As a person who enjoys observing human psychology in action I have been having a blast this last week with all of the rapture tension in the air. Religious groups have been doing their best to separate themselves from Family Radio, Atheists have been throwing parties, and Zealots have been preparing for the afterlife. However, after having a few of my kindest guests that patron my store tell me that it has been a pleasure knowing me and that no matter what happens I should remember that they loved me (note the past tense), I have been moved to blog my opinion on the subject.
I've noticed that most people have little to real understanding of the possible event that is suggested will occur. Not that they should but I would think that if you where religious and the possibility of the end of days were to come up it would perk some more interest, perhaps tempt a few people to look into things a bit, I don't know maybe it's just me. I actually stand on the opposite side of the spectrum. As an Atheist I didn't get interested in this because I want to argue or disprove religion I just found it interesting. And for the record when this is over and everything is OK I will see it as logic prevailing over insanity and in no way see that as a reflection against any real religion. This is not about proving a religion wrong it is about debunking someone who has used religion to manipulate people.
I'll try to keep this brief and not long winded, who knows maybe I'm wrong and you don't have time to read and reflect. Speaking of time, lets start there. The mastermind behind this theory is Harold Camping. He is a Berkley grad who has been obsessed with the end of days since the late 80's and he has come up with what he calls the The Bibles Calendar of History. This calendar theorizes that the earth from creation to present day is only 13023 years old. Now, science has disputed these short ranged guesses that religion has come up with many times and I don't feel the need to argue this point so lets just remember that number. The next number you need to know is 1=1000. This one is pivotal. Now lets start putting this together.
These Zealots believe that god left clues in the bible that could reveal the exact date of the rapture. Most involve the story of Noah and the flood. So after Noah built the arc god told him he would have 7 days to fill it before he flooded and thus destroyed the world. Now earlier in Genesis, there is a reference to one day on Earth being 1000 years with god. Now the scripture is vague but most have interpreted it to mean this to be a reference to what time will be like in heaven. Camping however believes this to mean something more literal. Specifically that god was telling Noah that in actuality the world had 7000 years to go instead of 7 days. One day equals one thousand years. At first glance this seems plausible but if you actually look deeper this gets problematic. For starters, if one day equals 7000 years then technically the 40 days and 40 nights that it rained to cause the flood would have actually equaled 40,000 years making this one act in the bible taking longer than Camping guessed was the age of the entire existence of the planet. Camping counters this argument by stating that he is well versed in the study of the bible and that he understands when god intended to use this analogy of time and when he did not. Bullshit. This does nothing to prove a timeline for destruction since the very use of the deciphering tools renders the entire argument moot. This is the great mathematical proof that these people have sworn decodes the bibles facts about the rapture.
Now some more about time. Now even though the original testament can be dated back to being written within a relative span of human history it still predates all known forms of calendar dating and time itself as we know it. Yet Camping states clearly that the Rapture will begin at 6pm on May 21st 2011, begging the question of where. What location on the planet will be at 6pm when the rapture starts? You see they didn't have time zones back in the Jesus days. It's kind of a give away that he didn't think of this in the first place when he was later questioned about this and said that the zero latitude will decide the start point of the rapture. Basically meaning that the first point on the time zones that hit 6pm on May 21st will start the event and it will occur at every time zone accordingly until it's complete. So for example the Rapture will start at the first point but I will notice the effects at 11pm on the 20th of May , in a couple of hours. I've seen a ton of things in the bible that require a leap of faith to believe but to consider that god had predetermined the rapture around the Earth's time zones is simply to far of a stretch for even the Pope to buy. Every single other event in the bible has clear reference of time relating to either days, moons or stars. Time itself is never really mentioned.
Now every time Camping is questioned by anyone on the subject of how he has decided how old the Earth is or how he deciphered the exact date of the Rapture he responds with the same thing. He says that he has studied the bible for years. thus meaning he knows all about it. He says that he has studied the world for many years thus knows all about it. Not once will he give an answer that actually answers a question. This is a common technique used to distract people from gaining actual answers. For example, say I were to be selling soda and you questioned me on how I could charge so much for my soda and I replied that I have been training on soda production for years so I definitely know how much soda should cost. You see I didn't give you a reason like you asked for I just gave you a reason for why you should believe me. This is a well know form of deception.
The best part is is that I got all of this within 20 minutes of research using only the websites related to Family Radio(the company that Camping uses to broadcast) and my prior knowledge of the bible and science. In my opinion there will be no Rapture nor will there be an end of days. Many times in history we have seen people who have been willing to die for what they think is signs of the end of days. Most recently you may remember the Heavens Gate cult that convinced a large mass of people to kill themselves off the huge long shot that aliens were hiding in a comet and waiting to take them to heaven. Tomorrow let's all wake up and regardless of our beliefs be united in the reminder that we are still alive and have time to enjoy ourselves before we have to move on at our own pace and not a predetermined finish line.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Way Back Wednesday Review!
So I've been feeling nostalgic the past year or so. So many things in my life are new and exciting that it's been so long since I've had a chance to sit back and enjoy things from times past and I guess that I've missed many of the things that I have enjoyed. But then when I went out searching for a piece of my past I found a copy of a movie that I loved so much it easily made my to 20 of all time which is a very hard list to make. I sat with my wife who had never seen it before and was so excited to share one of the things that I loved, something that I felt shaped my way of looking at and creating stories. It was a romantic action film with amazing actors and an epic storyline....and it sucked.
Everything I loved about it seemed childish, underdeveloped, and just plain stupid. I was sitting on the couch with my wife who was shocked at how horrible of a movie we were watching that I had promised was an amazing movie in which to spend the night watching with popcorn and wine. Honestly, I felt like part of my youth had died. Something that I loved had died in my eyes and I found myself fearing watching anything else that I loved watching before because I didn't want to ruin anything else. Now, I have taken a vow of blindness when it comes to Star Wars because I don't want my son seeing it before he is old enough to remember that moment in which he was first exposed to the most amazing piece of science fiction ever created. But now I found myself happy that I wasn't watching those movies because I couldn't bear to loose them. This is when I realized that I had to do something. I had to face my fears and start watching old movies and reading old books. I had to do this and hope that my past would not be ruined. And what better way to share this experience than with a blog! But I won't share my experience with the first movie, at least not yet. I've been far to negative lately and I need to turn in a different direction. So my first Way Back Review will be of the second film I tired. Blue Streak.
Blue Streak came out when Martin Lawrence was just coming into his own as a leading man in movies. He had already dominated TV with his self titled show that let him flex as many comedic muscles as he could find, as well as played the comedic sidekick in a few movies. But up until this movie he was always co staring with other actors as the leads. He stared in the very successful Bad Boys with Will Smith and the lesser known gem Nothing to Lose with Tim Robbins. Both were hysterical but now it was time for him to stand on his own.
Basic plot is that professional thief Miles Logan steals a large diamond but is betrayed by his partner. With the cops breathing down his neck and his partner trying to kill him, Logan hides the diamond in the air ducts of a building being constructed and gets caught by the police as opposed to his partner. A few years later, Logan gets out of jail and finds that the building that he hid the diamond in has been completed and now is the police headquarters. Logan must now go "undercover" as a police officer with forged paperwork in order to gain access to the building and try to find the diamond.
I couldn't tell you what makes this movie more hilarious, Martin Lawrence's performance as a thief who has to use all his skills to infiltrate a seemingly inept police precinct, all the while using all he knows about crime to solve crimes himself, or the outrageous cast of secondary characters played by Luke Wilsen and Dave Chappelle. The best gags are Logan's constant upgrading of his rank as a police officer from detective all the way to a Federali! Followed by Luke Wilsen's portrayal of a by the book rookie who learns how to be a "real" cop from Logan. Then there's Chappelle as an out of work con who blunders himself into a shootout between a store clerk and himself that leads to a stand of with the police that only Logan can get him out of. Regardless this movie will leave you quoting lines for weeks to come.
As far as the writing and directing go they are pretty solid. Like every comedy thrown at comics at the time there were a few down times but Blue Streak seems to find a decent balance between story and laughs that keeps it moving. One of the really good points is that after 80 minutes of set up gags the movie finishes with a pretty solid and oddly fitting serious action sequence that gets you to really rally behind Logan and cheer him on. I won't give it away but the end is pretty funny and one of the most quotable scenes.
All in all this movie is a great watch that has held up very well. Maybe it is it's lack of dependency on current pop culture jokes or just one of those rare but really solid movies that can just stand the test of times. My verdict is watch it if you haven't and watch it again if you already have.
Everything I loved about it seemed childish, underdeveloped, and just plain stupid. I was sitting on the couch with my wife who was shocked at how horrible of a movie we were watching that I had promised was an amazing movie in which to spend the night watching with popcorn and wine. Honestly, I felt like part of my youth had died. Something that I loved had died in my eyes and I found myself fearing watching anything else that I loved watching before because I didn't want to ruin anything else. Now, I have taken a vow of blindness when it comes to Star Wars because I don't want my son seeing it before he is old enough to remember that moment in which he was first exposed to the most amazing piece of science fiction ever created. But now I found myself happy that I wasn't watching those movies because I couldn't bear to loose them. This is when I realized that I had to do something. I had to face my fears and start watching old movies and reading old books. I had to do this and hope that my past would not be ruined. And what better way to share this experience than with a blog! But I won't share my experience with the first movie, at least not yet. I've been far to negative lately and I need to turn in a different direction. So my first Way Back Review will be of the second film I tired. Blue Streak.
Blue Streak came out when Martin Lawrence was just coming into his own as a leading man in movies. He had already dominated TV with his self titled show that let him flex as many comedic muscles as he could find, as well as played the comedic sidekick in a few movies. But up until this movie he was always co staring with other actors as the leads. He stared in the very successful Bad Boys with Will Smith and the lesser known gem Nothing to Lose with Tim Robbins. Both were hysterical but now it was time for him to stand on his own.
Basic plot is that professional thief Miles Logan steals a large diamond but is betrayed by his partner. With the cops breathing down his neck and his partner trying to kill him, Logan hides the diamond in the air ducts of a building being constructed and gets caught by the police as opposed to his partner. A few years later, Logan gets out of jail and finds that the building that he hid the diamond in has been completed and now is the police headquarters. Logan must now go "undercover" as a police officer with forged paperwork in order to gain access to the building and try to find the diamond.
I couldn't tell you what makes this movie more hilarious, Martin Lawrence's performance as a thief who has to use all his skills to infiltrate a seemingly inept police precinct, all the while using all he knows about crime to solve crimes himself, or the outrageous cast of secondary characters played by Luke Wilsen and Dave Chappelle. The best gags are Logan's constant upgrading of his rank as a police officer from detective all the way to a Federali! Followed by Luke Wilsen's portrayal of a by the book rookie who learns how to be a "real" cop from Logan. Then there's Chappelle as an out of work con who blunders himself into a shootout between a store clerk and himself that leads to a stand of with the police that only Logan can get him out of. Regardless this movie will leave you quoting lines for weeks to come.
As far as the writing and directing go they are pretty solid. Like every comedy thrown at comics at the time there were a few down times but Blue Streak seems to find a decent balance between story and laughs that keeps it moving. One of the really good points is that after 80 minutes of set up gags the movie finishes with a pretty solid and oddly fitting serious action sequence that gets you to really rally behind Logan and cheer him on. I won't give it away but the end is pretty funny and one of the most quotable scenes.
All in all this movie is a great watch that has held up very well. Maybe it is it's lack of dependency on current pop culture jokes or just one of those rare but really solid movies that can just stand the test of times. My verdict is watch it if you haven't and watch it again if you already have.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)