First there was Anglish, then Ebonics, now Chinglish!

You've heard of Ebonics and Anglish, two words that represent the way we have butchered the English language to make it fit our modern format. Well get ready for a new one Chinglish, but not so fast the Chinese government says that it won't allow the Chinese language to be Westernized.

As of this year (2010) Chinese newspapers, books and websites will no longer be allowed to use English words and phrases, the country's publishing body has announced, saying the "purity" of the Chinese language is in peril.

The General Administration of Press and Publication says the increasing use of English words and abbreviations in Chinese texts has caused confusion and was a means of "abusing the language".

"It is banned to mix at will foreign language phrases such as English words or abbreviations with Chinese publications, creating words of vague meaning that are not exactly Chinese or of any foreign language," it said.

English abbreviations such as NBA (National Basketball Association), GDP (gross domestic product), CPI (consumer price index) and WTO (World Trade Organization) are commonly used in Chinese publications.

The body left a small loophole, stipulating in the regulation that "if necessary", English terms could be used but must be followed by a direct translation of the abbreviation or an explanation in Chinese.

The word of God is suffering the same fate. There are so many translations, interpretations and paraphrases that it is difficult to decide what a text really means on casual reading.

The word of God has been butchered, twisted and truncated, to make it more acceptable and readable to a world unwilling to study for itself.

2 Timothy 2:15 say, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

The Chinese are protecting the Chinese language from disaapearing into oblivion.

If we are not careful, the Word of God can suffer the same fate, becoming less effective to millions as its real meaning is lost in translations, interpretations and rewordings. It can become Biblish. When that happens noone will be able to agree on what it says, or worse, even care.

Spontaneous creation? Did the world just create itself?

A British physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking says the world created itself and needed no one or anything to start the process.

Professor Hawking challenges Isaac Newton's theory that God must have been involved in creation because our solar system couldn't have come out of chaos simply through nature. But Hawking, who is renowned for his work on black holes, said physics can explain things without the need for a "benevolent creator who made the Universe for our benefit."

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing," the professor says. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to ... set the Universe going."

Those who don't have as much education as Professor Hawking, in our ignorance a question that defies the professor to answer. If Gravity helped the universe to create itself...who created gravity?

Sometimes we can have so much education we can be just down right stupid.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1

I read that verse and learned it in elementary school. Dr. Hawking still has a lot to learn.

He read the bible, they stood up, he read it again but they sat down

If you stand when the text is read, why not when other scriptures are read as well?

I noticed recently that a preacher opened his bible to announce his text and the people immediately stood while the text was read. It was, he said, a show of awe and respect for the sacredness of the word of God. I could receive that, however, I noticed that he read from the bible several times in his sermon but the people did not stand each time. Why were they respectful and awed only the first time the text is read but not thereafter?

I learned that it was a ritual, in a non-denominational church that frowns on rituals and ceremony.

It appears there is a passage in the bible that focuses on a point in Israel's history when the only copy of the word of God had been found after being lost for a generation. Thousands gathered around as an old prophet stood on a platform to read its sacred pages. Excited, the people stood from dawn to noon, six or seven hours, as he read every word.

The passage is this, Nehemiah 8:5 "And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:"

If this is to be a modern guide, then we should note that the people never sat when the word was read, so each time a preacher reads a passage in his sermon, should the people stand? Or closer to the text, should they stand throughout the whole sermon? If they only stand once, then the first act is only symbolic; it is a ritual.

It is not wrong to stand when the text is read. It is certainly not a sin. Neither is it commanded by God. It is a man made ritual.

It's easy for rituals and new denominational trends to begin anew, even for those who profess a dislike for tradition, rituals and denominations.

Better than ritual, I think it best that I show awe and respect for God by hiding his word in my heart and striving to live by it everyday...even if I do sit down when when I read it from my I-pad.

I used my cell phone at a funeral

I confess; I pulled out my phone at a funeral.

A few years ago it was a distraction to see people manipulating their cell phones during worship services; that's changing. I know it's true because I carry my bible, and over 200 study guides, dictionaries, concordances, and reference books on my phone. It's quick, convenient and efficient for me.

When I was a child I was taught the bible in the old fashioned bible drills The idea was to learn how to find bible scriptures quickly.

I was fast then, but today, I find them on my phone using my thumb even faster.

I have a library of study books, maps and translations that I paid thousands of dollars for over the years. I now have nearly every one of those books on my phone. I probably paid less than $200 to get them there; most were free.

So, recently when I attended a funeral I felt the stares of people in the audience when I pulled out my cell phone to read the passage and tapped on it to take notes during the eulogy. On second thought, it probably looked disrespectful to those from another generation.

There is a thought in Malachi 3:6 that says, "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."

God does not change, but the technology that allows us to know him, study his word and feel his presence has changed. Same God, different day-different way.

The times are changing.

I wasn't the only one at that funeral with a cell phone. Sitting behind the speaker, I noticed that he read his scripture from a cell phone, too.

I rest my case.