It’s amazing the things you find when browsing around the internet. I usually am under the impression that I have a good idea what is happening with Christians and Linux but there are days like today where I am completely and pleasantly blindsided.
I just stumbled across ShepherdPup Linux, which claims to be a ” Self Contained Freely Distributable Bible Study System.” It looks great and I am excited to check it out. Their press release follows. Check them out!
It is natural when examining new Bible study software to explore it in terms of ones self. How will I benefit from this? How does this compare for me to that? It is the built in consumer within us that judges feature for feature what will work for us personally. I suppose this tendency is good to a certain respect and to fight this tendency might well be futile. But, amongst my Christian brothers I certainly will fight the notion to another much greater respect.
When I introduce ShepherdPup to most tech aware Christians their very first reaction is predictable. “Have you tried X”? “I’ve just purchased Y”! “Why should I use Z when 90% of computers run Microsoft”? My response most often is totally unforeseen by them and is oppsite to a consumer’s intuition. “This is not just for you, this is for the many others that you will be freely giving this to”.
The simple often overlooked fact is that Christianity is meant to given.
Personal Bible study is one thing; communal study and evangelism quiet another. I can’t give a Microsoft OS away; I can’t give “Y” away; therefore they were not even considered. There is a version of “X” called “Z” and “Z” is very nice but, it takes up a whole lot of room, room that could be used for providing as many Bible resources on one CD as possible. And one intention should be made clear: “ShepherdPup is meant to be self contained” “set apart from the host’s normal OS”; how then is that to happen with X Y or Z?
And while a great many have studied the Bible until they became blue in the face with these products, few are any closer to sharing God’s Word to others than they were the day they started. Few have developed the resources to “Win” a new believer to the Word, the resources to “Disciple” a maturing believer in the Word, the resources to “Send” a prepared believer with the Word armed and ready into this unbelieving world. And to be able to freely hand over these resources? And for them to be able to freely give from that? We are talking about the difference between consumerism and the hand of God here…how shall we compare them?
These are the consumer perceptions ShepherdPup must be able to fight. Your word of mouth is how we intend to fight that fight.
If this is the tool or resource that you chose to give (one of many I hope), then you should familiarize yourself with it; not only it’s parts and pieces, but, also some of its underlying evangelistic possibilities. Think of the friends and family and coworkers that this could be given to and how you could approach them. Think of the groups and congregations that this could be given to and how to approach them. Think of the total strangers and how you could approach them.
Be prepared to share your testimony. Be prepared to share His Word in any form. Be prepared to show it on ShepherdPup if the opportunity arises. Have your notes with you on USB flash. Be ready to make copies on demand. Search out the leading of God amongst the people you are with each day. And follow up with the people to whom you’ve witnessed to.
Please help spread the word…Please help spread the Word!
“http://shepherdpuplinux.us/”
Thanks for this head’s-up! Downloading it right now. I’m a big fan of Puppy, and this might just be something I was looking for.
-Jon
Thank you for the mention of my project ShepherdPup and the press release you quoted. I hope that you’ll give it a “look see”. I just released a revised addition with magor feature enhancements.
There is a W3C Slidy presntation “Shew Thyself” of the general features of the previous version to get familiar with at http://shepherdpuplinux.us/Demo1/pbiblx-html-DEMO1c.html.
There is also a brand new Slidy presentation of the new features at http://shepherdpuplinux.us/Demo2/demo_0.1.7.html as well.
A Kiosk Edition of ShepherdPup is available for safer tract like giving to the general public and for lobby or church library use.
I am open to comments and suggestions and would love to see opensource content contributions from the evangelical community at large.
-God Bless
An idea has been forwarded today by a few of the ShepherdPup users to pursue several local churches this month about possibly presenting ShepherdPup – Personal Edition to their congregations as a Christmas/New Years gift. It has even been suggested that we post to ChristianSource and to others Church sites to make this an internetwide idea.
The concept is quite intriguing, however my concern remains that there may not be enough knowledgable technical support and or adequate forum facilty amongst us to handle a considerable rush of linux questions from new but novice users. I would want this support to be mainly from the Christian Linux community so as not to overburden the Puppy Linux forum members. These would most likely be wifi/cups/peripheral config related issues in the beginning and then “How do I do this in linux” later. (Most answers have already been given elsewhere, we would have to know how to quickly get to these answers and then lovingly deliver these answers).
I ask you myself as a new contributor to L4C, does the Christian Linux community presently have the knowledge and or resources to host a potential onslaught of newbie linux questions adequately if these Shep’ postings went out to a much larger target?
Would LinuxForChristians.org or perhaps another site be a suitable site for us to link to to receive these new to Linux (Christian) users?
There is no way of fortelling how the Spirit would move upon this idea. If it were big we’d have to be ready – now. If it were small – well..we’d still have to be prepared should He move at some point in the near future. Surely he would equip and prepare us for the day that He did move. Yet, this could be the very leap of faith that He is asking from us!
So I ask you seriously: Are we ready?
Personally, I feel safe that we could get this idea rolling this month individually in our personal churches without over taxing our individual resources. However to go large scale would take a tremendous leap of faith as this could easily back fire. To me that’s what Christian living has always been about, but, to put you or others in that situation unwittingly…?
Should we boldly put our actions to where our hopes have only been? Or should we take a more methodical step by step approach? (The faithful with small things first approach). I need a your multitude of wise counsel.
I ask that you prayerfully to consider this question and respond as you are lead.
P.S..Please point me to any other Christian Linux technical support resources that you know of.
-Randy