My Resume for Citizendium

The Wikipedia.com as you may know is a huge publicly edited encyclopedia, which suffers from amateur opinions and sometimes edit-wars between contributors over how an article should be written. Citizendium.com is an attempt to replace the Wikipedia with a wiki public contribution system that includes better author identification and expert review of submissions to reduce poorly written material and edit-wars over personal opinions, such as how Genesis chapter One should be read. Below is my resume as submitted to them in my application to become a Citizendium author.

Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics, with minor in Logic, San Jose State College.

I am a software developer, tester, and computer manager with over thirty years experience in business and aerospace software projects, with a bachelor's in math and a minor in logic. I have also been responsible for end-user support and documentation in several positions. Currently I am the sole developer of some two thousand custom software modules specific to my employer's manufacturing market, and often use the Internet for research in computer support and security issues.

Graduating from college in January 1968, I enlisted in the US Navy to avoid being drafted. I was blessed with the beginning of a computer career at two Navy schools, with two more years of shore duty in Hawaii, and one final year aboard the USS Constellation serving in Vietnam. Ever since then I have tried to appreciate what real combat military and their families endure in order to keep the rest of us secure in Liberty.

Since 1994 I have been a self-educated student of the Bible, outside the influence of self-promoting teachers. I have studied most chapters of three modern editions of the Bible, and experienced the reality of how God's Word responds to belief in extraordinary ways, involving at least forty of the Bible's sixty-six books. One of the proofs of the Bible’s authenticity is also one of the Messiah’s new teachings: that God directly guides and inspires those who believe Him, without need of special teachers.

" Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Matthew 23:10-12, New International Version
(courtesy of BibleGateway.com)

Aside from computers, software, and the Bible my interests include Internet computer gaming; American History from the Revolution to the Vietnam War, embracing the United States Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address, and the Federalist Papers; and the personal responsibility not only to represent neighbors as we would ourselves, but to keep and bear arms as government of, by, and for the people.

Of Heaven and Hell

Speaking of someone who has died we often say they are "in a better place", but that may not be true of course.

To enter Heaven, a person must know the Holy One who created it, and this world which He gave completely as a blessing to mankind, all of whom (particularly myself) are busy polluting it with sin every day. With many people it is impossible to be sure if they do truly know God or not, because like myself we are all hypocrites somehow, so being blessed with knowing God may not be obvious. Its also true God might call people to faith in Him through dreams.

Despite that we rarely speak of it, there is an eternal alternative to Heaven. And no, it isn't under control of the Devil. He will be the primary subject of Hell at the end of time, not in control of it. Hell is the total absence of all good things, because they come from the Source of all good things. Hell is total loneliness and utter regret with an eternity of knowing Heaven was within your reach and you delayed or refused to reach out for it. A Good God would not condemn anyone there? Of course not. It is always by the individual's choice, God does not want anyone to be Lost but He will not override your personal preference in eternity.

For anyone reading this who does NOT have that assurance of knowing the Holy Creator, the best I can do is tell you to take the Bible as literally as it tells you to do, and take all of it to heart - for that is what God's Book and You were designed for. Keep truly seeking Him there with all your heart and He will come to you.

For anyone who DOES have that assurance, I recommend the book "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. His Eternal Perspective Ministries is at www.EPM.org. "Heaven" is available in many Christian book stores. It gives all the Biblical evidence about how Real and Physical the New Earth - Heaven will be at the end of time. No sickness, no tiredness, nothing boring, everything uplifting in every real and joyful sense - just the way we try to imagine the Garden of Eden was. No floating around with harps, especially if you'd rather ZOOM around with a guitar Wink. When there is singing it will be full-out incredible concerts by folks you know and love, sometimes including Me and maybe You (by then I will be a MUCH better singer Wink). Cooking, eating, hugging, walking, talking, sight-seeing, even playing with pets and playing sports I suppose, without end without limit, all to the glory of the Creator and what He has made for us and, by then, made of us.

PS: Don't believe everything the Young Earth Creationists say about the Bible. The way I read it, they refuse to take both Genesis 1 and Job 38 literally.

Only a Truly Good God would say...

Only a Truly Good God would say that men are not to be trusted as spiritual fathers, special teachers, or masters of followers. It is men who desire something selfish who claim to be a spiritual father, special teacher, or master worthy of followers. Usually what such men want is something of this temporary life: power, money, or confidence from either false ideas or followers deceived by them.

Where does God say this? In the person of Jesus the Christ, warning his followers not to be part of claiming certain men have special religious worth. Holding one man more worthy religiously than another is no less than worshiping men in the place of God Himself (as the Holy Spirit, God the Father, or God the Messiah). Every hypocritical teacher who pretends to teach the Scriptures avoids teaching this passage among others.

"But as for you, do not be called 'Rabbi,' because you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is in heaven. And do not be called masters either, because you have one Master, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. " Matthew 23:8-12 Holman Christian Standard Bible

Until the Messiah revealed God through His life and sacrifice, and that revelation was completed by the Apostles He personally taught, God's entire word was not complete. Since the last writings of the Apostles, it is complete.

God takes it very seriously indeed when anyone pretends His word says something it does not. This is why the last book of the popularly agreed scripture is the book of Revelation, which ends with:

And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.
Revelation 22:18-19, NLT