"You know, if they ever find life on other planets you can throw away your Bible."
That was a comment once made by my brother during a conversation years ago. And, according to a lot of what I hear, his opinion (was) is a common one. Here is why:
Humanity has had this God complex for most of its recorded history. (And to keep grammar simple, I'm going to use male references, though this is not limited to the less-fairer sex.) Man has believed that God is here to fight his battles, give him special favor, or that he himself IS - in a sense - God. He has been so wrapped up in HIMSELF that he believes that God not only created the world, but that He created the ENTIRE vast universe JUST for him!
Talk about hutzpah!
One of the Bible verses used to support this is John 3:16 - "For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son . . . " (emphasis mine). You see it? God so loved THIS world that He gave His Son. That must mean that there cannot be any other life in the ENTIRE universe, or God would have had to give His Son to THAT world as well (because, of course life there would have had to sin and need a savior too!). And, since Jesus came to earth as a man, and not an aardvark, man MUST be the most important life on earth. And since man is only on earth . . .
You have to understand the importance of man in the grand scheme of things. You see, Adam and Eve sinned, and not only cursed themselves, but the whole of creation:
"For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now." (Romans 8:19-23 NKJV)
So, creation eagerly waits for the sons of God (redeemed man) to be revealed. Creation will then be delivered from the bondage of corruption that man's sin put it in. And since man's sin took place on the world that God so loved, there cannot be life outside of earth.
So, if only MAN wouldn't have sinned, creation itself would be fine.
You know, the more I write, the more ludicrous that sounds.
If you are one who has this man superiority complex, may I direct you to my blog "Ptolemy Syndrome"!
I guess all I can say, if there IS life out there in the great expanse of the universe, and there very well could be, is that that life is far more intelligent, and far less full of itself, than what we have here.
(Inspired by the movie "Contact" and the podcast FilmSack! of the same movie.)
©Emittravel 2016
Showing posts with label Filmsack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Filmsack. Show all posts
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Tell Me a Story
My wife and I have this little tradition. After we watch a television show, or a movie - including on the "big screen" - my wife pulls out IMDB and shares the trivia. Sometimes, depending on the movie, we share a podcast called Filmsack, which I like to describe as IMDB on steroids and laughing gas.
One time, while watching the movie "Frequency" on DVD, I turned on the trivia option. This puts little pop ups on the screen giving little details. In one early scene, there were details like the song that was playing, the type of motorcycle the character was riding, where the scene was filmed, and how many church mice were seen crossing the intersection (okay, I exaggerate). There was so much distracting details on the screen that I ended up turning the option off within five minutes of the start. Hell, I think I gave myself symptoms of A.D.D.!
The reason for the tradition is similar to watching a movie with the director's commentary playing: we like the little nuances. But there's a limit.
We are watching the series N.C.I.S. As a former member of the U.S. Navy, I love the references - both on the show, and on the IMDB trivia. Yet, for some rum-dumb reason, there are people out there that like to look for "mistakes". In one episode, one was concerning documents that were shown for a MOMENT on screen. Apparently, the people who made the props had identical documents, with only the photos changed. The point was for the audience to see the photos. I don't think the idea was to pause the scene and read the documents.
Why am I writing a post about this? Because it really bothers me that nobody is allowed to just tell a good story anymore. They have to worry about every stupid detail.
And yes, many times I see them too. I notice the tie crooked in one scene and straight in the next, followed by another scene of the tie crooked again. But who cares!?! Does it take away from the story? NO! I've done so much proof reading in my time, that I find typos in novels. But that typo is not the focus of the book. The focus is the story.
We are also watching "Doctor Who". And by that I mean we started with the original, black and white episodes. (We LIKE watching a series in order . . . from the beginning through to the end.) And you know what? Sometimes you can see the strings. Or the shadow of a boom mic. But that doesn't take away from the story. We don't watch a show, especially from the 1960s, expecting today's special effects. We watch it for a good story.
Sometimes I really miss our old, analog TV. Before the days of plasma and Ultra HD. When you really couldn't see the strings. Because what I wanted wasn't the effects. It was a good story.
And I still do.
©Emittravel 2016
One time, while watching the movie "Frequency" on DVD, I turned on the trivia option. This puts little pop ups on the screen giving little details. In one early scene, there were details like the song that was playing, the type of motorcycle the character was riding, where the scene was filmed, and how many church mice were seen crossing the intersection (okay, I exaggerate). There was so much distracting details on the screen that I ended up turning the option off within five minutes of the start. Hell, I think I gave myself symptoms of A.D.D.!
The reason for the tradition is similar to watching a movie with the director's commentary playing: we like the little nuances. But there's a limit.
We are watching the series N.C.I.S. As a former member of the U.S. Navy, I love the references - both on the show, and on the IMDB trivia. Yet, for some rum-dumb reason, there are people out there that like to look for "mistakes". In one episode, one was concerning documents that were shown for a MOMENT on screen. Apparently, the people who made the props had identical documents, with only the photos changed. The point was for the audience to see the photos. I don't think the idea was to pause the scene and read the documents.
Why am I writing a post about this? Because it really bothers me that nobody is allowed to just tell a good story anymore. They have to worry about every stupid detail.
And yes, many times I see them too. I notice the tie crooked in one scene and straight in the next, followed by another scene of the tie crooked again. But who cares!?! Does it take away from the story? NO! I've done so much proof reading in my time, that I find typos in novels. But that typo is not the focus of the book. The focus is the story.
We are also watching "Doctor Who". And by that I mean we started with the original, black and white episodes. (We LIKE watching a series in order . . . from the beginning through to the end.) And you know what? Sometimes you can see the strings. Or the shadow of a boom mic. But that doesn't take away from the story. We don't watch a show, especially from the 1960s, expecting today's special effects. We watch it for a good story.
Sometimes I really miss our old, analog TV. Before the days of plasma and Ultra HD. When you really couldn't see the strings. Because what I wanted wasn't the effects. It was a good story.
And I still do.
©Emittravel 2016
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