Steve Jobs' speech of a lifetime

I was a big fan of Jobs, but the thing that stood out most to be about him was a few years ago when he answered an email to a customer (as he was often known to do), about why Flash wasn’t allowed on Apple iphones.

Jobs said it was to make the downloading of pornography next to impossible, indicating that nothing can destroy a family and marriage faster than a husband addicted to porn.

His inventions were awesome, but it’ so easy to hero worship him for the wrong reasons. I can only say as an outsider, that it appears that he “used his gifts well.”

As for how well he used his fortune or lived his life in the spiritual realm, that’s not ours to decide. I pray for his soul and thank God for the contribution that he made to my life. As one who never wanted a “smart phone”, he “got me.”

All said, I do think his greatest legacy is “how much one life matters, don’t abort your unwanted kid.” God Bless the beautiful selfless women who knew that!

RIP Steve Jobs!

“…but for a Catholic to praise such a person seems like total madness…”
Klaire was not praising an infidel, she merely pointed out something positive he stood for in his life. The truth is the truth no matter who says it. He may not have been a believer, but he did “use his gifts well.”
Only God can judge the state of his soul, not any of us.

“Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and may Perpetual Light shine upon him.”

RJS: I understand what you’re saying, in general. However, Jobs was, by no means, a religious figure. He didn’t publicly espouse or prosthelytize any particular faith. I don’t know him to have ever publicly bashed the Church (or any faith). As Mr. Kandra says – he was a remarkably talented, innovative, creative man who had a incredible impact on technology and innovation in the modern world. We mustn’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good. He may not have been a Catholic, or even a Christian, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good person who had a positive impact. We must always celebrate the good in the world, even if it falls outside our particular sphere of belief, because all good comes from God.

“Once every generation or so, someone like Steve Jobs comes along to upend our world and change the way we live in ways we could never have fathomed.”

Yes, yes, fair enough. No one would dispute that he was a brilliant thinker and an innovative businessman. But to look at the mourners’ pictures on some of the news outlets and to read the breathless adulation for the man seems a bit overstated to me. To put this into a little perspective: the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth died yesterday, as well, a man who fought tirelessly and fearlessly in Civil-Rights-era Birmingham. He stood up to Bull Durham’s dogs and fire hoses. He was mercilessly beaten by a mob when he tried to enroll his children in a white school. He was termed “the most feared black man in the South.” Yet who is remembering him the day after? Jobs changed our culture, certainly, but not in incontestably great ways. Shuttlesworth did nothing less than help to bring fundamental human freedom and dignity to an entire race of people. That to me seems worth any number of iPads. I just rather think we can appreciate Jobs’ contributions to our daily lives without losing sight of the other, greater contributions that other, obscurer men have made.

That said, RIP Steve Jobs and Fred Shuttlesworth, great men both.

Mr. Jobs was a technincal innovator, a creative force in an industry of many creative people. He was successful with a handful of products.

I’ ve worked in the high tech industry for more than 30 years now. Innovations are the heart of the industry.

What stuns me is the amount of attention his death is getting out of the main street and social medias – it’s bordering on idolitry.

Ms. Scalia from The ANCHORESS says – I referred to him as “the guy who is making our lives look like Star Trek” `- well, Steve Jobs was inspired by Star Trek, and he simply made Cpt. Kirk’s communicator a real thing and put it in our hands. No more.

There are multitudes of researchers whom we will never know their names that create cures and solutions to our problems that will never get this kind of attention that have and will continue to impact our lives more than Mr. Jobs did. Let’s keep that in mind when are tempted to idolitrize someone.

May he rest in Peace and granted ever lasting life at Judgement Day.

Ianam do you even realize that you are accusing RJS as the same thing that you accuse him of? Just wondering.

Also, I get that you are an athiest, and so be it, but for the record, all good things indeed come from God, but that’s because GOD IS ALL GOOD. It’s impossible for “bad” things to come from God, as “bad” is simply the absence of “Good/God.”

JC and Corey, I’m sort of with you, see this as becoming anohter Princess Diana and or Michael Jackson hero worship fest. I doubt many even remember that Mother Theresa dies around the same week as Lady Diana and got next to nothing press. Many such comparisons can be made, starting with why we idolize Hollywood and celebrity. Sad but true, as a culture we tend to idolize celebrity far more than goodness, and that’s just the way it is. In keeping it all in persperctive, once again, ALL goodness (and talent, and brains, and creativity and even beauty), comes from God.

In a perfect world, all the gloy would go to go God. Being that isn’t the case, it’s still a good idea to recognize talent used well, but like I said earlier, no need to go overboard, despite the fact I think we are already over that cliff with the newly deceased icon Steve Jobs.

“Ianam do you even realize that you are accusing RJS as the same thing that you accuse him of?”

What I realize is that you are telling a falsehood.

” I get that you are an athiest”

First, you could have the respect to spell it correctly. Second, if you “get it”, then you should “get” that I don’t agree with you, and capitalizing what I consider to be your irrational and nonsensical beliefs doesn’t make them true. If the Christian God exists and it is impossible for bad things to come from God, then there are no bad things in the world because everything comes from God … that’s logic. To deny that not only denies logic but makes like all the theologicians who have struggled with the problem of evil in the world are fools. But I don’t think they are fools, and I do think that you are arrogant to so blithely dismiss the issue.

Praising a non-Christian for positive contributions to the world is not to be criticized. Jesus praised the faith of the pagan Roman Centurion when he said that Jesus need only say the word and his servant be healed. And then to deflect that by bringing up the whole “we idolize too many celebrities after they die” thing seems like you don’t want to address the fact that someone not of our faith can and did contribute to the Kingdom of God. As was said before… let’s not speak ill of the dead.

Steve Job was far from a saint or a contributor. A hard core, manipulative, promoter he is responsible for aggressively lobbying the government to delay the deployment of HDTV so he could exploit digital video with his apple appliances. (still waiting for that) He delayed the deployment of high resolution media for over a decade.

He was ruthless in punishing business partners who would not patiently wait for him to fix his over promised products and systems when they couldn’t work to specifications. His systems are closed and limited. His company is un-apologetically strands users when it drops products and technologies on a whim.

Steve Job should be remembered as the screwed business man and promoter he was. Nothing more.

#10 Howard

“Steve Jobs was to the development of the computer what Jimmy Doolittle was to World War II. Without him, some of the details of history would have been different, but probably not much of the big picture.”

Not sure I agree with this analogy. Doolittle had one shining moment in history but it was not an original idea of his. From a military point of view — the Tokyo raid was ineffective and almost a disaster. He lost all his aircraft, lost a lot of his men, and only did minimal physical damage. What he did do — and that is what folks remember — is change the emotion of the moment from despair to hope on our part and from arrogance to self-doubt on the part of the Japanese. Doolittle, however, knew that to really win a war you have to break the will of your opponent. That he did, in spite of the lack of objective military success the mission itself had.

If I were to compare him with any military figure it might be with Air Force General Curtis LeMay. He had one clear-cut ruthless focus about him and that kept with him from his military beginning as a bomber pilot in Europe; on to commanding the fire-bombing of Japan AND the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (all during the 1940′s) AND on to circling the world with nuclear-ready B-52′s (in the 1950′s and 1960′s).

As you have read above in other comments, there are some who want to suggest that Jobs was just as ruthless as LeMay.

That may or may not be true. I do, however, bless the Lord because the talent of Steve Jobs and I know that there are lots of folks who — over the years — have blessed the Lord for the talent of both General Doolittle and General LeMay.

RJS #20:

“I didn’t mean to offend anyone.” I will take you at your word.

“Steve Jobs was an infidel who, from all that we know, died outside of the Church. Now, I hope there was a last minute conversion to Catholicism (which is possible), but there is no evidence of such a thing taking place. Therefore, it seems extremely likely that this man, who made so much money, and such a “difference” in this life, is now in the fires of hell for all eternity.”

If, perchance, you are a Catholic, you may not like to hear this, but you are not “in synch” with Catholic Church teaching.

HMS,

Can you show me where I am out of sync with the Catholic Church? My statement was based on the thrice defined dogma (rejected by many today) that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church.

Pius IX: “It must be held by faith that outside the Apostolic Roman Church, no one can be saved; that this is the only ark of salvation; that he who shall not have entered therein will perish in the flood.” (Denzinger 1647)

Pope Eugene IV: The Council of Florence: “The holy Roman Church believes, professes, and preaches that no one remaining outside the Catholic Church, not just pagans, but also Jews or heretics or schismatics, can become partakers of eternal life; but they will go to the ‘everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matt. 25:41), unless before the end of life they are joined to the Church. For the union with the body of the Church is of such importance that the sacraments of the Church are helpful to salvation only for those remaining in it; and fasts, almsgiving, other works of piety, and the exercise of Christian warfare bear eternal rewards for them alone. And no one can be saved, no matter how much alms he has given, even if he sheds his blood for the name of Christ, unless he remains in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.” (“Cantate Domino”, February 4, 1441).

There are literally scores of similar Papal Statments confirming this unpopular dogma; yet the truth remains, in spit of the fact that many today no longer profess it. I’ll end with one final quote from Pope Pius XII in which he warns about a problem that had arisen in his day:

Pope Pius XII: Some reduce to a meaningless formula the Necessity of Belonging to the True Church in Order to Gain Eternal Salvation.” (Humani Generis, 1950).

How much more of a problem is that in our day, when, it seems, the majority of Catholics deny the dogma?

I would just add to Fiergenholt’s comment by quoting Blessed John Paul from one of his encyclicals:

“Here of course it is a question of external radical manifestations: rejection of God, rejection of his grace and therefore opposition to the very source of salvation -these are manifestations whereby a person seems to exclude himself voluntarily from the path of forgiveness. It is to be hoped that very few persist to the end in this attitude of rebellion or even defiance of God. Moreover, God in his merciful love is greater than our hearts, as St. John further teaches us, and can overcome all our psychological and spiritual resistance. So that, as St. Thomas writes, “considering the omnipotence and mercy of God, no one should despair of the salvation of anyone in this life.”

Just because someone dies outside the Church does not automatically mean he or she is going to hell. It’s not our call to make. Never was. Never will be.

Trust and believe in the infinite mercy of God, and pray for all those who long to see the face of God, however they may know Him.

Dcn. G.

Fiergenholt,

Fr. Feeney was excommunicated for disobedience, not heresy. I disagree with Fr. Feeney on some issues (including issues related to EENS), but in fairness, Rome allows the Benedict Center to teach EENS with no exceptions. Pete Vree has written about this, which you can find online. The St. Benedict Center in Massachusetts (founded by Fr. Feeney) is in normal union with Rome, and they hold to the dogma without any possibility of exceptions.

The problem in our day is that the possibility of an “exception” to the rule has resulted in people almost universally denying the rule.

The way an “exception” can take place is when a person desires (in voto) to belong to the Church, but is not able to accomplish the desire in fact (in re). Just as a person can sin through desire alone (lust, for example) so too, in extraordinary circumstances, can a person be united to the Church by desire. This is the teaching of the Church expounded in a document by the Holy See from 1949 against the St. Benedict Center (not Fr. Feeney specifically).

I personally hold to the possibility of an “exception”, which is why I stated that Mr. Jobs could have possibly converted interiorly at the moment of death (which is what I was implying in one of my other posts).

But there are no exceptions to the fact that a person must belong to the Church “in re” (in fact), or at least “in voto” (in desire), in order to attain salvation. That is a dogma that must be accepted, yet is denied by many today. And the reason it is denied today, is because almost all emphasis is now placed on the “exception” the “possibility” or the “maybe” to such an extent that most now deny the rule.