Thomas Whitley

Changes

Wed, 06 May 2009 13:26:26 -0400

I am in the process of migrating everything over from this tumblr blog to a wordpress blog. All of the posts have already been migrated over, but the comments did not remain. I hate this, but the best export tool I found did great, but just apparently missed the comments. Oh well.

The web address will remain the same, please bear with me, as this is a first for me.

If things go south for a day or so check thomaswhitley.tumblr.com or thomaswhitley.wordpress.com. Hopefully I’ll be up and running full steam on the new blog platform very soon.

Also, once I am, please let me know how you like it. I think the look and feel is much better and the backside functionality is much easier to use and allows for much more than tumblr does.

Thanks for reading.

Buechner on Remembering

Mon, 04 May 2009 22:22:15 -0400

I was looking for this quote the other night, but mistakenly thought it was a Bonhoeffer quote. Glad I found it. Frederick Buechner on remembering:

When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.

For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost. When I’m feeling most ghost-like, it is your remembering me that helps remind me that I actually exist. When I’m feeling sad, it’s my consolation. When I’m feeling happy, it’s part of why I feel that way. If you forget me, one of the ways I remember who I am will be gone. If you forget, part of who I am will be gone. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” the good thief said from his cross (Luke 23:42). There are perhaps no more human words in all of Scripture, no prayer we can pray so well.

P.S. Does anyone know the original source of this quote?

My new desktop background. If you can’t read the quote it...

Sat, 02 May 2009 22:17:00 -0400

My new desktop background.

If you can’t read the quote it says:

“Understanding comes from looking backwards. One day, to those who follow us and who seek to understand us by looking backwards at out lives, by God’s grace may they understand that we made peace.”

The quote is by Dan Goodman, my mentor and friend who died in January.

I took the picture during the summer of 2006 while I was in Sweden. It is the Baltic Sea and in the distance across the water is Stockholm.

P.S. Click on picture to see it larger.

Churchgoers More Likely To Support Torture

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:27:52 -0400

CNN has just posted an article about a disturbing survey that has just come out.

Survey: Support for terror suspect torture differs among the faithful

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

Sam Harrelson and I will likely talk about this on our next episode of Thinking Baptists, but I’m curious what you think about this. Is torture okay? Should Christians have a different response than “broader culture”? Is this an issue that should not even be questioned?

Read the article and respond in the comments.

30HR Famine Pictures have been posted. Click on the picture to...

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:55:19 -0400

30HR Famine Pictures have been posted. Click on the picture to see the album.

The highlight video will hopefully be posted soon.

Will Starve for Food

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:00:40 -0400

This weekend me and about 30 youth and adults from my church are going to go 30 hours without eating. Why are we doing this, you may ask and, on top of that, why am I telling you about it. I assure you that I am not telling you to bring favorable eyes upon us or to gain fame or attention for ourselves. Instead, we want to bring attention to other people and an issue that is plaguing our world: hunger and poverty.

Hunger and poverty affect our world more than we sometimes realize. More than 26,000 children under the age of 5 die every day; most of them from preventable diseases.* So, what are we really doing by not eating for 30 hours? How is that really going to help anyone else?

For the past few months our youth have been asking people to “sponsor” them while they fast for 30 hours, for at least $1/hour = $30 total. $30 will feed one child for an entire month. I spent more than that last night taking a friend out to dinner. All of the funds that we raise will go directly to helping feed children under the age of 5.

We also want to raise awareness. This awareness has to start with us. Ghandi is given credit for saying, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” While not eating for 30 hours our youth and adults participating will begin to actually feel a small percentage of what thousands of people feel on a daily basis. The second way that we will raise awareness works to raise more awareness in ourselves and in our community. On Saturday night of this weekend we are going to sleep outside in carboard boxes on the front lawn of our church. Now, I know that this is a bit cliche, but it will give our youth, most of whom have never needed anything in their lives, another tiny glimpse of what hunger and poverty can feel like. This part of our experience is not meant to belittle or make fun of those who are actually homeless (as I know many homeless people do not live in cardboard boxes, though many do), but rather to affect change in the lives of the youth and adults who will participate this weekend. Also, this will be a powerful visual to the people that drive by and most of all to our church members as they see this on the front lawn of their church when they drive in Sunday morning. It will be eye sore, for sure. That is the point.

I looked for a video to put in this post, but decided not to because all of the videos seem to have pictures of African children with their ribs protruding. While this is an important image and one that does not need to be surpressed, I think it allows us to still see hunger and poverty as a far away issue, one that doesn’t directly impact and affect us. Hunger and poverty are certainly real in Africa, but they are also real in my town: Shelby, NC.

This weekend we are taking very small steps to change our perception and to affect change in the world. We are asking of ourselves and of our church to give out of our excess (even as we are in a financial slump, we still have way more excess than most people) to help others. WorldVision’s theme for the 30 Hour Famine is “Will Starve for Food.” We are starving so that others can eat. How will you affect change and impact your world?

* Facts taken from 30HR Famine.

Paul and the Law: The New Perspective

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:41:41 -0400

Below is a paper I have written on the “New Perspective on Paul” and that I am presenting on today in class.

Enjoy and please post comments/responses. Paul and the Law: The New Perspective

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Research paul early Christianity

Copyright Update

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:30:58 -0400

I have updated my copyright statement as a response to a commenter to make it more clear. It now reads:

Please note that all original posts, as opposed to links to other news stories or sites, and any photographs I have taken myself are Copyright © 2008 - 2009 Thomas Whitley. All Rights Reserved. I fully support Fair Use, and generally have no problem with others using my photographs or re-publishing posts, but ask that you receive permission from me first and, if permission is granted, that you credit me as your source.

Disclaimer and Copyright

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:00:45 -0400

Since I have had this blog on this domain I have had a disclaimer, but have just tonight added a blurb about copyright. I have not had an experiences with copyright being abused on my site (I’m guessing my low number of visitors helps keep things this way), but know that many others have. One blog that I read on a regular basis is having to go to “members only” requiring a login to view the blog. This is ridiculous. People who steal something off of the Internet (be it pictures or information) and pass it off as their own are thieves, plain and simple. Thus, I have decided to remind you of my Disclaimer and to introduce you to my copyright blurb. Both are linked to in the sidebar and in the footer of every page.

Disclaimer:

This is a personal website. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.

In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time…I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This site is intended to provide a snapshot of a moment in time, a glimpse into the various thoughts, ideas, truths running around my brain, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not be the same, or even similar, to those I may hold today.

The information on this website is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Moreover, feel free to challenge me, disagree with me, or tell me I’m completely nuts in the comments section, but remember that I reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason whatsoever (or for no reason at all).

Please note that all original posts, as opposed to links to other news stories or sites, and any photographs I have taken myself are Copyright © 2008 - 2009 Thomas Whitley. All Rights Reserved. I fully support Fair Use, and am generally very happy for others to use my photographs or re-publish posts, but ask that people drop me a line first and give credit where credit is due.

Also, lest you think this is merely a rambling of words with no legal support, check out the facts here and here.

What Twitter "Needs"

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:17:00 -0400

I received a new follower over on Twitter (follow me here) just now and went to the person’s profile to glean from the general information on his twitter page. While I was there I had two thoughts; one I’ve had before, one I haven’t. There are two things that I “need” to make Twitter more useful for me.

Thought 1: I need some way to tell how that person found me. Was it a direct link (maybe found on my website or Facebook profile, for example)? Was it through a follower or followee of mine’s Followers/Following list? Was it through a search term? There are many ways to gain new followers and it occurs to me that I don’t know what attracts most of my followers. Now for those of you who are trying to build your following, I see that this could be especially helpful. Brands/people (which are almost the same thing these days, especially in social media) could know which keywords are most successful for them. Regular Twitter users like me (I say I’m pretty regular because I only have 125 followers and follow just a few more than that) could also (potentially) have some idea why certain people began following them and thus could begin or jump in to the conversation much more easily. I know that SocialToo attempts to help in this department, but my experience has been that it is not very helpful and it certainly does not have the capabilities that this post is asking for.

Thought 2: I need a way to who followers of mine are also following that I am following or who they are being followed by that I am also following or am being followed by. It seems to me that a feature of this nature would help to build communities all around Twitter and would only strengthen conversations and connections. I realize that this isn’t as easy as Facebook’s “Mutual Friends,” but seriously how hard can it be, especially with Twitter’s (relatively) open API.

These are very initial thoughts, obviously. Is there a tool out there that accomplishes what I am looking for that I have missed? If so, please direct me to it. If not, is this doable? Is anyone already working on this?

Would this be a helpful “tool” for anyone else?

"…hope is one of our duties. A part of our obligation to our own being and to our descendants..."

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:25:00 -0400

“…hope is one of our duties. A part of our obligation to our own being and to our descendants is to study our life and condition, searching always for the authentic underpinnings of hope.”

- Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community by Wendell Berry

Passover

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:01:57 -0400

The Jewish festival begins tonight at sunset and ends at sunset on 16 April. If you’re not familiar with Passover, it celebrates the Israelite Exodus from Egypt. Here is the basis from Exodus for the festival:

And this day shall become a memorial for you, and you shall observe it as a festival for the L-RD, for your generations, as an eternal decree shall you observe it. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove the leaven from your homes … you shall guard the unleavened bread, because on this very day I will take you out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day for your generations as an eternal decree. - Exodus 12:14-17

To any Jew that comes across this, I hope this Pesach is one of great memory and great celebration.

Shalom Aleichem!

Urgent Business Proposal

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:28:14 -0400

All my dreams can now come true. This came in to my e-mail inbox (spam-box) today:

Good Day,

My name is Mr. Song li. I work with the Hang Seng Bank Hong Kong. There is a sum of $19,500,000.00 in my bank unclaimed. There were no beneficiaries stated concerning these funds which mean no one would ever come to claim it. That is why I ask that we work together.

I do solicit for your assistance in effecting this transaction. I intend to give 30% of the total funds as compensation for your assistance. I will notify you on the full transaction on receipt of your response if interested, and I shall send you the details and necessary procedures with which to make the transfer. E-mail: song_lilepriv@yahoo.com.hk, for details

Kind Regards,
Mr. Song Li

So, if I’m silent for a while it is because I am spending this wind fall.

How I Do What I Do

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:19:53 -0400

I really enjoy reading about what others use to do what they do. Sam Harrelson has a great post on what he uses to do what he does here. So, for some while I have wanted to post about how I get things done on a day to day basis, from hardware perspective and a software perspective.

Hardware
Most of my computing is done from one computer, my laptop is a Dell Inspiron 640m. I used to use a laptop and a desktop, having the desktop for backup purposes and as a home “hub” of sorts, but that is no longer necessary. On my laptop I run Windows Vista (which I’m quite happy with) and just recently upgraded from 1GB of RAM to 2GB of RAM as well as from 120GB harddrive to a 320GB harddrive. I don’t use any other hardware with my computer, except an external harddrive. Mice, speakers, etc. just seem to get in the way and computing for me is all about being as portable as possible.

My printer is a Dell V305W. It isn’t fancy by any means, but it is All-In-One and it is wireless, which means I can print wirelessly from anywhere in my house without having to have a “base computer” to which the printer is hooked up. The added convenience and ability to have one less computer makes this a great tool for me.

Though I no longer use more than one computer, I use my 2nd generation 32GB iPod Touch with great regularity. The fact that it has wi-fi capabilities means that I can use it at home, at school (where I spend 3 days a week), and at the office. I check my e-mail on there, twitter from it, read feeds, check the weather, etc. Oh yeah, I also listen to a lot of music, and since I went with the 32GB I can actually fit it all on there.

Software
The software side of my computing is somewhat traditional in that I use Microsoft Office 2007 for everyday text, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. That is where the traditional nature of my computing experience stops, though.

The browser that I use exclusively is Google’s Chrome. The minimalist interface, along with it’s uber-impressive speed make it my favorite browser of all time. However, for those who know a bit more about browsers, tabbed browsing especially, in Chrome, each tab runs separate from the other tabs, so if one tab crashes, the whole browser doesn’t crash. Internet Explore, FireFox, Safari, etc. have still not caught on to how genius this is.

I use Evernote to remember. Evernote syncs across multiple platforms (for me web, desktop app, iPod Touch app) and easily lets me create quick text notes as reminders, lists, etc. or to take screen shots, etc. Further, Evernote is fully searchable (even searches text within images) so you don’t have to remember which note you put the web address for that couch you’ve been looking at.

I am a student working on my Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Religion, so the Bible is important to my work. For all of my Bible needs I use BibleWorks. It is extremely powerful with great search, an insane amount of translations (multiple languages as well), and great exegetical tools. It’s not as user-friendly as some other Bible software out there, but I do think it’s the most powerful. One word of caution, though, if you don’t really understand what a verb in the aorist tense means, this isn’t for you.

My picture manager and editor is Picasa. It isn’t the best picture editor in the world, but it is free and it is by Google, which means it’s super easy to upload to the web, to a blog, etc. and to access from anywhere.

I’ve been doing some podcasting lately (check out http://thinkng.fm) and use Skype to call Sam Harrelson while he records either through Skype or using Audacity.

I use DropBox and Live Mesh to sync files across the web and computers. Having access to all of my files no matter where I am is becoming increasingly important in my life.

For Twitter I use TweetDeck. It is the best application/client for Twitter I have seen yet. I would certainly not use Twitter like I do without it.

To keep everything organized I have a mac-style dock, ObjectDock. I also use Taskbar Shuffle to keep my windows in the order I like them in my taskbar, because I never open them in the order I want them, rather in the order I need them.

I use Google products for just about everything else. I use GMail for email. All of my e-mail addresses flow in and out of my main gmail account. This way i have everything in one place and am able to respond much quicker and be much more productive. I use Google Calendar as my calendar. It syncs with the native calendar on my iPod Touch as well as with my Outlook calendar (which I never open anymore, but it is the calendar that syncs with my Windows Mobile phone). Also, my wife and I can view each others’ calendars and have a good idea of what’s going on with the other when we attempt to schedule things.

I use Google Documents A LOT. I take notes for school in there as well as take quick notes. I back up Evernote with Google Docs and vice-versa a lot. Also, I can share documents with others and we can all collaborate and make changes to the document. For example, Sam Harrelson and I have a shared Google document that contains show notes for our podcast Thinking Baptists as well as ideas for future shows. I use Google Reader to keep up with all the news, blogs, etc. that I read on a regular basis. I prefer this over a desktop application for feed reading because with it all being on the web (in the cloud) it is constantly updated and changes are shown in real time.

My blog is a tumblr blog and I use Google Analytics to track stats for the site.

It is a lot, but it is how I get my work/play done on a regular basis. I hope this was somewhat enjoyable/informative for you. I had a blast putting it together.

How do you do what you do?

Saying What is Heard

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:31:18 -0400

That was the title of the final sermon by Dr. Fred Craddock at this past weekend’s CBFNC General Assembly. As I have reflected on all that I took in this past weekend I have come back to that message and a few quotes that I jotted down during it.

“Don’t let our culture dictate to you that words don’t matter.”

“The most difficult thing in the world to do, if it’s important, is to say something.”

“Nervousness is the way the body honors the seriousness of the moment.”

“Preach sermons that are not preachy.”

The usual mantra that is espoused is that any one can “talk the talk” but we must “walk the walk.” Dr. Craddock turned that around and issued a call to “talk the talk.” I am a person who isn’t talkative because I believe that words do matter, but Dr. Craddock helped me to see even further than I did on my own.

What about you? Do you give proper weight to words and language?

How do you feel about preaching sermons that aren’t preachy? That is, is a narrative sermon acceptable to you, one that sounds much more like a conversation than a traditional sermon?

Why Churches Should Twitter

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:14:39 -0400

I am in Fayetteville, NC at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina’s (CBFNC) General Assembly. One of the break out session that I went to today was “Communicating Faith in an Online World.” On the whole it was pretty good, though it was aimed more at those who were less involved in the tech/online world.

The session leader, Richard Wood, gave out a short list of resources. They are:

- Richard Wood’s website
- Digital Ethnography by Dr. Michael Wesh at Kansas State University
- Rhett Smith’s series on Formulating an Online Strategy for College Ministry (follow link and search for title)
- Your Own Personal Gutenberg by Shawn Coons & Neal Locke
- Blogging as Spiritual Discipline and Pastoral Practice by Bruce Reyes-Chow
- The Case for Facebook and Other Social Networks by Bruce Reyes-Chow

NOTE: The above resources are not endorsed by me. I am simply recreating a list of resources given to me.

The end of the session was my favorite part, though, because we talked about Twitter - what it is, how it works, how it’s helpful, etc. Myself and one other person tried our best to “teach” the others present about Twitter and it’s benefits, especially for churches/ministries.

We came up with a lot of reasons, such as how was it is for others to keep up with what you or your organization is up to, being involved in the real-time conversation and drawing in people that you may not otherwise affect (as most people on Twitter are accustomed to following people/organizations they do not actually know).

I’m curious, though, what you think. Did we miss some benefits of Twitter for churches? I know how much I love Twitter and how large of an impact I believe it can have, but what about those who are skeptical?

I’ve been absent for some while now. The picture is a...

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:42:22 -0400

I’ve been absent for some while now. The picture is a little glimpse of what I’ve been doing for the last week. Well, really just one day while I was at the Outer Banks of NC. Great trip, I’ll try to get back to updating more regularly now that I’m back.

In case you’re interested, here is a screen shot of my...

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:46:00 -0500

In case you’re interested, here is a screen shot of my desktop currently. I love the clean look and feel, especially once I figured out how to get the humongous shortcut arrows to go away and to get the text off of the icons, since I know what the icons are for anyway.

The Shins quote was inspired by Dr. Goodman, my friend and mentor who died recently. (You can read more about Dr. Goodman, his death and my response here, here, and here.

Update: If you can’t read The Shins quote it says:

“And if the old guard still offend,
They’ve got nothing left on which you depend.
So enlist every ounce of your bright blood, and off with their heads!
Jump from the hook! You’re not obliged to swallow anything you despise!”

Tomorrow is a square root day. The picture is a glimpse in to...

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:35:17 -0500

Tomorrow is a square root day. The picture is a glimpse in to how Sam Harrelson and I will be celebrating.

Updated album of snow pictures. Click on picture to go to album.

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:24:53 -0500

Updated album of snow pictures. Click on picture to go to album.