Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Part I

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (TWOK) was by far the best Star Trek movie. Based on Moby Dick, Khan believed from hell's heart that Captain Kirk killed his wife, so he pursued him with hateful vengeance, even with his last breath.

Of course, the plan was foiled by Spock who sacrificed his life for the despised Kirk.



I was thinking specifically about Spock's Christlike sacrifice when I remembered the first time I heard the phrase, "Good deeds never go unpunished." My high school choir director uttered these words, and then later went on to heroically save a drowning kid from the Delaware River. (Go figure.)

This phrase was shortsighted in the final analysis. TWOK showed this in that Spock's true self lives in Dr. McCoy. This could obviously indicate that we live in our friends' memory, but I think it was deeper than that. Since Spock's Katra could be passed onto another, was it possible that his Katra could live on in the Ultimate Mind, God? I think that was a distinct possibility.

So, ultimately, good deeds in love could assure our infinite existence in the Mind of God.

Huey Lewis and the News' Bad is Bad Part I

So, this is my favorite Huey Lewis and the News song, Bad Is Bad.


This song foreshadows where Huey Lewis took the band most recently (the video also foreshadows that the original News have moved on from this band). Blues is their new style.

I like all the fancy 7th cords by The News; and in truth, the songs where The News takes a major role are my favorite.

This song really shows what make things bad, and as a contrapositive, what makes a thing good.

The guitar playing was bad because it didn't sound like a guitar, but a chainsaw; the soul stew was bad because it didn't taste like stew; Huey's relationship with Marie wasn't good since she wasn't faithful like he expected her to be (it seemed to be serious since he had the key to her residence).

It turns out, a thing that isn't the way the thing is supposed to be is bad. Likewise, things that are what they are essentially supposed to be are good; the best things are more perfectly what they are to be.

The Big Bang Theory Theme Song Part II

So, last time I mentioned that it seemed like The Big Bang Theory theme song implied that oh-so-tiresome argument that hard science and religion are at odds with one another (the song starts at 2:25 in the video below).



I sincerely hope that I am wrong on this score. For you see, the Big Bang Theory actually proves that the universe had a creator that Christians call God (timeless, immaterial, powerful).

St. Thomas Aquinas had "five ways" of proving God's existence. At the time, way back around the 1200's, no one knew scientifically about the Bing Bang. Aristotle, who St. Thomas loved to use for his proofs, believed that the universe existed for infinite time, however, through other means, St. Thomas proved that there was a beginning (first cause by God).

If St. Thomas knew that there was a Big Bang, his theoretical proofs for a temporally finite universe wouldn't be needed. So, it turns out that the Big Bang helps Theists' assertion that there is a Creator of the universe (or even multiverse). Someone needs to tell the Bare Naked Ladies.

Well, I tried here: maybe they may come across this over the internet machine someday.

In recent times, Dr. Craig has used other means to show that the universe was created by God. They can be viewed below.

The Kalam Cosmological Argument (Dr. Craig)

Huey Lewis and the News' The Power of Love Part I

Huey Lewis and the News' The Power of Love is my second favorite song of this '80's band. It feels electric like the '80's movie for which is was produced, Back to the Future (Michael J. Fox).



It also seems like a Gospel song. Listen to the lyrics. There really is no specific mention of a love interest. The "help from above" line could be help from the Holy Spirit to feel The Power of Love.

One can be rich or poor since anyone can receive the Power of Love sent especially in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. It makes "a bad one" or "a wrong one" or "a hawk" into a new person.

The band has more explicitly religious lines in other songs, but this one may take the cake for the most overall holy song that they produced. McFly's family would be proud.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Part II

This post is about the "meld" between the V'ger probe and Decker.



In the last post, I likened Decker to God the Father (Creator) and the V'ger probe as standing in for humankind. This post will discuss how the relationship between Decker and the V'ger probe is parallel to God the Son and to an individual.

During this clip, Decker wanted to be with the V'ger probe who was once his love interest Ilia. The V'ger probe who is made in the likeness of Ilia, who now stands-in for V'ger, wants with all its being to be with Decker.

This whole relationship reminds me of what St. Paul said about the one-fleshness between man and woman in marriage. He said that the sacrament of marriage was mysteriously a direct parallel to the bond between Christ (Jesus) and the Church.

The question is, how does an individual become part of the Church to have this special relationship with Christ? The answer is baptism.

This Star Trek movie is a commentary on baptism!

The "meld" scene above sort-of shows how Christ and His disciple become a new creation through baptism.

Could it be that the Enterprise is the Holy Spirit that brings the Christ character (Decker) to V'ger? That may be too much. What do you think?

(My first post on Star Trek: The Motion Picture is here.)

Backstreet Boys' As Long As You Love Me

Yea, I know. The Backstreet Boys? Well, let me explain.

I was walking in the drug store late one night, and from the speakers overhead I heard a terrible fright. Well, that fright was named, "As Long As You Love Me".

I can't explain how much I really hated this song (especially now since Master Bieber just put out a song with the same title which I haven't listened to).

However ...

I got to wondering...

There has to be something redeeming about this song. Let's look at the refrain only (and ignore the rest, shall we? I know, big burden):

I don't care who you are
Where you're from
What you did
As long as you love me
Who you are
Where you're from
Don't care what you did
As long as you love me

Pathetic, right? Desperate much? Well ...

Then I thought of a Bible verse (I was known as Bible Man in college by some of my friends):

For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5: 6-8

Even though we (the "who/you" of the song) did things that were wrong (being sinners, or ungodly), Jesus (Christ; the "I/me" of the song) laid down his life to save our lives. "God proves his love for us" in this way.

The question is, "How can we love God in return?" for the "As long as you love me" line? This unpopular, old song holds the key:

Tallis - If ye love me

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. John 14: 15-17

So, "As Long As You Love Me" turns out to be not-so-bad if you change it up a bit.

Well, actually, maybe not.

Huey Lewis and the News Workin' For A Livin' Part I

Workin' for a Livin' is musically one of Huey Lewis and the News' best songs. The rising & falling of the bass line riff and Mr. Lewis' harmonica solo at the bridge are fantastic. The addition of the jazz organ makes it stylin'.


In this post, I'll focus on the line, "Workin' for a Livin' / Livin' and working." This line reminds me of the deep question, "Do I live to work, or do I work to live?"

When I first heard this question as a kid, I immediately thought, "Duh, I don't live to work since work is the last thing I want to do. I'd rather be playing video games." My definition of work for a long time was, "You're working when you'd rather be doing something else."

Then I read Laborem Exercens (LE) by Pope John Paul II. I thought, is it possible that the question sets-up a false dichotomy, sort-of-like asking whether nature or nurture shapes the lives of children to adulthood? Can working/living be intertwined?

LE reveals that work is defined by any activity which gives each human being's personal life meaning/dignity and shapes the culture-at-large. Whenever we do anything, or work, whether for money or not, we have the opportunity to fulfill our purposes for being, the main pair being "to love" and "be loved".

Think about it: When we go to work, we are contributing a service or product that will define the culture while also providing for ourselves and/or our family. When we are with our family, we help each other (change diapers/sheets) which fulfill our lives in love.

The Big Bang Theory Theme Song Part I

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I always chuckle when I hear The Big Bang Theory theme song by the Bare Naked Ladies. Not because the show that is about to start is funny, but because the Bare Naked Ladies seem like they're trying too hard to be smart with all the lyrics; Sheldon would probably laugh at them if he heard it too because they have no PhD's among the band members (as far as I know).

(Here's a new visual version of the song)

I also laugh because the band probably has no idea that the theorist of the Big Bang Theory was a Catholic Priest, Monseigneur Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître (below on the left next to Albert Einstein).

(This picture is in the Public Domain as far as I know.)

I'll bring up the show's attempt at making fun of religion later, but the only time any Catholic Priest was mentioned was Pope John Paul II by name, by Amy Farrah Fowler (Series 5 Episode 11). She said, "Sheldon: In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II was named an honorary Harlem Globetrotter." That's probably all they know about the Church.

What they should really learn is that Einstein said,

“Only the Catholic Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty. Up till then I had not been interested in the Church, but today I feel a great admiration for the Church, which alone has had the courage to struggle for spiritual truth and moral liberty.” 

Perhaps now they too may be "interested in the Church" and read this blog? Although, I only have a bachelor's degree in engineering, so Sheldon may have to pass.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Part I

I thought for a long time that Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Star Trek I) was the second worst Star Trek movie after number five, but the more I think about it, the richness in its symbolism is pushing it higher and higher on my list (at least past number three).

I love Star Trek because of the gadgets, gismos, and science that are incorporated or forced into the show. I'm not as interested in the characters, save for Spock, especially the actors who play them. (This is why Sheldon of The Big Bang Theory TV show logically makes no sense to me in this regard. Why should he be interested in the actors who play the characters since they are just speaking and bringing alive the words that the writers make up? Though I digress.) The Heisenberg compensator (for beaming to work) alone has given me hours of pondering as to how it could work.

I wonder, in their final analysis, whether the writers realized the theological profoundness of their project. This post will mention a single overarching one.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 27 (CCC 27) reveals that, "The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself."

V'ger represents man and Decker represents God (Creator). V'ger, although knowing the accidents (or the stuff/workings) of the universe, nevertheless desires with a great passion to know the Creator from within its innermost core, the old stuff of ancient TI calculator circuitry. (Just because the heartfelt longing is old doesn't mean it is not there as from the beginning. / Sidebar: It has been said that all the electronics of the Apollo hardware could now fit in a single TI calculator.)

Although growth in knowledge of the universe seems to be completed at infinity, it is not enough for V'ger. It's programming is not complete. Hence the search climaxes in Star Trek: The Motion Picture with the interaction between Decker and V'ger via the probe (more on this in a later post).

Huey Lewis and the News Stuck With You

I was walking through the grocery store to get a few things, and my favorite band Huey Lewis and the News came on the PA system. It was "Stuck With You".

There really isn't much content to this song and the guitar riff gets old pretty quickly, but there is one nugget that stuck out for me from this Golden State band's song.

The line from the song was, "All the same friends, and the same address. Yes it's true, (Yes it's true) I am happy to be stuck with you!"

On first glance, the whole idea about staying with someone romantically just because they can't get away from them is pretty pathetic. But then this line reveals something important (closer to the end of the song). Sharing relationships and things outside themselves help people in a relationship maintain their romantic love.

This is something I believe Aristotle wrote about. A transcendent third, or outside influence that brings people together is one of the ways that people stay stuck together. In this song it is friends and a residence. For others it is faith. Probably for most, it's a combination of many things.

The thing is, the better and longer lasting the glue is, the better and longer the relationship will most likely be.

Move Past Spirit of Vatican II

Fr. Barron: Evangelization is one of the three great pillars and missions of Catholicism.



Let's stop debating/meeting about settled issues in order to preach and share the Gospel with Holy-Spirit-inspired boldness.

HHS Wine Mandate

Prohibition of HHS Contraception Mandate

HHS Wine Mandate

On January twentieth of this year, Secretary Sebelius of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealed an interim final rule that will require many religious institutions, including Catholic hospitals and universities, to provide free Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved contraceptives and abortifacient birth control in their employees’ health plans.

This federal rule predictably angered many of the Catholic hierarchy since they teach that the use of all artificial contraception is a violation of natural and divine law. This imposition of the federal government’s power against the free exercise of religion, to be forced to provide substances that would lead them into direct material cooperation with evil, was perceived as a violation of their constitutional rights and rightly-formed consciences.

This whole episode reminded me of Ken Burns’ Prohibition that was premiered on PBS last year. In fact, in cultural debates, the historically dismal failure of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution powerfully plays into the hands of those who want to keep abortion legal, extend legal marriage rights to same-sex couples, and make all drugs legal.

We don’t want to legislate morals was the overall theme expressly portrayed throughout the documentary series. Many historical and contemporary commentators vociferously came to the same conclusion. The documented visual footage to that end was as strong as the axes and sledgehammers that destroyed all the beer barrels and wine bottles throughout the country during the prohibition of intoxicating beverages.

In one segment of Prohibition, there was a documentary on making the documentary. Burns explicitly said during this subsequent making of documentary that his Prohibition was meant to speak to those involved in contemporary issues of immigration, abortion, and a plethora of others. Again, we can’t legislate morals because it doesn’t work, just look at prohibition. So, stop.

However, doesn’t the HHS rule legislate morality? Effecting the actions of people by law de facto imposes morality. Of course, the difference between Prohibition and the HHS contraception rule is that alcoholic beverages were outlawed while birth control is proscribed. With the imposition of a contraceptive mandate on all Catholic affiliated religious employers, the U.S. government is practically sprinkling the popular culture’s worldview on them that will slowly dissolve their Catholic identity and ultimately their religious freedom.

What’s next? Will the Obama administration go after the home run of them all? Will elective abortion coverage be compulsory? “Might as well,” they might ponder if the final rule is upheld in court. The plethora of self-identified Catholics who are laissez-faire about the religious conscious rights of other Catholics probably won’t fight alongside the hierarchy against an abortion mandate. It’s also true that many self-labeled Catholic hospitals perform abortions and prescribe contraception on non-hospital script pads while hiding abortifacient drug placards behind cupboard doors.

What many commentators have missed, though, is one of the cited reasons why HHS ultimately imposed the rule. According to part of the HHS statement, “Scientists have abundant evidence that birth control has significant health benefits for women and their families”.

This clause made me think of something else that scientists have consistently found to improve health that Prohibition explicitly outlawed. Some alcoholic beverages taken in small quantities such as red wine and even beer have reportedly been beneficial for the heart and other body organs. Since health increases, health costs decrease. However, physicians still do not recommend that drinking should be undertaken in excess for various reasons, liver damage being a common one.

Just imagine if HHS issued a rule to mandate the coverage of red wine in health plans. They could say that it improved health as a justification. What would happen? A few things would predictably happen from increased access to mandated free alcohol. Many protestant groups, Mormons, Muslims, and others would protest. There would be more domestic violence. The main reason for passing the Prohibition Constitutional Amendment was to curb the beatings of married women by drunk husbands and from married men from drinking the family savings into oblivion. There would be more arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), and car crash fatalities would skyrocket.

Bringing it back to contraception, what will happen when contraception use increases? Will it increase abortion rates? First, abortifacient birth control will certainly increase abortions. Second, non- abortifacient contraceptives may increase the abortion rate. In the January 2011 issue of Contraception, it was shown that in Spain for 2,000 women aged 15 to 49 from 1997 to 2007, contraceptive use increased from 49.1% to 79.9%. Spain’s abortion rate increased from 5.52 per 1,000 women to 11.49. How will the abortion rate of the United States change? The evidence indicates an increase in the number of elective abortions, especially if the Catholic Church in the U.S. cannot practically resist its free coverage.

Since the Catholic Church teaches that all human life is to be protected in law just like other more developed living humans (CCC 2273), the Church hierarchy and its members have the constitutional right, at minimum, to refuse compliance with any future abortion mandates and compulsory payments for contraceptives in their own institutions. This includes Catholic hospitals, universities, and any Catholic employer who refuses to provide them under guidance from their properly-formed conscience. Just because a product is purportedly beneficial to someone doesn’t mean that others must be mandated to supply it to them, especially if the use of the product-in-question and its secondary effects are morally reprehensible to the provider.

© 2012 Wondering Zygote Emeritus
Written: February 2012

A Tepid US Presidential Endorsement

The video below by Michael Voris pretty much explains it all. A faithful Catholic should, with a "tepid endorsement", vote for Romney for US President (POTUS). He explains it well.

I wonder why this is the reason more non-Catholic institutions are suing over the HHS mandate (for abortion-inducing drugs) than Catholic ones.

Year of Faith in Baltimore

Last Sunday, I went to St. Mark's in Catonsville (21228) to participate in the mass with Abp. Lori of Baltimore. I saw him before at the HHS Fortnight for Freedom mass, too, but this time my family was with me.

Abp. Lori Pointing Towards Heaven

His homily (found here) was very inspiring. It was especially inspiring since I'm trying to start an New Evangelization committee/ministry at my particular Church (plan to call it "Boot Camp of Beautiful Feet"; Romans 10: 15). It's also in the works to show Saint movies (Song of Bernadette etc.) and perhaps the Catholicism series by Fr. Barron (Jesus of Nazareth for Lent?).

The other thing I'm ecstatic about is that he included the following in the homily,

The second task for this Year of Faith and indeed for our lives together as Catholics is to become utterly convinced of the coherence, truth, beauty, and goodness of all that the Church teaches with respect to faith and morals, including those moral and social teachings that are often counter-cultural, such as the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexual morality and the sacredness of human life from the moment of conception until natural death. We are called to assent to what the Church teaches, not merely with an intellectual nod, a knowing smile, or a passing glance—but rather to become utterly convinced that these are the words of everlasting life. Our faith must not occupy merely a compartment in our minds and hearts but rather must shape the way we think, the decisions we make, the words we say, and the quality of our relationships at home, in the parish, at work, and with friends.

I've never heard anyone say this in a homily before. Wow! The rest of it was pretty terrific, too.

I hope the Lord will bless Abp. Lori and our Archdiocese of Baltimore with an increase in living faith. I wonder what else He will have in store for us.

(Here's Pope Benedict XVI's homily.)

Help Request for My Wife

My wife is in a book club of moms that sort of resembles The View, and she's the conservative Catholic one (They are formerly or currently stay-at-home moms). It also turns out that one of the book-club moms who was Catholic, goes to a non-denominational (denomination) Christian Ecclesiastic Community, and has multiple IVF children pretty much attacked my wife at a soccer practice last week about her beliefs; she just nodded. My wife was having a hard week with multiple close relatives and friends who are not doing well (to put it mildly), she told her "friend", and the "friend" still went on the war path.

Well ...

I just found this promising book that my wife can give to her friend. It's Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves, edited by Helen Alvaré. My wife quite often seeks good books by down-to-earth Catholic authors, and this one seems to fit the bill.

I'm wondering if you have any others to suggest? Thanks.

More Humanae Vitae Videos

Yesterday, I forgot to add the videos below to the list of "Best Humanae Vitae Videos".

The Catholic Church and Contraception Part 1 and 2