The Anti-Counterfeiting Craft Harmony (ACTA), is a multinational concordat as a replacement for the effect of establishing cosmopolitan standards in support of intellect property rights enforcement. The concordat aims to enact an international permitted framework for targeting forged goods, generic medicines and copyright contravention on the Internet, and would spawn a immature governing body pretence existing forums, such as the
Government & Public Responsibility According to a fairly recent report published by the Center for Responsive Politics, nearly half of congress are millionaires and their wealth has steadily increased over the years, despite the struggling economy. This reality may be attributed, at least in part, to the fact that law makers in congress have access to legal insider trading and
Article by Love Hope Faith Ministries. The original and many other quality articles can be read there. For breaking Christian News you can visit this link (http://www.lhfministries.com/lhf-breaking-news.html). Today, the world’s three major Bible ministries, working alongside leading Christian philanthropists, announced the launch of Every Tribe Every Nation (ETEN), a ministry alliance that will open Bible access for more than six
Dust Off The Bible Christian Social Network Provides a Family Safe Online Social Alternative to Facebook That is not Cheesy or Boring. Have you joined any of the new Christian social networks? If you have you will notice how much they lack any real features and are hard to use. Most seems to be the equivalent of a C or even D-class
The Anti-Counterfeiting Craft Harmony (ACTA), is a multinational concordat as a replacement for the effect of establishing cosmopolitan standards in support of intellect property rights enforcement. The concordat aims to enact an international permitted framework for targeting forged goods, generic medicines and copyright contravention on the Internet, and would spawn a immature governing body pretence existing forums, such as the Cosmos Trade Codifying, the The human race Highbrow Estate Organization, or the Shared Nations.
The concurrence was signed in October 2011 via Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and the Synergistic States. In 2012, Mexico, the European Union and 22 countries which are fellow states of the European Marriage signed as well. No signatory has ratified (formally approved) the concordat, which would light on into force after ratification next to six countries. After passage into operative, the treaty would only apply in those countries that ratified it.
Supporters have described the bargain as a response to “the on the rise in extensive trade of artificial goods and pirated copyright protected works”. Trades Unions representing workers in the music, murkiness and TV industries and broad intellect property-based organizations such as the Submission Picture Fellowship of America and Pharmaceutical Delve into and Manufacturers of America were busy in the deal”s development.
Opponents rumour the council adversely affects sine qua non rights including freedom of symbol and privacy.
ACTA has also been criticised by Doctors Without Borders seeking endangering access to medicines in developing countries. The affair essence of negotiations has excluded civil society groups, developing countries and the sweeping worldwide from the concordat”s parleying process and it has been described as policy laundering close critics including the Electronic Extremes Founding and the Pastime Consumers Association.
The signature of the EU and profuse of its colleague states resulted in the acclimatization in disapproval of the European Parliament”s appointed chief investigator, rapporteur Kader Arif, as marvellously as widespread protests across Europe. In 2012 the newly-appointed rapporteur, British MEP David Martin, recommended against the pact, stating: “The intended benefits of this supranational agreement are undoubtedly outweighed by means of the potential threats to lay liberties”. On 4 July 2012, the European Parliament rejected ACTA in plenary period, with 478 voting against the entente, 39 in regard and 165 MEPs abstaining.
Government & Public Responsibility
According to a fairly recent report published by the Center for Responsive Politics, nearly half of congress are millionaires and their wealth has steadily increased over the years, despite the struggling economy. This reality may be attributed, at least in part, to the fact that law makers in congress have access to legal insider trading and are beneficiaries of many other questionable perks often available to high ranking civil servants. Now more than ever there seems to be a real growing disparity between congress and their constituents. This disconnect is fueling a feeling of apathy among the average American who feels their elected representatives are simply out of touch with their economic plight.
Society’s faith in government to establish and uphold laws and policies that will improve the lives of the average citizen continues to decrease while public scandals, political posturing, broken promises and deceptive, politically-driven speeches continue to become increasingly normative. A significant majority of US citizens have developed an adversity to the ever expanding role of government into the affairs of men.
There’s little disputing that the massive financial fraud and political corruption on Wall Street and Washington have contributed a large part to the economic mess that we are currently dealing with. Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a society where corporate greed, public associations, private banking institutions deemed to big too fail, labor unions, governmental controls, campaign contributions and inside information didn’t dictate the fate of a struggling majority.
However, I believe the greatest threat to our liberty and long-term prosperity is actually the decline of personal responsibility. If you don’t believe social and moral decay is at the heart of our nation’s decline then it’s time to take a moment and look at the big picture and understand that this is something that affects everyone….poor, rich, middle-class….this is a human nature problem and we are all accountable.
We need to put our agendas, our grievances and even our adversities aside and take back our personal obligations. There is an ever growing list of social and moral problems that have contributed to the creation and (seemingly never ending) expansion of government run entitlement programs. Just think how different our country would look if these principles achieved wide spread national prominence: traditional values, honesty and integrity in our vocations, intact nuclear families, food/drink moderation, abstaining from harmful substances/sexual activities and a mutual love and respect for our fellow man and their possessions.
We need a spiritual wake-up call. A great awakening. A reversal from the moral and cultural course we find ourselves. A failure to collectively uphold our responsibilities will lead to a further decline of physical, emotional, economic, and spiritual vitality throughout the nation and throughout the world. We must stand our ground before its too late.
Article by Love Hope Faith Ministries. The original and many other quality articles can be read there. For breaking Christian News you can visit this link (http://www.lhfministries.com/lhf-breaking-news.html).
Today, the world’s three major Bible ministries, working alongside leading Christian philanthropists, announced the launch of Every Tribe Every Nation (ETEN), a ministry alliance that will open Bible access for more than six billion people across the globe. Leveraging the leading-edge technologies of The Digital Bible Library, hundreds of Scripture translations are currently available. More than 1,000 additional language translations will be ready for digital deployment in the next year and will reach over 2,000 in the next five years.
More than 1.2 billion people worldwide have no access to the Bible in their heart language and there are currently 2,000 languages that have no Scripture translation efforts underway. These sobering statistics shine a light on the reality of “Bible poverty” and the tremendous need to develop innovative new approaches to translation, distribution and evangelism. It is in response to this need, and with the aim of eradicating Bible poverty, that ETEN is now launched.
Biblica, Wycliffe Bible Translators USA and American Bible Society, which together, with their international partners, account for 90 percent of the Bible translations in the world, formed ETEN to catapult Bible ministry into a new digital age. The centerpiece of ETEN’s effort is the mobilization of The Digital Bible Library, operated by the United Bible Societies, which will serve as the world’s definitive digital Scripture repository. Through The Digital Bible Library, Scripture texts are standardized, digitized, centralized and accredited. By drawing texts into one easy-to-access location, The Digital Bible Library will make Scriptures readily accessible to Christian organizations, ministries and missionaries, enabling them to share God’s Word with those they serve in languages and formats these communities can engage. The Digital Bible Library will provide licensees the ability to access content from their mobile devices in a variety of formats, including audio, video, apps, websites, and print on demand.
The Digital Bible Library will unleash God’s Word for millions of believers, making it accessible on a multitude of digital platforms. We invite other Scripture text ministries to join us at Wycliffe along with our friends at Biblica and American Bible Society in making their texts available through The Digital Bible Library so that access and engagement with God’s Word can increase exponentially,” said Bob Creson, President/CEO of Wycliffe Bible Translators. “Just as Gutenberg’s printing press ushered in a whole new era for Bible distribution in the 1400s, Every Tribe Every Nation is on the cusp of another ‘Gutenberg moment.’”
Dr. R. Lamar Vest, President and CEO of the American Bible Society, added: There is a kairos moment when the activities of Scripture engagement and the breakthrough in technology meet for an extraordinary result. For all the work of our 200 years of Bible Society mission, I believe we are about to see the history of Bible outreach rewritten.”
The Digital Bible Library offers a universal format for ease of publishing, ministry access, and digital rights management, while employing a technology platform that combines usability, security, quality control and standardization. ETEN is an alliance focused on leveraging the resources of its ministry partners to enable access to texts for current and future frontline ministries around the globe. ETEN’s funds will directly support projects that complete language translations and digitize Scripture, further accelerating access to God’s Word for millions of people.
Every Tribe Every Nation is committed to leading the effort to quickly and efficiently add more Scripture texts to The Digital Bible Library so that ministries around the world can access the Bible for their kingdom work,” said Doug Lockhart, President and CEO of Biblica. This library is the key to unleashing ministry opportunities from South America to Asia. Because of the rapid expansion of the web, social networks and mobile technology, more opportunities for spreading God’s Word arise every month. We must work quickly to take advantage of these new ‘roads’ into places where people desperately need more than just food and water. They need to hear the Words of Life.”
One of the first Digital Bible Library is YouVersion, a Bible app that has been downloaded onto nearly 70 million devices. Since the app’s 2008 launch, users have spent more than 31 billion minutes reading the Bible on YouVersion.
The biggest challenge YouVersion has faced to date has been gaining quick and efficient access to translations. What used to take a significant amount of effort and time, often several months, now can be accomplished in a matter of minutes as a result of having access to The Digital Bible Library to pull text from,” said Bobby Gruenewald, founder of YouVersion. YouVersion is just one example of an organization benefitting from the work of Every Tribe Every Nation as part of our work to increase Bible access and engagement for today’s generation.”
Another early benefactor of The Digital Bible Library is BibleSearch (bibles.org), which draws most of its 235 translations from the library for free display on its dedicated website.
The vision for ETEN was first cast by Oklahoma City-based businessman and philanthropist, Mart Green. Green’s family owns retailer Hobby Lobby, and Green is the founder of Mardel Christian and Educational Supply, a 35-store chain. Mart’s global travels showed him the void that exists in the areas of Bible translation and engagement, and highlighted the opportunity to leverage today’s technology to meet these needs. He also recognized that the challenge was too great for any single person or organization to address. As a result, he called on the leading Bible ministries to join him in a first-of-its-kind collaborative effort with a unified mission: to provide God’s Word in everyone’s heart language in a format that they can engage with so their lives may be transformed.
God put the issue of Bible poverty on my heart in a significant way, and He opened many doors to make this ministry alliance a reality,” said Green. “Prior to the formation of Every Tribe Every Nation, Bible ministries were often working in silos. While they were making important progress in their individual efforts, it was clear that an opportunity existed for greater collaboration to more rapidly advance their individual efforts. The goal of Every Tribe Every Nation is to mobilize the necessary leadership and financial resources across our alliance partners so that by 2033, every tribe and every nation in the world has access to God’s Word in their heart language.”
ABOUT EVERY TRIBE EVERY NATION
ETEN is an alliance between Christian ministries and donors partnering to accelerate engagement in God’s Word for anyone, anywhere, anytime, in a language and form they know best. ETEN Ministry Alliance partners include the world’s major, most experienced Scripture providers, as well as leading Christian philanthropists. The ETEN Ministry Alliance seeks to mobilize the necessary leadership and financial resources across its alliance partners so that by 2033, every tribe and every nation has digital access to God’s Word in their heart language.
Central to ETEN is The Digital Bible Library, the definitive, collaborative inter-ministry digital Scripture repository, owned and operated by the United Bible Societies on behalf of the Alliance. Through The Digital Bible Library, digitized Scripture becomes accessible to qualified ministries for sharing God’s Word with communities and individuals in a language and format that they can engage with, so their lives may be transformed. ETEN ministry “cardholders” (such as YouVersion and BibleSearch) deliver translations via apps, websites, and print on demand. The Word goes right where it’s needed — all while protecting intellectual property rights.www.everytribeeverynation.org
Dust Off The Bible Christian Social Network Provides a Family Safe Online Social Alternative to Facebook That is not Cheesy or Boring.
Have you joined any of the new Christian social networks? If you have you will notice how much they lack any real features and are hard to use. Most seems to be the equivalent of a C or even D-class movies on the web. But not http://dustoffthebible.com
Dust off the Bible is a site full of features, such as video chatting, custom chat rooms and personal profiles, embed your favorite videos from nearly any video site, play awesome flash games and even create profiles for your band or products. If you have a christian product to market, you can sell it right from your profile.
Bottom line, Dust off the Bible Christian Social Network is THE Christian alternative to facebook and myspace.
Here are some important links.
President Obama and Mitt Romney are locked in a tightening race for the White House with just 150 days to go before Election Day.
Polls show the two dead even nationally, with Obama enjoying perhaps a slight edge in the dozen or so swing states that will decide the contest.
Yet the president’s reelection hopes have been dimmed by a dismal few weeks capped by a bleak jobs report and the president’s own gaffe on Friday at a hastily arranged press conference where he said the private sector is “doing fine.”
Read the rest of the article HERE.
So here is the DOTB question of the day……
What is the Christian political party? Some have argued that the republicans are the obvious choice because they embody the freedom that Christ preached…as well as a right to life. They are for less government control and believing in the private sector.
Dems on the other hand give much more attention to “the least of these,” and they are much more concerned with social concerns…..as was Christ. But at what point does one party out weigh the other? Are they both equally eligible for Christians to participate in?
In preparation for our L.A. Pride Festival this weekend, the team putting together the materials for our Diocese of Los Angeles booth at the festival came up with the following ten “frequently asked questions about God, Jesus, the Bible and gay people” — and asked me to give them my best shot. And so I did.
Have I mentioned lately that I love my job?
1. Is being gay a sin? (YES! Romans 1:26-chapter, 1 Cor 6:9, 1 Tim 1:9-10)
No. Sins are acts that separate us from God and keep us from loving our neighbors as ourselves. Being gay is not a sin. Bullying is a sin. Being hateful to other people is a sin. Putting yourself in the place of God to judge others is a sin. Being gay is not.
2. What did Jesus say about gay people? (This may be true but he also said “go and sin no more”)
Jesus said the same thing about gay people as he said about all people: God loves you beyond your wildest imagining and calls you to walk in love with God and with each other. He also said a whole lot about loving your neighbor, welcoming the stranger, embracing the outcast and ministering to the marginalized.
3. Does the Bible really condemn homosexuality? (Refer to link above. Author bypasses any real exegesis and offers a poor suggestion)
The short answer is no; no it does not. The handful of passages in the Old and New Testaments that talk about God condemning specific sexual acts have nothing whatsoever to do with sexual orientation and everything to do with contexts such as cultic prostitution or gang rape. To put it another way, using the Bible as a handbook on human sexuality makes as much sense as using it as a handbook on astronomy. Just as those who wrote the Biblical texts had no concept of the science that would prove the earth actually revolves around the sun, so they had no concept of homosexuality (which wasn’t defined until the 19th century.)
4. How do I respond when people say “God hates “f–s”? (God does not hate fags….but he does desire for them to not live in sin)
First of all, God’s nature is to love, not to hate. We believe that what God cares about is not our sexual orientation but our theological orientation — and that the question that matters is not “who do you love?” but “do you love?” Recognizing that homophobia causes some folks to project onto God their own fears, prejudices and biases against LGBT people, sometimes the best response is simply no response. It can be a challenge, but getting triggered by hate-mongers prevents us from being the change we want to see.
5. I thought gay men and women weren’t allowed to be priests?
The Episcopal Church has been ordaining women to the priesthood since 1974 and we have women deacons, priests and bishops throughout the church — including two women bishops here in the Diocese of Los Angeles. When it comes to gay men in the priesthood, the issue is not homosexuality — it is honesty. The church has ordained gay men for centuries but finally the Episcopal Church added “sexual orientation” in the non-discrimination list in 1994 — ending our version of “don’t ask/don’t tell.” Because the Episcopal Church allows for diversity of practice, the leadership of “out” LGBT and women clergy is more prevalent in some places than others. But the Diocese of Los Angeles is proud to have been in the forefront of inclusion.
6. Can I still receive Communion in your church if I am gay?
Of course you can. In many of our churches you will hear a variation on the invitation “whoever you are and wherever you find yourself on the journey of faith there is a place for you here.” God’s love is radically inclusive and so is the Episcopal Church.
7. Despite what is happening legislatively, can my partner and I be married in the Episcopal Church yet?
The only accurate answer to this question is “that depends.” It depends on which diocese you’re in and whether you’re in a state that has civil marriage equality. For example, New York State is a marriage equality state. In four of the six dioceses clergy can both solemnize and bless a civil marriage and in one of them clergy can bless but not solemnize (a judge or justice of the peace has to do the civil marriage part). Here in Los Angeles clergy both blessed and solemnized same-sex marriages in 2008 when it was legal and our bishops have been in the forefront of working to overturn Prop 8 and get marriage equality back. As Facebook might put it: “it’s complicated.”
8. What do I tell people when they say being gay is a sin and a choice? (Being gay is sometimes a choice and sometimes it seems a lot more like a genetic tendency, but we are all born with the propensity to sin; that is what makes being human so hard. That is why we need Jesus.)
Tell them that Jesus said absolutely nothing about being gay but he said a lot of things about judging other people. Then tell them that while there is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay, or lesbian orientation there IS consensus that sexuality is a continuum. So the “choice” is not to be gay, straight or somewhere in between — the “choice” is to build our own healthy relationships … and give other people the grace to build theirs.
9. Should I try to “pray away the gay?” (Pray that God can deliver you from every sin. Being gay isn’t the worst sin in the world, but it is still a sin…..but then again so is speeding).
No. If you need to pray away something, pray away homophobia. Homosexuality doesn’t need healing. Homophobia does.
10. How do I respond when politicians condemn my sexuality, citing their belief in the Bible? (Applaud)
Remind them that the First Amendment protects them in believing whatever they want to about what God does or does not bless but it also prohibits them from using those beliefs to decide who the Constitution protects or doesn’t protect. Tell them to stop confusing their theology with our democracy. And then campaign for and donate to their opponent in the next election cycle.
By Walter Tunis — Contributing Music Writer
Elizabeth Cook and Tim Carroll
7 p.m. June 8 at Cosmic Charlie’s, 388 Woodland Ave. $10. (859) 309-9499. Cosmic-charlies.com.
There’s nothing like a blast of gospel to fortify one’s self and soul for the weekend. Mind you, Florida-born country stylist Elizabeth Cook is not what you could exactly call a church singer.
After all, her 2010 album Welder — a record that boasted help from Americana/country greats Buddy Miller, Dwight Yoakam and Rodney Crowell — earned a modest amount of radio notoriety for the song Heroin Addict Sister.
But the record that brings Cook and her high-register country wail back to Lexington is a spirited seven-song EP disc titled Gospel Plow. Due out Tuesday, the record is pure, electric, roots-country fun, from Cook’s fervent singing over a backdrop of banjo and Waco Brothers-flavored guitar twang on Hear Jerusalem Calling to the lovingly rocking, Loretta Lynn-esque slant of Every Humble Knee Must Bow.
Gospel Plow was inspired equally by the life and loss of Cook’s father and the Sunday mornings she spent as a youth at Sunset Park Church of God in Sumter County, Fla. It was there, as the singer’s bio material explains, “people wept, passed out, spoke in tongues, got healed or pretended to or felt like they had. The ’70s post-modern faux stained glass pulsed with soul-stirring music for sometimes two to three hours before the sermon even started.”
Cook performs an early show Friday night at Cosmic Charlie’s in a trio with husband Tim Carrolland former Midnight Oil bassist Bones Hillman. Carroll will perform an opening set.
That is the last sentence in an article by CNN’s John Blake exploring the religious themes in horror novelist Stephen King’s books.
“… I hate organized religion. I think it’s one of the roots of real evil that’s in the world,” Blake quotes King as saying in a 1988 interview with Janet C. Beaulieu on his latest book at the time, “The Dark Tower.”
But King describes himself as a Christian, according to his website –– and Blake says “he was raised as a ‘hard-nosed’ Methodist taught to believe in the Antichrist.”
Why, then, would King infiltrate his horror novels with hidden lessons from the Bible and Jesus Christ? Blake says the best way to “understand King’s faith is not through his words, but through his stories.”
Take “The Green Mile,” for instance, a 1996 King novel adapted into a movie in 1999. The story is about a gentle giant, John Coffey –– Blake points out the J.C. reference –– who is facing the death penalty for a murder he didn’t commit. While serving time on death row, the larger-than-life inmate quietly goes out of his way to help his friends and what should be his foes. Eventually, he is put to death via the electric chair.
According to Blake, the death of John Coffey echoes a common theme throughout the Bible: God can be cruel. After all, God sent his only son to be sacrificed for the sins of humanity. The Bible itself is a story of floods, sacrifice, blood and death.
Blake quotes the Rev. Paul F.M. Zahl, a retired Episcopal priest who has written about King’s religious tones for Christianity Today magazine. One line from “The Green Mile” that struck Zahl:
“Yet this same God sacrificed John Coffey, who tried only to do good in his blind way, as savagely as an Old Testament prophet ever sacrificed a defenseless lamb… If it happens, God lets it happen, and when we say, ‘I don’t understand,’ God replies, ‘I don’t care.’”
Zahl refers to one side of God “whose eye is on the sparrow”; the all-loving, all-knowing God that roots for human kind, always. And then there’s another side of God, says Zahl. The “Holy Other, incomprehensible,” writes Blake, “the one who allowed Job to suffer.”
“Good horror examines the struggle between good and evil,” Blake quotes J.M. Rawbone as saying. Rawbone is an English horror novelist who has also written about King’s religious themes.
“People tend to think that Stephen King is anti-religious because he is a horror writer, but that’s completely mistaken,” says Zahl.
Week in Religion
- June 6, 548, this was the last year the Church in Jerusalem observed the birth of Jesus on this date. (Celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 began in the late 300s in the Western Church.)
- June 7, 1941, in England, the four-day Anglican gathering known as the Malvern Conference opened. It was presided over by Archbishop William Temple.
- June 8, 1954, the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio was formed, representing 39 Southern Baptist churches in that state.
– William D. Blake, Almanac of the Christian Church
Good Book?
“Winning Balance: What I’ve Learned So Far about Love, Faith and Living Your Dreams” by Shawn Johnson
Twenty-year-old American gymnast Shawn Johnson is a four-time Olympic gold and silver medalist; a national- and world-champion athlete. Shawn is no stranger to hard work and adversity. Her loss of the major gymnastics prize everyone expected her to win in Beijing, the all-around Olympic gold medal, was the loss of a dream she’d worked for since childhood. And later, she suffered a potentially career-ending injury in a skiing accident that forced her life to a halt and made her rethink what was really important. She wasn’t sure who she was anymore. She wasn’t sure what her goals were. And she wasn’t sure she was satisfied with where she was with her faith and God.
– Tyndale House Publishers
Quote of the week
“A Christian is a person who has the possibility of innumerable new starts.” — Francis Schaeffer, American Presbyterian apologist