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Luke Stevens - 05 January 2010 03:29 PM

The Colbert Report starts 7.30pm tonight ABC 2 (Tues - Fri)—mandatory watching! :D

Thanks for pointing that out Luke - I had missed seeing it in the tiny print guide in the SMH Guide.
What a good time for it to be on tonight - as there is nothing worth watching on any of the other channels ( except maybe Frasier being repeated on 99 ‘GO’. )

PS: Is anyone else watching “The Circuit” on SBS ? The series final is on at 8.30pm TONIGHT - it has to be one of the best made Australian series ever.

Not a TV show - BUT a new TV set aimed to raise awareness about environmental concerns :

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/gallery/gallery-e6frewxi-1225816646898?page=10

Check out the other new gadgets at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The International Consumer Electronics Show, the largest trade show in the U.S., unveiled the latest in gadgets, microtechnology and electronic novelty.

On COMPASS tonight :

COMPASS   Sunday 17 January 2010     ABC1 22:10
Apocalypse Now? (RPT)

Are we facing the end of the world?  American Pentecostal Pastor Ron Weinland believes he has been sent by God to announce the end of the world in 3 years time ! In a provocative episode of Compass we meet this self-proclaimed prophet. He believes the end times are imminent, and he’s not alone. Climate change, acts of terrorism and natural disasters have fuelled the current epidemic of apocalyptic thinking.

In this Compass program leading Australian commentators; sociologist Richard Eckersley, Biblical scholar Dr John Dickson, literary academic Greg Clarke and psychologist Susan Tanner, tackle the ultimate question.

From his own ( deluded ) writings 2 days ago :

January 15, 2010

The last posting on this site addressed God’s current revelation to the Church about His “Elijah to come” at this end-time. As was stated, that commission has been given to me to fulfill in its completeness and not as a “type,” which was partially fulfilled in John the Baptist and in Herbert W. Armstrong. God is now going to bring both roles of these previous “types” into a complete and final fulfillment that ushers in the second coming of His Son as the Messiah (the Christ-the ordained ruler) over all mankind….......

link/

And, of course, this false teacher has his ‘critics’ :

See :    http://www.cogwriter.com/cgpfk.htm

Wonder if the Christian commentators will directly comment on the Mayan prophesies (2012) or just avoid it.

I am just starting to get used to my Panasonic PVR (500Gig hard drive and DVD burner). I’m still learning how it works, and it seems a bit clunky. When I inevitably upgrade it sometime over the next 5 to 10 years, I’ll probably by a full computer running Linux and MythTV which is a free open source EPG and recording system. Myth TV have companies that will build you a PVR looking computer box to meet your needs, but I think it is cool to have a PVR looking FULL COMPUTER ready to go if you suddenly need to use another computer for some reason.

(Running Linux and open source stuff for free, of course).

MythTV have this cool feature where you can “record this show, and any occurrences of it on any channel and any time”. I haven’t seen anything like that on my Panasonic.

But anyway, my point in typing all of the above is that having access to an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) at the touch of a button means that I’ve discovered there is MORE than enough great TV, probably more than I can watch, just on free-to-air TV. I was just browsing last night and found Michael Moore’s SICKO was on! (I don’t trust Michael Moore as far as I could kick him, but I find his movies at least have influence on public discussions in America so it is useful to keep up with what he is CLAIMING).

So I recorded that… and if I want to keep it I’ll just burn it to a DVD. If it’s rubbish, I’ll just delete the file. I’ve watched heaps of TV already where I just delete the shows as I watch them, and it really cuts down on the old hassle of trying to find which video tape or DVD to record stuff on.

Who else uses PVR’s? What’s your favourite?

Got to see the Apocalypse show on Compass on iView and it was interesting.  The others (including Greg Clarke and John Dickson) slagged the literalist ‘prophet’ big time!

Yeah, wasn’t that brilliant? Do you have a video link to that?

I’ve got the transcript here
http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s2428806.htm

...but it’s not the same as seeing it live.
Now while I love Greg and John’s work on Revelation, and have a copy of their book “666 and all that”,  I also thought the Psychologist on the show had some interesting points to make to the more
fatalistic members of the whole greenie “End of the world” mob. (Apocalyptic thinking is stretching over into Peak Oil / Global Warming / Economic Collapse as well as theological thinking).

While I’m convinced there are real concerns about POGWEC, and would draw up *possible* risk mitigation scenarios, I make an important distinction between saying certain things are *possible* but I don’t think they are *inevitable* if we take emergency precautionary measures now.

Some people, in both Christian theological circles and greenie secular movements, just can’t live with that uncertainty.

Narrator
Psychologists like Susan Tanner are also concerned about the impact of doomsday thinking.

THE PSYCHOLOGIST
Susan Tanner
Clinical Psychologist
Now many things are not predictable. The world is a very uncertain place. People change their jobs, organisations fold, collapse, you know, There is no guarantee in anything any more…Global threats like war, climate change certainly create anxiety too because the future is no longer guaranteed…
.…that sort of unpredictability and uncertainty creates a lot of anxiety, and anxiety is often a precursor to depression.

Unresolved anxiety sets people up for depression, because you can then feel despondent that well there actually isn’t anything I can do. Because climate change is out of my hands, terrorism is out of my hands…
So that can lead to what’s called catastrophic thinking, that imagining the worst scenario of what might happen and then believing that that’s what will happen.

Narrator
Surprisingly, being certain about the end can actually bring relief to those suffering anxiety…

Susan Tanner
Apocalyptic thinking can be very useful to people who need to feel a sense of control, and that they therefore feel calm because they know what’s going to happen. Living with uncertainty, living with a question mark is the hardest thing to do for all human beings. We like to know what’s going to happen. That’s why we visit clairvoyants and you know we have our tarots read and all sorts of things….

This is exactly the kind of doomerism I fought so strongly years ago when I was in the peak oil movement, and I even warned one email list that their ‘technically unavoidable collapse’ mantra could undermine psychological health and make some young people suicidal.

Sadly, it happened anyway, with a 19 year old young man on the list. I was trying to point out that while there are *very* real risks, it is not *inevitable* that 5 of our 6.7 billion were to starve to death in the coming anarchic collapse… and that I did not even see a complete anarchic collapse as likely.

A year ago I met with this boy’s dad, who has been searching for answers as to his son’s suicide. The irony is the dad is an energy specialist, working in coal-seam gas. He’s a nice guy, and obviously traumatised. But he was curious as to how I found being a member of this doomer email list, and some of the experiences I had. We talked about many things, and he shared one email exchange he had where he was actually trying to help his son listen to some of the stuff I was saying on the email list. But of course my not being a scientist or energy specialist affected my credibility in this boy’s view, and so he was blinded from listening to the sustainability experts I was quoting. I was touched that the dad shared this email exchange with me.

Anyway, for what it was worth I shared the psychological perspective of this Compass episode with the dad and hope it helped comfort him somehow.
(PS: The dad is objective enough to take the risks of peak oil very seriously, even though his son lost his life over it! He’s a great guy.)

I’m glad that Weinland is wrong & Jesus Christ is RIGHT (as He has said that none but God the Father knows the day or the hour).

I don’t want the world to end in only 3 years’ time. It would break my heart. There will be so many people who still would not have turned to the Lord Jesus in repentance, belief or obedience - who will all perish. Some of those people I know personally, & love, & want to reach with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. I don’t want to see them die without accepting Jesus & believing in Him.

And that’s just in Sydney, NSW, Australia. I haven’t even mentioned France, a country that lies so heavy on my heart..

How dare those silly Americans have concern only for their own salvation.

How dare they waste precious time raving on about the day or hour when lost people all over the world are dying eternally condemned since they reject God the Son.

*sob*

TZ.

agreed, so we are torn between wanting the Lord to return because of all the misery and watching people live so abhorrently to God, including our own secret sins, and then we are also asking God not to return too soon…. because of all our family and friends that aren’t saved.

I totally agree.

Dave: http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/search/compass

Search for Episode 51.

Anyone else catch Q&A with Richard Dawkins last night?

Also, The Daily Show is coming to ABC2 next week, before Colbert. Must watch TV :)