James's Weblog

Can't log in to Linux with correct password, error "POWER FAILURE"?

Thu, 08/02/2024 - 11:26 -- James Oakley

Today, I had a very annoying problem that I managed to fix. It's a couple of hours of my life that I won't get back, and I found very little online to help me.

So, to help anyone else with the same problem, here's the problem and the solution.

For what it's worth, this is with Fedora 39, KDE Plasma spin. But I honestly suspect that makes little difference. Other distros (Debian, Ubuntu, etc.) are probably just the same.

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The message of the so-called Joseph Narratives

Wed, 24/01/2024 - 17:41 -- James Oakley
Cover of Bruce Waltke's commentary on Genesis

I'm a big fan of Bruce Waltke's commentary on Genesis. He does a great job at holding together two tasks that are vital. It's easy to lose one whilst trying to do the other. He both pays attention to the narrative craft of Genesis, and at the same time tracks the overall storyline of Genesis and what the book as a whole is communicating.

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The storyline of Revelation 4-22

Tue, 09/01/2024 - 19:44 -- James Oakley

In November, I ran a series of blog posts on the book of Revelation. Preparing to preach it, some day, I've been trying to get to know the book, to work out how it functions, how it communicates, and so on. I've wanted to do this deductively at first, which means reading the text lots and lots of times, and noticing things.

So far, I've had 3 posts:

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Tuning in for Revelation applications in chapters 2-3

Thu, 30/11/2023 - 10:57 -- James Oakley

This post follows on from two previous posts on the book of Revelation. In the previous posts I argued that the vision of Revelation 4-22 is telling a single, coherent story, and then explained how the first 3 chapters of the book connect to what follows. That structure indicates that it is important to be clear of the messages given in Revelation 2-3 if we are to hear Revelation 4-22 correctly. This post attempts to draw out those messages to the 7 churches, so we can tune in correctly to the visions that follow.

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Revelation as Story

Thu, 16/11/2023 - 14:44 -- James Oakley

I've been reading through the book of Revelation, asking myself what kind of book it is, and how we are meant to read it to hear its message. I've found myself wondering if I've been asking the wrong questions. I used to see the most important step in interpreting Revelation to be finding the key to map it onto the real world. I now wonder if the most important step is to enter into and follow the story. Stories have power to teach without needing to be an exact allegory.

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Zedekiah and the king of Babylon: Eye to eye

Wed, 15/11/2023 - 09:42 -- James Oakley

Zedekiah, king of Judah (597-587 B.C.) consistently expected that God would bring a last minute reprieve, and he and his people would not be conquered by the Babylonians. He underestimated the sin of his people, and he underestimated God's power to deal with that.

For this reason, the prophet Jeremiah consistently has to warn him that there will be no reprieve. Into exile they will go.

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LLF at General Synod: Pyrrhic victory lessons from women bishops

Mon, 13/11/2023 - 11:41 -- James Oakley
General Synod of the Church of England

The General Synod of the Church of England meets from today (13th November 2023) until Wednesday 15th. The November session doesn't happen every year (often General Synod only meets in February and July), and has partly been scheduled this year to give space to debate the next stages of Living in Love and Faith, and Prayers in Love and Faith.

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