10.04.11
Posted in History, Hmmm Moments at 12:41 am by Administrator
Whether you love him or hate him, he always makes for interesting listening. Whether you agree with him or not, you have to admit that he’s familiar with world history and has an analytical mind. While I do think he makes some very reasonable assertions and provocative statements (some might call it inflammatory), when it comes to Iran’s nuclear program, I can’t help but think about “taqqiya,” the Islamic belief that it’s okay to lie if it’s for the greater good of the people. Mohamed Elbaradei wrote about it in his book The Age of Deception as did Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ. But I certainly understand the concept of fairness. If one country has nuclear power, why can’t other countries? Anyway, for anyone interested in this year’s UN speech by Ahmadinejad, click here to listen to the full speech.
As the year before, major UN members walked out on him during his speech. I personally think it’s very rude that they would do such a thing, especially since the West considers themselves so fair and civilized. I can’t help but think that they walk out on him because they know he’s right, and they don’t want to admit it. But how long can that last? There’s always a breaking point somewhere. Amongst some of the points Ahmadinejad highlighted were the following:
Who triggered the first and second world wars, that left seventy million killed and hundreds of millions injured or homeless. Who created the wars in Korean peninsula and in Vietnam?
· Who imposed through Zionism and over sixty years of war, homelessness, terror and mass murder on the Palestinian people and on countries of the region?
· Who imposed and supported for decades military dictatorship and totalitarian regimes on Asian, African, and Latin American nations?
· Who used nuclear bomb against defenseless people, and stockpiled thousands of warheads in their arsenals?
· Whose economies rely on waging wars and selling arms?
· Who provoked and encouraged Saddam Hussein to invade and impose an eight-year war on Iran, and who assisted and equipped him to deploy chemical weapons against our cities and our people?
· Who used the mysterious September 11 incident as a pretext to attack Afghanistan and Iraq, killing, injuring, and displacing millions in two countries with the ultimate goal of bringing into its domination the Middle East and its oil resources?
· Who nullified the Breton Woods system by printing trillions of dollars without the backing of gold reserves or equivalent currency? A move that triggered inflation worldwide and was intended to prey on the economic gains of other nations?
· Which country’s military spending exceeds annually a thousand billion dollars, more than the military budgets of all countries of the world combined?
· Who dominates the policy-making establishments of the world economy?
· Who are responsible for the world economic recession, and are imposing the consequences on America, Europe and the world in general?
· Who are the ones dominating the Security Council which is ostensibly responsible for safeguarding the international security?
The man knows his history and clearly articulates his points. He was just asking questions of which anyone who knows this history would know the answers to his questions. The answers are not secrets, but well known facts, so why did they walk out on him? Obviously it wasn’t because he was lying. The mass walkout just makes it more obvious that there’s something rotten in Denmark.
Marlakins
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09.22.11
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, History at 11:18 am by Administrator
While I don’t agree with everything Ron Paul believes in, he definitely makes much more sense to me than any other politician I’ve heard thus far. His recent video regarding MAD vs MAR is one of the reasons I respect Ron Paul. It’s another example to me about how much more honest and informed this man is. Paul’s video message also aligns with some of the issues Mohammed Elbaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), wrote about in his book, The Age of Deception. I don’t mean to imply that ALL of the U.S. is disrespectful and antagonistic toward foreign countries and their peoples, but rather the U.S. does harbor a faction (if I may call is that) that promotes and advances antagonistic behavior around the world. Unfortunately, this faction includes some very influential people who have control and thus use of our military.
Click here to listen to Paul’s message Mutually Assured Destruction vs Mutually Assured Respect.
Thank you, Ron Paul, for your intellectual honesty, clarity, kindness, and bravery. We need more great minds and people like you!
Marlakins
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09.17.11
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, History at 7:41 pm by Administrator
Aaron’s American history teacher recommended visiting the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum for his class. Since I love museums and anything having to do with history, I tagged along (much like the time I tagged along with Andrew when he went to the Wende Museum for his history class). 
It was a small museum, but very informative! Actually both museums were small, but both very interesting!
Unfortunately, when we went to the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, we only had about an hour to spend there. It definitely takes a lot more time than that to soak it all that they have. So, basically I didn’t soak up all I wanted to soak up. So, I’ll blog just a short run down of what we saw. First of all the museum is now housed in what used to be a court house. They have preserved a couple court rooms, which is still used today for movie shoots. This particular court room was used in the recent movie, The Lincoln Lawyer.
Gee, this reminds me that I was able to watch a few movies while in the Philippines, but haven’t gotten around to giving my movie critique. Hmmm. Will I remember what happened in the movies? Ha!
Anyway, moving right along, here are a few of the items on display.
Right next to the “For Sale” sign were these. . .
I felt like we kinda rushed through this room and didn’t get to read all the explanations of what each item was. And one of these days I’ll have to look up what the deal is with African Americans and watermelon. I mean I love watermelon and can’t get enough when they’re in season. There’s one waiting for me in my fridge right now. . .
There were a good number of photos of African American actors, musicians, and athletes. Here’s one of Sammy Davis, Jr. in his younger days.
It’s hard sometimes to get the shot right when the items are behind glass. However, just the fact that they allow photos is good enough for me. There are a lot of places that don’t allow photos, so I really appreciate this. Aaron’s reflection is visible in the glass on that shot.
I should mention that many of the items in this museum was taken from the collection of Mayme A. Clayton. Her original intent was to show children that African Americans have done great things. Hence all the pictures and books of and from African Americans. And of course with our tumultuous history of racism, this museum has a section devoted to parts of the civil rights movement, in particular the “Freedom Ride.”
I have to admit that this is where I was taken aback. I went to school here in Los Angeles, and we were taught about Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and such, however I do not recall ever being taught about these freedom riders. Only recently a few months ago this year did one of my friends mention to me that she saw a documentary on cable regarding the freedom riders. If anyone is like me and is just learning about this, here’s a little explanation of what the freedom riders were about.
There was a replica of a burnt out bus reminiscent of one of the freedom ride buses that was burned in Alabama. It’s mind boggling to me how people can be so mean to each other.
There were pictures along the walls of the various encounters of the freedom riders as well as a running video of interviews and historical footage and pictures of the bus that didn’t make it through Alabama. Apparently they were met with a mad crowd who tried to kill them and/or scare them to death. The mod surrounded the bus, taunted the passengers, and subsequently burned it while they were still inside. The occupants were only able to get out of the bus because the mob thought the bus was going to blow up and ran away. It was a really disturbing video to watch. There are several videos on Youtube such as this one that helps describe the risks and dangers involved with participating in those freedom rides.
Here’s another replica in the museum of one of the diners used for the “sit-ins.”
There was more literature to read within the counter cases, but we had to go, so hopefully I can go back again and take a more thorough look through this museum. The museum library is also available upon request. While I know there are a lot of good things about America to celebrate, I think it’s important that we never forget the bad things in our history as well. I think if we don’t lose sight of our past, both the good and the bad, we can move forward as a more humble nation better equipped to deal with the rest of the world with all it’s cultural complexities. As the Bible says, “pride comes before a fall.” We Americans should be careful about being too proud to be American. Let’s not lose sight of our past, so that we understand who we are today and how we got here.
It’s important that we not only preserve our history, but learn it, so that things like this don’t happen again.
Marlakins
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09.11.11
Posted in History, Hmmm Moments, cross stitching at 11:29 pm by Administrator
Today was the ten year anniversary of the bombing of the Trade Center. Like a lot of other people, I spent a good deal of the day watching 9/11 related videos. There’s quite a bit out there on YouTube. And since I tend to have a bit of ADD, I had to do some crafting while watching. Not sure why, but I noticed I can pay better attention to things when my hands are doing something like crafting. Strange, but anyway, here’s what I was working on today.
The patterns are by The Praire Schooler called Starry Night stitched on 18 count aida.
The whole 9/11 incident is very sad to revisit. Not only has it been tragic for all victims of the Trade Towers and flight passengers, but also for the countless civilian victims in Iraq and Afghanistan who had no connection to any of those hijackers. I know the bombing of the trade center was terrible, but striking back and killing other civilians doesn’t make it right. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Imagine how little control a person like myself has on our government, but yet our government conducts many acts that I would not approve of. I think of how easily civilians like myself could be targets of those who despise the actions of our government even though I have little sway in our government’s decisions. And I think of all those “rules of engagement” that always seem to be violated whenever countries go to war. It’s the civilians who suffer.
The other lure to watching 9/11 videos is all the “conspiracy” theories out there. The latest one that I found interesting has been put forward by Judy Wood. She has written a book called, Where Did the Towers Go? She claims that she doesn’t have a “theory” of what happened, but only examines the “evidence.” One example video with Judy Wood is at this link. She definitely puts forward a lot of food for thought regarding what happened to the Twin Towers on 9/11.
Marlakins
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07.11.11
Posted in Book Reviews, Historical Trivia, History, quotes at 10:18 am by Administrator
A friend of mine told me recently (after learning I was reading a book on the bombing of Nagasaki), that I should read about current events. Actually, I do read about current events, but I find that learning about past events helps me to understand current events better.
Another brief conversation I had with a friend was about “historical revisionists,” and how they try to “change” history. Granted, I do realize that there are those who try to re-write inaccuracies into history, but the fact is that because of so many “classified documents” and other eyewitness accounts that were not previously considered when writing “history,” there is a legitimate place and role for bonafide revisionists. Also, as time passes, more information is revealed from different angles. That information helps give a more complete picture of the situation at the time and helps to determine why certain decisions were made or to question whether certain decisions were wrong or not. To ignore other sources would be like trying to judge a court case using only one side of the argument.
I know of people who only read certain publications because they don’t trust other publications. But if one only limits themselves to certain publications, then they increase their chances that they don’t get the whole picture and thus form their opinions based on faulty or less informed information. My approach to that would be to read or watch those publications “knowing” that their information is questionable, but at least hearing them out so that I would at least understand the opposing viewpoint. As Admiral Rickover once said, “Open discussions and disagreements must be encouraged, so that all sides of an issue are fully explored.” So long as we go into a discussion humbly and not take differences personally, we can all learn something when we try to listen to the other side of an argument. If it doesn’t change one’s mind, then it can strengthen one’s already preconceived ideas. I think the Bible encourages knowledge and wisdom while discouraging baseless arguments. There is a big difference between discussions to learn the truth, and heated arguments to be divisive. Like the Bereans in the New Testament, I think we should search to learn if things are so. That was considered a good thing. Why live a life based on lies and false information?
Well, now I think I’ve meandered enough! Originally, I was going to write about the book I’m currently reading, First Into Nagasaki. I’m almost at the end. I’m reading the last portion of the book written by Weller’s son wherein he describes the backdrop to his father’s writings. One of the main highlights is how censored our news is and how skewing facts and history has been a common practice throughout history. As I remember hearing in high school, “history is written by the victors of wars” so we usually only read one side of the story. From my readings it seems that people are pretty much the same all over the world. We just view others as lower or enemies because of our ignorance of each other. And with our ignorance we are less compassionate.
But to get back to my thoughts while reading First Into Nagasaki is how controlled our media is today. We have three or four wars we currently know about today, but I’m sure there’s so much that we aren’t being told or are not even allowed to know. George Weller wrote,
“A censorship is supposed to keep political criticism under control.”
Weller’s son wrote that “every war correspondent has been censored.”
For what reason? I’m sure there are several reasons, but one reason can be understood through a letter sent to George Weller from one of General MacArthur’s censors,
“We believe that a correspondent has a certain duty towards the Commander of the Forces whom he represents, and it is the Commander-in-Chief’s desire that nothing of a political nature be released as coming from his staff of correspondents, and nothing that may be in any way criticizing the efforts of any Commander of any of the Allied nations.”
Weller went on the write, “What the United States badly needs is a long cold bath of reality.”
If “control of public opinion” is what the game is all about, we will never get that dose of reality. And our history books will be more political propaganda books, than real history books. The sooner we understand that, the more we can understand.
Marlakins
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06.08.11
Posted in Book Reviews, History at 5:36 pm by Administrator
Yesterday my boys and I popped into the Little Tokyo Public Library. Aaron wanted to look for some Japanese books, so I tagged along, and to my delight, I found the Japanese history section. From my readings of the dropping of the first atomic bombs, I seemed to find so much more on the Hiroshima bombing than the Nagasaki bombing. I wasn’t quite sure why that was, but from reading Hiroshima in America
, I learned that media was strictly censored during the war, and after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, those two locations were “off limits” to the journalists. They were only allowed on “guided” tours of prisoner camps and such, so what they saw and reported was very controlled. There were only two journalists who dared to defy those restrictions–an Australian journalist, Wilfred Burchett, and American journalist George Weller. Burchett managed to sneak into Hiroshima and report what he saw there, and Weller managed to sneak into Nagasaki and write what he found there. The reason I say “write” is because none of what Weller wrote made it past General MacArthur’s censorship committee, while Burchett managed to get his articles out because it is believed he wrote mainly for a British publication, so it may have inadvertently slipped by and got published. So that seems to explain why we got some information from Hiroshima, but not much from Nagasaki.
While browsing through the history section, I came across a book title, First Into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War
, by George Weller. . . That title made me jump because it had been believed that those first writings on Nagasaki by George Weller were destroyed by MacArthur’s censor office, and thus Weller’s account of what he saw was lost. So I pulled down the book and read the inside insert which explained it this way,
“Weller died in 2002, believing it all lost forever. Months later, his son found a fragile copy in a crate of moldy papers. This historic body of work has never been published.”
Oh my! The copyright was in 2006. I checked out the book (along with several other books pertaining to the same subject and era, and some craft books, hehehe) and began to read. Not only was I curious as to what Weller saw and learned, but I wanted to know what could he have possibly written that was worthy of censorship? In Hiroshima in America (published in 1995), it was explained that the government wanted to make sure that they controlled the images of the U.S. involvement in the war and especially the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They did not want to appear brutal or doing anything unethical, etc. After reading some of the reports, I can see why they would not want this material out because it revealed that many civilians, including women and children were killed and injured from the bombs. Not only Japanese civilians, but also foreigners such as missionaries (there was the American Mission College called Chin Jei that was nearly destroyed) as well as some allied prison camps and were affected by the atomic bomb. Of course what do we expect during war, right? My dad’s hometown in the Philippines was also bombed by allied forces (the Americans) because the Japanese had heavily infiltrated the area. Many Filipino civilians died as collateral damage. During WWII it is estimated that 55 million civilians died and 22 million military personnel died. Civilians always die in wars.
Anyway, I just wanted to share with anyone interested that George Weller’s first account of Nagasaki was not lost after all, but now published in book form, First Into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War. I should also mention that the second half of the book shares Weller’s writing of the “hellships” that carried allied POWs to Japan. I haven’t finished reading the book yet, but so far, two thumbs up!
Marlakins
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05.24.11
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, History, quotes at 1:08 pm by Administrator
My youngest son found this time-lapsed video of all the nuclear explosions from 1945 to 1998. It starts out a bit slow in the beginning as the a-bomb comes into development. The first being detonated in New Mexico, the Trinity test followed by Hiroshima (Uranium) and then Nagasaki (Plutonium). A few months later all the other testings follow starting with Able and Baker as part of Operation Crossroads in the Bikini Atoll. It gets crazy with all the subsequent nuclear tests, literally thousands. I believe the first underground test was done in 1951, and in 1963 above ground testing was banned and only underground testing was done. But other countries were not included with that agreement, so I think India, Pakistan, and later North Korea tested their nuclear bombs above ground. The video only covers up to 1998, so North Korea doesn’t show up.
Enjoy watching your tax dollars at work! The video can be viewed here. Gives us a little peak as to why nuclear reactors are so dear to the establishment (nuclear reactors are essential for the development of nuclear bombs because it’s through nuclear reactors that plutonium and tritium, etc. are developed for the making of nuclear bombs. We are a warmongering country after all, so we need this shit). The B Reactor at Hanford, Washington was the site where plutonium was made for the first bomb test (Trinity), and the bomb used on Nagasaki (Fat Man). The site left a lot of radioactive contamination today and has cost billions of dollars to clean up. The clean up is ongoing and runs to the tune of about 2 billion a year from some sources I’ve read.
“20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
~Isaiah 5:20
Marlakins
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05.23.11
Posted in Book Reviews, History, family stuff at 11:15 am by Administrator
I’m currently reading a book called, “>Hiroshima in America, A Half Century of Denial by Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell. I started to read it a while back when I was reading things on nuclear weapons and it’s development, but I got side tracked and never really got into it. This time (more than a year later), I’m making more headway, and I’m finding it very enlightening in several ways. I’m not going to review the book just yet, since I’m not finished with it, but it has been giving me more insight and helping me connect some dots, which makes this a very interesting reading for me. One trivial detail was regarding the Hiroshima exhibit at the Smithsonian back in 1996. Our family had actually visited the Smithsonian during that time and saw the display, but didn’t realize that there was any controversy over the Hiroshima exhibit. According to Lifton and Mitchell, the Smithsonian had scheduled an exhibit marking the 50th year anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which would display the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima) surrounded by exhibits that would fully explore the decision to use the bomb and it’s effects. Lifton and Mitchell wrote that, “Soon veterans’ groups were claiming that the planned exhibit was pro-Japanese and dishonored U.S. servicemen. Newspaper editorials charged the Smithsonian with “political correctness,” and columnist George Will accused the curators of being anti-American. Both houses of Congress passed resolutions condemning the exhibit.” Then in January of 1995, the Smithsonian announced that it was pretty much canceling the exhibit. The display would only display the plane, a plaque, and a tape of the flight crew recounting the mission. And indeed by the time my family visited the Smithsonian back in 1996, that’s all that was there. Talk about censorship. It’s alive and well here in the good ‘ole U.S. of A. Here’s a picture from our album.
Aaron was little at the time, and very grumpy. I had to take a picture of him to remember how horrible he was that day! He’s in the top picture bent over backwards and crying. . . I’ve shown him this picture and told him that’s pretty much what he did all day long! LOL He claims no memory of it! LOL That little paper with the “150 Smithsonian” on is was actually a napkin from one of their restaurants that I saved. I like to do that kind of thing for our photo albums.
And here’s a closer picture with Brian (when he still had hair, hee hee) in front of the Enola Gay. They actually only had the front end of the plane, otherwise I would have taken a wider shot.
It’s a bit mind boggling to me that we can accuse governments of other countries of censorship, when we do the same here. And it’s doubly mind boggling to me that just presenting the “facts” would be labeled as “anti-American,” as if Americans can do no wrong. But Lifton and Mitchell’s book appears to be explaining it pretty well–anything that makes Americans look bad, regardless of the truth, translates to some Americans as being anti-American. What a shame. But that’s human nature and not limited to just Americans. I was just watching a video on YouTube called, “Japan’s Dirty Secret”. It’s a short documentary/interview regarding Japan’s Unit 731 in Harbin, China back in the 30’s and WWII. They did horrible, horrible things there that Japan still has not acknowledged or apologized to the China, and thus one of their contentions much like the Turks denying the Armenian genocide. Even with official documentation and admissions by the purpetrators themselves, there are those who refuse to believe it and think that “Japan has never done anything wrong.” I’m sure there are people like that in every country. I mean, I’ve seen footage of people who loved Stalin, Mao, and Hitler. . . American’s have not escaped that sort of brainwashing, and I think it’s primarily those who are so proud to be American (or any other nationality) that they can’t see the forest for the trees.
Just last night as I was reading Hiroshima in America I came across mention of John Hersey’s book, “>Hiroshima. I had actually read Hersey’s book years ago, and didn’t know that it was such a controversial book at the time of it’s publication in 1946. Maybe I’ll check it out again and re-read it in light of this new information. It’s a good read, and evidently part of the big controversy around the dropping of the bomb. Truman and the military were concerned that American’s would disapprove of the dropping of the bomb, so they made sure they gave us the “official narrative” that is was necessary. More on that when I finish reading Hiroshima in America.
Marlakins
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05.18.11
Posted in Book Reviews, Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, History, Treatment Decisions at 12:53 pm by Administrator
For anyone interested in medical ethics and it’s history, I recommend Acres of Skin by Allen M. Hornblum.
Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison
“>
Originally I was gathering information on radiation when I stumbled across an interview with Allen Hornblum. He was discussing why he wrote the book and detailed some information on medical experiments performed on prisoners. While he admits that there were experiments done at several different prisons, Hornblum focused primarily on the Holmesburg Prison in Pennsylvania wherein prisoner experimentation spanned over the early 1950s to the mid 1970s. These experiments involved many substances from soaps, lotions, shampoos, etc. for pharmaceutical companies to bacterial and viral experiments for the U.S. military, to mind control drugs for the CIA, and radiation experiments for NASA.
Personally I find it fascinating that humans can be so cruel and heartless towards one another. Seemingly “normal” people have perpetrated horrific things upon their fellow human beings. Things we ordinarily would think was “unthinkable” to do to humans have been, and continue to be, inflicted upon people as if they were merely animals or objects. I find the duplicity a bit scary and a warning to be careful that I (or my family) not fall into that trap of condoning unethical practices. References were made to the Nazi and the Nuremberg trials where some of the “defense” arguments some of the Nazi medical doctors presented were that “they were not doing anything that the American doctors were not doing themselves.” The experiments done on U.S. prisoners and the mentally handicapped are examples of what the Nazi medical doctors were referring to. One only need look into the published, peer reviewed medical journals to verify their claims. The obvious duplicity was that we as American’s were pointing the finger at the Nazi doctors as being barbaric and inhumane sentencing them to imprisonment or death, while we were doing the same thing, but thought there was nothing wrong with it. It reminds me of reading early U.S. history about how slaves were considered only 3/5’s of a person and that even their children were born into condoned perpetual slavery. That used to be thought of as proper, and even part of our accepted law. As a Christian I believe we are to love one another, and there is no distinction between color or social status. Yet, we see time and time again people abusing one another, both religious and non-religious alike. I find it interesting how we “justify” questionable actions if “we” are performing them, while we can simultaneously “condemn” the very same action if “other” people are doing them.
Acres of Skin helped me to reflect upon my personal feelings regarding the “ends justifies the means” mentality. I am conflicted because I know that I live my life using the very substances or technologies that I have found came from dubious means. At the moment I try to limit that use as much as I can, but I certainly am nowhere near eliminating all those derived “benefits.” Even some of the literature I’ve read to figure out ways to treat myself have come from very questionable experiments. Where do we draw the line?
Overall, I give Acres of Skin two thumbs up. Hornblum discusses many more examples of prison experiments, including quotes from interviewees (mostly former inmates who were involved with or knew about the experiments) and various people who would talk to him about the Holmesburg experiments. Hornblum also discusses the moral implications and the outcomes of various experiments, including the subsequent banning of prisoner experimentation and the closing of the prison as well as other aspects of Dr. Albert Kligman’s, the primary doctor who organized and operated the prison experiments, medical research and experimentation operation. I found the book well-written, informative, and easy to read.
Marlakins
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04.16.11
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, God, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, History, family stuff at 12:21 pm by Administrator
If I were to describe my mood today, I would say, “a bit sad.” Ordinarily I should be happy. My oldest son is finally “officially” graduating with a BA! The ceremony is to take place in June. Last Wednesday I went with him to his Grad fair and picked up his cap and gown, took his grad pictures and all those extra stuffs associated with graduating. I was very happy for him. We even discussed the possibility of him going off to Korea and teaching English for a year. Course the doting mom that I an would go with him! LOL It’s not the highest paying job, but a nice diversion and experience for a young man. Then the reality of the Fukushima reactor still spewing out radioactivity relatively close by South Korea hit me. . . Radioactivity from Chernobyl traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles leaving elevated radioactivity in places still today such as Germany and Sweden. I’m sure other places, too. Should I let that get in our way? Weighing the possibility of genetic damage and subsequent cancers, deformities in offspring, and other health concerns, should we risk that? I have to use my head and opt to forgo South Korea. At the age of 46, I’ll likely never see South Korea in my lifetime since nuclear radioactivity will last longer than my lifetime. I’m not only sad for myself, but sad for my children, not to mention the millions of people living in those contaminated zones. It’s really tragic.
I think of when I visited Tokyo as a teenager with my dad years ago. It was very nice. I had thought that one day I’d like to take my boys there for a visit. Now we’re not likely to ever go. Such a beautiful place, such a shame that it has been needlessly contaminated.
Am I over reacting? Well, I’ve been trying to educate myself on the matter and have been trying to soak up what everyone is saying and weigh the material. While I don’t want to be paranoid, I also want to be responsible and not be willfully ignorant. I do believe in the consequences of that. I have to do my best and then trust God for the rest. But I do believe God expects us to do what we can to help ourselves first. He has given us all that we need, but we have to reach out to use it. God finds no pleasure in sluggards as the Bible even tells us that, “the slack hand will be put to forced labor.” Proverbs 12:24 “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.” There’s a lot about laziness in the Bible. Another example is Proverbs 19:24 “A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.” That seems to indicate that a lazy person won’t even feed himself. No, I don’t believe we just wait for good things to happen to us. We have to strive for good. Thus, do I just walk into a radioactive zone and pray that I’m spared damage? No, I should do my homework. I shouldn’t be lazy and expect God to preserve me. I have to use the good judgment God gave me and act according to good sense.
The topic of nuclear power and radioactivity is very complicated. There is so much out there that I’ve been trying to learn and understand. While I understand that nuclear energy is very controversial, I’m still amazed that there are those who feel it is safe and clean. I just can’t see how any informed honest person can believe that. But then again I’ve been amazed to find how little some people know about radioactivity at all. I’ve even met someone who didn’t know what Chernobyl was!!! Oh my, no wonder our rights have been so easily trampled. Many of us have been in the dark. I’m still learning a lot and finding so much that I didn’t know. The contamination to our earth is much worse than I had known, and it’s making Revelation 11:18 much more meaningful to me,
“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”
I have since learned that there have been many more nuclear accidents that have been hidden from us. Many more parts of our earth have been contaminated and left uninhabitable for generations. It’s likely that all of us have some nuclear contamination already. The video presentation, Chernobyl Heart, is only a glimpse of what so many people have suffered as a result of nuclear energy. So many other people who suffered nuclear exposures have been forgotten like all the military personnel and civilians used in nuclear tests and experiments. People we never hear about, but who have suffered greatly. Not only do we not hear about them, we are lied to that they never existed. Even today, these children in Belarus and the surrounding areas are little known and would be still unknown if not for the kind people who documented Chernobyl Heart.
Part 2
Part 3
It’s maddening to think of how much we spend on the military and this is what we get for it–death, destruction, and contamination. (Nuclear energy was harnessed by and for the military. The main reason it was pushed onto the public sector was to keep the technology alive during “peace time.” Check out the story behind Windscale aka Sellafield.) No wonder the 24 elders in Revelation spoke of “destroying those who destroy the earth.” This reminds me of another parallel concept in the Bible, “Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.” Matthew 26:52 “52Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” I think of all these things and I get angry. But mostly and more recently, I’ve been sad.
Marlakins
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