Leper Messiahs
I became aware of an interesting video ("Hollywood and God") spawning of an international colab between Kirk Cameron of "Growing Pains" fame and an New Zelandi film maker named Ray Comfort, posted to a website called http://www.hollywoodblasphemy.com. Cameron and Comfort, also co-authors of several books, are evangelists doing everything they can to ensure the coming of Christ's Kingdom, as espoused by the Hebrews via King James.
Tantamount to accomplishing this most serious of missions, Comfort waylays people who think of themselves as Christians, and ask them point blank why they would blaspheme by attending movies in which YHVH and Yeshua's name are taken in vain. He's also got fire and brimstone tucked away on his ankle, concealed in a holster that says "WWJD?"
I understand why religious zealots do what they do, and respect the man's right to think do and say whatever he wants.. but I believe the best way to make my point is to answer the questions he poses the sheeple of the City of Angels.
Check out the movie first: http://www.hollywoodandgod.com/
Here are my answers, in the order in which he asks them. I've deleted repeat questions he posed to all of his sources.
Ray Comfort: Are you a Christian?
The Bleating Nichodemus: No, and neither was Yeshua.
RC: Do you watch "R"-rated movies?
TBN: Yes. They tend to be closer to the stranger-than-fiction illusions we consider "daily life" to be.
RC: How do you feel about the blasphemy in them?
TBN:Blasphemy? To the name of YHVH?
RC [voice raising in pitch slightly]: Does it worry you?
TBN: Not as much as those seeking self-promotion by acting in the name of whatever it is they consider sacred.
RC: Well, using God's name as a cuss word in movies -- does it concern you?
TBN: Seldom is "God's name" -- YHVH -- ever used in movies. The only movie I ever saw the actual name was Indiana Jones, and he was trying to save his dying father. The term "God" actually is high German in origin.
RC: But you do watch it?
TBN: Yeah, I thought that Indiana Jones was a great movie.
RC: Would you go to a movie where your mother's name was used as a cuss word?
TBN: Like "Delores damn it?" That probably wouldn't gross many sales.
RC: Would you be offended?
TBN: For her or for myself? Should I allow what other people do disturb me? What would that say about me as a man?
RC: So if you could be warned that there was blasphemy in a movie, would you avoid that movie?
TBN: My friend, every movie blasphemes. Including this one. The key is not divorce or avoidance. The key would be to elevate the content the next time a movie is made.
RC: Do you think Hollywood is Anti-God?
TBN: Far from it.
RC: Not at all?
TBN: I think Hollywood is Pro-Profit. Some individuals in the business would gladly stand behind a product they have fundamental theological differences with provided it grant them substantial economic power and clout amongst their peers. Some people you could even substitute the word "product" for "President."
RC: Why use someone's name as a cuss word? You ever thought about that?
TBN: This discussion is becoming rather esoteric. The only reason to engage in such an act would be to underscore one's own point with something your company considers "obscene" or "profane." Of course, constructing a question which asks me to infer another's motivation to say or do anything would be seeking an answer from a source other than the one doing the saying, or undertaking the action. Why not just ask them yourself?
RC: The name of "Jesus Christ" and "God" ...why do you think they do that? Why don't they say "Mahatma Ghandi," or "Buddha?" Why do they say "Jesus Christ?"
TBN: What do I think about somebody else's motivation? About somebody else's perception? In a society which thinks of itself as predominantly Christian, "Jesus Christ" is a cultural idiom. It would be interesting to conduct a study of foreign films to take census of their colorful metaphors. Truthfully though, you would have to pose the same question to my counterparts in Bollywood for a balanced answer.
RC: So they're just reflecting society?
TBN: No. The writers of the programs are reflecting their own perceptions of society. We'd have to observe society objectively from high above the continent in order to see how their choices reflect them. Perhaps you could make that the subject of your next documentary.
RC: Do you think they influence society?
TBN: Most movies are consciously designed to be merchandising mules; a logo here, a reference there. "Society" in your terms are more likely to buy Coca-Cola and Nike, than to espouse paganism or atheism.
RC: The more they use it, the more people will use it.
TBN: Yeah. A countryman of your progenetors, Derren Brown, has masterfully studied it. So has every Pope in history.
RC: Do think it's wrong to blaspheme God's name?
TBN: The Pentateuch states that it is wrong to take YHVH's name in vain. If you are a man who subscribes to such a belief, then you will see this as being wrong. Because we live in a society informed by this philosophy since its inception, your question infers an unconscious agreement with the philosophy; soley on the basis of a portion of by blood's decent from the country's founders. If now, you are asking me, what I as an individual think, my answer to you is that God and Religion aren't the same thing. YHVH is the name of a particular being whose involvement with the Hibiru tribe became something of an epic when those people chose to super-naturalize his technology and universalize his presence -- as did their old masters, the Babylonians and Assyrians, with Marduk and Ashur, respectively. All three changed the names of national gods who appeared in even earlier texts in their effort to "record the history of the world," as they perceived it. The truth is, in the end, my friend, one can only be aware of how honest he is being with himself. Whatever it is one chooses to hold sacred, be the truest you can. But don't require anyone else to subscribe to your notions, simply because there has been a gross historical precedent to do so.
RC [adament]: We should be offended! We should say, "Hollywood, no more! I'm not paying you to do this! This is --"
TBN: Sir, are you a journalist, or a televangelist? Are you seeking opinion, or are you providing a platform for your own belief under the guise of journalism?
RC: There 177,000,000 of us in this country who believe we're Christians, and if we all say to Hollywood, "No more," we'd hit 'em right where it hurt: in the pocket. Millions -- even billions -- of dollars would be withheld, and they'd clean up the movies. So think about it before you go to a movie that uses God's name as a cuss word.
TBN: So you're speaking of mobilizing a religious sect in order to effect political and economic change. I wonder, Mr. Comfort, what would happen if an Islamic coalition sought a similar change..
RC: Nichodemus, let's say you're married, you're being intimate with your wife, you look up, the window is back, and some guy is peeping through your bedroom window. How would you react?
TBN: Most likely with a shotgun. I believe that someone prowling around the bush is likely casing the place rather than getting his jollies. If my wife, my woman, my sacred lady was threatened, there's no extent I would go to protect her.
RC: What would you say to him?
TBN: "Click, bang."
RC: So a "peeping tom" is a pervert?
TBN: A peeping tom is a pervert, but an unwelcome guest on my property is target practice.
RC: Here's a question for you: do you watch sex scenes in "R"-rated movies?
TBN: Absolutely.
RC: Doesn't that make you a "peeping tom," only your screen isn't a window, it's a movie screen?
TBN: No more than I suppose it would be to read about the graphic sex in the Song of Solomon, or in Lot's drunken incest with his own daughters. Besides, if a discussion of life leads to a discussion about the energies which create life, why be ashamed of it?
RC: I'm going to name four people, and I want you to tell me what they have in common: James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and John Wayne. What do they have in common?
TBN: American entertainers. Movie stars. All arguably sex symbols. All deceased.
RC: They're dead! What do you suppose happened to them when they died?
TBN: You're asking my personal belief? Whatever they chose to have happen, happened. Life continues, albeit in a less dense form.
RC: So, uh, do you believe in the existence Hell?
TBN: Hell.. is a state of mind, damning to our progress as an evolving spirit. It is self-defeat. It is knowing who and what you are, but failing to achieve it. But as this thing you've imagined it, Hell does not exist as a "place." Why would a non-physical Soul be concerned with "going" somewhere after its body died?
RC: Do you think you'll go to Heaven?
TBN: You could go there right now if you wished. Why wait until the body dies? Aren't you charged with creating Heaven on Earth? Now here's an even better question: Why is it that human beings look up when they think of Heaven? Would you believe the answer if I told you?
RC: Do you think you're a good person?
TBN: Compared to?
RC: I want to ask you some questions.. probably the most important questions anyone has ever asked you... Have you ever told a lie?
TBN: Yes. As I suspect every living being has in their time.
RC: What do you call someone who tells lies?
TBN: Evolving.
RC: Have you ever stolen something?
TBN: No.
RC: Can I believe you since you've just admitted to me that you're a liar?
TBN: Inasmuch as you can believe yourself for dancing around the question you are holding back.
RC: Ok. Uh, have you ever used God's name in vain?
TBN: Vishnu's? Yeshua's? Krishna's? Buddha's? YHWH's? Or what about your own, in moments of self-doubt? Are we not made "in the image and the likeness?"
RC: Jesus said, "If you look with lust, you commit adultery in your heart." Have you ever looked with lust at another person?
TBN: Ah, you're referring to what your faith calls, "The Sermon on the Mount," as recounted by Yeshua's desciple Matthew, through King James. Yeshua set the context initially by recounting how blessed are we, when men shall revile, persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for Yeshua's sake. He then goes on to point out that men of earth are given to various temptations, yet can correct those in the next moment, by simply re-examining the context in which they are tempted ("Cut out the eye.") Why burden yourself, Mr. Comfort, with the fate of others if you justify yourself "saved" as a result of your current conclusions? You lust in your heart to make all those who don't agree with your conclusions feel guilty and submit to your authority.
RC: If you had to face God on Judgement Day, based on the Ten Commandments, would you be innocent or guilty?
TBN: I wouldn't have to face YHWH, and if I did, we'd have a hearty laugh about all this.
RC: Do you think that will help you? Do you think that will save you?
TBN: It's not a question of "needing help." My Soul was never in any danger.
RC: Are you sure?
TBN: Positive.
RC: Would you bet your life on it?
TBN: If I guarantee we could come back to right here, right now, would you be willing to step to the other side with me today?
RC: Most people think that all they have to do is say "I'm sorry" to God and really mean it. Could you imagine a criminal standing in front of a judge who's committed rape and murder and he's saying, "Judge, I know I'm guilty, I'm sorry, I won't do it again." The Judge is saying, "Of course you've done wrong, you won't do it again!" They'll throw the book at you. So repentance can't save you. The Bible makes that clear.
TBN: You make it sound as though God somehow needs something from us. How could the "Almighty" be a "Supreme Being" yet display such pettiness? We have extremely different views about who and what God is, what God wants, and what God is seeking to be.
RC: Did you know what God did for you so you wouldn't have to go to Hell? He sent his son to die on the cross for us. Well, when he was on the cross, he took punishment for the sin of the world. He was "being bruised for our inequities," the Bible said, and was paying our fine in his life's blood so that we could leave the courtroom on the Day of Judgement, and then he rose in defeat of death and the thing that you and I got to do is repent, and trust in him.
TBN: So in other words, you say that God created inherently perfect beings, demanded perfection of them upon pain of eternal damnation, and then at some point relented, sending down the only perfect being he ever created in order to fix a mistake that he himself made?
RC: It's not enough that you have to believe, you have to trust. Like you trust an elevator; you don't believe an elevator, you put your faith into it and that's how it can help you, and that's what the Death and Resurrection of Jesus can do for you. The moment you trust in Him, God will forgive every sin you've ever committed and give you the gift of ever-lasting life.
TBN: From where I sit, the God you refer to is based on a memory of contact with a being calling himself YHWH to the Hibiru tribe. This being was universalized and generalized with the forces of Nature, and together with his possession of an awesome technological knowledge, encouraged this perception towards those he subjugated. This is a god with a little "g" attempting to pass himself off as God with a big "G." Now, we all have an innate sense of the Unity of Existence, so to the awestruck Hibiru tribe, this was God. What I conceive of as God is, as an individual cell or protein is to us, we all ultimately are within God. Now these cells can choose to work together and operate as say, an intellegent, sentient, and sapient being..or it can choose to lead seperate, distinct existences like, say, a mass of algae... there, yet not there. Beings like the archetypal Yeshua came here to point this out, and show us what is possible when we work together and end what was imposed on us at Babylon.
RC: Well, hey, thanks for talking to me.
TBN: It's been my pleasure. I understand that you won't agree with everything I have to say, and I appreciate your candor. Hold true to your own beliefs as long as they continue to serve you. But seek the truth about what it is you believe if your beliefs are to serve you well.