January 11, 2007 @ 03:25
Powerpoint Edinburgh, the Christian youth event I am involved with attracts around 400 young people once a month.
I remember last year wanting to check the dates of this months Powerpoint, and searched the web for a bit. In the end, all I could find was Gareth’s blog. I asked Gareth and some others about this, and it turns out that Powerpoint didn’t have a website. As a budding geek, and a passionate web user for 11 years (at the time), I thought I’d offer my services to make Powerpoint a website for free.
Time passed, I had a little look at what needed doing, web software etc, and in the end, they decided to get someone else to do it. Slightly disappointed, but I understood that they might want someone outside of the team to do the site. This was in July.
Fast forward to Monday night. Was talking to a friend’s flatmate in the pub, a youthworker for a church in Edinburgh.
Her: “I spent ages last week trying to find the details for Powerpoint on the web. I just couldn’t find their site on Google, and in the end had to call someone instead.”
Me: “There is no site. It’s in development but not ready yet”
Her: “Surely they have a website?”
Me: “Nope.”
Her: “That’s surprising….”
Anyway, went home, talked to Gareth and had a think. It’s been six months since I was told they were getting someone else to do it. Someone who makes web sites for a living. I offered to get the website done for September, before my term and Powerpoint started.
It takes 5 minutes to set up a basic informational page with the times and location for Powerpoint. So Gareth and I did it. We spent about an hour, in total, and set up a page at http://powerpointedinburgh.wordpress.com, entitled “Powerpoint Edinburgh: the unoffical blog…“.
Finally, Powerpoint has a presence on the internet.
The thing that annoys me about this situation is that its fairly typical in Christian circles. Someone offers to do a job, and their timetable changes or they lose interest, so they don’t have time to do a task, in this case the Powerpoint website. Whereas in the Open Source community or in business these tasks would get delegated, they instead get clung onto, for reasons unknown to me. In business, this could happen, but people have bosses who will reassign these tasks to others. However, for an unknown reason to me, this doesn’t seem to happen in Christian circles. Maybe it’s trying to be nice to people, who knows, but it means things don’t get done, and perfectly qualified people with the time and passion for these projects (i.e. Gareth and I in this case) just get increasingly frustrated with the situation, and have to resort to setting up an “unofficial” site instead.
Thankfully, the internet is full of “unofficial” sites, frequently of better quality and more informative than the “official” site.
Perhaps we’ll step on people’s toes by doing this, but I hope not. Information that was not available before on the internet is now available, and to me, this is a good thing, regardless of motives, officiality and location. It’s 2007, and everywhere and everyone has websites, and 98% of youth today use the internet regularly. Powerpoint needed a website. It now has one.
Powerpwned.
Posted in Christianity, Software Development
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December 21, 2006 @ 03:20
Apparently this thing called “tagging” is sweeping through blogs at the moment. The word Neil used was “blogosphere”, pretty much the sole word that makes me want to stab people frantically whilst blowing up the Internet.
Anyway, apparently you’re meant to tell your blog readers 5 things they might not already know about you. Sounds a lot like a CHAIN MAIL to me, things which I loathe with a passion.
So here we go:
1) I’m currently the fattest I’ve ever been, at about 10 3/4 stones. I want to try and get the fat off and regain it in muscle, as it’s clearly due to me having only one source of regular exercise this term.
2) I first kissed a girl aged 16, which I feel is a bit of a poor show, due to being a late starter, and due to the fact all women now love me. Note, I have never kissed a boy or animal before you hilarious people make hilarious replies.
3) I became a Christian aged 17, and I’m not from a church-going family. I’ll probably stick my testimony on here at some stage, but that’s a long story for another day.
4) I once got brought in front of the year head for bulling my now flatmate, Patrick, about 8 or 9 years ago. I didn’t though, honest.
5) My favourite computer game of all time is Deus Ex. It’s available for like a fiver now, and has the best story of any game ever, and will run on any even remotely newish system. Buy it and play it now. If I know you in person, you complete it, and don’t like it, I’ll actually give you the price of the game back.
Apparently you are meant to tag some others, so I tag:
Gareth, Andrew and Dave Dickson (blog now offline).
Posted in Christianity, Computer Games, My Life
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August 30, 2006 @ 23:56
I had the real privilege of spending the week of the 12th to the 19th of August at the Altnacriche Christian centre near Aviemore, serving, with 10 other leaders and 3 cooks, a group of 44 13-18 year olds.
It was a week of ups and downs. Just before the week started, the Assistant Team Leader’s father became very ill, so he had to drop out, and my good friend Andy Brown (aka ‘Pants’, no-one knows why..) had to take over, meaning I was left with a dorm of 4 kids to myself, which I was glad about, despite the circumstances that brought it about.
Averaged about 6 hours sleep a night, so by the end of the week I was exhausted and eaten by midgies. However, this was a fantastic camp for many reasons.
The kids in my dorm were fantastic. Normally the guys sleep outside, in tents, but one of my lads had a problem with walking, so we were put inside, unlike the other 6 years I’ve spent on this camp. The guys were all Christians, and all seemed to gel well and get something out the week, and encouraged me to think as well. The Biblical program focused on Colossians, one of Paul’s Letters of the New Testament.
It was quite a lifting and emotional week for me too. I came to realise that, as some of you may have seen in person, and some of you may have seen in this blog, I have become a very cynical person, especially where Christianity is involved. Ironically, a few weeks ago I came to blows with a friend over even thinking he was judging my differing Biblical views. Last year, I stopped going to the Edinburgh University Christian Union due to theological differences. Colossians really hit home to me that this attitude is just divides Christians and makes our Christianity look a bit worse to outside observers.
I also came to realise that I shouldn’t become complacent in my faith, and the focus of my life should be on loving others, not on petty theological arguments, when, ultimately, I don’t know.
This was compounded to me when I met a male friend’s boyfriend the other day. It just really struck me that we as Christians are called to love, and that I really don’t think its my place to tell him what he is doing is wrong, even if he is, which I’m not sure any more. It seems bizarre to me that him and his boyfriend who care for each other are committing some sin by being together, when God created them with an attraction to the same sex.
Way I see it, if either of them become Christians, it’s up to them, but otherwise we are called to love, not judge. If we remember how Jesus treated others, this attitude seems to be what is required of Christians, and thats one thing we can always get better at and always improve, rather than obsessing over the details.
On that note, off to bed. More about the other few weeks banter later!
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July 21, 2006 @ 00:07
I want to clarify, as I post this, that don’t post these things to be “controversial”, as I’ve been accused of doing lately, but because my blog is a bit of a mental outpouring, and if I’ve offended anyone, I apologise, but I don’t claim anything I say to be correct or fact, simply opinions. Anyway…..
I had an interesting email conversation today, so I thought I’d paste some relevent bits, for thought and discussion. It was an email a friend sent me about the Judgement post from before, which a few people talked to me about, and I hope to indicate my thoughts and some of my intentions of the post. The quoted (>) parts are him, non quoted parts are me.
Enjoy!
==============================================
> I agree there is a tendency among some (? Many) to be legalistic. I also
> agree that I think this is because legalism is a lot easier than being
> sacrificial. As you say you can tick a box that says, “I’m not gay, I’m not
> sleeping with my girlfriend etc.” much more easily than we can tick a box
> to say, “I am loving my neighbour as myself”. This is basically the mistake
> of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They were so determined to be close to God
> (which is a good thing) that they invented rules to make sure they weren’t
> going anywhere near breaking God’s rules. In effect, they saw the speed
> limit was 40 miles an hour, so they told everyone to drive at 20 miles an
> hour just to make sure there was no chance God’s law could be broken!
That’s certainly what it feels like with some people today!
> Of course in the midst of all this they missed the very character of God.
> And that is exactly the problem: it is the character of God we are to
> emulate in all his holiness (e.g. 1 Peter 1:15-16). Every time we invent a
> rule for ourselves we are reducing God to a formula. The 10 Commandments
> are there to teach us about the character of God. In the Sermon on the
> Mount Jesus gives us an even deeper understanding of these laws, for
> example as he shows us adultery is a matter of internal thoughts not just
> external actions. The New Testament letters are concerned with the same
> standard of holiness. That is why Paul says to the Colossians that we are
> “being renewed in knowledge in the image of our creator” (3:10). In fact,
> he also says we shouldn’t be judged according to how well we do with
> certain rules (Colossians 2:16, 20-23).
> However, I also agree with a lot of Neil’s comments. When you accuse others
> of being judgemental you are yourself being judgemental! We are told to
> have a humble attitude towards one another, and particularly to those whom
> God has placed in authority above us (1 Peter 5:5). And we are also told to
> make sure we help each other to grow in godliness and keep from sin. This
> command comes from no less an authority than Jesus himself (see Matthew
> 18:15-20). So we need to learn to be thankful when people do care enough to
> challenge us on our attitudes and behaviour.
I’m not so much intending to point the figures at others, as I can equally
point them at myself, especially where I was a few years ago. I hope(d) that
the views expressed could be more of a “guys, lets sort this out” than
a “you’re all wrong”. My view on the keeping others from sin is that, yeh,
its great, but I don’t think people I hardly know are really that qualified
to comment. I have many close Christian friends who do and have tell me when
they think I’m going astray, and this, I belief, is perhaps what was
intended, to be from our friends and authority figures, e.g. our ministers,
but not just an excuse to jump in to saying things to people whose situation
you don’t understand.
I do agree that its nice that people care, however, sometimes this is
overshadowed and hard to see behind what can sometimes be quite insulting.
> (In fact if you go to www.dukestreetchurch.com you can download my sermon
> from last Sunday on that very passage if you want to get more of my
> thoughts!)
I’ll have a listen tonight, good idea, I’ve added the feed to my feed
reader 
> And the challenge for us all is to move beyond legalism to live in grace
> instead. This is the grace that teaches us to forgive as the Lord forgave
> us (Colossians 3:13), which sets us free from the rule of the law, and
> which teaches us to say “no” to all ungodliness (Titus 2:11-12). With the
> help of God’s Spirit we need to study God’s word to understand what it
> means to follow Jesus as Saviour and Lord and so to be conformed to His
> likeness. The Old Testament, the Gospels, the Letters speak with one voice
> on the character of God and what it means to be His holy people.
Amen! For me anyway, its sometimes hard to be hardline on ungodliness and
also not be legalistic, as the two frequently go hand in hand, but it’s
something I’ve been trying lately to do.
> I’m interested in your views about the New Testament letters being wise
> counsel but not authoritatively God’s word. I understand where you are
> coming from, but I wonder if you have ever thought about:
>
> 1. Why Peter and Paul introduce themselves as Apostles in almost all their
> letters (e.g. Romans 1:1, 1 Peter 1:1, in fact in all Paul’s letters apart
> from Philippians and the two to the Thessalonians)
To me, apostles are very important, as they received wisdom from God, both
through Christ and his Spirit, and this is used to indicate their authority.
> 2. What an Apostle is anyway, why did Jesus appoint them, and how this
> relates to the role of an Apostle? (e.g. Luke 6:12-16, Acts 1:15-26, 1
> Corinthians 15:8-9 , Ephesians 4:11, and Revelation 21:14)
Again, I think the Apostles were chosen to head the church and as the
ultra-ministers, as it will.
> 3. What do you make of Peter’s comments about Paul’s letters in 2 Peter
> 3:15-16?
“…Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him.” NIV
To me, this says that Paul was wise, and God gave him wisdom, but I think that
wisdom and words are different things. I’m sure God gives current ministry
wisdom too, but I think saying the letters are divinely influenced is a
different kettle of fish from saying they are the direct Word of God.
I think the letters are fantastic, and I respect them more than the words of
any other man, but to me, at the moment anyway, they are words of men,
influenced by God, but not words of God himself.
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