Llais Ifanc Reloaded

Saturday, March 27, 2004

Sell Yourself...Just Cash in!

Recently a British college student, deeply in debt, decided to sell her virginity over the web for £8,400. While I do not agree with this act, I feel this was the wrong way to relive her debt. What happened to working off debt? This is sadly an easy and risky way out. There is another thing that troubles me about this story. Most of the news stories (such as News of the World) have emphasized the fact the student is a lesbian. I feel this does not matter. Would the media have flaunted the fact the student was [insert favorite adjective here]? I don't know.

In the end, this story proves to me that people sell themselves out when the going gets rough. Sad, sad, indeed.

It's Only Natural!

If you see typos or clumsy sentences in the blog, don't flame me. Spelling and grammar were not my best subject in school.

Friday, March 26, 2004

News about the Good News

Yestersday, I sent an e-mail to the British and Foreign Bible Society about my experence with the Good News Bible. I am reproducing it here for people to read:


I was first exposed to the Good News Bible was about 11 years ago. At the time, I was not a believer. I was simply a young guy living life. I had Bibles (four Authorised Version, one NIV, one Living Bible). To me, the Bible was just one more interesting book on the shelf to read. That was until a family trip I took in late 1993. During the trip, I stayed at a family members house. At that house they had a box of Good News Bibles. They gave me one to read during my stay. Reading the GNB made me realize that the Bible was a special book and not just one more book on the shelf. Because of the GNB, I started to read the Bible more. A year later, I became a Christian. A few months after my salvation, I got a copy of the GNB. To this day, I value it and cherish the GNB.


Enjoy!

And then there were five...

Thursday night, I tuned into The Apprentice. I have watched the series since it debuted in January. For those who have pulled a Van Winkle or have been under the proverbial rock, the premise of the show is the quest of Donald Trump in search of a person who will work for a year for 250,000 USD. Last night's episode took the six remaining contestants to Atlantic City, were the six remaining candidates were asked to lure gamblers into the casino to see who could get the most people and money. The Protege team had a interesting strategy of having a wheel of prizes while the Versacorp team had a bad strategy of giving away a car rental, but not the car itself. In the end, Protege won, getting less people, but more money. Katrina [Campins] was the sacrificial lamb. It was about time she got fired. I don't like people who pass the buck. It's the mark of a weak team member and leader.

More next week...

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Here We Go Again

Last year, Thomas Nelson published a special edition of the New Testament called Revolve, which was aimed at teenage girls. A month or so ago, I had the chance to thumb though a copy of Revolve. I found a volume that was unbalanced, crass, and dim towards the Bible. I wrote a review of Revolve on Amazon, if you wish to read more. Now Thomas Nelson is up to the same trick with Refuel, a New Testament for teenage guys. According to Thomas Nelson, Refuel will be "Part sports or entertainment magazine, part Bible" and "totally relevant!" Will someone pease tell me how mixing the best features of a girly mag and SI will bring people to the Bible? [Insert Deity Here] only knows.

In closing, I will be closely looking at Refuel. With Revolve's track record, I am not hopeful.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

It's About Time!

Today the supreme court took up the case of a California atheist who claims the Pledge of Allegiance is, to quote The Guardian, "an unconstitutional government promotion of religion in his daughter's third-grade classroom."

He's right. I find that "under God" (as refered to in the Pledge) is divisive. To me, it's an outdated bat that is used to beat non-Christians over the head with. Think about it. According to Wikipedia:


In 1954...Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan sponsored a bill to amend the pledge to include the words under God, to distinguish the U.S. from the officially atheist Soviet Union...


It's clear from the above that even in 1954, the phrase "under God" was used as a divisive device.

Before anyone flames me, I am a Christan. I have been one for about 10 years now. In contrast to some, I try to live by and think rationally about the teaching of Jesus and of the Bible in general.

America is a growing, diverse country. Let's celebrate it instead of divisive phrases like this one.

I'm back on the Bandwagon!

I'm trying this blog thing again. Four years ago, I had a blog titled Llais Ifanc, Welsh for young voice. (The blog was hosted here on Blogger.) Sadly, I was never able to keep the blog updated. I hope I can reverse this course.