Violet & Daisy Movie Downplays Assisted Suicide Wacky Wednesday

***Spoilers Alert!*** The Sopranos: The Next Generation

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mbartyzel/6151510963/sizes/l

Violet & Daisy Movie Downplays Assisted Suicide

In all of the vi'lence displayed
It can make a crowd quite dismayed.
So when mercy's implied
In assisting to die,
It's hard to sort out when it's played.

Instead all the vi'lence congeals,
In my view, on that act which reveals
How they all do connect.
Vi'lence: all to reject.
Direct killing itself, stop its wheels.

vi'lence = violence

Atonement Movie Sets a Narcissistic Tone

***Spoilers Alert!*** Atonement is described by one author as a movie with "an attempted act of reparation [that] is exposed as narcissistic self-deception". Ouch. Sometimes the truth hurts.

Image Source: http://www.conspicere.se/category/film/page/2/

Self-deception is one of the things that Easter is meant to get us out of.

Behold! Awaken! Be amazed! We are not ultimately meant to be dirt, perishing in the ground. Instead, Jesus' resurrection is meant to focus our attention toward what God has in store for all of us, freedom.

What is the content of that freedom? The hope in that we will share in what Jesus has and has became. To be victorious over sin, corruption, and death as is it.

It can often be painful in the here and now, especially as our wickedness is wicked from our lives though our cross. But the finish line is there: the resurrected Jesus is holding it before us while he holds the true cross, the sign of our journey and victory.

In short, we should stop deceiving ourselves, shake off our sin with its self-absorption, and follow Christ to the cross and then onto resurrection.

Meaning of Easter by Fr. Barron

Posting will resume after the first Sunday of Easter.

Have a Happy Easter!

In the meantime, Fr. Barron on the meaning of Easter.

Some points:
Jewish expectations after one dies.
Novel idea of encounter of betrayers and returning betrayed.
Novel idea to bring peace to Earth.

Catholic Sister Confronted with Cultural Concoction Wacky Wednesday

A Catholic Sister presented the Church's teaching on same-sex attraction (SSA) at a Catholic High School and received negative feedback for touching on this controversial topic (as was described in this interview with a spokesman of the Catholic diocese where sister spoke). As part of her talk as a PhD expert, she spoke out about scientific studies regarding the genesis of same-sex attraction (the Church does not take an official position on said genesis).

This directly confronted western cultures' concoction that people with SSA are "born that way". There is research with large sampling back to Freud (see part I) that opposes this conclusion.


Catholic Sister Confronted with Cultural Concoction

A sister said matter-of-factly
That same-sex attraction is * stat'ly
Not simply a gene.
Becoming a queen
Starts other ways she said compactly.

stat'ly = statistically

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Movie Shows Happiness is Found in the Truth

***Spoilers Alert!*** Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was very well written. It had to be since there were dizzying twists and turns that naturally proceeded from webs of lies.

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12089644@N03/3077412944/sizes/o/

Lies by every main character made them all personally miserable. It all changed when one was entranced by a word of truth (he's pictured above with Miss Pettigrew).

From that one true complement made from the heart of Miss Pettigrew about a beautiful scarf he designed, her life and the lives around her found new life in true (almost non-Hollywood-like) happiness.

Truth changes lives so that one can truly live. The Truth of Jesus' words changes lives in similar ways.

"The Glory of God is a human being fully alive!"

Hanna Movie Shows Human Commodity

***Spoilers Alert!*** The movie Hanna (2011) was quite disturbing. Hanna was quite literally made into a human killing machine.

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/canburak/5746918145/sizes/l

What was even more disturbing is that Hanna and many other in-utero children were genetically mutated to become human killers for (probably) the military. What is more, they were selected from babies that were going to be aborted in abortion-killing-chambers.

Catholic social justice starts with the belief that all humans from their conception (pre-, post-, and in-utero) have inherit worth. From this, no human can be made into a commodity for any reason.

Hanna's genetic manipulators (including her "father") knew this, but they did it anyway. It was clear in the movie that Hanna was to be terminated to keep their dealings secret.

If they knew genetic manipulation for creating human commodities was wrong, why did they do it? Did they think preborn humans were less valuable?

Catholic Sister Disparaged for Catholic Marriage Talk Wacky Wednesday

This Wacky Wednesday was inspired by the article, "Charlotte [North Carolina, USA] diocese backs nun who gave school talk promoting Church teaching on homosexuality" by Kirsten Andersen.

[Update 4/15/2014 (YouTube): "Charlotte Diocese Fully Backs Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel"]

Image source: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/charlotte-bishop-backs-nun-who-gave-school-talk-promoting-church-teaching-o

A sister said truth about marr'age.
Expectedly some had to disparage
The obvious truth.
She wasn't uncouth:
One man and his bride ride the carr'age.

There's someone else who took the risk;
The way it could sound was quite brisk.
His name now is Pope,
He said Satan's hope:
Gay marr'age turns brains into bisque *.

The bisque will have sev'ral key parts:
Confusion, half-truths a la carte.
Homofascists arise.
It's no big surprise:
The Church fights with Truth to change hearts.


* "Let's not be naive, we're not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God," wrote Cardinal Bergoglio [now Pope Francis] in a letter sent to the monasteries of Buenos Aires. "We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God."

For Google translation:
marr'age = marriage
sev'ral = several
carr'age = carriage

The Search for Spock Movie Laughs at Superior Science

***Spoilers Alert!*** Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ironically puts down progress in science and technology and lifts up simple, mortal ways.

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/102537907@N03/13313565214/sizes/l

First, the Genesis science project goes to hell (quite literally). The USS Excelsior's new warp drive goes kaput. The USS Enterprise is blown up. The heroes are transported in the end by a flying tin-can warship. Were the writers laughing at superior science and technology?

It took an unethical scientist to use banned proto-matter. It took the removal of only a few computer chips to disable the state-of-the-art trans-warp drive of the Excelsior. It took three people to destroy the Enterprise. Reading Klingon, getting back to basics was required to leave the self-destructing Genesis Planet.

For what? To get the movie's namesake to his home-planet in able to get their quasi-witchdoctors to put him back together. How back-of-the-woods?

Why are they doing this? I think it's because no matter how much science discoveries and technology inventions are revealed, mortals still have a desire to relate to mortal matters.

What do you think?

When the Time Has Come Gnostic Lyrics by Huey Lewis and the News

The song When the Time Has Come by Huey Lewis and the News was looked at in two previous posts regarding redemption at the end of the world and Universalism.

In this post, an apparent gnostic idea of the song will be explored.

Image source: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/Jul/10/huey-lewis-and-the-news-interview/

A portion of the song is this:

Everything's gonna clear up
Everybody cheer up
Walls are gonna crumble
All men will be humble

Feeling getting stronger
Won't be down much longer
We will be free
When the time has come

"We will be free" seems to indicate that at the end of the world, people will cast-off their bodies and be only spirits. This action will lead to a kind-of-freedom. This is a gnostic idea.

Gnosticism under the umbrella of Christianity has been around since the beginning of Christianity (even before the Christian Bible was canonized).

Christianity calls Gnosticism a heresy since Jesus is revealed to be resurrected in a glorified body. The body is not seen to be a prison for the spirit, but a temple of our spirit.We were meant to be embodied souls just like incarnated Jesus, the archetype of humanity.

Blu-ray Disc and DVD Player HDMI Connection to RCA Component Jacks on TV Info

I've been trying to connect my new (on sale) Blu-ray player with a HDMI output to my old CRT TV. The TV I have is a Sanyo HT3246. The Blu-ray player I bought was Sony BDP-BX510.

My TV has a digital input shown below (from the manual).

Most TV's just have 3 inputs, 2 audio (red and white) and 1 video (yellow). If this is the case, you'll have to buy a not-cheap "scan converter" (or buy a new TV with HDMI and/or Pr/Pb/Y digital connections). (My TV doesn't need a converter since it has an internal converter via the Pr/Pb/Y connections.)

If you have a mid technology TV (CRT) like I do, you should have three inputs for video (Pr/Pb/Y respectively Red/Blue/Green; see figure above) and the same two audio inputs (R/L).

You'll need a HDMI to Five RCA Audio/Video cable (like here) to connect the HDMI to the 5 component jacks (3 video/2 audio).

Lastly, make sure the ratings for the HDMI cable, TV specs, and Blu-ray outputs are compatible. My TV uses 480i, the Blu-ray outputs have that rating listed (here at page 4), and the cable I bought also has the rating (above).

Hope this helps.

Captain America Movie Transhumanist Superman Wacky Wednesday

***Spoilers Alert!***

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/93779577@N00/5975886634/sizes/l

Captain America is a Product of Germany

The methods used weren't so new,
Some light'ning's still part of the brew.
The science still mad,
The methods a tad
Unethical. Who's on the crew?

A scientist of Hitler's docs
Came over with some of his socks.
It's now understood,
Capt's life's now a good
Who's freedom is now under locks.

Noah Movie is an Adaptation from the Original Genesis Story And So Is the Church

The Noah movie with Russel Crowe follows the pattern of all book adaptations that I have seen. The movie departs substantially from the book. The question is, how much departure is too much?

Image source: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/02/21/do-christians-care-if-noah-movie-jibes-with-bible-survey-says-yep/

Here are three takes on the question:

(1) Fr. Barron "Noah: A Post-Modern Midrash" ("The midrashim—extremely popular in ancient Israel—were imaginative elaborations of the often spare Scriptural narratives.")

[Update 4/15/2014 YouTube: "Fr. Barron comments on 'Noah'"]

(2) The Catholic World Report "Noah: A Theological Reflection: Darren Aronofsky’s controversial film is sometimes divisive and divided, but is also deeply serious about Scripture and essential questions"

(3) Alfonzo Rachel "ZoNATION: Does the Noah Movie Float?"
"Zo knows that liberal Hollywood has long leeched off the Bible to promote their world view. Whether it's making characters that are religious fanatics to make people prejudiced against the Bible, or cherry picking scriptures and twisting what they don't even really believe in to justify their world view. The 2014 Noah movie is no exception."

The traditional Christian understanding of Noah's ark compares it to the Church. The word Church comes from the Latin word ecclēsia (ecclesiastical is the adjective in English). It literally means to "call out from".

In a similar way that Noah, his family, and animals were called out from the fallen, disordered world, Jesus and His Bride the Church are to call all of humanity from its fallen-ness, or sinfulness onto the boat of the Church. We are all called to be passengers on the boat that Jesus built, and baptism is the way onto the boat. We just have to answer the call and follow Jesus on His Way.

Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arche_No%C3%A9_Vaisseau_Eglise.jpg

So, maybe the latest Noah movie departed from the original Genesis Noah story in some substantial ways. The Church also has in some aspects, but She relies on Jesus for the Way to depart from the world today.

 (The picture above shows Noah's Ark in the upper portion, while the lower portion shows Jesus in the boat with His followers, the Church. Many church building show Noah's ark which represents the Church.)

Huey Lewis and the News When the Time Has Come Describes Universalism

Huey Lewis and the News' song When the Time Has Come really says quite a bit about the end times of the world/universe, or eschaton (as I mentioned last time).

Image source: http://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/gl_g_hlts_57611.jpg?w=524

These lyrics will be looked at.

So don't you worry about a thing
Cause you know that train is gonna run
You will be on it
Not just for some
We'll all be on it
From here to kingdom come
When the time has come

The "kingdom" is heaven. "We'll all be on it" says that everyone will go to heaven. This is Universalism.

Jesus didn't teach this. There are quite a lot of places where Jesus mentions hell; I'll just point to Matthew 25: 31 and on.

[Jesus said,] "Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matthew 25: 44-46)

"Eternal punishment" is commonly referred to as hell. So, according to what is revealed by Jesus, we won't "all be on" the "train" from "here to kingdom come".

Huey should tell Madonna. (The one in the picture, that is.)

Wondering Zygote Emeritus Blog and Zonation Milestones

So, Wondering Zygote Emeritus blog just finished posting its 300th post! It's been a great time, especially with the dialogs I had with commenters.

Image source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151910422861751&set=pb.100133201750.-2207520000.1396041299.&type=3&theater

Also, Zo had a five year milestone at PJTV. Congrats Zo!

The Matrix Did Not Incinerate Humans

***Spoilers Alert!*** This post was inspired by someone who usually doesn't talk about pro-life issues (link to YouTube video; UPDATE: Here's another video by Zo.) directly. He couldn't help but address it since this report came out from the UK, "Aborted babies incinerated to heat UK hospitals".

Image source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ8ozy4DJ43_abtlbbqxwJmgbMDTDWCw4jxi1iXMwRqqnLJkyLX4W7ixxy0XnpoR15WhcrjfSLFNq5W3xYjnoRujRdHrBzxt0FsRcUKrWgElSsnH6yRqyHTxZtom7mN_4fJg2lwhAXVUGK/s1600/the-matrix-power-plant-bodies.jpg

Yes, liberty was taken from humans in The Matrix. But at least the de-humanizers didn't incinerate them. Are we really worse than The Matrix?

I've mentioned before that something like what happened in the UK shows that we have descended closer to Gehenna.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.” (Matthew 5: 27-29)

In my Bible commentary, Gehenna was described as the place of “an idolatrous cult” where “children were offered in sacrifice” (2 Kings 23: 10; Jeremiah 7:31). So, those who are “thrown into Gehenna” go with those who sacrificed their children.

Churchmen Gone Wacky Wednesday

(Here's the full interview.)

There now is a Card'nal named Kasper
Who desp'rately wants now to plaster
Out words from the law
And words from God's jaw.
Will those with Burke pry out disaster?

© 2014 Wondering Zygote Emeritus

Image sources: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Raymond_Leo_Cardinal_Burke.JPG
http://www.lifesitenews.com/images/sized/images/news/Cardinal-Kasper-Paul-Haring-240x319.jpg

Premise: I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another [remarriage] commits adultery. Matthew 19: 9

Premise: Can. 915 Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin [Decalogue included] are not to be admitted to holy communion.

Conclusion: Since remarriage is a "manifest grave sin", those obstinately persevering in the state are not to be admitted to holy communion.

Corollary: Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. 1 Corr 11: 27