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Few things are more important to a Central Asian than maintaining cultural traditions. Throughout the existence of the Soviet Union, they were forced to conform to a Russian mindset, lifestyle, and even language. Free from this tyranny, Central Asians now cherish the things they can call their own. On the flip side, they are turned off by anything that looks, smells, or acts foreign.

In the eyes of these people, Christianity is an intrusive import from the West. According to the Director of one of the leading Central Asian Christian ministries, it is viewed as a boil, a festering sore, and causes division. After all, a persons religion is not determined by choice, but by the family into which he is born. So to become a Christian is to turn your back on both your family and culture. And such an act goes beyond being disrespectful, its crazy.

It is for this reason that Central Asian Christians are persecuted. On a daily basis, they suffer at the hands of those who intend to bring them back to their senses. Families attempt to undo what they think is brainwashing by isolating him, denying his rights, or even through intense beatings.

Restrictions from the top
In two Central Asian countries, the governments have enacted laws to deter radical religions, such as Christianity. In these countries, it is unlawful to meet in churches that have not been legally recognized by the government. However, there are so many rules and regulations in registering, that few churches are able to complete the process of gaining approval.

In one Central Asian country, it is also illegal to conduct a service in the national language. This law was enacted to stop Christians from converting nationals to a foreign religion.

Shocking evidence
However, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, more and more Central Asians are discovering that they have been living under false assumptions. And in evangelizing this region, one question is turning the tide, Why do you profess the religions of your conquerors, and forget Christianity, the faith of your forefathers?

Amazing recent discoveries have shown that Christianity was practiced throughout Central Asia long before Islam or Zoosticism, the two predominant religions of today.

While visiting a Central Asian home, the previously mentioned Director saw a pattern in the familys rug that demanded his attention. The design, common in area rugs throughout this region, was full of symbols that told the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

With the familys permission, the Director took the rug to an anthropology professor at the University of Chicago. Upon further study, the directors suspicions were confirmed, the Christian symbols predated the period when Islam spread to Central Asia.

Return to their roots
One by one, Central Asians are discovering what Christians around the world have always known, God is truth. God is love. And God is longing for Central Asians to return to their ultimate cultural heritage through faith in Jesus Christ.

Pray for those Christians throughout Central Asia who are facing the torture of their families and governments, that they will continue to have the courage to live out their faith, regardless of the cost.

Pray also for their persecutors. Pray that as Gods Spirit moves they will accept the gift of salvation from the one, true God.

Raising kids in the twenty first century challenges parents more than ever. Culture calls out to kids, wanting to form them, while many parents want their kids to grow up with a biblical background and faith-based set of values. So how can a parent ride against the tide of culture to raise strong kids with strong faith? Church attendance certainly makes a different, but parents need to be parents, and they need to use the resources that we have available today.

Consult your local Christian book store, or even the Christian section of a secular book store. You will be amazed at the resources out there that can give you the answers you need to help raising your children.

Both parents should seek out additional resources. Many times just the matriarch of the family seeks out the books with how-to information while the patriarch just trusts her child raising instincts. Both parents should actively parent, not just one. Studies show that children need both parents. Girls need their dads to help form a healthy view of men, and boys need their moms to help form a healthy view of women. So if you want to infuse your faith into your parent, pick up a Christian parenting book.

The teen years challenge parents. Many find themselves more frustrated with their teenagers than they ever were with the coloring on the wall toddlers that graced their homes. But parents should realize that teenagers are not a different breed of creature. They are young adults, crying out for direction on how to be an adult. Thus a teen focused Christian parenting book can give parents the direction they need on how to help their teen act like an adult and make the right decisions.

Smaller children can also benefit from such instruction. While these children challenge their parents, parents can find help in Christian parenting books with age specific advice. Books ranging in topics from godly discipline to teaching your kids manners abound in the Christian section of your local book store. And you'll be amazed at what a difference just a few parenting changes will make in the demeanor of your child.

Sure parents need to take their kids to church. They need to take themselves to church, and they need to seek out the advice of other Christian parents. ButChristian parenting books offer them one more resource for raising kids that seek to glorify God and follow the principles laid out in the Bible. In the end, books by great authors like Dr. Dobson and Kevin Leiman can make all the difference in the life of a child and in the family as a whole. So what are you waiting for? Start reading.

Author: JACKIE

When Dan Brown's book was first released, most of us yawned and thought, "Another one of those." We've seen many books that "bash" Christianity on the market and of course snippets about Madonna's latest publicity stunts.

Publicity is a "band wagon," whether you take a stand for or against any Christian issue. The need for thought provoking entertainment that "pushes the envelope" of morality is far greater than the supply.

So what can Roman Catholics and other Christians learn or gain from all this? Would any other religion put up with this? In fact, this kind of entertainment might cause serious violence, rioting, and death, if it were pointed in other directions of religion or philosophy.

Let's objectively look at Dan Brown's book and the recent movie. The movie and the book are a mixture of fact and fiction, so a reader who has not read history, the Bible, or the Gnostic Gospels would be very confused. This has occurred before when people, who do not read, let Hollywood explain reality to them.

Why the confusion? Simply put, how many people are really reading anything? Pat yourself on the back, for the fact, that you do read. The national and global literacy rates are poor, no matter which government statistics are skewed to tell you otherwise. We live at a time, when a person who can read a warning sign is intellectually gifted.

Beside the "for or against" issues that surround the book and movie; The Da Vinci Code has created something that Dan Brown did not count on. It encourages all of us to read more and do some research. Much of our history is "blood thirsty." Genocide, slavery, warfare, inquisitions, pogroms, and injustice fill the pages of our history books and our Holy Scriptures.

Dan Brown wanted fame and he has received it. However, Christianity will benefit from this controversy "in the long run." For the first time, many people are reading and searching for factual information about Miriam of Magdala, Templars, Crusades, Inquisitions, Cathars, Gnostics, and the formulation of the early Roman Catholic Church. Is this a bad thing?

Only if we deny the truth, are research of our religion and the origins of Christianity a bad thing. When we deny the truth, then all of our time spent reading and researching is for nothing. It is time for governments and religious orders to reform themselves. No one should be allowed to violate laws due to a social position. "Cover ups" of past crimes take credibility away from government officials and religious leaders.

Lastly, through out history, women have been persecuted more than any other group. This is a common thread that still continues today. No government or religion can exist without the help of women, but women have to form a "united front." Many successful families are held together by a balance of female and male qualities. It is time for "The Old Boys" to share power.

Copyright 2006 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Source: Free Articles

The basic construction of an physics commission includes a sound-absorbing substrate touchable and a concealment of cloth, vinyl, or another material. The first physics panels utilised in \"talking picture\" theaters engaged wood fiber as the sound-absorbing material. Today's physics panels use substrates that are more efficient at fascinating good and meet modern safety standards. Some panels use two or more substrate layers in one commission to provide primary properties. The most widely-used commission consists of a fiberglass commission substrate and cloth cover, usually referred to as a POP—a \"Plain Old Panel.\"

How They Work
Acoustical panels control good by selectively fascinating good waves, thereby reducing echoes and re-echoes. All of the various substrates absorb good by trapping it in a labyrinth of fibers or open cells within the material. As good travels through this maze, it loses energy due to both the travel and the direction changes within the material. Strictly speaking, the energy of the good wave is converted to heat within the substrate. However, this heat is scarce perceptible or measurable and module not have any effect on a facility's heating or cooling levels. The physics touchable is, however, essentially the aforementioned touchable as utilised for building insulation and, if enough of an exterior wall is covered with panels, haw contribute some insulating value.

Echo! Echo! Echo!
To reiterate a popular southern comedian, \"If you miss the Sunday address and crapper come in on Wednesday and still hear it, you haw requirement physics panels.\" The choir director haw love a shack like this but the congregation module get a headache from \"ear strain\" trying to understand the minister. Some sanctuaries prove so annoying that the discussion of how to fix them must be held in the lobby.

The difficulty crapper be excess reverberation time—a measure of how apace a good decays in the room. Reverberation instance crapper be estimated by initiating a loud noise—a loud clap, tipping over a folding table, or slamming a hymnal shut—and timing its decay. With this information and the spatial volume of the room, the existing good sorption in the shack crapper be calculated.

The basic formula for measuring good sorption is the Sabine formula, a simple algebraic equation named for the man who matured it a hundred years ago. The Sabine equation is utilised with the desirable reverberation instance to yield the needed sorption for that room. The difference between the needed sorption and the existing sorption indicates the degree of requirement for physics panels. So, with a loud effect noise and a good stopwatch, sorption requirements crapper be estimated with reasonable accuracy.

There are, of course, several factors that keep this from being too simple. First, if there is already sorption on the wall that module be covered or removed, the panels module not change the physics characteristics of the shack by their full rated value as they would over hard plaster. Second, if the reverberation is not specially high and clarity is a problem, the answer haw be diffusion of sound, rather than absorption. The difference is that while sorption reduces reverberation by controlling reflected sound, diffusion lowers the perceived good level by scattering (diffusing) good over a wide area. Diffusion crapper help achieve a space that is not too dry for the choir, nor too reverberant for the minister's message. (A full discussion of diffusion is reserved for another article.) A ordinal consideration is that sorption characteristics depend on the good frequency. Some physics problems must be resolved by addressing sorption or diffusion of selected frequencies.

One ordinary use of physics panels is to eliminate stray reflections from stage monitors, especially where feedback is a problem. They are also utilised on side walls to avoid slap-back and side-to-side flutters. Panels prevent coloration of the main good source by eliminating reflections that recombine with the direct good to reinforce or cancel certain frequencies. Without alikeness control, the good heard by the audience crapper be very different than that intended.

Built-In Acoustics
Before building a newborn worship space, it is alive to refer an acoustician along with the architect. In the acoustics world, there is a saying: \"Architects have vision; but you don't hear with your eyes.\" Thinking about acoustics first rather than last module allow the installed good grouping to be effective with inferior signal processing (and the attendant distortion) and at inferior cost. It module certainly be more economical than replacing or upgrading the good grouping in attempts to fix physics problems.

A shack is acoustically \"active\" or, in a sense, \"alive.\" A dip in frequency response is not cured with a peak equalizer, pumping more energy into that frequency. The shack module absorb the newborn energy and the electronic correction module not be a complete cure. Eventually, extreme electronic compensation module cause undesirable audible effects. Whatever the physics needs of the shack are, it crapper safely be said that the budget for physics control materials module be significantly inferior than the cost of the second and ordinal failed good systems.

Types of Panels
While well-made standard physics panels from various manufacturers haw have more similarities than differences, there are many variations on the theme; some proprietary and some patented. The most obvious differences are the calibre of workmanship and what is included in the pricing.

\"Do you want tires with that car?\" is a phrase that translates well to the physics commission business. Ask what is included. Are edges square or shaped? Are they hardened? Is mounting hardware included? How are they packed: cardboard carton or wooden crate? What does freight cost?

For physics panels, the package ofttimes weighs more than the product, especially with cellular Melamine (foam) panels. This crapper bring about the specter of the dreaded \"dimensional weight,\" where freight is charged by volume rather than by weight. By personal experience, I've found it painful to learn that someone has shipped a box of lightweight foam by air at a shipping cost greater than the value of the product.

Here is a sampling of the commission choices available:

POP. The \"Plain Old Panel\" made of a fabric concealment over a sound-absorbing, high-density fiberglass board. The fabric concealment is acoustically transparent. There are another variations with at least one manufacturer using mineral fiber (mineral wool) in place of fiberglass. The fiberglass commission is ofttimes mistakenly called \"703,\" the help number for one supplier's original physics fiberglass. The original \"703\" fiberglass boards were of modify density than commonly utilised today. Most fiberglass commission utilised in physics panels is six to heptad pounds per boxlike foot.

Flat diffusion panel. POP with a membrane below the fabric surface. The membrane has a pattern of holes that varies alikeness and sorption over the commission surface. The result is a scattering effect of the sound. This is an interesting item for a confining space but inferior needed for a sanctuary where a traditional diffuser crapper be utilised to greater advantage for good and, with bespoken wood finishes, for appearance as well.

Barrier sandwich. Two POPs with a layer of heavy radical in between to country good passing through the physics panels. (Absorbing panels prevent good alikeness but do little to country penetration through walls from shack to shack or inside to outside.) This item has been utilised to replace composite foams in machinery enclosures. The obstruction sandwich crapper be made into a removable insert for framed glass partitions to provide additional isolation when conflicting events are on opposite sides of the window. For permanent installations, standard panels with separately supplied obstruction haw be more effective for good and budget.

High effect surface. POP with a 1¼8-inch layer of high-density fiberglass below the fabric. These are specially useful in fellowship halls or gymnasium applications to avoid the craters created by wayward basketballs in softer fiberglass surfaces. A side effect of the high effect opencast is its improved sorption in the modify frequencies, more than twice the sorption at 125 Hz for a one-inch panel.

Tackable. Handy for the church classroom, tackable panels allow pushpins without destroying the underlying physics material. Of course, too many hard hanging items module country the physics effect or, at least erode high frequency performance.

Cellular Melamine. The \"foam\" alternative: a albescent foam-like product that has become popular as a substrate for physics panels. Cellular Melamine should not be confused with ployurethan foam, which is restricted in use by fire codes. When selecting fabric cover colors, keep in mind that cellular Melamine is very albescent and module change the perceived fabric color. It also conforms easily to curves, with the ability to bend around curved surfaces without the requirement to \"score\" the back surface.

Panels with images. Custom or stock images printed on acoustically transparent fabric. Recent improvements in computer printing and acoustically transparent fabrics allow hi-resolution photographs to be utilised in addition to artwork and graphics printed by conventional means.

Stretch wall. Raw physics panels are mounted to the wall, then fabric is stretched over the panels. These bespoken on-site installations are useful for concealment contoured or irregular surfaces.

Full-, half- and quarter-round. A flat commission made to conform to a curve. By creating a trapped air cavity of varied depth behind a one-inch panel, sorption is extended well into the bass frequencies. One manufacturer patented a device that is tunable by the addition of a membrane over half of the surface. These devices are useful where low frequency energy is a difficulty and panels four-inches thick or greater are impractical.

Substrate and Fabric Choices
The basic fiberglass commission comes from three suppliers of insulation. Board haw vary in density between six and heptad pounds per boxlike foot and in color: pink, yellow or marbled. Fiberglass density haw change stability of the panels.

The colouration of the substrate is essential because it crapper \"tint\" the colouration of the fabric covering. For example, a yellow substrate crapper produce a desirable vintage off-white or be totally wrong for a shack that needs a albescent as bright as that of a toothpaste ad. It is always best to get a sample of the recommended physics commission in advance. To avoid having the substrate colouration enhance or discolor the finish, a commission haw be under-wrapped with a scrim touchable to country the colouration below the fabric. Scrims are usually albescent but are available in black when that produces a better effect as with an image panel.

Acoustical wall panels crapper usually be made to blend with the sanctuary interior using the 48 standard colors available to all commission manufacturers. Custom fabrics crapper be utilised but usually at additional cost. When choosing bespoken fabrics, make sure they are acoustically transparent or have known good fascinating properties of their own. Also make sure the fabric is made of synthetic fibers so it module not be affected by moisture and temperature changes. Fabrics should also be visually non-directional: colouration and texture should appear the aforementioned from all angles.

Some manufacturers make panels to bespoken shapes and sizes. Again, this module usually refer extra costs. Panels have been made in the shapes of wild animals, spaceship interiors, corporate logos, prowess deco theater shapes, and much more. Conforming an physics commission to the curves of a church window is possible. However, as with all bespoken work, accurate drawings and descriptions are essential.

Advanced planning for acoustics (before building) crapper save much time, effort, and money later. Acoustical panels crapper be part of a planned sound-control strategy for a newborn building, or as solutions to good problems in existing rooms. With the principles of acoustics well matured over the past 100 years, it is possible to predict acoustic results and costs in advance. There is every reason to expect to get it right the first time.