Where did the human races come from?

According to the Bible, all humans on earth today are descended from Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, and before that from Adam and Eve (Genesis 1-11). But today we have many different groups, often called "races," with what seem to be greatly differing features. The most obvious of these is skin color. Many see this as a reason to doubt the Bible's record of history. They believe that the various groups could have arisen only by evolving separately over tens of thousands of years. However, as we shall see, this does not follow from the biological evidence.

The Bible tells us how the population that descended from Noah's family had one language and by living in one place were disobeying God's command to "fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1, 11:4). God confused their language, causing a break-up of the population into smaller groups which scattered over the earth (Genesis 11:8-9). Modern genetics show how, following such a break-up of a population, variations in skin color, for example, can develop in only a few generations. There is good evidence that the various people groups we have today have not been separated for huge periods of time.¹

Read more at ChristianAnswers.net

What Do We Mean by Sola Scriptura?

by Dr. W. Robert Godfrey

There are two main issues that divide Protestant Catholics from Roman Catholics. Both groups claim to be catholic, that is, part of the apostolic, universal church of Jesus Christ. Roman Catholics believe we Protestants departed from that church in the sixteenth century. Protestant Catholics believe they departed earlier.

The theme of this opening chapter is one of the issues that still divides us: the source of religious truth for the people of God. (The other main issue, that of how a man is made right with God, has been dealt with in the book Justification by Faith ALONE!, published by Soli Deo Gloria in 1995.) As Protestants we maintain that the Scripture alone is our authority. Our Roman opponents maintain that the Scripture by itself is insufficient as the authority of the people of God, and that tradition and the teaching authority of the church must be added to the Scripture.

This is a solemn topic. This is no time for games. We must be searching for the truth. God has declared that whoever adds to or takes away from His Word is subject to His curse. The Roman church has declared that we Protestants are accursed (“anathematized”) for taking away the Word of God as found in tradition. We Protestants have declared that the Roman church is a false church for adding human traditions to the Word of God. Despite sincere debates by fine apologists over the course of nearly 500 years, the differences remain basically as they were in the sixteenth century. I will not say much new here, but we must continue to pursue the truth.

In spite of the difficulty of this undertaking, I am eager to join that historic train of Protestant apologists to defend the doctrine that the Scripture alone is our ultimate religious authority. I believe that it can be shown that this position is the clear position of Scripture itself. And I hope that, by the grace of God, those committed to the Roman doctrine of tradition will come to see the tragic error of denigrating the sufficiency and perspicuity of God’s own inspired Word.

Read more at The Highway

Five things you should know before hooking up your wireless network

Let's face it, wireless networking is everywhere and, in most cases, it is insecure and out of control. To the average household user, they assume that it should always "just work" and just "be secure". To IT Pros like you and I, we know that while wireless networking has become a fact of life, it will always be a source of concern. So, the next time your boss asks you to put up a new wireless network, I hope that you will take pause and consider the 5 things you will learn about wireless in this article.

Read more at Petri IT Knowledgebase

Music and Sound Effects in Horror Films
by John Hübinette

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of films in general (and horror films in particular), is the soundscape. It is quite easy to forget that the fear factor of almost any horror film would decrease dramatically (if not completely vanish) if the auditory features were removed or altered to something not befitting a horror film. This might sound a huge exaggeration, but it is most definitely not. All you have to do is turn down the volume on your TV during a dramatic scene in a horror film to realize the enormously important role that well-composed music and striking sound effects play in creating a complete and truly frightening horror film experience.

I have a great interest in sound and music. Composing has been one of my hobbies for several years now and I have recorded sound effects and composed music for non-commercial computer games. In this essay I will focus on describing the structure, purpose and style of horror film music and sound effects.

Read more at Monsters - Who, What and How

Reports: You should have no trouble finding IT work
Posted by Deb Perelman @ 9:44 am

The employment situation in the U.S. may be shaky right now, but techies are on stable ground, find two new reports.

Though the national unemployment rate was 5.5 percent last month, the NACCB (National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses), a trade association representing IT staffing firms and solution-providers, reported this week that U.S. IT employment was at an all-time high in June, or 3,907,800 strong.

Culled from Bureau of Labor Statistics listings of IT-related jobs, the NACCB found that U.S. businesses have added almost 90,000 techies to their payrolls in 2008–while the national workforce lost 438,000 jobs. Coming off a lackluster 2006 and 2007, NACCB CEO Mark Roberts praised the “continued resilience of IT employment.”

Read more at ZDNet Careers

Win the ‘Battle of the Bulge’

By Kendrick Go

Since time immemorial, women have been engaged in the “Battle of the Bulge,” the quest for that perfect trim figure has led women to try out all sorts of ways to shed those excess pounds. Methods like taking diet pills, starving themselves with diets, tiring themselves out in the gym and just going under the knife, women have been obsessing for a way to slim down.

Unfortunately, most of these methods are either boring (working out lifting all those weights), expensive (liposuction, thermage) or just downright dangerous (diet pills and extreme diets). So one would think, why bother slimming down, right? But in a society that prizes beauty and physical perfection, looking good is not only a nice thing. It is a necessity.

That is why those who would like to lose weight in a safe, interesting and enjoyable way should try dodgeball.

Read more at Manilatimes.net

Poll: Family Ties Key to Youth Happiness

AP/MTV Poll: Happiness for America's Young People Often Means Family Ties, Faith, Belonging

By JOCELYN NOVECK

The Associated Press

NEW YORK

So you're between the ages of 13 and 24. What makes you happy? A worried, weary parent might imagine the answer to sound something like this: Sex, drugs, a little rock 'n' roll. Maybe some cash, or at least the car keys. Turns out the real answer is quite different. Spending time with family was the top answer to that open-ended question, according to an extensive survey more than 100 questions asked of 1,280 people ages 13-24 conducted by The Associated Press and MTV on the nature of happiness among America's young people.

Read more at All Pro Dad

A taste of Ultimate Frisbee
INQUIRER.net 05/20/08
Posted under Sport, Ultimate Frisbee, Videos By Erika Tapalla


I HAVE to admit, for the longest time, the first image that usually enters my head whenever I see a Frisbee would be a topless stud flicking the disc to his beautiful golden retriever named Lassie, trained to, yes, “retrieve” that disc for a rewarding rub on the head on a warm day out in the park. But recently, I realized that image was completely off for two reasons. One: the Frisbee, or “disc” as they call it, isn’t just for the Lassies and their masters. And two: It actually takes skill to catch those plastic discs as they soar and trick you as to which direction they’re actually headed. Believe it or not, it’s not as charming as it looks. I should know.

Read more at Inquire.net Blogs

It takes a village…
MOMMY TALK By Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

When I was growing up, my mother taught me how to differentiate people by observing them during times of trial and victory in life. She said that it is during those times that I will be able to determine their genuine character. I know she’s right because as I have observed, difficult times allow a person to strive and overcome his hurdles in life by either losing control of himself or gathering his composure and striving hard to surmount his difficulties. In times of victory, a person may either turn out to be self-centered, which can be self-destructive, or thankful for his blessings that he then pursues to help others as he climbs up the ladder of success.

Read more at Philstar.com Mommy Talk

Thinking Biblically About... Abortion
by J. David Hoke

In 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States legalized abortion. Since that time, more than thirty million unborn children have had their lives snuffed out. This is sixteen times the total number of Americans lost in all of our nation’s wars combined. Every day, more than 5,000 unborn lives are aborted in their mother’s wombs.

Today, abortion is legal in all 50 states right up until the time of birth. As we speak, the "Freedom of Choice Act" is now before Congress, which if passed would permit no limits on the killing of unborn babies.

To say that abortion is a controversy is a gross understatement. That people are polarized with this issue is painfully evident. The abortion war has finally begun to live up to its name, sadly, but predictably escalating from hostile words to violent actions. In this year alone, we have seen two abortion doctors shot — one killed. Others are regularly hauled off to jail as they protest in front of clinics. It divides our country.

What can we do? What should we do? With all the rhetoric and slogans surrounding us, what are we to think? Is abortion a moral issue, or just a matter of personal preference? Are there any real answers, or is the issue so confusing that we ought to simply ignore it?

Abortion is certainly one issue about which we need to think biblically. If we do not, we will easily fall prey to the convoluted thinking of our society. Society, however, is not God and has a rather poor record attempting to function in that role. There is no doubt that there are many in society who would like to make their will supreme. If we would preserve truth, we must not let them. We must declare truth based upon God’s Word. Frances Shaeffer said, "If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute." Unless we boldly speak the truth based upon God’s Word, we will be guilty of giving aid to society in its endeavor to become the supreme arbiter of truth.

Read more at Sermons by J. David Hoke

Sola Scriptura

Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran Church and father of the Protestant Reformation, was publicly rebuking the Catholic Church for its unbiblical teachings. The Catholic Church threatened Martin Luther with excommunication (and death) if he did not recant. Martin Luther's reply was, "Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or by the clearest reasoning, - unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, - and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the Word of God, I cannot and will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me! Amen!"

Read more at gotQuestions.org

The World’s Easiest Guide To Understanding Retirement Accounts
by Ramit Sethi

I want to be clear about something: I’m sincerely interested in doing less and less work as I go through my life. That’s why I’m always puzzled when I meet people on a career path that will have them working more, not less. That’s like being a real-life Mario Brother, where every progressive level you beat means your life gets harder. Why would you do it?

This is why retirement accounts are one of the best investment tools I’ll write about on this site. I’ll go into the details in a minute, but first let’s dispense with some of the reasons that most of us haven’t done anything about our retirement accounts yet:

• “Retirement is too far away”
• “I don’t have any extra money to save right now”
• “I don’t have time right now
• ” ” (haven’t thought about it at all)

Read more at I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Why Evangelicals are Returning to Rome
The Abandonment of Sola Scriptura as a Formal Principle
By Bob DeWaay

The February 2008 edition of Christianity Today ran a cover story about evangelicals looking to the ancient Roman Catholic Church in order to find beliefs and practices.¹ What was shocking about the article was that both the author of the article and the senior managing editor of CT claim that this trip back to Rome is a good thing. Says Mark Galli the editor, “While the ancient church has captivated the evangelical imagination for some time, it hasn’t been until recently that it’s become an accepted fixture of the evangelical landscape. And this is for the good.”² Chris Armstrong, the author of the article who promotes the trip back to the ancient church, claims that because the movement is led by such persons as “Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, and living and practicing monks and nuns,” that therefore, “they are receiving good guidance on this road from wise teachers.” This he claims shows that, “Christ is guiding the process.”³

Read more at Critical Issues Commentary

Here’s how I set up my financial accounts
by Ramit Sethi

Ok today I’m going to break down how I’ve structured my bank accounts. If only that sounded cooler. Anyway, I have 3 main accounts:

Read more at I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Cook at home, you lazy bastard
by Ramit Sethi

Every time I do a summer internship, I lose my mind and start eating out every day. Then about halfway through the summer, I realize I have no money saved up, only fond memories of that taco truck down the street.


Read more at I Will Teach You To Be Rich

The fool sees only foolishness in God's wisdom

"He who trusts in his own heart is a fool...." Proverbs 28:26

"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, 'He catches the wise in their own craftiness'; and again, 'The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.'" 1 Corinthians 3:19-20

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools..." Romans 1:20-22

Read more at Kjos Ministries

Pharaoh's chariots found in Red Sea?
'Physical evidence' of ancient Exodus prompting new look at Old Testament
By Joe Kovacs
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

One of the most famous stories of the Bible is God's parting of the Red Sea to save the Israelites from the Egyptian army and the subsequent drowning of soldiers and horses in hot pursuit.

But is there evidence that such an event did in fact happen – and if so, precisely where did it take place?

The issue is surfacing some 3,500 years after the event is said to have taken place with reports of Egyptian chariot wheels found in the Red Sea, photographs to document it and new books by scientists that could lead to a whole remapping of the Exodus route and a fresh look at ancient biblical accounts.

Read more at World Net Daily

Help for Workaholics
By: Robert Shannon

Are You At Risk for Workaholism?

When I was assigned the topic of workaholism for this column, I knew immediately who to turn to. My close friend just happens to be a successful senior executive for a Bay Area consulting firm. He's also a consummate workaholic and one of the savviest professionals I know.

"It's how you get ahead that matters," he says. "Working late, putting in the extra time, getting things done, making a difference. It's the quickest way to the top."

For this story, he prefers to remain anonymous. Let's call him "Steve". Despite all Steve's career and financial success, I wouldn't trade places with him. To me, the cost of all that achievement is too high, and the work/life balance is-to put it mildly-out of whack.

Read more at All Pro Dad

75 Skills Every Men Should Be Able to Do
Written By Tom Chiarella

A man can be expert in nothing, but he must be practiced in many things. Skills. You don’t have to master them all at once. You simply have to collect and develop a certain number of skills as the years tick by. People count on you to come through. That’s why you need these, to start.

Read more at bspcn.com

16 awesome image editing tools

Written by Aviary

One of the most fantastic things about building a suite of tools around a community, instead of the other way around, is that users are always willing to pitch in and help out others with tutorials and forum assistance. It’s our plan to build our applications with a very deep set of community tools, built around forums, wiki-documentation, chat, user-made tutorials and sharable workspaces.

Aviary super star Meowza has already begun paving the way with more than a dozen “photo-phixing” tutorials for other users of Phoenix. Got a specific question on how to make a technique in Phoenix? Ask and ye shall receive.

Read more at bscpn.com