Two Deaths For The Road

SPOILERS AHEAD!

As the second season of "Lost" comes to a close, extraordinary events take place that will change the picture for the third season, much like the hatch's contents did for the second. It is hard to tell what it will be like, but one thing is sure : it will be violent.
This episode was a wealth of information and shockers. Michael returns and he claims the Others are miserable, poorly armed and waiting to be owned by the fully equipped survivors. Kate should open her damned mouth about the disguises she has discovered at this point, but the hope for revenge is clouding everyone's thoughts. Ana Lucia tries to resolve her guilt over the murder(s) that made her a failure as a cop and a daughter. In the process, she assists Christian Sheppard (Jack's father) locate his daughter in Sydney. I'm sure Jack would like to know this, but by the episode's end it's clear it won't happen. Ana Lucia figures out that killing Henry will make her demons go away. Getting a gun from Sawyer to accomplish this is no small task, but Ana Lucia's resolve is strong. She seduces him and gets to steal the gun after sex. It's a big clue to how psychologically messed up she is. In the end though, she finds herself unable to do it. Still, she doesn't think much when Michael asks for the gun to do it himself. I believe his speech about the Others being animals and killers is genuine, and Ana Lucia is convinced. This is when things get wild : Michael says "I'm sorry", shoots Ana Lucia who dies with a depressing expression of surprise, and an unlucky Libby who walks in the scene while picking stuff for a picnic with Hurley. The episode ends with Michael opening the door to Henry's prison and shooting his own arm.
It's obvious at this point that the Others have blackmailed Michael to help them free Henry and possibly be a mole at the survivors' camp in exchange for his son. Despite the fact that a father will do anything for his son, Michael's actions are terrible and his deception will not last long. I doubt his character will continue much into the third season. Libby's death is the most frustrating event of the season. She is the only character we have had no flashback from, and the teaser from Hurley's episode was a promise for interesting plots that are now hanging in the air. I hope these issues will be resolved in some flashback before the season ends. Three more episodes to go, and the writers promise a finale that will top the one of first season. It seems "Lost" will keep people at the edge of their seats for quite some time.

Who wrote the Bible?

A lot of people are convinced about the answer to this question, but Robert Beckford, a Pentecostal christian thelogian at Birmingham University, is not taking things for granted. This 100-minute documentary aired in Brittish Channel 4 during Christmas of 2004 and was the cause of some controversy as it deals with a sensitive subject. It is one, though, that should receive a long-overdue attention.
Beckford makes his case by keeping an open mind and following the clues where they lead him. Starting at the beginning, the first five books of the Old Testament, that are popularly attributed to Moses' authorship, appear to have been written by four different authors (two disagree over the name of God, Yahweh/Elohim) and one of them actually mentions Moses' death. Moving forward, the Old Testament is shown to have been dictated by jewish kings with political agendas, themes of triumph giving place to themes of suffering and liberation that correspond to the state of the jewish people at the specific time. The explanation of the motives behind the writing of the text is elegant and provides a connection between the Old and the New Testament.
Examining the New Testament, we find that the only author we can reliably locate in history is Paul. The gospel authors are shown to be far from eye-witnesses of the events they describe and that their consistency varies from plagiarism to direct contradiction. Then there's the issue of the Bible as a printed work and the history of its compiling. The documentary covers this topic and mentions texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls who were kept out of the Bible when the consensus about doctrine leaned elsewhere.
In the end, the divine origin of the text is seriously doubted, but Beckford never discards it and hints that there are valid moral lessons included. However, the fundamentalists interviewed, especially Richard Land (Bush's spiritual adviser), make the case that the belief of divine origin for the Bible is dangerous. You can hear Land preach to the crowd : "I would have flooded Iraq with american troops" and "For a christian to be involved in an armed conflict means that he must be authorized by the legitimate authority. I do not believe that a legitimate authority for the United States is the United Nations. Now if they want to agree with us, great. But if they don't...eh!". You can make your own conclusions. Either way, Beckford's documentary is an intelligible and enlightening documentary that has something to teach to everyone.