Just got back from SFO and MacWorld 2011 yesterday. I happened to catch one of the very last flights out of Baltimore before the storm hit last Wednesday. While I flew, my wife spent an equal 5 hours driving home in the snow.

Before the conference started, Jeff and I went for a hike to Pier 14 where I made the above panoramic. It was the only nice day there with clear skies and a high of 54F. The rest of the time was cold and wet. Unfortunately my tendonitis flared up in both knees and my right hip, reducing our ability to explore SF.
It was a good time to hang out with my brother and continue our plans of world domination. Gravett Island was solidy under our control by the end. Unfortunately, we had less time than I had hoped. He had to man the Shedworx booth a good portion of the time, and I went to some of the seminars. The other developers at his company were fun to get to know. There was one Greg and two Craigs, all from Australia, making conversations confusing at times.

All in all I felt that MacWorldExpo was not worthwhile for a web application developer like myself. Most events focused on audio & video. One of the key conference talks I went for was cancelled. I counted 13 expo booths selling iPhone cases. There was very little free stuff, unlike OSCON, ZendCon, and phpTek. On the bright side, CultofMac featured my brother and I at the top of their MacWorld Day 3 post. Their managing editor, Traci, was very nice to talk to, albeit briefly. Next year Shedworx should pay us to come out and be Booth Studs.

As a note: I do not work for Shedworx, I just happened to be hanging out at their booth because I had already wandered the expo hall five times.

You will often find that cults use deceptive practices while they attempt to sway you to their point of view. The slickness of the presentation often blinds one from what is going on. Here are some things to think about.

Translation

Why do the Mormon’s go around carrying King James version Bibles which they appeal to for support of their religion, while at the same time say that the Bible is not translated correctly? Shouldn’t they carry around their own “correct” translation instead? They do see it as “a thousand times over the best Bible now existing on earth.” Ask them the next time they come to your door.

More Translation

Lets say an angel came to you, an American, and told you to translate an ancient document. You get out your pen and paper, and start writing in old English: “Thus saith the Lord”. Well, not likely. It would make a lot more sense to write in the common language of the day: “The Lord says”. This brings us to the point: Why did Joseph Smith “translate” the “golden plates” into 1600′s English when he wrote it around 1830? By 1787 the American English language had eliminated most of the flourish of the KJV, as evidenced by preface to The American Spelling Book by Noah Webster. Go ahead and ask them why their chief prophet translated into a language 200 years previous to himself.

Importance

So the Mormon’s come to your door and start trying to convince you that you are not a true Christian because you do not keep the law and that you could experience true faith and a burning in your bosom (another rather old word that people rarely use, but if you are stuck in the 1600′s…) if you trust them as they try to convince you from a KJV bible. Like I mentioned above, they do not consider the KJV to be the best translation. They conveniently fail to mention though, that the Bible is not even their highest authority. They have The Book of Mormon, “another testament of Jesus Christ” which isn’t pulled out until much later. Isn’t this bait and switch? But it gets better. The majority of their doctrine does not even come from the BoM. Instead it comes from the Doctrines and Covenants, where you learn that God was once a man and became God, and that Jesus is the spirit brother of Satan (yes, you read that right). It is rather deceptive, just like in Scientology, to have to jump through a series of hoops, after you get sucked in, to find out what the core beliefs of the group are. But I guess saying “Did you know that Jesus is the spirit brother of Satan?” will not steal as many sheep as saying “Can we talk about knowing Jesus?”

I have not yet read the Twilight series yet (not sure if I will either). The Twilight series features vampires, and it seems like there are hordes of zombies who have been seduced by it. Given my research into cults, I found this Touchstone article on Mormon Vampires in the Garden of Eden to be rather informative.

An interesting link came across an apologetics list I subscribe to regarding the theological cult Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.. It is a blog that highlights some of the issues that JWs have to deal with being in an overly controlling environment. I found the article on how they are told from on high to deceive people to whom they are peddling their heresy to be especially interesting given some of my prior encounters with them. Head on over to the blog and give them your support.

Interesting question posed in this QQFM video clip. Question #26 It boils down to this: if we are going to worship something, shouldn’t we make sure it is worth worshiping in the first place?

Some of you know that I have been instructing people how to avoid cults for a while now. Well, Scientology is in the news again. Unfortunately they have so many front organizations that they suck peoples souls out before they realize it. Make sure to get the word out!