Instructions on how to get this image onto your iPhone:

1. Save the image to your laptop.
2. Email the image to yourself or at least an email account that you monitor on your iPhone.
3. View the email with the image attachment on your iPhone.
4. Save the image to your iPhone Photo Library.
5. Set the image as your wallpaper.

More Free iPhone Wallpaper

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Next Meeting on October 7th.

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Muslims Represent 10% of the French Population

The French Muslim population is the largest in western Europe. About 70% have their heritage in former north African colonies of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

I recently stumbled across some articles commenting on the rapid growth of Muslim immigration to Europe as compared to the population growth from native birth. My curiosity surrounding what my iBelieve iPhone App had to say about this was tickled. So, I opened up the app and took a few screenshots of the users in France. Here are  three images that I captured. One shot is of France as a whole. The other is zoomed in on Paris. And, the third is of Muslims mixed in with all other reporting religions in Paris.

I am enjoying watching the world map fill out with dots representing the various faiths of iPhone users around the world. I think my curiosity will next take me to checking out where Bahai iPhone users are concentrated. Until then…iBelieve it!

Twitter & Facebook meet iBelieve

A few weeks ago I blogged about improvements being made to an iPhone app named iBelieve (Find Others of Like Faith? – There’s an App for That). I also discussed  a spin-off of this application, named iBelieve Plus. Well, the team at Design Iteration has finally finished polishing these apps. As a result, iBelieve 1.1 and iBelieve Plus 1.o hit the App Store this week. The price of iBelieve 1.1 is still free . However, iBelieve Plus will cost $0.99 due to the the added ability to save and view Facebook and Twitter information about users.

For the current 3000+ users of iBelieve 1.0, the updates in version 1.1 will be quite noticeable.

Facebook and Twitter Connect:

The user of iBelieve Plus now has the ability to allow their faith marker to be shown on the map – or not. By toggling the on/off slider the faith marker can be shown or removed.

Also, the user has the ability to display his or her Facebook or Twitter user name beside their faith marker. This allows others to search and friend the other users of similar faith in Facebook and Twitter. With the on/off slider, this function can be instantly turned on or off with a swipe of the finger. It is worth noting that in iBelieve 1.1 you will be able to see Twitter and Facebook icons next to faith markers that have enable this feature in iBelieve Plus. However, you will need to upgrade to iBelieve Plus to see the Twitter and Facebook information.

Show All with 3D Multicolor Markers:

Another upgrade added to iBelieve 1.1, and included in iBelieve Plus, is the abilityto show all users of all faiths on the map at one time. In addition, each major faith affiliation has been assigned a unique color to make it easy to distinguish various faith concentrations on the map at a glance.

Previously, in iBelieve 1.0 the faithmarkers were basic green circles without any visual depth.  Even though this was a simple graphics upgrade, it has significantly enhance the ability to see what is going of on the maps.

Faith Affiliation Percentages:

And, finally, the significant enhancement released in iBelieve 1.1 and iBelieve Plus is the ability to see user percentages. As you scroll through the affiliation picker, the percentage of users saving a marker under each affiliation is displayed.  For example, the overall percentage of Christians using iBelieve is currently just over 15% of the total users while Muslims represent just over 10%.

Download iBelieve 1.0 for Free on the App Store

Download iBelieve Plus $0.99 on the App Store

Boiling this article down, the authors offers that theological issues can fall into 4 categories of relative importance.

Absolutes – Core beliefs of the Christian faith

Convictions – while not core beliefs, they may have significant impact of the health and effectiveness of the church.

Opinions –  less-clear issues that generally are not worth dividing over.

Questions – currently unsettled issues

The visual diagram for these categories resemble a target of concentric circles, with absolutes being the bull’s eye.

I find this a useful way to visualize the sorting of the various issues that come up in doctrinal debate.  But, the question is how to determine where the theological issue under consideration falls in the list. Will we be discussing Absolutes or Opinions? Are we pursuing issues of salvation or issues of cultural preference? Here are the guidelines that the ESV Study Bible Article offered for picking the category.

Where an issue falls within these categories should be determined by weighing the cumulative force of at least seven considerations:

(1) biblical clarity;

(2) relevance to the character of God;

(3) relevance to the essence of the gospel;

(4) biblical frequency and significance (how often in Scripture it is taught, and what weight Scripture places upon it);

(5) effect on other doctrines;

(6) consensus among Christians (past and present); and

(7) effect on personal and church life.

This guidance advises us to not  square-off with each other  over a particular issue of doctrine before weighing it with these seven considerations.  We want to be sure we know if we are risking unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ over an absolute or an opinion.  

My hope would be that we would be able to peacefully protect and defend the purity of God’s truth. It is a shame to me when followers of Christ break fellowship over issues surrounding the length of one’s hair, whether someone wears jeans or a suit to worship, or over what beat the worship music may have. The author of the ESV article expresses it this way -

The ability to rightly discern the difference between core doctrines and legitimately disputable matters will keep the church from either compromising important truth or needlessly dividing over peripheral issues.

Let us pray that we can have wisdom in these matters. That we can respectfully preserve the core beliefs of the Christian faith and recognize when we are having a disagreement of convictions.

iBelieve Connect - Street Level Zoom

About a 3 weeks ago the iBelieve for the iPhone  hit the app store.  It has been exciting to watch the map populate everyday with more and more dots representing the faith of iPhone addicts around the world.  But, it has been much more intriguing to read the user reviews that rolled in requesting new features. iBelievers spoke out about what  they thought would make this app really pop. And, it was well received.

So, what was the feedback? Resoundingly, “Let us connect with other users of similar faith!”  and “Let us see all users at the same time” . So, that is what has begun tobe implemented in the release of iBelieve.

Users will be able to choose to associate their Facebook user name, Twitter user name, or both with their chosen affiliation and approximate location. Zoomed out to a world view, only the location dots of users will be seen. But, when they drill down closer to street level on the map, you will see the contact info flag next to the user’s marker.

In addition, the picker on the Map Screen will allow all faith affiliations to be displayed at one time on the map.  Each major religion category will be shown in a distinct color when the “Show All” category is selected, showing the regional mix of faiths in a glance.

I am looking forward to the release of the new iBelieve features within the next few weeks. Hopes are that this new version will help move forward social networking among and across the multiple faith groups around the world.  The world becomes a smaller place everyday.

iBelieve 1.o is free on the App Store. Until the new and improved iBelieve is available in a few weeks, please take a moment to download a copy @http://bit.ly/FK0Z9. Thanks for your help!

That idea became a storyboard, the storyboard became an app named iBelieve, that app was released on the App Store.

The first release of iBelieve allows you to pick your spiritual faith among the following affiliations:

Bahái
Buddhist (including Mahayana, Thervada and Vajrayana)
Christian (including Amish, Anglican, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Catholic, Church of Christ, Episcopalian, Greek Orthodox, Jehovah’s Witness, Latter-day Saints, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Protestant and Seventh-Day Adventist)
Confucian
Daoism
Hindu (including Saivite, Shakta, Smartha and Vaishnavism)
Jain
Jewish (including Conservative, Orthodox and Reform)
Muslim (including Shiite, Sufi and Sunni)
Nothing (including Agnostic, Atheist, Money and Sports)
Pagan
Pastafarian
Rastafarian
Shinto
Sikh
Unitarian Universalist
Wiccan

Once you choose your affiliation, your approximate location (within 3 miles) is logged on our server and displayed on Google Maps which is integral to the app.  In the map view you can browse the locations of all other users around the world who have logged there faith affliation through iBelieve.  As more and more users join the movement, we look forward to seeing points of the spiritual faiths of iPhone and iTouch users from countries all over the world pop up on map.

Today iBelieve is selling on the app store for $0.99.  We are trying to get the word out to iPhone users through Twitter, Facebook and Blogging.  Hopefully if you are reading this article and have an iPhone or iTouch, you will consider downloading iBelieve.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=322141156&mt=8

Take a look at the screenshots below to see what its all about.