Free Republic

Eugene Nida has passed away today at the age of 96. There is an obituary by Dr Philip C. Stine on the United Bible Societies website here. As Stine writes "Nida recognised the need for translators to have the very best base texts to work from, and led major projects on both the Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Old Testament." In this connection I would like to remind us that in 1955, Nida, as Translation Secretary of the American Bible Society, took the initiative to establish an international committee to prepare the first edition of the United Bible Societies...

I fully expect 20-50% premium increases immediately, and for the next three years sequentially, in all existing policies. This is precisely what the banks did in front of the CARD act becoming effective, and it will happen here as well. That is the cause of the short-term rocket shot in the health-related stocks this morning. ... Ok, this one's easy. When the fines and pre-existing coverage "stop-out" go into effect (now for kids, in a couple of years for the rest) drop all coverage for those affected. ... Forget it folks - this is the end of the health industry...

How can we love what we do not understand? What do you read first when the newspaper arrives? I dive for the sports pages—an involuntary reflex action left over from a youth spent with visions of Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers dancing in my head. The child within me still suffers more anxiety over league standings than the Falkland Islands. Old reading habits die hard. It is the same with Christian magazines and periodicals. When I first began reading Christianity Today, two columns hooked me quickly. One was "Eutychus and His Kin," the other, "Current Religious Thought." I still go first...

A small Phoenix-based apologetics ministry has won its lawsuit against a liberal free speech advocate. Barry Lynn, who has claimed that the First Amendment protects the distribution of X-rated movies, agreed recently to stop censoring distribution of an Alpha and Omega Ministries' (AOM) videotape in which he debated the director of the ministry last May over the question, "Is Homosexuality Compatible With Authentic Christianity?" Lynn filed the suit in April, but AOM officials said he had agreed before the debate to the video's reproduction and distribution. However, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State tried...

THAT SIGH heard round the world recently was the collectively expressed relief of members of the world's most-maligned profession: lawyers. Thanks to the admirable performances of attorneys in Judge N. Sanders Sauls' circuit courtroom in Tallahassee - as Sauls ultimately rejected Al Gore's request to overturn George W. Bush's certified victory in Florida - America's legal gladiators are entitled to at least a temporary moratorium on lawyer jokes. Specifically, the performances of David Boies and Barry Richard, attorneys for Gore and Bush, respectively, were a welcome shift from what we last witnessed as a nation glued to court proceedings during ...