Dragons and Isaiah – Awesome

Everything is better with dragons!





The Book

August 2, 1979 was a great day in American history. On that day a speculative natural history titled “The Flight of Dragons” was published. It was written by Peter Dickinson and fully illustrated by Wayne Anderson. It argued that flying dragons really existed and were responsible for the widespread tales of dragons throughout the cultures of the world. They were super modified dinosaurs that used hydrochloric acid to dissolve rapidly growing bone to produce hydrogen. They filled up like balloons and floated around. This ability to fly developed as a survival mechanism. They breathed fire by expelling the highly flammable hydrogen through their mouths as a necessity because they produced it quite rapidly. There are no remains of any dragon because the chemical reaction to produce the hydrogen had highly corrosive byproducts and a dragon’s body would simply dissolve after death.



The Film

 In 1982 the information from the book and the plot from the 1976 book “The Dragon and the George” were combined into an animated feature with the title “The Flight of Dragons.” The film focused strongly on the loss of magic from the world as it was replaced by logic and science. In the final showdown between the protagonist Peter Dickinson (played by John Ritter) and the evil wizard Ommadon (played by James Earl Jones), Peter used a discussion of logic and science to completely destroy Ommadon. As of 21 May 2013 you can watch this scene on youtube.

Now pay attention! This is the part where the bible starts to come in.


Ommadon: “I can do anything. Test me. Do you want me to reach up and pluck down the Sun?”

Peter: “You can’t do that.”

Ommadon: “Why? Why, you insect? Why?”

Peter: “Seven heads and each one a simpleton. Don’t you know what you reach for isn’t in that position anymore?”

Ommadon: “The Sun is the Sun. I can see where it is.”

Peter: “Where it was pipsqueak. Any schoolboy knows that light travels at 186,300 miles per second. What you see is the Sun’s position eight and a half minutes ago.”

Ommadon: “No magic but mine can move the Sun. I command it.”

Peter: “Not magic gas-head, mathematics.”



The Inspiration for the Plot

The book of Isaiah tells us that once upon a time, King Hezekiah was really sick and was about to die. He was smart though, and prayed to Yahweh for a return to health. Yahweh sent Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that he wasn’t going to die from his sickness. Yahweh was going to add 15 years to his life and as an added bonus Yahweh would keep the Assyrians from conquering Jerusalem. To prove to Hezekiah that he was telling the truth, Yahweh made the Sun move back 10 degrees in the sky.

You see, no magic but Yahweh’s can move the Sun. Of course because we now know that the earth revolves around the sun, rather than the Sun revolving around the Earth, so Jahweh wasn’t really moving the Sun anyway. He quickly reversed the Earth’s rotation, and then let it return to normal.

This is how cool Yahweh is: The Earth turns at 1,070 miles per hour. Its velocity was reversed instantaneously for a total velocity change of 2,140 miles per hour and nobody on the planet felt it. Then it spun backward for 700 miles and reversed velocity again. Yahweh is so good at damping momentum that the only way anyone could tell Yahweh was jacking with the Earth was by watching a sundial. Awesome!

Moral: no magic but Yahweh’s can move the sun.

Ref: Isaiah 38: 1-8

Daughter Selling – There are rules for everything

If you have to raise a daughter, you can recoup some of the loss by selling her

Yahweh is super smart. He is so smart that he knew a lot of Hebrews were going to be selling their daughters and needed some rules for the buyers.

First Rule: Once a daughter is sold as a sex slave she doesn’t automatically go free after six years like the male Hebrew slaves.

Second Rule: If the sex slave isn’t good in bed and in the kitchen, the buyer has to sell her back to her father. He can’t sell her to foreigners because he broke the whole “I will buy you and make you my sex slave/house elf” contract.

Third Rule: If the new owner bought the girl so he could give her to his son for marriage, he has to give her all the rights and privileges he would give to his own daughter.

Fourth Rule: If the new owner buys another wife he can’t reduce the food, clothing, or sex he was giving the first wife/slave before the second purchase. If the owner fails to provide the sex, food, and clothes the sex slave goes free.

It’s a really good thing we have these rules, otherwise young girls, fathers, and prospective buyers would just be running around crazy all the time. That sort of chaos is clearly contrary to the statutes of a proper society. Hurray for Yahweh and his rules for the selling, buying, and disposal of those things men need for the sex and basket weaving.

Moral: before selling your daughter, check with your local religious leader to make sure you’re following the rules properly.

Ref: Exodus 21: 7-11

Lying – Always follow Jesus’ example

What if Jesus really was perfect, didn’t ever lie, and his followers lied about Jesus lying? Does that cast the rest of the apostolic writings into doubt? OMG, doubt overload!

Pretty Little Liars, not Jesus!

A really long time ago Yahweh gave his best friend Moses a list of rules everyone needed to follow so society could function (see Exodus 20:3-17). Nowadays we usually call these “The Ten Commandments,” not to be confused with the 1956 film of the same name starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. Most people think “Thou shalt not lie” is one of the “Big Ten.” This is totally untrue. The Ten Commandments instruct us to not lie when talking about someone else (Exodus 20:16). Yahweh is clearly ok with lying about ourselves. We just have to turn to Holy Scriptures to see this for ourselves.


Jim Carry in Liar Liar, not Jesus!



The Gospel of St. John is the newest of the gospels. It didn’t reach its published form until about 60 years after the crucifixion. It is the gospel that focuses the most on the divinity of Christ and it is the one we use to show how following Jesus’ example includes lying.

Lying twins, separated at birth, not Jesus!

In John 7:8 Jesus told his “brethren” to head up to the Feast of Tabernacles without him: “Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come (emphasis added).” Then in John 7:10 we learn that after Jesus’ brethren went up to the feast, he followed them all secret-like. LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!

A body language expert solves crimes, not Jesus!

Also, when Jesus was on trial for treason and sedition he told the High Priest and Elders of Israel that “I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing (John 18:20: emphasis added).” Of course anyone that has read the gospels known this is a bald-faced lie. Jesus secretly taught his disciples about his divinity ALL THE TIME. He also commanded people to not repeat his secret teachings and actions in Mark 1:34, 1:44, 3:11-12, 5:43, 7:36, 8:30; Luke 4:41, 5:14, 8:56, 9:21; and Matthew 8:3-4, 12:15-16, 16:20. SERIOUSLY: LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!

A story of love and lies, not Jesus!

Moral: lying is Christ-like. Just don’t lie about someone else or you’ll go to hell.

NOTE: If we are willing to look outside the Book of John we find that in Mark 10:28-30 Jesus promised everyone that was willing to follow him a hundredfold increase in material wealth IN THIS LIFE! It’s pretty obvious from readings Acts and looking into subsequent Christian history that this was not the case.

Crazy Management Consultants, not Jesus!

Mark 10:28-30 KJV

Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. (emphasis added)

The dilemas of a circle of friends, still not Jesus!



THIS is the Liar, err . . . I mean, Jesus!



The Invasion Really Gets Going – So much death . . .

 So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate? – King Theoden

After Jericho, Ai, and Beth-el were destroyed, the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon created a last great alliance to stand against the might of the Hebrew invasion.

In fact, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men was formed in 3430 of the Second Age in response to the threat of conquest by the Dark Lord Joshua. It was the greatest military alliance involving the free peoples of Middle Earth. The Alliance marched on Mordor, intent on the destruction of Barad-dûr itself. When the Alliance reached the gates of Mordor a huge host of orcs poured out to meet them. Some historians say this host of orcs numbered more than a million individuals.

The Last Alliance trying to fight off Joshua's horde of orcs

The Lord of the Rings presented a narrative in which Isuldur used his father’s broken sword to cut off Joshua’s finger, separating Joshua’s soul from the One Ring. Unfortunately this was not the case. What really happened was the destruction of the Last Alliance and the execution of its leaders. Joshua’s host defeated them in a pitched battle, and then Jehovah rained down rocks from heaven to take out the survivors.

After all this death, Joshua and his host went around to all the now undefended city-states who participated in the Alliance and burned them to the ground after slaughtering the woman and children.

Sadly, that still wasn’t the end. After the Alliance failed, the remaining free nations combined what force they had left to protect themselves. Of course that didn’t work either. This time was different though. When Joshua’s host was going around killing everyone and destroying the cities, they kept the riches and cattle for themselves.

Moral: even the Dark Lord Sauron eventually stops destroying wealth.

Ref: Joshua 10 & 11

The Invasion Hits a Snag – Not all is well in Zion

It’s Jehovah’s way to kill a bunch of non-involved people when somebody sins

After wiping Jericho off the face of the Earth, Joshua sent a couple of guys to check out Ai. The spies returned and said, “Um, there’s like nobody in Ai. You should only spend like, two or three thousand guys to eliminate them so not everyone is inconvenienced by the trip.” This sounded good to Joshua so it was done.

Everything was going really well until the people from Ai tried to stop the Hebrews. This totally threw off God’s Warriors who had no experience with actual combat. Naturally they fled and while they were running away the soldiers from Ai managed to kill 36 of them.

When Joshua heard his men had not only run from the enemy, but had also suffered losses of 1.2% he was completely beside himself. He fell down in the dirt and cried all day. Eventually Joshua asked Jehovah why He had bothered to free the Hebrews from Egypt if He was just going to let them all be killed in Palestine! Jehovah was quick to answer saying, “Look, I’m not really trying to kill all of you, but here’s the deal. Someone took some stuff from Jericho after I told you to tell them to not do that.”

Joshua immediately set about trying to rectify the situation. He ordered a survey of every man and every tent to find the offender. Eventually it was determined that a Jew named Achan took a set of clothes and a bunch of money. Joshua told Achan that because he was causing trouble, Jehovah was going to cause him some trouble. Then the people of God threw rocks at Achan until he was dead. Just to be sure, they incinerated him too.

After the whole incident with Achan’s disobedient ways was resolved, Jehovah told Joshua to get back to the business of wiping out Palestinians. Joshua didn’t want to mess up again, so this time he sent 30,000 men to hide around the back of the city of Ai. Then he took a smaller force and pretended to attack the city from the front, then run away.  When the soldiers from Ai and its neighboring city Beth-el saw Joshua and his force running away they gave chase, just like the time before.

This time was different. Once all the fighting men were chasing Joshua, the secret 30,000 took control of Ai and burned it to the ground. With that business concluded Joshua stopped running away and turned to attack and the 30,000 turned their attention to the fight. The men of Ai and Beth-el were quickly wiped out except the king of Ai. Joshua had him hanged from a tree unto death. Then all the women and children from both cities were slaughtered.

Moral: don’t go against God, or his fans will kill you twice.

Ref: Joshua 7 & 8

The Invasion Begins – Jehovah helps the Hebrews wipe out the People of Jericho

Genocide is OK if Jehovah says so

After Joshua and the fighting men of Israel started their track toward Jericho they ran into a little problem. The River Jordan was flooded. This would have been problematic if Jehovah wasn’t so awesome. The army of God was carrying the Ark of the Covenant and as soon as the Ark bearers touched the river water with their feet, the river opened up and the entire army walked across on dry ground. Yay for Jehovah!

The people of Jericho noticed they were being invaded so everyone moved into the city and they closed the gates. At first glance it appeared that Jehovah wasn’t going to get the slaughter he was looking for; I mean, he didn’t even have the Israelites prepare any siege engines or long range weapons. Melee troops aren’t great for attacking fortified positions without some sort of support.

Jehovah had a plan though. He told Joshua to have his people all walk around the city once every day for six days without talking, then on the seventh day they were to walk around the city silently six times and at the end of the seventh circuit they were to shout really loud. The Hebrews did this, and upon the great shout the city’s walls collapsed to the ground. The Hebrew infantry stormed into the city and utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
 

Making noise is sure to destroy enemy fortifications

But not quite: Joshua told his spies that checked out the city in my previous bible story to go get the hooker Rahab and her family and make sure they got out of the city safely. In this way the spies were able to keep their word and Israel’s prostitution workforce was strengthened.

Moral: when committing genocide you should always keep at least one of the harlots.

Ref: Joshua 3 & 6