Jesux is a Bad Pun 339
Lots and lots of Slashdot readers have either sent in this ZDNet article or a direct link to the Jesux homepage." It's a hoax, folks. Think: if you were a Christian believer, would you name your Linux distribution something so close to "Jesus Sucks?" The concept isn't even original; variations on this theme have been floating around the Net for years because of Unix and its "kills" and "aborts" and "daemons."
Next you'll be saying... (Score:5)
Curious (Score:2)
I think their intent to change the names of system calls such as 'abort' pretty much singles this out as a hoax.
-josh
Re:2 or 3 decades of the net??? (Score:2)
How about a distro called Penix? (Score:3)
I have been at work too long
Phew! Good things there's Slashdot.... (Score:1)
Where did this joke originate? (Score:1)
----------
Looks like a hoax. (Score:3)
If anything, it might be a parody put forth -- a crude dual joke on both those who actually care about or respect religion, and reporters who don't check out the facts.
Lucifux (Score:4)
Kill referenced in every man page.
Killall referenced in every man page.
Random thread kills. Threads scream in pain when killed.
Suicide replaces old shutdown command.
Anal probe replaces ping.
All threads given daemon privaleges.
Sporadically downloads and plays Marilyn Manson mp3's.
CD-ROM drive spins backwards.
Pornographic links hardcoded into Lynx, the only true fundamentalist browser.
Software written by heterosexuals or women will only be permitted if they are sent email informing them of their transgressions against pleasure. Mastrubration is a form of pennance.
Ok, we're all satisfied. I'm going to hell. No doubt about it. But I bed a DAMNED someone out there got a chuckle out of this parody! Extremism with extremism never works, the exception being when one extreme is humour.
The Good Thing ... (Score:2)
The good thing about Linux is that there is interest in the Christian community in using and evangelizing it to their followers. Here's an article [gospelcom.net] in Christian Computing magazine. I suppose they may even discuss this Jesux issue at some future time. And, may be we'll get their take on this matter--is it hoax or is it fact?
I personally don't see the need for a Christian Linux distribution. I have always felt uneasy about that daemon looking BSD mascot. So, the sooner that's replaced with something else, the better!
worth a few laughs (Score:1)
I think the biggest laugh I got came when I learned that ZDNet was treating it as a serious news story [zdnet.com].
GPL & Clustering (Score:2)
1) The obligatory licencing quip:
Isn't in violation of the GPL to release Red Hat's distro, with changes, under this new license?
2) The obligatory cluster comment:
Man, those would make a fine Beowolf cluster
Amen
Re:The Good Thing ... (Score:2)
The christian version of a 'daemon' is not that shared by other religions (in particular, satanism). Why should Linux kowtow to any certain faith?
Forget it. The daemon stays.
- Darchmare
- Axis Mutatis, http://www.axismutatis.net
hmm. (Score:1)
from the another-reason-to-dump-Linux-for-freeBSD dept.
Lucix - the anti-Jesux (Score:3)
-mike kania
Re:Looks like a hoax. (Score:1)
Re:GPL & Clustering (Score:1)
just wondering (no offense to anyone) exactly how many religious "christian hackers" are there?
----- --- - - -
Re:The Good Thing ... (Score:5)
Linda Branagan is an expert on daemons. She has a T-shirt that sports the daemon in tennis shoes that appears on the cover of the 4.3BSD manuals and The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX Operating System by S. Leffler, M. McKusick, M. Karels, J. Quarterman, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, MA 1989.
She tells the following story about wearing the 4.3BSD daemon T-shirt:
Last week I walked into a local ``home style cookin' restaurant/watering hole'' in Texas to pick up a take-out order. I spoke briefly to the waitress behind the counter, who told me my order would be done in a few minutes.
So, while I was busy gazing at the farm implements hanging on the walls, I was approached by two ``natives.'' These guys might just be the original Texas rednecks.
I put on my biggest, brightest Dallas Cowboys cheerleader smile and said, ``No, I'm positive. The closest I've ever come to Satanism is watching Geraldo.''
I was this close to slapping one of them and causing a scene--then I stopped and noticed the shirt I happened to be wearing that day. Sure enough, it had a picture of a small, devilish-looking creature that has for some time now been associated with a certain operating system. In this particular representation, the creature was wearing sneakers.
These idiots sounded terrifyingly serious.
I figured that an ATM machine was about as much technology as these guys could handle, and I knew that if I so much as uttered the word ``UNIX'' I would only make things worse.
Somewhere along the line here, the waitress noticed my predicament--but these guys probably outweighed her by 600 pounds, so all she did was look at me sympathetically and run off into the kitchen.
Fortunately, the waitress returned that very instant with my order, and they agreed that it would be okay for me to actually pay for my food before I left. While I was at the cash register, they amused themselves by talking to each other.
They escorted me to the door. I tried one last time:
Big, big, big mistake. I should have guessed at what came next.
Another big boo-boo.
I decided that it was time to jump ship.
Edited and converted to HTML by Dan Bornstein, danfuzz@milk.com.
Re:Next you'll be saying... (Score:1)
Re:Looks like a hoax. (Score:1)
ZDNet doesn't want to admit its mistake (Score:2)
Hoax? As I wrote in the article, I wasn't sure. I'm still not. I've been given 'proofs' that it's a hoax, but none of them stand up.
This guy lists his occupation as "Cyber Cynic".
I feel really stupid for this, but... can someone please explain the humor in chmod accepting hex modes? I just don't get it, and that's frustrating me. Maybe I'll find some caffeine and think about it again.
Company's web page??? (Score:2)
I think I'll recommend that as a cost-cutting measure at the next company meeting. ``Say boss, I think that outsourcing our company's web page is not cost-effective. Look at all those places where you can get a web page for free!''
Here comes that promotion!
Re:The Good Thing ... (Score:2)
A decent hoax. (Score:1)
A decent hoax. (Score:1)
Speaking of wondering, though, what if it isn't a hoax? Most of the changes wouldn't be too hard (other than changing kill &c) but again, the prominent lack of existing holy E themes should be a clue.
Hard to say.
Penix = Peecee Unix (Score:1)
If any of them knew there were using somebody else's Penix, then would immediately throw it out a man would only use his own.
Don't forget to set up automount when you give your penix to a girl so that it will happen on demand w/o needing to go through the procedure.
Re:ZDNet doesn't want to admit its mistake (Score:2)
Re:2 or 3 decades of the net??? (Score:1)
Anyway, I think the name "Jesux" probably wouldn't be used if it were legitmate. On the other hand, they could have just made a bad choice, not noticing that it could be rendered as "Jesus sux". I've seen dumber mistakes than that.
I actually don't care if it is a joke or not. I mean, what will it change, whether or not it is real? Will we get any less of a laugh out of it either way? Will it change Linux significantly? Even if it is a hoax, that does not preclude people from taking some of its ideas and making a real "Jesux" distribution (with a better name
Computers and Morality (Score:4)
And is it sin to view porn on the internet? Is that akin to adultery for those who are married? And is saying His name in vain into xterm wrong? what if you said it in a shell script with an infinite loop?
Is worshipping RMS^H^H^HUnix against the First Commandment?
I am mostly serious about this. I have never thought that religion and computers have anything to do with each other. But you never know. Anyone know of a way to sin using a computer?
Whatever the answer, the Ten Commandments are long overdue for a revision.
Note: I am not trying to be sacro-religious either. I don't mean to offend anyone, it is just my curiousity gets the best of me.
--
Re:Penix? I'll call your bluff! (Score:2)
of penix.com, and you create the web site and distribution. It's up to you, but I suggest:
"Loosely based on the BFD distribution",
"Comes with the book 'Penix Unzipped'",
"Available as an embedded system",
Including utilities like: finger, head, man,
mount, tail, touch, and uptime.
Supports frontpage, hard links, ports, and sockets, of course.
Well you asked for it - get to work
Host (Score:1)
I dunno... (Score:1)
..that one was kind of cute. At least it made me stop and think. The rest of the joke blew, mind you, but that was cute.
Jesux.com (Score:1)
Found that quite amusing... ya' think someone did that just in CASE Jesux is real?
Hehe....
If Christians have nothing to hide... (Score:2)
Waiting for Jesux release version 2 (Score:5)
:)
Re:Computers and Morality (Score:2)
That's akin to asking if anyone knows of a way to sin using a car. The instrument doesn't sin, the operator sins. If you fornicate in a car, it's not the car's fault but it was intimately involved in the commission of the sin. Computers are tools. The sin is in the use of the tool in an improper manner (like installing NT).
JESUX.COM (Score:2)
Satan's Minions (JESUX2-DOM)
330 Washington Blvd Suite 602
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
US
I am gonna lookup for lucifux and penix next. If you guys have nothing better to do, I suggest you sign up these domain names fast!
Hasdi
Homophobic? (Score:1)
But I don't think this goes far enough to describe how many alternatives would have to be found to classic RedHat (or SuSE or Debian or FreeBSD or DR-DOS or Novell or NT or etc) for the strictly homophobic Christian Coalition [cc.org] supporter to ensure that they aren't using homo-authored/contributed material. I would also like to encourage the Jesux maintainers to pre-configure squidGaurd to ensure that the homo-contributed sections of Apache are never indirectly used by locking out any site which claims to be using Apache in the HTTP header. I have the nessary modifications available but I have questioned my own sexuality a couple times so to ensure the purity of Jesux squidGaurd configuration someone more blessed should make the offical modification. It also states on the list of feature that the Emacs "doctor" has been modified to do "pastor" which is a great feature. But since Emacs is distributed from the FSF with such material as "sex.6" and "condem.6", I would request that the Jesux distribution find an altertive to Emacs/Elisp to run "pastor." I belive the authors of Common Lisp walk the straight and narrow, possibly pastor can be executed by their hevenily enviroment.
Re:ZDNet doesn't want to admit its mistake (Score:2)
So xtians don't have to type in '666' when setting file attributes.
BSD Daemon (Score:1)
If I remember correctly, Linux has a fat, happy penguin as a mascot. FreeBSD has a fat, happy, "daemon" as a mascot.
Now, I know, when I'm wearing my black cape and black make-up, whilst walking around with a severed goat-head on my back is when God-Groupies come up to me and ask "Are you saved?" (and every time, I hold up my horned hand and yell "Yes!")
And this is what strikes me as odd...
Wouldn't the Christians want to assimilate the BSD-ers into the "flock" because of the "demonic" logo? I mean Chu.., er, Beastie seems happy enough. Maybe that's just because he's happy about the amount of souls he's just harvested.
Damn, me and my big mouth. Now, in a week, we'll see pointers to the new FreeG.O.D. O/S. What have I done?
Re:hmm. (Score:1)
They forgot these (Score:5)
kernel periodically sends GOSPEL messages, which appear on all ttys by default
alias burn-at-stake='rpm -e --force --nodeps'
functions of root now split into 3 accounts
Biblical quotes in /etc/issue, /etc/issue.net, /etc/motd, and similar places
xearth replaced by xheaven and xhell
random numbers a a form of gambling, so /dev/random and /dev/urandom are symlinked to /dev/zero
CGAN -- Christian Gospel Anti-heretic Network
serpents are sinful; python will not ship default with distribution, neither will anaconda be used as the installer
no way. (Score:2)
Is Beowolf... (Score:1)
Good grief! (Score:1)
For those of you who think this isn't a hoax, you should check out my new distro, "Geosux". It's basically Linux, but it wants nothing to do with obnoxious pop-up HTML frames.
---
Re:The Good Thing ... (Score:1)
These ignorant yokels, of course, wouldn't understand this, being uninformed, stupid, unthinking sheeple, and any amount of explanation wouldn't help any because they would have immediately labelled the original author as a satanist and therefore anything she says would instantly might as well be direct from Satan himself.
I hate sheeple.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Consider the Source (Score:2)
Does anything even need to be said?
Re:no way. (Score:2)
Re:Waiting for Jesux release version 2 (+1 funny) (Score:1)
heh... (Score:1)
The CSPL is based on the (Daemon-mascotted) BSD license?
Please.
Another good one! (Score:1)
"Hex" in context (Score:1)
In literary geeky contexts, "hex" works in 2 ways: "Hex" by itself means a curse in witchcraft. However, using "hex" as a short form of "hexadecimal" (sp?) means the number system based on the number 6 (base 6 perhaps? Math fails me at the moment), just as our everyday number system is based on the number 10. In the Bible, the number 6 is representative of humans (I believe the reason is because humans are the sixth thing created), just as 7 is perfection. The last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation (also known as the Revelation of John or the Apocalypse of John), a creature called the Beast (it's a vision, remember) who does Satan's dirty work is given the representative number 666, and anyone who wants to get in good with the Beast has to have that number on their forehead or hand in order to do business, and so on (the vision is not terribly specific further to that). It's been suggested that the triple six relates directly to humans, especially considering the notion from the book of Genesis that humans are intrinsically evil because they ate what God told them not to eat and were thrown out of the Garden of Eden. So, therefore, 666 would be the ultimate expression of evil and disobedience to God. (Actually, this is largely my way of trying to make sense of it, feel free to offer a more Orthodox interpretation.)
So, I guess this is a round about way of explaining that some Christians, attempting to read the modern world into the Bible, feel that computers are evil because they can be programmed/modified/whatever using a system based on the number six, which has evil apocalyptic connotations.
Hope this helps.......Glenn
Re:Computers and Morality (Score:1)
Looking upon a woman with lust is adultery according to a quote attributed to Jesus in Gospels that are considered the Word of God.
So, looking at porn on the 'Net is okay, as long as you don't get aroused by it. Otherwise, it's adultery -- a crime punishable (like murder) in the Old Testament and in the time of Jesus by death.
In short, according to the Word of God as accepted by Christians, looking at one nudie pic for the erotic thrill is as equally deserving/undeserving of the death penalty as murdering someone by slow torture.
I know I'm taking this too seriously, but... (Score:2)
When I refer to a micro-distribution, I mean one of the many little "distributions" floating around that are really just a set of patches to a major (macro?) distribution. These micro-distros generally serve to make an existing distro more useful to a particular group of people: for example, the blind, Russians, Christians, Windows refugees, etc. What's wrong with that? Isn't Linux all about having choices? If there's demand for a particular (serious) micro-distro, then let it be. Not every distro aims at every user.
Disclaimer for the humor-impaired: the hoax in question is not what I consider a serious micro-distro. But it's the idea that counts here.
Bah, I really need a sense of humor.
Re:Next you'll be saying... (Score:1)
Re:How about a distro called Penix? (Score:1)
Interesting (Score:1)
I think it's interesting that the majority of comments here are anti-christian rather than anti ZDnet for printing a rediculous story. Anyone with half an ounce of common sense can tell immediately that this is a joke. But the ZDnet article reports it as fact getting all your undies in a bunch.
Speaking as a rather devout Christian, I have no problem with any of the Unix slang/terminology. You're putting too much focus on the minority of Christians.
Steve
Tux's Prayer (Score:2)
It's funny. If you haven't seen it yet, take a look.
Re:Penix? I'll call your bluff! (Score:1)
For example:
cat penis
finger penis
touch penis
grep penis
unzip penis
rm penis
Think of a few yourself, and you'll realise just how versatile penii are... I mean, how versatile Unix is.
Somewhat funny, but... (Score:1)
I wish you would have resisted.
Re:ZDNet doesn't want to admit its mistake (Score:2)
0x01B6 = 438 base 10 = 666 base 8 aka octal
chmod xxx file uses xxx as an octal argument.
I must admit, that one was nice.
Re:ZDNet doesn't want to admit its mistake (Score:1)
Re:Gay Renaiscance Artists (Score:2)
Re:Gay Renaiscance Artists (Score:1)
Ewwww...incest
Buttlix is already taken (Score:1)
Re:GPL & Clustering (Score:1)
Re:The Good Thing ... (Score:1)
Re:Jesux (Score:1)
Re:The Good Thing ... (Score:1)
Christian fundamentalists tend to be stupid, bigoted, and don't know what they're talking about
Luckily, you yourself have no irrational prejudices. :P
(And have the balls to call yourself an atheist, if you're going to be so uppity.)
Re:Next you'll be saying... (Score:1)
Don't forget unIX, the new anti-UN*X from Microsoft!
What can we get you to buy today?®
Hahahaha ! (Score:1)
I knew something was up when I read, among other "clauses" in the "Jesux" (pronounced as "Hay Soos" distribution, is that thou shalt not use it on Sundays.
And I immediately filed a report to Rob, and our dear Robby had to gone through several days of searching in reaching the conclusion that it's all a hoax.
Hahahahaha !! I've had some fun !
Re:Next you'll be saying... (Score:1)
Re:Penix? I'll call your bluff! (Score:1)
Being a geek can be a lonely existance, after all.
- Darchmare
- Axis Mutatis, http://www.axismutatis.net
Re:The Good Thing ... (Score:1)
Well, I was going to say about the same thing - I was just trying to be nice.
- Darchmare
- Axis Mutatis, http://www.axismutatis.net
Re:Computers and Morality (Score:1)
Re:Interesting (Score:1)
Christian Hackers? Let your light shine! (Score:3)
hmm...I wonder if ChristianHackers.org is registered yet? (yikes! It IS registered!!!)
Other modifications (Score:5)
fsck(8) -- becomes know(8), as in the biblical sense: "And the user did know(8) his partition, and thus begat lost+found."
gcc(1) -- becomes jhc(1). "JHC, how much longer is this compile going to take?!?!" (Must be asked sincerely to avoid blasphemy.)
more(1) -- wholly (pardon the pun) replaced with less(1), the opposite of more, because it is selfish to want more.
true(1) -- can only return a value of 0.
expect -- replaced with "prophesize", a lesser known subset of tcl.
C++ programs are now said to be abject-oriented, as they will only compile and run after sufficient subjugation and hours of blood-soaked sweat inducing prayer (which is not entirely unique to this distribution).
Christmas -- is always referred to as Xmas (see
guile -- is an immoral trait, and thus is removed from the distribution.
help -- available to all unsaved souls who ask. See also: save, gideon.
nice(1) -- applied to all user functions, because Jesux brothers should all be nice to one another.
/etc/HOSTNAME -- renamed to
MySQL(1) -- is now HisSQL(1), because after all, He created it, and all of us who use it, and it is His. Sinners on the system are relegated to TransGresSQL, PostGres' replacement.
nslookup(8) -- replaced with nsbowyourheads(8).
and finally...
root -- becomes God, obviously. "God, root, what is difference?" -- Pitr 0:0
Whether these were funny or not, I blame it all on the Mountain Dew.
--
Hoax or not, there's a point here... (Score:2)
I mean, after all, why not bundle these things together? Is there any such service already existing for Linux? I'm sure there is for WinX if not for the Mac. While I personally wouldn't be using it, I'd be thrilled if something vaguely along these lines marketed itself as a service to the more (small o) orthodox Christians who might be considering Linux. I mean, like it or not, Christians of strong faith make up a huge percentage of the US population; we have the largest number of Sunday-church-attenders per capita in the world.
So basically, I guess I'm just saying, don't automatically assume it's a hoax. Is it so stunning that a geek could be Christian? I mean, really. And the same people who would find the above services useful are perfectly capable of being amused by chmod's extra functionality, or the occasional amusing extra link to kill---I remember in my early UNIX-using days getting the biggest kick out of setting up funny symlinks. Christians can have a sense of humour, too. :)
Oh, and as for the CSPL: why not? They won't be relicensing old code, just new code; and they would just be taking advantage of the same viral properties as the GPL folks are (though to different ends).
Final note: nothing in the entire feature list indicated that there would be any features disabled. The extra features of the distribution could be used or not used according to the wishes of the owner. They wouldn't even remove hardly anything---just a couple games, which of course could be re-downloaded if desired. A hoax this may well be, but it is neither obvious nor provable from the information they've given on the website.
A proposal: the Slashdot Media Dunce Award. (Score:4)
What this would accomplish would be to institutionalize the capacity of Slashdot to review and respond to mainstream media articles, in a way that does not involve floods of email flames toward the Dunce Cap candidate.
The reason I am advocating this is shown well by
[forbes.com]
this Forbes story. This can harness Slashdot's vitriol to good use: whipping the media into shape. There could be a poll with every story (weighted by
Allright, enough punting. Back to work.
Re:Other modifications (Score:3)
su(1) -- replaced by deify(1)
init replaced by creation
rc files will be reorganized from rc1.d to rc7.d. rc7.d must be empty, as no work may be performed at that run level.
apache -- the heathen web server is replaced by pilgrim
Re:A decent hoax. (Score:2)
Two lines of kernel code per file system. And that's with the patch done "right" (e.g., having root-like powers over your children's files don't give you similar privileges over your spouse's files.)
I don't think this particular patch is useful, but it gave me ideas for an unusually crippled UID that can only read its own files - it can't even read 0777 files that it doesn't own. This might be useful for network daemons - even if you trick them into sending
Re:..strange (Score:2)
I don't know, personally most Christians in the know I've meet supported encryption. Though mainly because they get a kick out of overthrowing governments (can't blame them) and encyption is a powerful tool in this effort.
geeks.forchrist.org (Score:2)
Don't be alarmed - Jesus warned that the world would hate us and Paul told us to consider it pure joy when we are persecuted for our faith. Satan has a lot of people here by the you-know-what...
Re:Computers and Morality (Score:2)
Yup.
Romans 3:10-26 [gospelcom.net] (bold by me) :
That, in a nutshell, is Christianity. Nobody is perfect, and God requires Perfection for someone to earn their way into Heaven. It is only by God's grace that those who have faith in Christ will be saved.
Re: devil as a mascot ... (Score:2)
Are you telling me that people in Texas have never heard of the Arizona State University Sun Devils [thesundevils.com]?
Re:Christian Hackers? Let your light shine! (Score:2)
This is not to say that our ministry is based on our deep-seated love for Linux, just that computing is a very important part of academics at GaTech and so it is a topic everyone is aware of...
And, when you're not fiddling with re-installing your OS or restoring from a crash, you have more time to pray and discuss the love of Christ.
Debian (Score:2)
Re:Computers and Morality (Score:2)
The reason there is no difference is that Sin is not so much about a set of rules that thou shalt obey, but rather about the state of your heart. Man is not sinful because he sins, but sins because he is sinful.
When you view pornography, online or not, you are acting out of the sinful nature.
Your post typifies something I see constantly. People don't know anything about Christianity and yet presume to criticize it based on the shallow bit they've gleaned from Sunday School teachers at the age of six and Televangelists. This is like trying to become a Linux guru from "Linux for dummies" and Jesse Berst, failing, and deciding to use Windows!
There is a wonderful quote from George MacDonald: "We must ask whether what most non-believers think God is is worth believing in." I think he has a point. Don't assume that your preconceptions are what God is, or what most Christians actually believe.
Why is this relevant to your post? Because your post is dripping with a "thou shalt not" view of Sin, which is distinctively non-Biblical.
Sadly, I'm not sure it's a hoax (Score:2)
I wish I could be sure this is a hoax. Sadly, it looks to me like just the kind of silliness that many Christians waste their time on. I'm not going to get into the (really divisive) issues behind this. I feel an incredible sadness for this topic having come up in this forum in this way.
Instead, I would like to talk about what Christianity really is. Maybe its off-topic, maybe not. In any case, I will post it and the moderators can do their thing. I will not come back to reply to this thread to comment further -- I have no interest in doing so. If you have questions, email me. Flames will go silently to
At its most basic level, Christianity is the outgrowth of Judaism. Judaism, based in the Old Testament, has a very clear and radically monotheistic understanding of God. The God of the Old Testament has rigourous moral standards: the Ten Commandments are chief of these. However, all these moral standards can be summed up in his demand that we "Love God with all our hearts" (Deuteronomy something). Throughout the Old Testament, God continues to reveal himself to the Israelites, and we learn a few things about him:
As the Old Testament progresses, a tradition develops that a Messiah will come, who will take the form of a "suffering servant". See Isaiah 53.
I, and all other Christians, believe that this suffering servant was Jesus Christ. In a way that is clearly mysterious, Jesus was God taken human form (John 1). He lived a very distinctive life -- throughout his life, he upheld very high moral standards. And hung around with Drunks, Prostitutes, Tax Collectors and anyone else who loved him. These people loved him because, although he was a righteous Jew, he loved them. He refused the social standards of his time that called for him to separate himself from those who were not Righteous jews as he was. See the woman at the well in John 4 for a good picture of this.
Jesus was killed for challenging the religious authorities of his day. If you will, he was executed for telling Jim Baker how wrong "prosperity theology" really was. On the third day, Jesus rose from the grave and appeared to hundreds of witnesses on many occasions. Despite substantial opposition to the Christian movement from the earliest days (Read Acts sometime) no one seriously questioned the Resurrection until the third century AD -- and then, as now, they criticized on the shaky assumption that such a thing
The Bible teaches that Jesus' execution and resurrection bought us a unique privilege: that of being forgiven all our sins, past, present, and future and having our sinful natures (that thing which leads us to Sin) replaced with the power of Jesus. This incarnation of Jesus in us gives us the ability not to Sin. Before Jesus, we did not have even the ability not to Sin. Now, we can avoid sin although it is still hard. How this works is a mystery. When I die and meet Jesus, I plan to ask for an explanation in simple pictures and diagrams.
Why do I believe this? Because just over 4 years ago, before accepting Christ. I was a broken man. I had explored every world religious system, and had discovered that I (like all of you: don't get self-righteous on me) could not be truly "enlightened" of my own accord. I was extremely active in Eastern religions for years -- I did all the meditation, all the reading, all the study. And yet I was empty and failed being suicidal only by shear stubborness.
And then, through a series of encounters with some wonderful Christians, I accepted that I could not do it myself and asked Jesus Christ to come into my life. Immediately after this, I went home, shook my head, and muttered something to the effect of "Pat, this had to take the cake. You have now become a Bible thumper. Maybe if you don't do anything about it you'll get out of it". That's right: I didn't start going to church. I didn't even buy a Bible. I started trying to spend more time in my then current philosophy du jour (Taoism) because obviously I had flipped my lid. Incidentally, I started the definitive Taoism page on the net in like 1994. It's still out there somewhere under different management. I'm not making this up and you can verify it if you so choose.
But God had me and wasn't letting me go. First, he started straightening out my life. Then, slowly, over a period of months, he overcame my intellectual resistance to Christianity -- largely through the works of C.S. Lewis. Finally, about 4 or 5 months after accepting Christ, I reached a turning point and went to the local Christian Book Store and bought a Bible. Walking into that store was the hardest thing I ever did -- I was afraid that someone would see me and KNOW that I was a bible-thumper.
Once I got a Bible, I started reading the New Testament and have never looked back. As hokey as this sounds, I LOVE JESUS! And I know that he loves me. How? Because He, when I was still a sinner and hated him, died on a cross to save me from my sin. You don't have to believe this, but that doesn't keep it from being true.
Since that time, my life has been nothing but uphill. I enjoyed blessings in every area of my life. I have gone from being almost literally impoverished (making $4.35/hr) to a six figure income. I have gone from being lonely and horny, trying to find love wherever I could (as a classic nerd), to a beautiful wife and a wonderful 2 year old son who is smart as hell and meaner than a rattlesnake. I have gone from a fear of society -- a certainty that I was entirely alone born in my stereo-typical geek childhood including physical and sexual abuse -- to enjoying the wonderful blessings of a church family that loves me no matter how often I screw up. I have even watched God extend salvation into my family, slowly overcoming their intellectualism and unfaith and rebuilding my family to something it never could be before.
In short, I have see how just allowing Jesus into my life has totally changed it, and I would not change back for anything. Many of you are fond of Galileo as an example to frame your anti-Christian sentiments. At the end of his trial, there is a legend that he said, under his breath, "It still moves!". Well, despite your derision, despite your pseudo-intellectual bullschnit, despite all your arguments, I say that Jesus
Re:geeks.forchrist.org (Score:2)
Re:How about a distro called Penix? (Score:2)
Our marketing department wanted to name our version P/Nix.
Tech Docs mocked up a P/Nix manual. Some sample chapter headings:
Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed.
A Christian speaks.. (Score:2)
If it is real, then it should be taken seriously. However, if it is real, there is something seriously wrong with their Christianity.
I forget which one, but they said they were dropping a program because it was written by a homosexual. Okay, let's rephrase that: a disbelieving sinner. That doesn't stop a Christian. If you're using Linux anyhow, you're probably buying your memory from Japan--very likely built by disbelieving sinners. We use Arabic numerals, for the love of sanity!
Something I see a lot of in Christianity are people seeing who can out-Bible-thump the other. Not only is this the height of arrogance ("I am so much humbler than you!"), but it causes you to stop thinking and start reacting in a counterproductive McCarthyism mode. God gave us brains, he expects us to use them.
Is it a hoax? (Score:2)
As for cluelessness and the like, hey, I said up front that it might be a hoax.
Is is a hoax? I've spent more time digging away at it and I can't prove it. Annoyingly, I'm finding more circumstanial proof that it is real. Nothing positive yet, but it's what I'm finding.
If anyone knows what's real here, I really want to know. If it does turn out to be a hoax, of course I'll report it. There's no mistake to correct, there is a story that needs a better ending. If anyone out there can help me ferret out the truth I'd welcome the help and give the credit where it's due. If you know my work at all, you know I call them like I see them.
Steven, Senior Technology Editor, Sm@rt Reseller
sjvn@zd.com
Re:Sadly, I'm not sure it's a hoax (Score:2)
I would be if I were you. It seems unlikely that the Christian authors of a Christian operating system named "Jesux" would insist that it be pronounced "HEY-zooks."
[ massive snip ]
Re:"Hex" in context (Score:2)
No matter, should a problem arise, I'm sure he can always call on the almighty to get the system up and running again.
Re:Christian Hackers? Let your light shine! (Score:2)
I agree that being a follower of Christ and a developer and proponent of free software are more than compatible. I think that my overwhelming desire to work with free software is a vocation that God gave me as a gift the same way he gives other vocations, whether they look secular or religious.
I think there's a strong moral (Christian or not) element to free software. I see that it creates software that frees people from certain external manipulation. Proprietary, closed-source software locks people in. That is not a value judgement against anyone who makes proprietary software, only those who use their position to manipulate the people who use their software. I think that manipulative ones are a small minority, honestly. But I like the fact that it's harder to manipulate software users with free software; it's one of the things that makes me love my job. And if I help people taste freedom, I hope to give them a glimpse of Christ, the ultimate author of freedom.
The creations of God's Creations (Score:2)
If we hypothetise that God would not look down on what we do with computers, we would have to make the same allowance for all of our other inventions. Guns, drugs, nuclear bombs, electric chairs, gas chambers, crowd-sized ovens, etc...
Killing is killing, lying is lying. The means itself has little moral content. What you do with it matters, what you do it with matters little.
I'm not particularly religious, in fact, I believe on the basis of Pascal's Gambit more than for any other reason. But, we have to remember that the computer is a tool. Nothing more.
No belief system in the world, be it Judeo-Christian Commandments or the Gita, or the Quoran, exempts technology as a means of deviation from 'acceptable' behavior. To do so would be to open up a can of worms the size of creation itself. Simple machines (i.e. pitfalls) would be allowable as modes of killing, and not frowned upon morally, because they would be the works of man. Crimes would only be crimes if committed with bare hands. Children would be exempted from moral behavior as creations of their parents...
Messy. Morality of an act is defined by the act, not the means by which it is performed. The intention is more significant than the medium in which it is performed.
(Wow, parochial school was useful for something after all.
Re:Curious (Score:2)
My bad. (Score:2)
Re:Hoax or not, there's a point here... (Score:2)
The original Jesux page refered to a hierarchial user structure. Linux/Unix are slowly moving in the same direction, via "capacities."
Of course you can use standard permissions and override them as root, but that introduces all of the usual problems with using root for routine chores. The two-line change I mention are actually a form of hard-coded capacities tied to a two-tier user permissions space. It's silly in the case of "parents" vs. "children," but not so silly when you're trying to create a secure sandbox for your web server.