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.
[ Edited: 05 January 2010 05:04 PM by Kevin Goddard]
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.
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….......
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.
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!
...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.
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.
THE Q&A show with Richard D. had one segment which I vividly remember. The question to the panel was “do you believe in the afterlife”?
Dawkins of course dismised it as a fairytale for dreamers. He wanted facts, but not the verifiable fact that millions of people over 1000’s of years wanted and needed God.
What I found illuminating was that Julie Bishop, Tony Burke and the Jewish lady, who came on as a late replacement, were all not particularly concerned with the afterlife. These prominent, intelligent people were all God believers I believe. I think the message to mission people is don’t worry about the after life, there is plenty happening right now.
Hey Doug. I rather enjoyed the show. Tony Burke and the rabbi were wonderful. Fielding and Bishop ended up leaving me fuming at their non-answers on almost everything.
Dawkins was far more generous than I expected.
As for the message re the after-life. Indeed. The Emerging Church movement focuses on doing stuff here and now for others. I think the Quakers also understood this need. I am personally far less interested in the whole question of the afterlife than I am in how God’s grace is lived out in the here and now.
If the emphasis is on the after life then you are buying into the “choose your religeon” paradigm. You are buying into the ethereal, the insubstantial. Choices range from Nirvana to annihilation and resurrection to a 1,000 year run in paradise. It’s anyone’s guess.
And, in public perceptions- down to anyone’s guess.
But lived love and generosity? gracious giving and non-judgemental acceptance, this is stuff people respond to.
The debate between Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd. (I don’t know if this is the start of the election programme, and should have a thread of its own. It probably will later on)
On the question of using the “worm”, I ask, if we seek out people who say they are not committed to either side, what type of person are we getting? I answer: usually someone who either doesnt want to say which way they will vote, or we get someone who knows little about politics and economics, generally.
And, on that basis we would not get many Liberal people there, and so the worm has always voted Labor, and always will. Problem is that the verdict of the worm leads other uninformed people to follow that verdict in their voting pattern.
If people cannot make up their own minds on which side they will vote, I think they lack a modicum of intelligence and that is a shame.
I was at Channel 9 yesterday, sitting next to Tracey Grimshaw with son XXX. I can tell you this:
9’s surveying company was desperate for volunteers and was scraping them together, worried that they’d fall short of the 100 needed. Consequently, they quickly cobbled them together from nearby university campuses, obvious hotbeds of Labor support and an easy source of people who can turn up in the middle of the day at 11am when everyone else is working.
The audience was clearly far from a balanced sample, with the vast majority dressed in old threadbare bluejeans and ragged T shirts (two terminal symptoms of Laborites), and rapt to get their $50 payment.
For the first few minutes, I could see the worm on a studio monitor, and the worm jumped to the top even BEFORE Rudd began speaking! So much for “fair and balanced”. Virtually every time Abbott started speaking, there would be groans and snickers.
I have ALWAYS thought the “worm” to be totally unreliable - and definitely biased towards Labor. Here is clear evidence for once. For goodness sake, the “worm” even gave Mark Latham a resounding victory !!
Did Channel 9 tell their TV audience that the worm-mongers were being paid $50 ?
Also, both channel 7 and 9 scored resounding “wins” for Rudd - but look at the other media polls :
Sky News - Abbott 68% Rudd 32%
Australian – Abbott 52% Rudd 41% Draw 7%
The Age – Abbott 36% Rudd 64%
Daily Telegraph – Abbott 57% Rudd 38% Draw 5%
Courier Mail – Abbott 61% Rudd 34% Draw 5%
ABC - Abbott – 26% Rudd 63% Unimpressed 11%
Seems like Abbott might do OK when he actually has a policy to compare against Rudd’s. And some people on the ABC Drum still say that the ABC and their followers are right biased!
Whilst Kevin Rudd went out of his way to ocker himself the other day by declaring himself a “cane toad” - I would like to add that he is also now suffering from an overdose of worms ;)
When it comes to the only poll that counts on Election Day, we will see just how far the worm of public opinion has turned by then. Maybe Rudd will be composted once and for all !
Just goes to show you can’t trust any opinion or poll based on human endeavor. Just look at the human efforts to serve one God. What you can trust, and have to trust is the WORLD of GOD, and it’s all around us, free for all to see.
No Kev, I rarely get a chance to see sunsets. Living on the east coast has the advantage of only seeing sunrises clearly. I like sunrises more than sunsets. They seem to promise a future. I have 3 boys in hi school and I hope for a few more years yet, as I’m an old warrior.I lived in Adelaide for a while, and I could never used to the sea being on the westside.
Monday 5 April 2010 - Tonight on Four Corners, “Over the Edge”.
Monday 5 April 2010 Tonight on Four Corners, “Over the Edge”. The harrowing story of the therapist whose work led some patients to believe they’d committed or been the victim of shocking sexual crimes. One patient shocked her family with the accusations, one told the police, while yet another was driven to madness.
Across Australia thousands of healers and therapists practice without any formal qualification or supervision. Now reporter Sarah Ferguson shows what happened when one of those therapists used unproven techniques to have his patients delve into so called “hidden memories”. The result? Trauma, criminal investigations and families torn apart.
Seven years ago a young woman consulted an untrained health therapist. The treatments involved massage, counselling and meditation retreats. Initially she found the sessions helpful. Over time the counselling changed. Using techniques that experts suggest are close to brain-washing she became convinced that she had “repressed” memories that involved extreme sexual abuse involving her father and her brothers.
She was deeply disturbed by incidents, supposedly dredged up from her unconscious mind. There was just one problem though. None of the memories were true.
This young woman suffered terrible trauma and her story is not isolated. This week Four Corners reveals that she was just one of several people whose lives have been thrown into turmoil following consultations with this self styled therapist.
How can anyone without qualification set up a service that allows them to delve into almost every aspect of a patient’s life without any training? Why is there no regulation of these type of therapists? Is this an industry out of control and how many people’s lives have been affected by it?
“Over the Edge” will be broadcast on Monday 5th April at 8.30 PM on ABC 1. It is replayed on 6th April at 11.35 PM. Also available on iView .
G’day Kev Saw the show on Four Corners last night. It seems unbelievable that such weird ratbags could garner so many vunerable people up in them thar hills. We have seen these cult like groups flourish in USA with often disasterous outcomes. But I must say from my experience that I am not surprised so many people are vunerable to this sort of exploitation, due to their relationship problems.
In the past I had relationship problems due to ED and saw many consellors. My experience is that government, church and often Psychological counsellors were useless, pathetic, unbelievably ignorant in sexual matters and just a dead end to those in need of psychosocial help.
Most doctors will not get involved, but at least they are honest and rational about it. A few doctors are willing and able to help.But the aversion of doctors to get involved is indicated when the main sexual clinic for men in Australia is run by an unregistered Uzbekistan doctor ( according to an SBS program). This clinic seems to be OK after troubles with unsuitable advertising and fake pills.
My point is that there has been huge changes in adult relationship issues and with all the different customs arriving from overseas, even more changes will challenge us. The church in particular seems paralysed with fear.
Kevin, You can’t always prove things. If you hear a crash in the night and next morning you see a tree on the ground, you will probably decide that that was the reason for the crash. A feature of the church is the sometimes obsessive tendendcy to discriminate against those who have a perceived stain, eg divorce.The result is that anyone in an executive capacity has little knowledge of human failings. In consequence, they freeze when confronted with people with a stain.
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