123 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
123 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: UFOs COULD ESTABLISH SCIENTIFIC BASIS, BIBLE FILE: UFO1287
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NEWS CLIPPING SERVICE
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DATE OF ARTICLE: April 22, 1989
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SOURCE OF ARTICLE: Post
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LOCATION: Palm Beach, Florida
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BYLINE: George W. Cornell
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========================================================
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(C) Copyright 1989 ParaNet Information Service
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All Rights Reserved.
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THIS FILE WAS PROVIDED BY THE UFO NEWSCLIPPING SERVICE
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AND PREPARED BY PARANET ALPHA -- PARANET INFORMATION
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SERVICE
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PARANET INFORMATION SERVICE BBS
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PARANET ALPHA
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DENVER, COLORADO
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NOTE: THESE FILES ARE NOT FOR REDISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE
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OF THE PARANET INFORMATION SERVICE NETWORK
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========================================================
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PASTOR: UFOS COULD ESTABLISH SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR BIBLICAL
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EVENTS
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By George W. Cornell
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The Associated Press
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Credit: B. Pratt
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NEW YORK--Smile indulgently about it if so inclined. That's
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OK with the Rev. Barry H. Downing. But he firmly maintains that
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UFOs are real and that they have key religious significance.
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He says recognizing the existence and operations of these
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unidentified flying objects could do much to strengthen faith and
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renew confidence in biblical accounts.
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"It would establish scientific plausibility for the whole
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biblical field," he says. "It would reinforce faith and make it
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possible in a scientific context."
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THE GOVERNMENT'S EFFECT
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Downing, a Presbyterian pastor with a scientific bent, says
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government equivocation has caused skepticism about UFOs and so
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he expects some scoffing at his views.
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"You have to have a good humor about it," he said in an
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interview. "I can't prove I'm right, but there's lots of
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evidence for it, and until it wins out, some people are just
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going to have to laugh."
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He theorizes that activities of UFO borne "higher beings" or
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"angels," likely from another dimension rather than other
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planets, are indicated in biblical events ranging from guiding
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the Israelites from Egypt to Christ's ascension.
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A MIDDLE GROUND
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He said postulating such activities in forming biblical
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faith would open a middle ground between fundamentalist
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literalism and liberal theology's "demythologizing" of
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supernatural events as only symbolic.
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"It would cut down the distance between liberals and
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fundamentalists, and serve as a mediating force between the two
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extremes," he said.
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"The mythological concepts would have to be reexamined,
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which would be important for the liberal wing. The conservative
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wing, which stresses certainty and wants everything locked up
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tight, also would be impacted.
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"This would mean unlocking things."
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DETAILING HIS IDEAS
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Downing, 50, an Endwell, N.Y., pastor, has a bachelor's
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degree in physics and, after having completed studies at
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Princeton Theological Seminary, got a doctorate at the University
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of Edinburgh in Scotland on relations between science and
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religion.
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He details his ideas about UFOs and about eternity as a
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coexisting universe, based on Einstein's relativity theory, in a
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new paperback edition of his book, The Bible and Flying Saucers,
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issued by Berkely Books.
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"What is clear through the biblical material is that God's
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will for the Jews, and eventually for all mankind, was 'revealed'
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by beings from another world," he writes.
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"Usually these beings looked very much like ordinary human
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beings (they almost never have wings)...Once the 'package' of
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biblical religion had been delivered, man became responsible for
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the distribution of the contents..."
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BIBLICAL INCIDENTS
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Downing said a hovering, UFO like "cloud" by day, and
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glowing "pillar of fire" by night guided the Israelites out of
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Egypt, projecting some propulsive force that parted the Red Sea,
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leading them for years across the desert.
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Other events he sees as carried out by UFOs include:
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The firelike phenomenon on Mount Sinai in which Moses
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received the Ten Commandments, the Prophet Elijah taken to heaven
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in a fiery chariot, the star of Bethlehem, the engulfing light of
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Jesus' transfiguration, his being "lifted up" at his ascension
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and the blinding visitation of Paul en route to Damascus.
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"All these were UFO types of reports," Downing said.
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GOVERNMENT 'COVER UP'
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Downing, pastor for 22 years of Endwell's Northminster
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Presbyterian Church, also is theological consultant to the Mutual
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UFO Network, based in Seguin, Texas, and Fund for UFO Research,
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based in Washington.
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Recalling a 1969 government commission finding that Air
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Force observations offered "insufficient evidence" to
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substantiate UFOs, Downing said the government was "covering up"
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and the full report never was released.
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He displayed a 1975 letter from then Sen. Barry Goldwater,
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R-Ariz., saying the material was being withheld as "above Top
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Secret."
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"If the government weren't lying in denying UFOs exist, we'd
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have had a religious revolution starting 40 years ago," Downing
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said. "It would not mean undermining biblical faith, but
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reinterpreting it in light of UFO phenomena."
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5/89
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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