Obama Through the Lens of Superman

I found a couple of video on YouTube that Celebrate Obama's historic election as President and mixes in scenes from the very first 2 Superman movies and 2006's Superman Returns.

SuperBarack


"Obama Returns" DNC '08 Nomination Trailer (Superman Remix)

Canonicity Part 3: The Book of Enoch

In 2001 and 2002 I explored the notion that there were books missing from the Bible by way of studying Genesis 6:4 which says:

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

I was intrigued by who the "Nephilim" were/are. The King James Version translates the word as "Giants". In Hebrew "Nephilim" mean "fallen one" or "to fall". The Bible connects the Nephilim to men who are described as nearly monstrously tall and large, also called . Men like Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4) - whom David slew, the man described in 2 Samuel 21:20 and 1 Chronicles 20:6, men who were sometimes referred to as Anakites (Numbers 13:33, Joshua 11:22; Deuteronomy 1:28), Og king of Bashan (who was an Rephaites - Deuteronomy 3:11), and others. Using this information, 2 separate explanations as to who the Nephilim are have been proposed...both are Orthodox...and they hinge on the identities of the "son of God".

Some people use Job 1:6 which in the KJV refers to angels as "sons of God". this would mean that angels fathered children by human women. Then it doesn't take much imagination that children of angels would be bigger and stronger then pure humans. This idea is bolstered by the Book of Enoch which emphatically states that this is what happened. However, not everyone agrees that this is the correct understanding of who the Nephilim are because of two reasons. First, "sons of God" elsewhere in the Old Testament refers to human beings and second, because Jesus said angels do no marry (Matthew 22:30; Mark 12:25) and therefore we conclude that angels cannot have sex or procreate.

I am not leaning toward the interpretation that "sons of God in Genesis 6 is not referring to angles because it cannot be corroborated with the rest of the 65 books that I know are scripture. However when I was flirting with the idea that the Book of Enoch was truly inspired, I researched how we go the copy we have today and looked at if the 1st Century church used the Book of Enoch as scripture. What I found out was that the oldest copies we have are more than 2000 years old, dating back to the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls. We don't have any Hebrew copies nor do we know what original language it was written in. The copy I have is translated from a Coptic copy. If it was really written by the real Enoch, it would have to be extremely old. Enoch was first mentioned in Genesis 5:19 - seven generations from Adam. This make me doubt that he wrote it. However the rub is that the Book of Enoch is quoted in Jude 1:14,15 which we know the book of Jude is divinely inspired. The passage says:

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

The question I was asking was: If a book is quoted in scripture, does that mean the book is also scripture? Going back to the first canonicity post I wrote, I have to apply the criteria scripture gives. Under that criteria I have to conclude that no the Book of Enoch is not scripture. Don't believe me? Read it yourself:

Get your own - Open publication

Okay, I know what you're asking. The same question I asked upon reaching this conclusion: Does this mean that Jude is not inspired either? Jude is inspired according to the criteria scripture sets up. Obviously, first century Jews and Christians had access to the Book of Enoch but we know it was not part of the Jewish canon. I think that the fact that Jude quotes the Book of Enoch because it was a common piece of literature his readers were familiar with and illustrated the points he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to make. Here is an illustration: if a preacher quotes a movie or a book...does that make the movie or book scripture, even if the point being made is true? No. I often wonder if there be a confusion 2000 years from now about what Christians today consider scripture with all the different texts and denominations floating around today. I wonder because some of us are more familiar with the Left Behind books than we are with scripture.

“IN TEARS" OBAMA OFFICE TELEPHONE BANK CALLERS

Check this Out. Mrs. Scelestine Langston is a mother in the Church of God in Christ. Her first son, Bishop James L. Langston, Jr is a bishop in the church of God in Christ.

Contact: Dr. Louis C. Langston
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cell Phone: (510) 582-3461
Email: "Sandra Langston"

“IN TEARS" OBAMA OFFICE TELEPHONE BANK CALLERS
"Volunteer Caller, 100 years of age Matriarch"




Photo L to R.- Ms. Diskowski, Bishop James Langston, Mrs. Sandra Langston, Armand Burns, Dr. Louis Langston, Mrs. LaJuanah Lunceford, Mrs. Scelestine on Telephone
==============<><><>==============
Berkeley, California, October 28, 2008 – Obama Headquarters Office welcomed the unexpected 100 year old, Mrs. Scelestine Langston. She was accompanied by her forth generation son, a first time voter, Armand Burns; her first son, Bishop James L. Langston, Jr.; her seventh son and his wife, Dr. Louis C. and Sandra M. Langston; and her second daughter, LaJuanah R. Langston-Lunceford. The staff and volunteers in the crowded office were aggressive in calling and working the telephone banks to Get-Out-The-Vote.

Ms. Dawn Diskowski, Phone Bank Captain, and Bishop Langston, assisted Mrs. Scelestine Langston in making her first call to Jonathan Christman of Norwalk, Ohio. Christman was very surprised to receive an out-of-state, get-out-the-vote call from the 100 year old great-great grandmother but happily promised her he would go out and vote for Obama.

Mrs. Langston’s fourth generation son, Armand Burns, said he was encouraged to register to vote after listening to his great-grandmother. She told him and the others listening that her life has come full circle and is now complete. Her faith in God is unyielding; her family is intact; and with the real possibility of Obama’s becoming the nations forty-fourth president, her belief in change makes more sense now than it ever has. To use Obama's words, she is now embued with hope.

The 100-year old matriarch, Mrs. Langston, the oldest of three children, was born to Louis and Orelia Jenkins on March 8, 1908 in Jeanerette, Louisiana. She gave birth to 11 children.

Two Glimpses Into the Future

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 gave us 2 glimpses into the future. First, we found out who the next President is: Barack H. Obama Jr! Second, we saw the next iteration of remote conferencing technology: Holographic News Correspondents! I was blown away to see Anderson Cooper of CNN interviewing Will.I.AM. Anderson was in New York. Will.I.Am. was in Chicago. It was a Full, free-standing hologram, interacting in real-time! They even showed the hologram from the rear. Will.I.Am even did a little dance at the beginning and ending of the interview. It was like the hologram of Princess Leia projected by R2D2 in Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope (1977,1997), only it wasn't blue. I thought it was a trick. But it seems that it was real. Also it turns out that they had used the technology earlier that day, when Wolf Blitzer interviewed Jessica Yellin. G4TV also reports that the very first time the technology has been used was in Australia:

This however, is not the first time this technology has been utilized. In May, Australian company Telstra "beamed" a hologram of its Chief Technology Officer from Melbourne to 460 miles away in Adelaide.

I scoured the Internet for about how the technology works. Gizmodo had the answer:

CNN's holographic election coverage is fancy pantsy, but how did they manage to send 3D 360 degree footage of virtual correspondent Jessica Yellin from Chicago all the way to the station's election center in NY? As Arthur C. Clarke says, Magic. A magic made possible from technology Vizrt and SportVu with the help of forty-four HD cameras and twenty computers. Here are the details.

On the subject's side:
• 35 HD cameras pointed at the subject in a ring
• Different cameras shoot at different angles (like the matrix), to transmit the entire body image
• The cameras are hooked up to the cameras in home base in NY, synchronizing the angles so perspective is right
• The system is set up in trailers outside Obama and McCain HQ
• Not only is it mechanical tracking via camera communication, there's infrared as well
• Correspondents see a 37-inch plasma where the return feed of the combined images are fed back to them. Useful for a misplaced hair or an unseemly boogar
• Twenty "computers" are crunching this data in order to make it usable

On the HQ side:
• Only used on two out of 40-something total camera feeds that CNN has
• Wolf Blitzer really loves it (or loves Jessica Yellin):

It's still Jessica Yellin and you look like Jessica Yellin and we know you are Jessica Yellin. I think a lot of people are nervous out there. All right, Jessica. You were a terrific hologram.

• The delay is either minimal, or we've gotten used to satellite delay that we don't even notice now
• An array of computers takes the crunched info feed from the subject's side in order to mesh it with the video from Wolf's side.
• Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the images are actually "projected" onto the floor of the CNN studio so that Wolf can actually talk to the person, you know, in a face to face. So it's not quite Star Wars just yet. Only after computers merge the video feeds together do you get a coherent hologram + person scenario

Here is a video of the system in action!!!

CNN debuts hologram @ Yahoo! Video

I want one of these!!!!

Obama Wins! November 4, 2008

I am almost speechless. I don't even know what to say. Barack Obama has actually succeeded in becoming President of the United States Of America. I heard McCain's concession speech. I was really good, classy, kind, amazingly honorable. I regained respect for John McCain in that speech. As for Obama's victory speech, it was perfect. Obama did not seem to let the success go to his head but allowed him to ask Americans to think and not just be all emotional. He told it like it is: This is not going to be easy, there are tough times and choices ahead. He said that this is just the beginning and not the end that he and his supporters have been fighting for. I was really, really impressed.

Here is Barack Obama's Victory Speech



Here is John McCain's Concession Speech