We spent the other weekend in New York City with my brother David. He’s been there for over a year doing VS for Choice Books. Since his term is over in a month or two we decided we had better make good on our promise to go visit him sometime and see the big city to boot. I’ve never driven into NYC so the wild city driving was interesting.
We drove in on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, seen here from the Staten Island Ferry which we rode on Saturday.
One of the ways to benefit from broadband Internet is to use it for telephony. There are a number of VoIP products around, but the one I have been using for long-distance calling is Skype. I use a Skype adaptor, which taps into a USB port and into the phone line. When calling out, pressing the * key switches between regular dial tone and the Skype dial tone.
When you hear the solid Skype dial tone, you dial 00 then the phone number you are calling; then press #. Sype rates have been around 2.1 cents/min. for calling most places in the world. My wife calls her sister in Poland and the price is about the same. We have been quite happy with this new long distance service and the sound quality is good.
For the past few years we’ve been using calling cards that are 3 cents/min. So saving 1 cent/min. and skipping the long process of dialing 800 numbers and PINs helps to justify paying Adelphia $42.95/mo. for broadband.
Well the good news is that for the rest of this year, Skype calls to landline phones within the US and Canada are absolutely free. Apparently the competition between VoIP services is heating up, and Skype has undercut them all by offering a great deal through the end of the year. I particularly thought that Gizmo would present a challenge to Skype with its offering of 1 cent/min. calls to US phones. I hoped this would motivate Skype to drop rates to at least match Gizmo, but apparently it has motivated them to drop their rates altogether.
Between what is going on with VoIP and the growth of broadband coverage, local phone companies are going to face some serious competition. The temptation to drop Sprint gets pretty strong sometimes. Maybe once VoIP gives more choices for local numbers and becomes 911 enabled…
As a followup on the book review I posted several entries ago, here is an answer I wrote to a question in a subsequent assignment.
The Fugitive Slave Act made it illegal to harbor a runaway slave. A more recent historical parallel can be drawn to the restrictions placed by the Germans on protecting Jews during World War II. Is a Christian ever justified in openly violating laws such as these that they feel are immoral? Do you believe it is sinful to defy authorities in all situations? Discuss your reasoning.
I believe that a Christian is not only justified in but also compelled to violate laws that are felt to be immoral. “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). I do not believe that it is sinful to defy authorities in all situations. My reasoning in this is similar that which I used in critiquing the viewpoint of the author of Indian Wars of the U.S. Army in the previous assignment, who maintained the popular theory that the army as a tool of government was not responsible for the ethics or morality of the wars because it was merely following orders. Scripture does not teach such an abdication of responsibility for one’s actions, as each individual is personally accountable before God. One cannot use loyalty to nation, church, parents, or any other earthly authority as an excuse for wrong actions.
In my opinion, the fact that the government forbade citizens to aid runaways did not free them before God to turn away the poor and needy who came to their door. I am reminded of the humorous incident in Uncle Tom’s Cabin in which a senator who had voted for the Fugitive Slave Act came into conflict with his wife who had taken in just such a fugitive as the law described. Thankfully the wife realized the principle of which I am speaking, persuading her reluctant husband to assist in helping the fugitive on to the next stop on the “Underground Railroad.” For me this demonstrates the necessity of each person to view himself as first being under God’s authority, which in the case of conflict with the mandates of lesser authorities must be respected above them.
In short, if an act is wrong, it is not made right by the dictation of some earthly authority. Similarly, if an act is right, it is not made wrong by the decree of said authorities. Therefore from a Christian standpoint it is to be anticipated that throughout human history there will be times when it will not only be justifiable but also essential to respectfully disobey the civil government (and other earthly authorities as well). Naturally there are consequences for such disobedience, and true Christians of all ages have been willing to bear them in their dedication to Christ as the prime authority.