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 Revelation is coming this Wednesday at 9:00pm
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard

USA
4907 Posts

Posted - 04/11/2005 :  22:55:00  Show Profile  Send Ricky an AOL message Send Ricky a Private Message
The earth shall open up and swallow all of the Satan followers (aka atheists, agnostics, free thinkers, and brights, and anyone who isn't Christian) just after all those who believe in God are transported to heaven.

No, but seriously, 9:00pm Wednesday, NBC will be airing a show on Revelation. It will be the first of a 6 part mini-series. Should be interesting.

Why continue? Because we must. Because we have the call. Because it is nobler to fight for rationality without winning than to give up in the face of continued defeats. Because whatever true progress humanity makes is through the rationality of the occasional individual and because any one individual we may win for the cause may do more for humanity than a hundred thousand who hug their superstitions to their breast.
- Isaac Asimov

Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist

USA
4955 Posts

Posted - 04/12/2005 :  06:24:05   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Cuneiformist a Private Message
Here's the official site.

What bugs me to no end is that the biblical book is called Revelation-- with no plural marker, as in "the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John" (Rev 1:1, NIV).

They get it right in the blurb, I guess:
quote:
Drawn together by personal tragedy, these unlikely partners -- one who worships God and one who worships Science -- are propelled into a deepening mystery, finding evidence that the world, as predicted by The Book of Revelation, has reached The End of Days.


But this is right before chat on Wednesday, so feel free to come by and talk about your impressions of the show!
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Wendy
SFN Regular

USA
614 Posts

Posted - 04/12/2005 :  06:41:00   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Wendy a Yahoo! Message Send Wendy a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Cuneiformist

What bugs me to no end is that the biblical book is called Revelation-- with no plural marker...


I'm glad to hear someone else say so. That's been bugging the hell out of me since they started airing the promos. Still, I'll check it out. Now that the West Wing is in re-runs I'm shopping for a new once-a-week show.


Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do on a rainy afternoon.
-- Susan Ertz
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Siberia
SFN Addict

Brazil
2322 Posts

Posted - 04/12/2005 :  06:48:42   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Siberia's Homepage  Send Siberia an AOL message  Send Siberia a Yahoo! Message Send Siberia a Private Message
Yay. I shall make popcorn and hide in a bunker, in case some pilot from the nearby airport is a fundie Christian.

Pity I don't catch NBC anymore.

"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa

"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 04/12/2005 :  07:28:20   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message
As for the plural, isn't the proper name of the book The Revelation of John?

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Siberia
SFN Addict

Brazil
2322 Posts

Posted - 04/12/2005 :  07:53:10   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Siberia's Homepage  Send Siberia an AOL message  Send Siberia a Yahoo! Message Send Siberia a Private Message
In portuguese we call it just Livro do Apocalipse (= Book of Apocalypse).

"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa

"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
Edited by - Siberia on 04/12/2005 08:29:02
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist

USA
4955 Posts

Posted - 04/12/2005 :  07:57:28   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Cuneiformist a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.

As for the plural, isn't the proper name of the book The Revelation of John?
Well, that is what many Bible say. The problem is that titles of books are modern inventions. In the ancient world, compositions were called simply by the first few opening words. The book we call Genesis, for instance, was (and is, among certain more orthodox Jewish types) called something equivalent to "in the beginning" (forget, for now, that there are problems in that translation...).

Though I cannot say for certain, I'm pretty sure that the practice continued into the early Christian era, so that our Revelation was probably called something like the Rev 1:1 I posted above.

Perhaps some people better versed in the world of the NT could correct me or otherwise add to this...
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tkster
Skeptic Friend

USA
193 Posts

Posted - 04/13/2005 :  07:05:35   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send tkster a Private Message
Ironically, the show is being condemned by all the Christians around here. This is a little odd.

tk
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furshur
SFN Regular

USA
1536 Posts

Posted - 04/13/2005 :  09:59:21   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send furshur a Private Message
quote:
Drawn together by personal tragedy, these unlikely partners -- one who worships God and one who worships Science -- are propelled into a deepening mystery, finding evidence that the world, as predicted by The Book of Revelation, has reached The End of Days.

I don't worship anything, certainly not science - I'd probably go to hell anyway.

I've noticed that different religions have differnt descriptions of hell. One of the religions (as I recall) says hell is being away from God. This sounds alot better than the fundies eternal agony hell. I wonder if I should join that wimpy religion and then ignore it so that if there is a God I would go to a boring hell instead of a torture chamber hell....
Better yet I'll become a Hindu and get multiple shots at redemtion.


If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know.
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard

USA
3834 Posts

Posted - 04/13/2005 :  12:41:23   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send beskeptigal a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by tkster

Ironically, the show is being condemned by all the Christians around here. This is a little odd.

tk

Have they seen it in some kind of pre-viewing? Or can they tell it won't follow the book? Or perhaps they don't like TV in general? I'm curious.
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tkster
Skeptic Friend

USA
193 Posts

Posted - 04/14/2005 :  06:54:27   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send tkster a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal

quote:
Originally posted by tkster

Ironically, the show is being condemned by all the Christians around here. This is a little odd.

tk

Have they seen it in some kind of pre-viewing? Or can they tell it won't follow the book? Or perhaps they don't like TV in general? I'm curious.



They are claiming that based on previews it is un-Scriptural. I heard also on K-Love that Christians around the country are saying that this is a non-Biblical version of Revelation.

tk
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TG
Skeptic Friend

USA
121 Posts

Posted - 04/14/2005 :  08:25:25   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send TG a Private Message
The article http://www.insidebayarea.com/bayarealiving/ci_2652141
quotes Jerry Jenkins, co-writer of the "Left Behind" series with Tim LaHaye, as saying
quote:
Sister Josepha states that her intention is to 'protect' Jesus, as if the Son of God would need human help, and that she wants to 'forestall the confrontation' between Jesus and the antichrist — as if humans can somehow influence the acts of God."

as if humans can somehow influence the acts of God

Isn't that what intercessory prayer is all about? Am I missing something here? Do these people actually think before opening their mouths?
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard

USA
4907 Posts

Posted - 04/14/2005 :  08:53:08   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Ricky an AOL message Send Ricky a Private Message
To all who didn't get to catch it:

The first episode had very little plot action. It starts off with events around the world such as a shadow on a mountain cliff of Jesus on the cross when there is nothing around that would create a shadow. The protagonist is the Nun, the antagonist is a Satanist (I think) who doesn't bleed when his finger gets chopped off. Everyone else seems to be in the middle, although there is one man who obviously represents the middle ground.

The first major plot event was a little girl getting struck by lightning. She got struck once and winded up in the branches of a tree. She then got struck again and fell to the ground.

Of course, she ends up in a PVS (who woulda guessed?). During a lightning storm, when she is with the nun and a priest in the hospital, she starts speaking fluent Latin. She then starts moving her hand in the air. The nun grabs a pen and paper, and the girl starts drawing. I couldn't make out what she drew though.

The doctors and scientists said that it was interference from the lightning storm with the two fillings from her teeth which got shot up into her brain from the lightning strike which caused her to move and speak. They said they were just twitches and the talking wasn't even words in any language.

At the end, the girl goes into cardiac arrest and the nun is trying to get the doctors to get a crash team, but they won't since she is in a PVS. Some guy (he is a main character and he knows the girl somehow, but he is not her father, I'm not sure how) holds her hand and her heart starts beating again.

Overall, the show didn't deal with freethinkers, brights, or whatever your term is. Only Satanists, which I must say they really misrepresented as being evil.

Why continue? Because we must. Because we have the call. Because it is nobler to fight for rationality without winning than to give up in the face of continued defeats. Because whatever true progress humanity makes is through the rationality of the occasional individual and because any one individual we may win for the cause may do more for humanity than a hundred thousand who hug their superstitions to their breast.
- Isaac Asimov
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Wendy
SFN Regular

USA
614 Posts

Posted - 04/14/2005 :  09:03:45   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Wendy a Yahoo! Message Send Wendy a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Ricky

<snip> ...The nun grabs a pen and paper, and the girl starts drawing. I couldn't make out what she drew though.

It was a grid. It gave the nun the location of Bill Pullman's character. So, she went to find him. It also contained a drawing of a donkey. The donkey was identical to a drawing done for the main character (Pullman) by his murdered 12-year-old daughter.

I was underwhelmed by the first episode, but I plan to watch again next week to see if things pick up.


Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do on a rainy afternoon.
-- Susan Ertz
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard

USA
3834 Posts

Posted - 04/14/2005 :  20:53:42   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send beskeptigal a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Wendy

quote:
Originally posted by Ricky

<snip> ...The nun grabs a pen and paper, and the girl starts drawing. I couldn't make out what she drew though.

It was a grid. It gave the nun the location of Bill Pullman's character. So, she went to find him. It also contained a drawing of a donkey. The donkey was identical to a drawing done for the main character (Pullman) by his murdered 12-year-old daughter.

I was underwhelmed by the first episode, but I plan to watch again next week to see if things pick up.



We all just want a good fantasy, don't we? It can be really crappy, but we'll watch it a few more times in hopes of improvement. I missed it, went to the Sonics/Mavs game. (Go Mavs..my cousin's on the team) But I will probably watch the next episode. I always give up on these series though. They just aren't often very good. And even the good ones get boring.
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie

USA
4826 Posts

Posted - 04/18/2005 :  10:35:08   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Valiant Dancer's Homepage Send Valiant Dancer a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Ricky

To all who didn't get to catch it:

The first episode had very little plot action. It starts off with events around the world such as a shadow on a mountain cliff of Jesus on the cross when there is nothing around that would create a shadow. The protagonist is the Nun, the antagonist is a Satanist (I think) who doesn't bleed when his finger gets chopped off. Everyone else seems to be in the middle, although there is one man who obviously represents the middle ground.

The first major plot event was a little girl getting struck by lightning. She got struck once and winded up in the branches of a tree. She then got struck again and fell to the ground.

Of course, she ends up in a PVS (who woulda guessed?). During a lightning storm, when she is with the nun and a priest in the hospital, she starts speaking fluent Latin. She then starts moving her hand in the air. The nun grabs a pen and paper, and the girl starts drawing. I couldn't make out what she drew though.

The doctors and scientists said that it was interference from the lightning storm with the two fillings from her teeth which got shot up into her brain from the lightning strike which caused her to move and speak. They said they were just twitches and the talking wasn't even words in any language.

At the end, the girl goes into cardiac arrest and the nun is trying to get the doctors to get a crash team, but they won't since she is in a PVS. Some guy (he is a main character and he knows the girl somehow, but he is not her father, I'm not sure how) holds her hand and her heart starts beating again.

Overall, the show didn't deal with freethinkers, brights, or whatever your term is. Only Satanists, which I must say they really misrepresented as being evil.



I caught part of it.

It liberally sprinkled radical Evangelical Christian ideas of the End Times with Catholic Dogma and Bible passages.

The evil guy who doesn't bleed (even when fingers are shorn from him) isn't so much a Satanist as the embodiment of pure evil. The show gets completely whacked out and somewhat "Pulp Fiction" like.

Stuff I gleaned.

Evil guy who doesn't bleed strangled to death Bill Pullman's character's daughter. They rode a plane together and Pullman has written a book on science vs religion. Reese-Davis portrays the accomplished atheist science professor who is both a personal friend of Pullman and mentor figure. During a lecture, Reese-Davis (wheelchair bound for this series, foreshadowing something related to his reasons for being an atheist I fear) takes some questions concerning religion and science. To which he answers roughly that science has not been able to measure any influence by a supreme being and will not comment on it. (A fair assessment which may be turned into a religious character assassination later)

The Nun shows up and speaks to Pullman about the lightning slapped girl. She spoke originally to the attendant preist who noted that she was speaking Latin. When given a sheet of paper, the girl writes coordinates to Pullman's house and a stylized picture of an animal. (We find out later, after the document is given to Pullman, that the picture matches one drawn by his daughter in a card she gave him) Pullman takes the document and a business card from the Nun, who is part of the Vatican's End of Times evaluation team, and when he gets home he throws out the document (but not the card).

The Nun claims to research people who are indirectly involved in "spiritually significant" End Times events. Pullman researches the Nun and finds out her sister was part of a doomsday cult. The sister of the Nun perished with the cult. The Nun had called Pullman urging him to come to the hospital because the child is fading fast and the doctors are hovering like vultures to harvest her organs.

Pullman goes to the trash recepticle he threw the document into, fishes it out, and finally reads it. He recognizes the stylized animal and drags out the card from his daughter. This psychologically compells him to visit the girl in the hospital. (I'm leaving out the part where he visits Mr. Pure Evil in prison and Evil lops off his left index finger bloodlessly. He seems to be a harbringer of doom somehow. I have specualted he may be one of the four horsemen of the Apocolypse.) Pullman rejects the idea that the child houses the trapped soul of his daughter and turns to go. The child flatlines, Pullman turns back and takes her hand and the child regains a strong pulse.

Also in the episode is a ferry sinking in rough seas and the only survivor is a baby on a floating piece of debris. Don't know how they're going to push this child as second coming of Christ or (as the Biblical passage flashed before portends) a false Christ.

The whole thing intermingles Biblical passages to somehow modify the action going on to suggest a subplot.

Cthulhu/Asmodeus when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils

Brother Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion
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