Tuesday 21 January 2014

Kicking Bear says, " By faith, Your shirts shall be bullet proof "

P 241 of " The amazing colossal apostle " R.M. Price mentions the massacre of Wounded Knee
Wikipedia says:
In the years prior to the massacre, the U.S. Government had continued to seize the Lakota's lands. The once large bison herds (an indigenous peoples' Great Plains staple) had been hunted to near-extinction by European settlers. Treaty promises to protect reservation lands from encroachment by settlers and gold miners were not implemented as dictated by treaty. As a result, there was unrest on the reservations. It was during this time that news spread among the reservations of a Paiute prophet named Wovoka, founder of the Ghost Dance religion. He had a vision that the Christian Messiah, Jesus Christ, had returned to earth in the form of a Native American.
The Messiah would raise all the Native American believers above the earth. During this time the white man would disappear from Native lands, the buffalo herds and all the other animals would return in abundance, and the ghosts of their ancestors would return to earth — hence the word "Ghost" in "Ghost Dance." They would then return to earth to live in peace. All this would be brought about by performance of the "Ghost Dance."Lakota ambassadors to Wovoka, Kicking Bear and Short Bull taught the Lakota that while performing the Ghost Dance, they would wear special Ghost Dance shirts as seen by Black Elk in a vision. Kicking Bear said the shirts had the power to repel bullets.
Everyone thinks God is on their side to wipe out the other tribes
Blessed are they of little faith for they might see reason
( reason might not settle who gets the land rights either though ? )

Tuesday 14 January 2014

The day the earth stood still, 1951 film and 2008 remake

Just found a film from 1951 that had parallels to Christ that were partly censored:
" The day the Earth stood still "
Wikipedia says:
In a 1995 interview, producer Julian Blaustein explained that Joseph Breen, the film censor installed by the Motion Picture Association of America at the Twentieth Century Fox studios, balked at the portrayal of Klaatu's resurrection and limitless power.[3] At the behest of the MPAA, a line was inserted into the film; when Helen asks Klaatu whether Gort has unlimited power over life and death, Klaatu explains that he has only been revived temporarily and "that power is reserved to the Almighty Spirit."[3][5] Of the elements that he added to Klaatu's character, screenwriter Edmund North said, "It was my private little joke. I never discussed this angle with Blaustein or Wise because I didn't want it expressed. I had originally hoped that the Christ comparison would be subliminal."[6] The fact that the question even came up in an interview is proof enough that such comparisons did not remain subliminal, but they are subtle enough that it is not immediately obvious to all viewers which elements were intended to compare Klaatu to Christ.[7][8] For example, when Klaatu escapes from the hospital, he steals the clothing of a "Maj. Carpenter," carpentry being the profession Jesus learned from his father Joseph. At the end, he rises from the dead and ascends into the sky. Other similarities include his apprehension at night, being a friend to children, having wisdom and knowledge far beyond any human being, and the people wanting a sign.
The 2008 remake has more biblical themes.
Klaatu is perplexed by this, but continues to proceed toward eliminating the human species infecting the planet. He orders smaller spheres—hidden on Earth—to begin taking animal species off the planet. Helen drives Klaatu to a forest near a pond. She witnesses Klaatu summoning a sphere that collects various species (evoking Noah's Ark) as Klaatu walks on water. Around the planet, the spheres collect other life forms. Helen quizzes Klaatu about his statement that he has come to save the Earth and discovers that he thinks the only way to save the planet is to exterminate humans. She begs him to realize that humans can change. A police officer driving by the pond notices strange activity. He sees Klaatu and recognizes him as the wanted man. Drawing his gun he confronts Klaatu, who defends himself by using telekinesis to move Helen's car to run the officer over, killing him. But Klaatu then revives the officer by applying some of the placenta and then laying hands on his head, Lazarus-like, and raises the officer from the dead.
Hoping to appeal to Klaatu to change his mind about humanity and save it instead, Helen takes him to the home of Nobel Prize-winning Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese), where they discuss how Klaatu's own race went through a drastic evolution to survive their own star's demise.
In meantime, the robot, named "GORT" (Genetically Organized Robotic Technology) by the United States government, is subjected to experiments in an underground facility in Virginia. Trying in vain to drill into the robot, the drill bit inadvertently releases Gort's genetic material which produces winged insect-like entities. Eventually the robot's form dissolves into a swarm of these "insects". The self-replicating miniature robots begin erasing all humans and every human-made item in their path. However, it does not destroy grass, trees or non-human organisms. Apparently if unstopped the swarm will erase all vestiges of the human race, leaving the planet in its natural state. The swarm is heading to Manhattan, where the major sphere is located.
[ ps If aliens really wanted to help this planet they could do so by giving us the technology to make a difference eg large scale electricity storage systems, a plastic replacement that is totally biodegradable to leave only non toxic remains, a way of manufacturing phosphate and potash from scratch, or just take most folk off this planet and ship us to virgin Earths in other solar systems. ]

Why didn't Klaatu just speak to all the world leaders on their laptops or smartphones while hovering in the globe spacecraft  at satellite distance - better than getting dead ended with Regina Jackson, secretary of defense ? At 1:08 on the DVD Klaatu is made to say, " Technology is not the answer " but I think technology is the answer. Smart aliens would have the technology to enable humans to manage the ecosystem in a sustainable way. Aliens could have given us materials  which were fully biodegradable to non toxic chemical. They could also have given us ways of generating electrity that would last thousands of years without causing any harm to the environment. They could have shown how to safely treble crop yields so that more are could be used as wildlife habitat. They could have shown how to make tropical rain forest produce so many useful things that the rain forest were worth more intact than converted to pasture for beef cattle etc
At least Barnhardt shows more interest in understanding Klaatu than just trying to fight with him

Maybe Klaatu could have been made to say to Barnhardt, " I will download all the information you need onto you computer " Well Klaatu could have send emails to the top scientists and engineers , secretly - without causing a world wide panic. What happened to Mr Wu ? Why hadn't he at least invented a large scale electricity storage system so that electricity from solar panels could be stored for use at night or winter ? Odd how the aliens and gods that people write about are no more " On the ball " than the average person on the street ? Well I suppose it wouldn't make for thrilling  melodrama if aliens just came along and solved all our problems in a quiet, civilized way

In the original 1951 film " The day the Earth stood still " . At 40min on DVD, Klaatu asks Prof Barnhardt, " You have faith ? ( In me ) " Barnhardt replies with the winning line, " It isn't faith that makes good science, it's curiosity " Sadly this line was missed from the 2008 remake in which, at 1hr08, on DVD Klaatu is made to speak as stupidly as God, " Technology is not the answer " Maybe vast leaps forward in our technology could make long term sustainable life on Earth possible, as well as colonizing other exoplanets ?
At first I thought it was dumb to have Klaatu act as stupidly as Biblegod, wouldn't aliens who could make it to Earth need to have been so much more intelligent ? However now I think it was smart to make Klaatu say stupid things if he was supposed to be the parallel of Jesus, it maybe excuses the viewer to contest & challenge and realize there were better ways to think ( without fear of going against their religious beliefs )
Also interesting in the 2008 remake that at the start of film they have a glowing sphere ice ball which could be a parallel to burning bush and Moses, except it didn't speak.
Are the 1951 & 2008 versions like different gospels where each playwright was wanting to tell slightly different stories - to draw out different points.


Sunday 12 January 2014

THE AMAZING COLOSSAL APOSTLE by Robert M. Price

I'm reading " The amazing colossal apostle: the search for the historical Paul " by Robert M. Price. He mentions that the title is after " The amazing colossal man " film of 1957. When watching this film on Youtube I came across that his, " The incredible shrinking Son of Man " is after " The incredible shrinking man " film also of 1957. " The incredible melting man " film of 1977 was a further development in that line of thought. Some of the scenes in the amazing colossal man eg where the 60 foot tall man picks up his girl friend in his hand are a bit like King Kong film of 1933. At the end of " The amazing colossal man " he is shot by the army and falls off Boulder dam, presumed dead. However he makes a miraculous come back when the producers realize they need to resurrect him to try to make some money from " War of the Colossal Beast " in 1958

Noah 2 - the revenge of the animals

It would make the Noah film more interesting if they linked to TalkOrigins website ( even just a mention in the credits ) but the financial backers would probably worry that some Christians would then speak against the film and they would lose sales, so they just stay safe and tow the orthodox line? It would need such as FreedomFromReligionFoundation to pay for an advert for TalkOrigins in the cinemas or to flash across Youtube around the March release date.
How about " Noah 2- the revenge of the animals " in which God has pity on the animals, realizing that it isn't their fault so decides against flooding the Earth ( besides he also realizes that it would be a lot of hassle since there isn't enough water to do it and he would have to magically fast forward the evolution of many species in time for them to be around 4000 years later for modern civilization to find ) So anyway God takes the lazy way out and gives Satan permission to unleash all the demons which possess all the crocodiles, snakes, elephants, spiders, cock roaches, mosquitoes and bacteria etc to launch a mass assault on Adam & Eve descendants. So the natural world emerges from every forest, swamp, river, nook and cranny to slaughter every last Adam & Eve descendant and there after devour them. Could be a slight problem with this story since how come humans are around now ? Well maybe the Adam & Eve descendants in that Noah story were a bit like Neanderthal and actually homo sapiens are a different species than Adam & Eve, Jesus didn't pick up on this fact so ideas of original sin are mistaken. Modern humans are not guilty. I rest my case
Well I suppose that is a bit like the Exodus story, so why didn't God get the animals to kill all the Egyptians ?
How about " Noah3- the birth of the conman " in which Noah prophesies that there will be a global flood on 28th March 2000 AfterAdam, ten years to the day. The locals need to finance him to build an ark for them to survive. So the locals agree to this. Noah sets himself up as head of the tax free charitable foundation where he receives abundant enumeration allowing him to buy the finest alcohol and spend much time drunk {Genesis9v21}. Of course as he starts gathering the species he keeps finding far more than he ever imagined there so he keeps having to add sections to his ark and the budget keeps spiraling. Noah has to tell ever more dire stories of doom to persuade the locals to increase their direct debits or standing orders. Finally the big day arrives but no sign of rain - clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine. Bit awkward for Noah but he looks through his notes from God and tells the locals that he misread it- it will be next year. Another year passes and of course no flood so Noah keeps having to make excuses to push back the end of the world. This time it is because he hasn't written a list of all the species, so an inventory must be drawn up before the world can be flooded. Meanwhile the Ark is turning into a bit of a zoo and costs continue to spiral so Noah starts charging people to visit and view the animals. Luckily for Noah he discovers Australia with many other creatures so this gives him a good excuse why God didn't flood the Earth - obviously couldn't have until Ozzy critters were on board etc. Sadly for Noah the locals finally realize they have been tricked and feed Noah to the lions

Thursday 2 January 2014

Numbers 15v35 Contra Matt 25v35-40

Maybe Jesus should have said that the Lord in Numbers 15v35 should have said to Moses, " You ought to invite the man caught gathering wood to dine with you and enjoy the warmth of your own fire, thus saving him from the need to gather wood " repeating Matt 25v35-40; paraphrase~ " Lord when did we see you cold and hungry ? The King replied; When ever you gave food and warmth to others you did it for me ". 
So why did the gospel writers not make Jesus say this ? Why not have Jesus say that Moses must have been mistaken about hearing God order stoning? Why not have Moses trying to understand & empathize with the poor man's situation by asking, " Was your wood stolen ? Was there too little firewood in your area of desert to find enough during the week ? Do you have a very large family or are you caring for elderly relatives ? Why didn't you ask a neighbour for some wood ? We wanted everyone to enjoy a day off from work so they could party together ."
Modern management would A. check the person had understood the rule, B. find out why it wasn't followed, C. offer further training D. give a three stage warning E. reassess whether their rule was fit for purpose F. be careful not to treat the employee illegally ( human rights abuse )

How come " God " didn't say to the man of Numbers 15 ( caught gathering wood, ) 
" No need to gather wood. Look here is an Exodus 3 burning bush that never goes out, it gives off a great heat and even has handy twigs where you can hang your pots to cook. It saves you from foraging for wood and thereby helps prevent desertification. It is fueled by natural gas and if you travel east across the Arabian Peninsular to the Persian Gulf and drill holes in the ground there then you will find loads more gas there. Take a tip and claim the land & sea rights down there. "
How come the Exodus 13v22 pillars of fire didn't act as a stove to cook on at night ?
God could have magically provided them all with an ever full Aladdin lamp or primus stove to cook by.
It would be handy to have several supernatural burning bushes to act as the thermal core for power stations.