Origin of the word: Easter

Posted on April 20, 2011 by timlyg

Some people questioned if the term "Easter" was of non-christian pagan origin.

I've encountered this issue a couple of times lately. And now thanks to this article at Christianity Today, I can generally summarize the issue:

The word "Easter" is traced to old English (Eostre) and German (Ostern). It is usually referring to the month of April, Eosturmonath (Eostre Month) according to Germanic calendar.

Venerable Bede, historian and English monk of the 7th century, appears to be the only source and claim that Eostre was the name of a goddess in Norse mythology. While Professor Ronald Hutton, 20th century British historian, intreprets the ancient term as "The Month of Opening".

The 1611 KJV Bible uses "Easter" in Acts 12:4 while other versions (NKJV, MKJV, NASB, NIV, etc.) use "passover". Original term being Pascha (Greek) or Pesach פסח in Hebrew.

Conclusion:

There's no ground even for Bede supporters or Christian attackers to say that the celebration of Easter Sunday is of pagan origin. It doesn't even share the same cause with the origins of other Pagan-Christian festivals such as Christmas or Halloween.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

nepotism

Posted on April 19, 2011 by timlyg

Following a news on ticket fixing by NYPD, I learned this:

Nepotism: Abusing power in favoritism for relatives and close friends.

I'd say nepotism is used more than just the police force. I personally know of a Becky Sergeant who once worked at a financial aid office (Ouachita Baptist University - OBU) who only gave her service to citizen students, if not just those of non-minority, despite the fact that foreign students were given much more restriction to the fund during my time but not entirely cut off from it. For which I'd say she committed nepotism. And Possibly racism.

Posted in News, Vocabularies | 1 Comment

Scordatura

Posted on April 18, 2011 by timlyg

Scordatura - cross tuning for string instruments. So that certain notes sequence can be possible.

Posted in Vocabularies | Leave a comment

File Overwrite Problem and Mystery

Posted on April 18, 2011 by timlyg

Solution: Delete those files.

Are they corrupted? After a recent virus attack, I've noticed some programs have problem loading due to certain files under My Documents folder. I am not sure if the files are corrupted. I ended up having to delete those files pertaining to the programs. And then the programs loaded fine, creating new My Documents files.

I wonder why wouldn't the files be overwritten. Perhaps it's using the principle of "if file exist...use current (corrupted) file."

I should open one of these "corrupted" files in someway and see how "corrupted" they really are.

 

Thus far, problem programs are e-sword, opened fine but with blank error dialog boxes until problem fixed by removing the private study notes files under My Documents. The other program is Readiris, scanning completed but error: Internal DRS error: 1800:c0:120" etc. couldn't save to document file. Removed pertaining file under My Documents, including previously saved scanned file, problem solved.

Some virus.

Posted in Questions, Technical | Leave a comment

Singing Lies

Posted on April 15, 2011 by timlyg

Last year at my church's retreat, I heard a phrase that I put in my heart, by minister David Tong, son of Dr. Stephen Tong, as he preached to the youth of 11 people.

I have just came across one of Paul Washer's sermon which led me to the source of the quote:

"Christians don't tell lies they just go to church and sing them." - A. W. Tozer

-------------------

Interesting excerpt from the same recording of Paul Washer, as he talked about not allowing others to steal our inheritance:

Jehovah's Witness knocks on my door, I open the door and they said, "We're Jehovah's Witnesses.",


I said, "Well come on in...So am I!"...

Posted in Reflection | Leave a comment

Saturnalia

Posted on April 13, 2011 by timlyg

Ancient Roman Ceremony (festival for Saturn, father of Jupiter) which some said to have contributed to the gift exchange idea of Christmas.

Source: Wikipedia under Gift Giving

Posted in Vocabularies | 1 Comment

Journal/Left Over Transfer

Posted on April 13, 2011 by timlyg

I recently come across a note I have...perhaps meant for this year's church's GENG magazine. Too late, I've submitted another one, a dialogue on Judging and Praise.

But I'll put these notes here so I can throw my notes away:

1.  今天教會常進口人才，不是培養人才。

2. Wisdom/Gift is not limited to youth/young people, but is for those with the fear of God.

 

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Guilt-John Owen

Posted on April 13, 2011 by timlyg

Via John MacArthur,

'...Part of the process of true mortification or the killing of sin is working through the issue of guilt. If you want to know where in your life sin hasn't been dealt with, just listen to your conscience. That's very contrary, by the way, to the popular wisdom of our day. The popular wisdom of our day is very different. Listen to what John Owen wrote, "If you want to kill sin, load your conscience with the guilt of it." Wow! Most people today would tell you to run from guilt. John Owen said load your conscience with guilt. He believed the pangs of guilt were a natural and healthy consequence of wrong doing. Be ashamed, he wrote, be greatly ashamed for he saw shame as an advantage....'

Sourced from John Owen's Mortifying Sin:

'...Load your conscience with the guilt of it. Not only
consider that it has a guilt, but load your conscience with the guilt of its actual
eruptions and disturbances...'

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Mind Reading

Posted on April 12, 2011 by timlyg

Reading into someone's thought via their mails and messages is something I have not done for a while...perhaps I was just too distracted.

Posted in Reflection | Leave a comment

Homeless Problem in America

Posted on April 11, 2011 by timlyg

I supposed 37% increase in NYC of 2010 is true. However, as much as they love to blame the city, the mayor, I could also see it is not the problem of funding but the high demand of aid to overcome indolence.

I can assure this as I've encountered recent case where two could have extramarital affair on company clock hour.

Thus, it is a theological problem.

Posted in News | Leave a comment