Our collective imagination is a canvas worth trillions of dollars.  What is being painted on the canvas of your imagination today?  Is it heavenly or is it hell?

Documentary Of The Week: Eisenhower.

Click the title.

The bible is not the issue.

The bible is not the issue.

In a new movie plot, when ego becomes more important than human life or safety, you have Anti-Christ. Cain may have been the first.  You could argue that the morality in the word of God is non-democratic and that it is out of place in modern times and  with the respective social mores. The Torah does not condone homosexuality. But, there is a certain morality that keeps everyone safe; including their children and it is in the laws that are based on the Torah that is also found in the bible.  You could say one bad experience has turned you away from religion and you chose to be a homosexual or to just do whatever you want. You could just do what you want so long as your neighbor's children are unaffected by you doing what you want. That was the experience of Lot in the bible. It was the experience of Nazi Germany. Lot wanted someone to answer his 911 calls and save him and his children. Some research suggests that Lot did not  give his children over to the hordes to save the angels. Angels have a spiritual version of  infra-red goggles and big guns and they can take care of themselves usually. Also, someone with an agenda altered the definitions of homosexual and heterosexual sometime ago. The world is not perfect and the law says that children should be kept safe. Most people believe in this whether or not they suffered victimization.  Those laws are based on the word of God, the Torah and the bible  essentially. It is undertstandable that if you were victimised by someone, you might remain angry in spite of that person's religious back ground. You would be angry whether or not they read  or own the book "angels and demons" but what you suffered was certainly demonic and the bible also does not condone any such experience. Most Christians would mourn with you as some of them may or may not know your experience.  But, it would be hard for you to accept their testimony if you knew they have a copy of your  lap-dancing girls gone to the border((bien chose ou mal chose?) video when you were a lap dancer ten years ago and still in college.    The point is that you would not have modern times  and society without the word of God. The laws based on the word and the social peace it provides enable a way of life, safety and prosperity.  Can you imagine what would happen if you told the police that your dog was stolen by some people and they just hung up and this is after you showed them the security video from the infra-red cam that you bought at Walmart? You could see it was the couple down the road and so can they. You thought they might be gay since they had the multi-colored flag on their vehicle and on their jeans but they weren't really gay and comprised a guy and a woman. It seems they were singing "Let it go" when they walked out of the  front yard while on video.  You would be very disappointed and would ask what is happening to your tax dollars. What if they told you to have some pride and not worry about the dog since there are more important issues at stake?  Where would you be and what you do since your dog was stolen and you intended to take your dog to grade 3 class at dog school in the morning.  Your pursuit of happiness is just ruined. Everybody needs a minimum degree of morals to keep their loved ones, their dogs, their loved ones and their loved ones safe.  The morals equal safe society, safe food, safe swimming pools, school cross walks, amusement rides, pool cues, balls and infrastructure.  See Lord Atkin in Donoghue and Stevenson(1932).  The issue is not the word of God, the Torah or the bible. Epicureanism could equal an amoral society but amorality may not be commercially and communally viable. The rainbow flag may amount to a prayer for healing and recompense for wrongs  un-redressed and visited upon the vulnerable as forgiveness remains uneasy.   It might be naked, prideful contagion. There is a rainbow in the bible.  But, there is nothing wrong with a 24 hour food channel and a bible channel right beside it to give you the faith, prayer and encouragement to beat your "ten  strudels a day" habit.  The morals that the torah and the bible  purport are  something that everybody needs including Ben and Jerry's so that they can keep their rainbow flavored ice cream clean and sale-able and their dogs safe.

Word processors, robots and computers do not eat. People do and they need safe places and markets in which to be workers and consumers.  Govern-mentally funded universal health care to help the company balance sheets  is really friendly and  hire two people for every word processor and robot purchased by the big company down the road and you will have your consuming to keep it all going.    



It is the continuing policy of Londinium TV Channel to discuss everything in a light hearted manner and to let everyone know that homosexuals are human beings. It is also to share the gospel. They should be as well respected in public as any bible believing Christian. Hatred is not tolerated against homosexuals and nor should anyone tolerate anyone, including homosexuals, perpetrating crimes of anger, passions and violence.
Warren Lyon, Editor.
Londinium TV Channel.





 

Just imagine what TV and the airwaves would have been like if a certain political leader succeeded in all of his campaigns during World War 2.

So much angry language....not enough clean Quaker Harvest Crunch!

While We're Young(the movie) is sort of an angry but thoughtful alternative sequel to Meet The Parents if you wish. The language is authentically "High school hall way" but the issues of life, faith, faithfulness and family resonate quite religiously. It's a good, reflective collaboration of morals, intellectual property and enterprise. How do we know who really wrote the essay or script? Well, everybody knows. But, in asking the question, it doesn't give anyone the right to hand in work that does not belong to you and expect to disdain and denigrate the academic process. Moreover,it does not give you the right to use someone's film as your entry at a film festival. Picasso said the devil has an ego and as an artist, the devil only steals and is nothing but a thief.

The early British Latin dialect probably developed similarly as the dialect of Gaul (the ancestor of Old French). In particular, Latin stressed short i developed first into close-mid /e/, then diphthongised to /ei/. The combination -ond- also developed regularly into -und- in pre-Old French. Thus, he concludes, the remaining Romans of Britain would have pronounced the name as Lundeiniu, later Lundein, from which the Welsh and English forms were then borrowed. This hypothesis requires that the Latin form have a short i: Londinium.   

Special Music Presentation.

The Judeo-Christian Values are important  as Christian church members advocated for free schooling, lunches, libraries and social benefits including the orphan benefits. But, many people have turned and decided that they do not have enough evidence that God exists. Go and remember the Baptist or Pentecostal minister who advocated for free schooling.

Happy Father's Day: 1 Thessalonians 1.

Chocolat et un verre du lait avec cole're?

It begins with chocolate chip cookies and ends with Oreo cookies.
It begins with baked pomme de terre and and ends with french fries.
It begins with a special carbonated tonic drink and ends with coke zero.

It begins with "page 3" and concludes with an epicurean empire that watches you in your hotel rooms, bedrooms and home toilets with great interest from kindergarten maybe.  The movie "Fury" was about technology and the soul of the future.
There is nothing wrong with an empire. Some empires exist by sheer economic power, productivity and influence alone.  But, an empire is not justified simply because it is empirical. There are good books and bad books, good messages and bad messages; good empires and evil empires. The message of some empires is just death.  The movie "Fury" was about self introspection and examination of the direction that the future should take.  The word is peace.  You can't have someone touching up your  wife in a supermarket aisle, at church or temple( Judaic/ Christian/Muslim) in front of you. That is civil war and an end to civic health or peace in the Word.   War is good for the civic health of the nation simply because there is a civic health. What maintains the civic health is a commitment to that health and the word of peace.  Maintain that health. If you have someone to forgive, then forgive that someone instead of creating a community of non-forgiving people that console each other in a common experience of victimization or ostracization who simply ostracize and victimize people who are not a part of that community and believe in the potential for peace for everyone where everyone is invited and with a simple code; that you love your neighbor as your self and do unto others as you would have others do unto you. It is not perfect as humans are not perfect but if you end peace, you will  have nothing to petition for your hope in a government-ally protected right to make a claim for a right. There will be no citizen with any legislation  upon which they can make any claims. But, there may be an empire.  The western Judeo-Christian/American dream as enunciated by the American founding fathers in addition to English and French people is not dead according to the community of New York ( instead of the gangs of New York).                  

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Zoo by James Patterson is a Warning to Good Writers Everywhere

I do not ordinarily write negative book reviews. This is mostly because these days I can read nothing but good books by friends of mine, and if one of them happens to be less good than I'd like, the author is still a friend, so I don't write anything at all.

(Note: if you've given me a book and I haven't reviewed it, I'm sure it's because I didn't have time to write the review, because obviously the book you gave me was excellent.)

 

I'm making an exception for Zoo, because I don't know James Patterson, and because this book is so bad we can learn from it.

 

Here, in short, is what I found: POV errors, tell-don't-show, artificial pacing, bad dialog, dimensionless characters, horrible science, and arrogant moral posturing wrapped around an interesting premise and three decent action scenes. 

 

If you'd like to see for yourself, there's a free sample available here that gives you the first twenty-three chapters. Note, however, that the average chapter length is maybe 1000 words (see "artificial pacing" above), so it's not like you're getting all that much book for your no money.

 

SPOILER ALERT: human-induced ecological collapse is a neat premise. The accidental generation of a pheromone that makes all mammals (except humans!) hate humans is a bit of a stretch. That it can be turned off in a few days of blackout-by-fiat is ridiculous. The way in which these premises and plot-whoppers are worked into the preachy, disappointing finish isstupefyingly clumsy to the point of being insulting. Ecologists and "green" folks everywhere should bury all the remaindered copies of this book, because the best use it can serve for our ecology is as a carbon sink. 

 

Fortunately, all the electrons in my Kindle version of the book can be recycled.

 

The publisher says "Zoo is the thriller he was born to write." That's a little bit like saying "this cardboard box is the mansion he was born to build," or "this steaming pile of excrement is the meal he was born to eat." My only consolation for having my intelligence insulted by Patterson is that Patterson's publisher has inadvertently insulted him with the glowing praise.

 

Now, for all the dissing I've heaped on Mr. Patterson, I suspect his only real failing was putting his name on this "co-authored" book in the first place. I don't know how much of Zoo was written by Patterson, and how much by Michael Ledwidge, but it would not surprise me one bit if every one of the ham-handed, amateurish mistakes made in the writing were made by somebody who does NOT, in fact, have sixty-plus New York Times bestsellers under his belt. 

 

If you're a fan of Writing Excuses, you're probably well-equipped to critique the first 23 chapters and learn from the exercise yourself. But if you want to read something you can learn from, try reading the first three Jim Butcher novels and observing how much better he gets with each one. You'll enjoy the exercise a lot more.

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/zoo-book-review

So the new idea is that some people will answer one question in an exam with 6 questions and will expect to get a passing grade although they were told that they are actually throwing out 5/6s of the potential marks available. Then, they wish to watch other people write all the questions, satisfy the examiner with disciplined study to a tune of 80% but receive the same grade as the student who only wrote one question and this is to achieve their cheeky and rebellious sense of arithmetical and emotional equality. But, if the issue is equality, then every one has an equal chance to follow the tutor's advice prior to the exam, an equal chance in preparation and an equal chance to practice in advance of the exam with the practice exam from the exam bank or from the tutor.   There is no doubt that the man who wrote one question and passed the exam is superior in every sense of the word and it is not likely that any student aware of the colour of his tanned reeboks will attempt such a feet and expect the 80%.  They could answer all of the questions and see what the examiner says. Presumably, the examiner is not interrupted in his duties by some other version of his university student population.

Darwin and Faith: Darwin is only one scientist.  His experience and testimony does not circumscribe that of all other scientists who have benefited from better technology, experience and opportunity to see the miracle of God in creation; creation that follows an evolutionary process over seven stages, ending with a higher species in being called man.  His experience or testimony does not define the experiences of every other truly humble mind. The word of God gives us the precise detailed synopsis of creation. Science gives us the  minute details as they corroborate.  The bible does say that life came out of water.  See Genesis 1:20 or day five of creation. See the link below on where life originated.

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/origsoflife_03

In 1879 John Fordyce wrote asking if Darwin believed in God, and if theism and evolution were compatible. Darwin replied that a man "can be an ardent Theist and an evolutionist", citing Charles Kingsley and Asa Gray as examples, and for himself, "In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.— I think that generally (& more and more so as I grow older) but not always, that an agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind."^[85]

Those opposing religion often took Darwin as their inspiration and expected his support for their cause, a role he firmly refused. In 1880 there was a huge controversy when the atheist Charles Bradlaugh was elected as a member of parliament and then prevented from taking his seat in the House of Commons. In response, the secularist Edward Aveling toured the country leading protests.^[86] In October of that year Aveling wanted to dedicate his book onDarwin and his Works to Darwin and asked him for permission. Darwin declined, writing that "though I am a strong advocate for free thought on all subjects, yet it appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity & theism produce hardly any effect on the public; & freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follows from the advance of science. It has, therefore, been always my object to avoid writing on religion, & I have confined myself to science. I may, however, have been unduly biased by the pain which it would give some members of my family, if I aided in any way direct attacks on religion."^[87]

On the Origin of Species reflects theological views.^{[citation needed]} Though he thought of religion as a tribal survival strategy, Darwin still believed that God was the ultimate lawgiver,^[10][11] and later recollected that at the time he was convinced of the existence of God as a First Cause and deserved to be called a theist. This view subsequently fluctuated,^[12] and he continued to explore conscientious doubts, without forming fixed opinions on certain religious matters.^[7]

Darwin continued to play a leading part in the parish work of the local church,^[13] but from around 1849 would go for a walk on Sundays while his family attended church.^[14] Though reticent about his religious views, in 1879 he responded that he had never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a god, and that generally "an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind."^[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Charles_Darwin

Special Documentary Of The Week.

Documentary Of The Week: 101st Airborne.

Special Video Presentation.

There is the story of a medical intern who goes on a drug filled hiatus with one of her patients. There is the story of the drug dealing school teacher who had a bad relationship with his annuity agent and who justifies it all on the attainment of the dream. It seems that certain story lines cannot pass through the sensor boards until they approximate the average experience of the average household. This is unheard of in terms of viewing material and would have made Ray Kroc and Colonel Sanders shudder. Where is Mrs Crabtree or Mrs. McGillicuddy?

“Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it.”

Will Durant.


“Time sanctifies everything; even the most errant theft, in the hands of the robber’s grandchildren, becomes sacred and inviolable property. Every state begins in compulsion; but the habits of obedience become the content of conscience, and soon every citizen thrills with loyalty to the flag.”


Will Durant.

“History, said Bacon, is like the planks of a shipwreck; more of the past is lost than has been saved.”


Will Durant.


“A nation is born stoic, and dies epicurean (google epicurean). At its cradle (to repeat a thoughtful adage) religion stands, and philosophy accompanies it to the grave.”
Will Durant.


“…..we need not expect to have better states until we have better men; till then all changes will leave the essential thing unchanged.”

Will Durant.


“Here,” (with the OT prophets) “for the first time in the literature of Asia, the social conscience takes definite form, and pours into religion a content that lifts it from ceremony and flattery to a whip of morals and a call to nobility. With Amos begins the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Will Durant.

“They” (the OT prophets) “offered to the unfortunate of the earth a vision of brotherhood that became the precious and unforgotten heritage of many generations.”


Will Durant.

The 9:00 O' Clock dramas are becoming quite unusual these days on that specialty channel.

Adam was the first Adam and Eve was the first Eve. Christ came as the second Adam and stood, overcoming where Adam fell. Eve also has a second chance to get it right as the bride of Christ (in living by the communicated word of God). On the solid rock you stand. See Matthew 7 as the second Eve defends her mother's first stance and gets it right as she stands on the serpent's head and tells the devil and his minions. She tells the devil to step off in binning Cosmo and that he will not have dominion. Cain also could have stood for his mother but he argued.  Information and knowledge without God's guidance is death and shall not be a cause for division in our families. He inspires and leads us to create and to innovate. It is easy to forget the role He plays or the need for God when you live in a peaceful infrastructure and society for quite a long time based on His immutable principles. You incubate spontaneously in His civil peace(not war) and then forget your need for Him maybe.  God is a natural covering for our minds and souls such that we are naked and not ashamed in His covering. Unfortunately nakedness is not the cure for that original sense of distance from that natural and umbilical sense of covering that is essentially spiritual. You might have the answer but the rest of fallen nature may be several millenniums behind your comfort-ability to preach about the garden by walking around naked on the High streets as proof of your all-knowing and entitled claim to enlightenment. We do need Heaven and a "garden before the fall" in a globalized world of Babel so how do we give naked Adam, alligators, scorpions, swans and his gorillas their naked, un-fallen peace in a fallen world? Without question, it is very difficult to preach the gospel naked in a fallen world and  it is of no purpose(as you are likely to offend and cause misunderstanding) but you could try it at a nudist camp or in some states where it is legal to walk around nude on the high or main street. God's word is, no doubt, perfect in its inspiration. As such, we can be naked but not ashamed in our communities only when all of nature has healed and aspires perfectly and metaphysically to following the perfect God given natural law. In that world, when it arrives, Cain does not kill Abel and Eve could never hear a devil tell her that her husband is hiding happiness from her in praying that they follow the word of God with all of His innovative unveiling of wisdom in perfect timing.  They will be partners, friends, neighbors and mates in the same household. You only need one. Whales, frogs, E. Brokovitch (what a tasteful black dress from Talbots) and Elephants just mate. They don't ogle and objectify.  The frogs will ultimately survive our argument with God concerning our nature and continue to reproduce; that is if our argument becomes nuclear, total and destructive.  The Lord is your maker.

Psalms 101 and Mark 3.

Keep the commandments. Read Psalms 101 and Mark 3. There is no law against saving life. There is no law greater than the importance of saving or preserving life.

Special Video Presentation.

If you eat pork for cash and you are in the church, who are you to advocate it to anyone else who does not feel so inclined or who are you to judge them if they receive grace and sip a little french red merlot tea with dinner?

Matthew 18:21-35

Matthew 18:21-35New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a]

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Footnotes:

Matthew 18:22 Or seventy times seven
Matthew 18:24 Greek ten thousand talents; a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborer’s wages.
Matthew 18:28 Greek a hundred denarii; a denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer (see 20:2).

Saul suffered from a case of Herodism. The long term cure was worship with David as the lead musician and repentance in the kata forms of Abraham. Saul was eased by the worship but what about the kata forms? He did not make repentance a habit. Certainly David and also Hezekiah, in study, may have learned something from this for later on in life. They will have a pill for Herodism soon at Walgreens. Some Modern tv content may be the cause of infection.

Paul the apostle, while being a child of Benjamin( therefore a child of Israel), spends much of his theology pointing out the life in faith as a child of Abraham; Abraham who was led by and through personal relationship. Christ's message concerned returning to such personal relationship to heal what may have become a heightened movement of life that centred on the written law. By Christ's teaching, the concern is that personal relationship with the heart of God had been supplanted in the hearts and minds of the people. He began His public ministry by reciting Isaiah 61. Abraham lived His life, after his encounter with God, in and through the spirit of the Lord or by the living Word. See Romans 11. The emphasis is on being a child of Abraham in the new covenant. See 2nd Corinthians 3:6. See Hebrews 12:24.