaming has clearly come; and that includes specifically every party involved in this disgraceful case, from accusers to judges and politicians who have stood by or have gone along with evil, though we must note the horrible price paid by those who spoke up for the right.

7 --> The murderous fanatical mobs cannot reach us, so let us speak up for those in fear of their lives.

Enough is enough. END

HEADS UP: Weather news -- TS Gonzalo headed for Antigua & Montserrat over the next day or so

Weather Underground currently has some bad news for us here in Montserrat:

Zulu (= GMT = EC time + 4 hrs) time & location track:

Init 12/1730z 16.4n 58.4w 35 kt 40 mph

12h 13/0000z 16.4n 59.5w 35 kt 40 mph

24h 13/1200z 16.5n 61.7w 45 kt 50 mph

36h 14/0000z 17.2n 63.8w 55 kt 65 mph

48h 14/1200z 18.2n 65.5w 65 kt 75 mph

72h 15/1200z 20.5n 67.5w 75 kt 85 mph

96h 16/1200z 22.0n 68.0w 85 kt 100 mph

120h 17/1200z 24.0n 68.0w 85 kt 100 mph

That looks like, right over Montserrat about 8:00 am on Monday October 13, tomorrow. Translation, a stormy night and morning. (We already had a rain band or two hit us starting this morning.)

Radio ZJB just gave a preliminary warning.
 
Not good, except -- thank God -- not a full-blown hurricane. END

Rom 1 reply 56: Was Jesus a myth? -- a video series on Gospel historicity in response to a current wave of new atheist skepticism

NB: WLC podcast in reply to sensationalist claims

The other day I noticed Michael Paulkovich's Christ was a myth claims coming up at the UK Daily Mail, in its bullet points:

'Jesus NEVER existed': Writer finds no mention of Christ in 126 historical texts and says he was a 'mythical character'

• Writer Michael Paulkovich has claimed that there is little evidence for a person known as Jesus existing in history
• Jesus is thought to have lived from about 7BC to 33AD in the Roman Empire
• However Paulkovich says he found little to no mention of the supposed messiah in 126 texts written in the first to third centuries [--> NB: cf the dissection of the list here]
• Only one mention of Jesus was present, in a book by Roman historian Josephus Flavius, but he says this was added by later editors
• He says this is surprising despite the ‘alleged worldwide fame’ of Jesus
• And this has led him to believe that Jesus was a 'mythical character' 

By Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline

Published: 09:59 GMT, 1 October 2014 | Updated: 10:48 GMT, 2 October 2014 

 This seems a rather strained way to avoid the evidence of four eyewitness lifetime biographies, the founding of a movement based on his life and ministry that spread across the Mediterranean world and beyond in that same period, which is the subject of a famous and archaeologically well supported history as sequel to one of the biographies and more. 

Not to mention, we may freely refer to the general consensus of relevant scholarship on one of the most significant lives ever lived, primarily based on the weight of the textual evidence and its links to the matrix of its times, backed up by the following chain of custody on the evidence:

  For just one instance, the notoriously skeptical online encyclopedia, Wikipedia is forced to make telling admissions, even as it (predictably) gives over-much weight to skeptical scholarship on the Gospels:

Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically,[f] although the quest for the historical Jesus has produced little agreement on the historical reliability of the Gospels and on how closely the biblical Jesus reflects the historical Jesus.[19] Most scholars agree that Jesus was a Jewish rabbi from Galilee who preached his message orally,[20] was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate.[21] Scholars have constructed various portraits of the historical Jesus, which often depict him as having one or more of the following roles: the leader of an apocalyptic movement, Messiah, a charismatic healer, a sage and philosopher, or an egalitarian social reformer.[22] Scholars have correlated the New Testament accounts with non-Christian historical records to arrive at an estimated chronology of Jesus' life. The most widely used calendar era in the world (abbreviated as "AD", alternatively referred to as "CE"), counts from a medieval estimate of the birth year of Jesus.

Christians believe that Jesus has a "unique significance" in the world.[23] Christian doctrines include the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin, performed miracles, founded the Church, died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to achieve atonement, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, whence he will return.[24] The great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of three persons of a Divine Trinity.

On the actual historical weight of the gospels, noted New Testament scholar Craig Evans, in the 2004 U of Calgary Benthal public lecture, sums up:

The story told in the New Testament Gospels—in contrast to the greatly embellished versions found in the Gospel of Peter and other writings— smacks of verisimilitude. The women went to the tomb to mourn privately and to perform duties fully in step with Jewish burial customs. They expected to find the body of Jesus; ideas of resurrection were the last thing on their minds. The careful attention given the temporary tomb is exactly what we should expect. Pious fiction—like that seen in the Gospel of Peter— would emphasize other things. Archaeology can neither prove nor disprove the resurrection, but it can and has shed important light on the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ death, burial, and missing corpse . . . .

Research in the historical Jesus has taken several positive steps in recent years. Archaeology, remarkable literary discoveries, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and progress in reassessing the social, economic, and political setting of first-century Palestine have been major factors. Notwithstanding the eccentricities and skepticism of the Jesus Seminar, the persistent trend in recent years is to see the Gospels as essentially reliable, especially when properly understood, and to view the historical Jesus in terms much closer to Christianity’s traditional understanding, i.e., as proclaimer of God’s rule, as understanding himself as the Lord’s anointed, and, indeed, as God’s own son, destined to rule Israel. But this does not mean that the historical Jesus that has begun to emerge in recent years is simply a throwback to the traditional portrait. The picture of Jesus that has emerged is more finely nuanced, more obviously Jewish, and in some ways more unpredictable than ever. The last word on the subject has not been written and probably never will be. Ongoing discovery and further investigation will likely force us to make further revisions as we read and read again the old Gospel stories and try to come to grips with the life of this remarkable Galilean Jew.

Where, of course, all such skepticism as we address comes up against a rock, the parting testimony of the apostle Peter as he faced unjust execution at the hands of Nero, on false accusation of leading the sect Nero held guilty of setting the AD 64 fire of Rome, in order to deflect suspicion from himself:

 2 Peter 1:¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

¹⁷ For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son,^[i] with whom I am well pleased,” ¹⁸ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹ And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, ²⁰ knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. ²¹ For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. [ESV]

 That is the confident witness of a man facing worse than mere dungeons, fire or swords, in the end because he would not recant what he was an eyewitness to, Jesus of Nazareth.

Like unto this, Paul, c. 55 AD reports the official summary testimony of the first generation Christians, credibly dating to 35 - 38 AD and steadfastly sustained in the teeth of official opposition right there on the ground in Jerusalem:

1 Cor 15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas [= Peter, Aramaic form], then to the twelve. 

⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 

⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me . . . ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. [ESV]

There are just two serious views of such:

One, an unprecedented, psychologically implausible and utterly convincing mass hallucination that includes skeptics [Jesus' own brothers (as in: he's mad, let's take him in charge . . . )] and an arch-persecuter [Saul of Tarsus]. 

Two, the witnesses are not merely sincere, but report the astonishing and world-changing truth, truth for which many peacefully surrendered their lives to dungeon, fire, sword or worse.

And ever since, millions have reported and manifested transformation of life through encounter with God in the face of Jesus in answer to prayer based on the message of the gospel.

Of which number, I count myself and a significant number of family, friends and associates.

Against such, it turns out that Mr Paulkovich seems to be a Systems Engineer who, having cherry-picked a somewhat odd list of writers, triumphantly announced his dismissive thesis to hyperskeptical circles; and we are therefore seeing a wave of me-too announcements from various skeptics with blogs or microphones.

First, we should note with Paul Barnett in his classic Is the New Testament History?, that:

On the basis of . . . non-Christian sources [i.e. Tacitus (Annals, on the fire in Rome, AD 64; written ~ AD 115), Rabbi Eliezer (~ 90's AD; cited J. Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth (London: Collier-Macmillan, 1929), p. 34), Pliny (Letters to Trajan from Bithynia, ~ AD 112), Josephus (Antiquities, ~ 90's)] it is possible to draw the following conclusions:

1. Jesus Christ was executed (by crucifixion?) in Judaea during the period where Tiberius was Emperor (AD 14 - 37) and Pontius Pilate was Governor (AD 26 - 36). [Tacitus]
2. The movement spread from Judaea to Rome. [Tacitus]
3. Jesus claimed to be God and that he would depart and return. [Eliezer]
4. His followers worshipped him as (a) god. [Pliny]
5. He was called "the Christ." [Josephus]
6. His followers were called "Christians." [Tacitus, Pliny]
7. They were numerous in Bithynia and Rome [Tacitus, Pliny]
8. It was a world-wide movement. [Eliezer]
9. His brother was James. [Josephus]

[Is the New Testament History? (London, Hodder, 1987), pp. 30 - 31. Cf. McDowell & Wilson, He Walked Among Us (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1993) for more details; free for download here.]

Second, Lee Stroebel has produced an excellent 101 level video that bears watching and pondering:

(I suggest reading here on and here on for a detailed drawing out on points.)

I also suggest the following lecture course, for a more extended survey with Dr Timothy McGrew:

PART 1: Who Wrote the Gospels?

PART 2: External Evidence for the Truth of the Gospels

PART 3: Internal Evidence for the Truth of the Gospels

PART 4: Alleged historical errors in the Gospels -- Mk and Mt

PART 5: Alleged errors -- Lk and Jn

PART 6:  Alleged contradictions

PART 7: More alleged contradictions

PART 8: The Resurrection of Jesus

BONUS: Gary Habermas on the Minimal Facts argument that shook a generation of scholars:



Yes, a mini course. Food for thought. END

1 Chron 12:32 report, 116: On the fulness of Christ vision, Wallnau's seven mountains of influence and biblical discipleship driven revival and reformation

A few days ago, my attention was drawn to Lance Wallnau's seven mountains of influence theme, which -- without endorsing all he has to say --  has in it a definite point we need to face.  

For he has definitely found a way to speak to seven commanding heights of culture that can communicate to ordinary people in a very easy to remember way. In a day when the accelerating decay of culture, church, home, school, government and civilisation all around us should give any thoughtful person sobering pause.

Accordingly . . . and not having found a good graphic elsewhere, I have pulled together an infographic that relates his thought to the discipling mandate, the Christocentric fulness theme of Eph 1 and 4, and the for R's of revival and reformation:

Now, if we wish to understand a bit more of Wallnau's thought, this video may give a flavour:



(As noted, in drawing out the seven mountains graphic and insight and setting it in the context of the fulness of Christ, discipleship and reformation, I am by no means giving a blanket endorsement. View and draw your own overall assessment. But, I believe the image and idea of seven mountains of influence is very useful.)

To go further, I wish to draw again on Schaeffer's powerful (though marred by some errors) analysis of the thought-life and energising spirit of our civilisation across the centuries since Rome:

We then see the effect of splitting our field of knowledge into an upper and a lower storey, with the life of the mind isolated from the voice of God:

That breakdown then challenges us to prophetic, godly intellectual and cultural leadership towards reformation under God, informed by a sound understanding of worldviews:

Thus, the gospel ever challenges the community to turn from sin to God in the face of Christ.

Food for thought. END

PS: Speaking of Christ, I notice where writer Michael Paulkovich has been trying to suggest that there is an absence of adequate documentation that Jesus of Nazareth rises above a myth. That of course inadvertently underscores just how powerfully challenging the gospel is to those who would rather forget the reality of God.  As a quick first answer I point him and those inclined to take him seriously, to this 101 level video:


 
I also note, from Paul Barnett's Is the New Testament History? regarding early non-Christian sources:

On the basis of . . . non-Christian sources [i.e. Tacitus (Annals, on the fire in Rome, AD 64; written ~ AD 115), Rabbi Eliezer (~ 90's AD; cited J. Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth (London: Collier-Macmillan, 1929), p. 34), Pliny (Letters to Trajan from Bithynia, ~ AD 112), Josephus (Antiquities, ~ 90's)] it is possible to draw the following conclusions:

1. Jesus Christ was executed (by crucifixion?) in Judaea during the period where Tiberius was Emperor (AD 14 - 37) and Pontius Pilate was Governor (AD 26 - 36). [Tacitus]
2. The movement spread from Judaea to Rome. [Tacitus]
3. Jesus claimed to be God and that he would depart and return. [Eliezer]
4. His followers worshipped him as (a) god. [Pliny]
5. He was called "the Christ." [Josephus]
6. His followers were called "Christians." [Tacitus, Pliny]
7. They were numerous in Bithynia and Rome [Tacitus, Pliny]
8. It was a world-wide movement. [Eliezer]
9. His brother was James. [Josephus]

[Is the New Testament History? (London, Hodder, 1987), pp. 30 - 31. Cf. McDowell & Wilson, He Walked Among Us (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1993) for more details; free for download here.]

(For more information, kindly see here on.)