This chart (download in PDF format) depicts the seven ceremonial sabbaths of Leviticus 23, which were part of the various Jewish feasts, and shows how they were fulfilled (the antitypes) in the New Testament era.
Here is a mini-view of the chart. (The PDF version is much larger, designed to print on 11 x 17 inch paper.)
Church conflicts — whether over doctrines, matters of lifestyle, or policies — are often described as conflicts between “conservatives” and “liberals.” Given the Bible’s call to unity, this factioning of the church should be cause for concern.
The factioning of the church into conservative and liberal camps is a fascinating process. To the casual observer, it may seem that the many specific points of contention between the two camps are over unrelated issues. For example, what does a theological position on the human nature of Christ have to do with the length of women’s dresses? Though both are conservative positions, a studious observer would find little direct relationship between the points. Indeed, there are many who freely hold to only one or the other of those two points, and see no contradiction in doing so. Yet despite widespread exceptions over specific points, there is a noticeable polarization. Something draws church members towards either of these two groups, each representing a collection of diverse issues. In the end, people tend to adopt a collection of related ideas and practices, which could be classed as either liberal or conservative. Put another way, people who hold doctrinal views deemed conservative also tend to adopt conservative lifestyle choices and policies. Those who favor liberal church policies tend toward liberal theological and lifestyle stances. Of course, individually people tend to take various exceptions to their party platform.
There is nothing like attending a class, taking a trip to another country, or buying professional software to help you learn a language. But sometimes you have to settle for what is cheap or free.
Here are some free resources I’ve been using lately. Read the rest of this entry »
Note: This technique creates not merely a 3D-like globe, but an actual stereoscopic image when viewed with 3D red and blue glasses.
Using surface textures from NASA and a bump map from another online source, I created a fully rotatable, 3D globe of the Earth in Photoshop CS4 Extended. It can be viewed or lighted from any direction. There is also a separate cloud layer I can turn on, edit, and move around. My master file is a very large image (6000 × 6000 pixels), more than ample to fill a full spread at 300 ppi.
Back in January 2003, I read this intriguing article in World magazine, ”Scholarly legends” by Gene Edward Veith (access requires payment for non-subscribers), in which the author compares a few common errors about history to contemporary so-called “urban legends.”
I had the good sense to clip it from the magazine and file it, and just recently found it again. It deals with three specific legends that have circulated in the scholarly world and washed over into popular culture: Read the rest of this entry »
