I was talking to my daughter and her friends one day. They always ask me to tell them scary stories and I tell them I can't, since they might not be able to sleep at night and their parents will of course kill me. It's really funny how kids really notice everything--things we grown-ups never notice. Anyway, one of them asked me--why were there no mention of dinosaurs in Noah's Ark? I was stumped and told them I'd research first and get back to them. Well, I finally went to a priest today to ask how such a question could be best answered. He was shocked himself and frankly didn't know how to answer. In the end, I ended up answering my own question. So if any of you have smart and inquisitive kids and they do ask something similar...well, see if you can use this. We Catholics are taught to believe that the Bible was written by people who were divinely inspired. The Bible, was of course, written way after the time of the dinosaurs. So there are two possibilities: 1) that Noah and his ark happened way after the time of the dinosaurs; or 2) those individuals who wrote the old testament, although divinely inspired, wrote history in terms of their own experiences and what was familiar to them. Since it was not a mass media world and there were no books, libraries or the WWW to provide information, people had no way of knowing things that we take for granted today.

Anyway, it's getting really late. I went on and on with the priest with this; and I think he actually got tired of me. Will continue this on another day.

Current Mood: curious

I am watching Star Wars again and it just amazes me how many Christian values are actually present in the movie. The very downfall of Anakin, although a bit too fast, really represents the downfall of anyone--the so-called dark side. Anakin often falls into self pity and wallows in his mistakes. Reminds me of my Theology classes in College when the priest would tell us that when in the state of sin, just confess immediately--there's really nothing to dwell on--confess it and move on. There's this scene where Anakin cries to Padme and tells her that he had just killed these beings who had captured his mother and he has this emotional monologue about it. Makes me wonder if George Lucas is Catholic and if he intentionally meant such symbolisms and parallelisms with the Catholic faith. Although the Jedis often use the word "feeling" and say follow your feelings, I suspect what Lucas really means is faith and not feelings, meaning emotions--which I think is what turns a Jedi into a Sith. Hmmm... Anyway, I'm still in the middle of Episode II. I, however, think that on the acting side, Anakin needs a lot of work. And in terms of character development, things happened to fast--particularly Anakin's transformation--but then again, in reality, it is true that people often don't make sense and shifts and behavior can happen abruptly--at least in my personal experiences with certain individuals. So in this sense, Lucas might have actually been realisitic.

Current Mood: curious