[CS-FSLUG] Linux on Core Duo MacBook

[Timothy Butler]

>
> Perhaps the reason for my vehement abhorrence is my work here in  
> Westwood.  I see so very clearly and painfully what happens when men  
> and women fail to live in God's image as they were created to do.   
> My love for the Church is so great that ecclesiology and soteriology  
> cannot truly be separate but are intertwined.  Marriage then, as a  
> metaphor of Christ's relationship with the church, is something that  
> is absolutely sacred.  It is not to be messed with.
[...]
>
> So, I'm afraid I cannot, in good conscience, continue to use Apple.   
> I wish I didn't need to continue using the hardware.

	So, let me throw out another question for everyone here (Jason you  
can answer it if you wish, but I don't want you to think I'm giving  
you a hard time or anything like that).

	Cable TV companies serve a lot of immoral programming, from  
moderately objectionable stuff on normal networks, to very  
objectionable stuff on premium movie channels like HBO, Showtime,  
etc., and then, of course, things like Playboy TV on top of that. Do  
we refuse to watch cable TV?

	Likewise, most of the phone companies now sell TV service, including  
that which provides these same programs -- and are advertised by these  
companies with their aim being even worse than that of Apple. Apple  
(or Microsoft or Google) thinks it is helping people, cable and teleco  
companies simply want money.

	Then we have cell phones, the cellular companies typically provide  
similar adult content that is quite objectionable.

	Of course, on many of these electronics, they are produced by  
companies that support similarly troubling things. For example, one  
might be using a Sony TV or a Sony Ericsson phone. Sony is also a  
music label with objectionable, explicit music, and major motion  
picture company that has movies featuring nudity, adultery, pre- 
marital sex and homosexuality.

	(And not just Sony, of course -- I actually like Sony products -- you  
could say the same about, say, GE or News Corp, etc.)

	I guess my bigger question is, where do we draw the line? And, if we  
draw the line when Apple or Google publicly supports something that  
appears (at least to the world) to be focus on helping people (even if  
it is not), but not on companies trafficking in pornography and  
immoral activity *for* *profit*, does that not suggest we view  
homosexual sin worse than heterosexual sin? And, if we do that, how  
precisely do we justify that difference, for I see nowhere in the  
Bible where it says, "adultery is bad, but homosexual activity is  
worse." They both bring death in the OT -- though obviously applying  
Levitical law is a bad way to justify anything, unless we are going to  
apply it faithfully -- and are condemned in the NT. The NT is the real  
strength we have concerning condemnation, but it seems to me it  
condemns both equally.

	Also, how does this relate to 1 Cor. 10.26-11.1? Is an Apple computer  
essentially a piece of meat sacrificed to idols? If so, and my  
exegesis of that passage is correct, the reason we ought to choose  
between using Apple or not (or Sony or not) is primarily what will  
give the best witness to others. (And, certainly, we are under no  
obligation to inquire of a given company's policies -- "don't ask,  
don't tell" may apply, I think.)

	Thoughts? Again, not looking for a fight, just trying to understand  
the rationale... and musing on how all of this fits into Biblical  
principles for dealing with the world.

	-Tim

---
Timothy R. Butler | "Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher
tbutler at ofb.biz   | is bound in  his  way to  be a lover of myths  and
www.uninet.info   | poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in
timothybutler.us  | being big with wonder."
                                                      -- Thomas Aquinas