Boston Legal vs Freedom of Religion

When the TV show "Boston Legal" came on the air in 2004, I was not impressed by the premise of the show nor by its leading actor, William Shatner. But every now and then, even the most loathsome TV show can make you turn your head and give applause.

Episode Synopsis: James Spader's character Alan Shore is defending the owner of a law firm who fired one of its attorney's for being a out-spoken Scientology fanatic.

Watch this snippet from the 2006 episode "Whose God Is It Anyway?"











After watching the video, there were a couple of observations that I made. While the lady attorney does make some valid points about freedom of religion, one statement that she makes regarding Muslims is not the whole truth. She lists several religions that do "wacky things" such as Christian Scientists don't go to the doctor; Jehovah's Witnesses won't buy Girl Scout cookies; and that "radical Muslims blow themselves up to meet virgins in heaven." This last statement is added so nonchalantly, but she's leaving out one vital part. Muslims do suicide bombings with the intent of killing infidels (i.e. non-Islamic people). If Muslims just had to commit suicide to get to heaven, I doubt there would be a single Muslim left on the planet. I was rather shocked to hear her include that with the implication that we should be tolerant and accepting of people who believe and do that sort of thing. So, in essence, she is saying the the tragedy of 9-11 shouldn't be condemned because the radical Muslims were just doing what their religion told them was ok.
Not only that, but her comment about Christian Scientists not going to doctors has resulted in countless deaths of children and adults who have died needlessly from illnesses that could have been easily treated with a simple antibiotic or saved by a blood-transfusion.

I don't know about you, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching James Spader's character explain Scientology! Even though his presentation was dripping with sarcasm, it didn't need much. The truth about Scientology is so ridiculous; any rational person can clearly see that it was created by a science-fiction-writer-turned-cult-guru with a very overact imagination and big dollar signs in his eyes. I also think that the character's closing remarks are brilliantly penned:

"How about we scale back on the Freedom of Religion dogma exalting it as all get-out?.... Now [your client] is trying to cloak himself in an amendment that is as overplayed as it is misapplied.... The founding fathers of this country set out to prevent persecution, not to license it."

I have to applaud the writers for making that statement!
Hopefully, more people will become aware of what Scientology teaches; so we as believers can be better equipped to help show them the truth and encourage them to leave the science fiction on the shelf.

To find out more about Scientology and receive a FREE Watchman Fellowship profile on this religion, click here.

One Way or Many Ways?

Before you read this review, you have got to watch this video of a segment from one of Oprah Winfrey's shows. Oprah makes a statement that she believes that there are many paths to "The Light/God" and then she is challenged by a Christian audience member. Watch what happenes: Click here to watch the video.

If you were unaware of Oprah's spiritual beliefs, you have now heard them with your own ears. Oprah is undoubtabley a New Age believer... the video as well as the article about her on the Watchman Fellowship website confirm that.

She is considered to be one of the the most influencial women in the world. Her TV show has a viewing audience of 15-20 million, and it is broadcast in at least 132 countries. Plus, if you are the author of a book that she selects to be highlighted in her Book Club (many authors are also fellow New Age & Unitarian believers), you are guarenteed to sell at least 1 million copies. With all her influence and media exposure, it is scary to realize how much of her warped sense of "spirituality" she spreads to so many people worldwide.

Regarding the video, I applaud the Christian lady for speaking out and challenging Oprah, but like any good skeptic, Oprah did bring up a tough argument: if you never hear about Jesus, can you still go to heaven? Unfortuately, the Christian lady was not well prepared to answer Oprah.

Here's what Jesus Christ says:

John 14:6 -- "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
John 10:30 -- "The Father and I are one." (in other words, Jesus is God!)
John 3:16 -- "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Matthew 7:13-14 -- "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
John 10:9 -- "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture."

These are just a few of many passage in Scripture that Jesus makes some very serious claims about Himself. Most New Agers would say that Jesus was a good man and teacher, but that's all. However, Jesus clearly claims that He is God and is the only means by which we can be saved and go to heaven. But if Jesus was just a man, then he wouldn't be a good teacher, he'd be a liar and/or lunatic... OR... He is who He says He is... He is the LORD.

The Gospel According to Lucas

As I was surfing through the Watchman Fellowship website, I came across this article about Star Wars called The Gospel According to Lucas, Part II. First of all, I'm a huge movie fan, and I've always loved Star Wars (the original trilogy especially)! It was (and still is) one of my favorite movies to watch when I was a kid (and now as an adult). The article I read had some really interesting insights into the religious themes in the movie.

I once saw a Star Wars behind-the-scenes documentary, and I remember that George Lucas had mentioned that he got the idea of "the Force" from elements of Buddhism, especially Taoism (pronounced DOW-ism). The Watchman article included a chart that laid out a bunch of the similarities between Star Wars and Taoism. Very interesting!

The only part of the article that I didn't agree with was the statement:
"When the Millennium Falcon hides from the Empire in what its crew thinks is a cave inside an asteroid, only to discover they are inside the belly of a huge space slug (in Empire), it’s a clear allusion to the book of Jonah."
I'm not sure why the author would say that the space slug incident was an allusion to Jonah. I think he was a little off. The only similarity between the two is that there was a large animal with a person inside of them. I don't think it's an allusion to Jonah at all.

Star Wars is not a Christian movie, and neither does it contain "the essential beliefs of the New Age movement [which] include pantheism, reincarnation, and moral relativism." It does however have some hints of Christian themes in it, and I liked how the article gives several key areas in the movie that can be used as discussion starters regarding Christianity, especially showing the differences between "the Force" and God.

If you would like to read Part I of The Gospel According to Lucas or any other article on the Watchman Fellowship website, click here.

Greetings!

Welcome fellow blog-readers! This blog is part of a project for one of my college classes. Here, I will be reviewing different articles found on Watchman Fellowship website. Watchman is an independent, nondenominational Christian research and apologetics ministry focusing on new religious movements, cults, the occult and the New Age.

I hope you enjoy reading the variety of reviews that will appear over the next coming weeks. I hope you will learn something new that you've never known before, but most of all, I hope that you are challenged to examine your own beliefs. Peter Marshall, a US Senate Chaplain (1947) once prayed, "Give us clear vision, that we may know where to stand and what to stand for - because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything."