"PLAYING ON ABRAHAM'S SIDE"

by Richard C. Jaffeson

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.

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                           F A M E   F O R U M 

                           N E W S L E T T E R

                   N A T I O N A L   W O M E N 'S
          B A S E B A L L   H A L L   O F   F A M E

                    National Syndicated Column
                       (contents are protected)
   Copyrights(c), NWB Hall of Fame, 1998-2006
TXU877085, TXU959430, TXU973266, TXU013972,
TXU986753, TXU949885, TXU004037, TXU022893,
TXU026161, TXU047111, TXU050230, TXU061149,
TXU088068, TXU120937, TXU148132, TXU163784,
TXU170668, TXU196853, TXU211917, TXU216769,
TXU234252, TXU253116, TXU260664, TXU180346,
TXU181096.

                          Issue Number 00334

__________________________________________
 
Volume IX, Number 13                    Publisher and Author
May 25, 2006                                    Richard C. Jaffeson
Washington, DC                               HallFame@usa.com

                 http://www.eteamz.com/hallfame
__________________________________________

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COLUMN:  PLAYING ON ABRAHAM'S SIDE
                   by Richard C. Jaffeson

"Woooodstein!  Get your sorry butt over here now, pronto!"
the fiery editor-in-chief demanded from the doorway of his
office across the copy room floor of a national daily.

"Circulation is dropping everywhere, and even the venerable
Inquirer is being sold.  You come up with this?  A four year
old story, and the lead's really dead!  Who cares anymore?
Major league baseball won't touch it, never did, afraid to,
and it's one of their own!"

"Inquirer, sir?" was a breathless and bewildered response.

"Yeah, been around since 1829," Nichols broke his planned
recriminating rhythm, "third oldest in the nation."

"What about us?" another question was planted in a futile
attempt to forestall the inevitable reprimand.

"The Star?" the editor thought for a moment, and for some
reason he glanced at a wall calendar before commenting on
an obvious but not often stated fact, "Since October 1852,
thereabouts.  We even covered the Civil War."

"Did you, sir?" a smirky retort was interjected knowing
full well the remark was going a bit too far.

"I must have missed that one," Nichols mildly chortled,
and temporarily loosened his initial authoritative tone,
"it was a little before my time."

"Don't change the subject!" he snapped back. "As for us,
we'll soon be off the racks too, if you ALL don't shape
up real fast!" He raised his voice deliberately for the
benefit of others, stared around the room, and continued.

"I've got this paper to run, and you have plenty of stories
to write.  And, I expect to see them on interesting topics;
not this about a deadman four years ago."

"Frozen, sir," a correction was offered, "like broccoli in
a Birdseye package waiting to be defrosted.  They claim he's
not really departed but rather is a 'transhuman.'  Sometime
in the future he'll be fixed, thawed, and walking around,
maybe even playing baseball."

"Utter nonsense!" the editor-in-chief Nichols proclaimed,
"Dead is dead; always has been, is, and will be.  Nobody
wakes up from the grave, especially after being beheaded
and frozen for years."

"No sir, this is cryonics, the wave of the future, where
science recreates life," the fledgling reporter indicated
and attempted to further explain.

"You know the Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee.
Mencken covered that one for the Sun in 1925.  They
deliberately staged the teaching of evolution by substitute
teacher John T. Scopes so that he would be arrested.
As expected, the trial resulted in a national debate."

"So, you're going to be like Mencken?" Nichols laughed.
"OK, big joke, go on..."

Unaffected by the editor's response, the young reporter
began an old tale with a new twist.

"Where evolution attacked the Bible's version of creation
regarding our origins, cryonics addresses the conclusion
of life.  In fact, we can avoid the finality of death because
of science.  We'll be frozen as transhumans, those of us
who want to, and return to life whenever it is technically
possible.  We become 'Futurenauts,' which is another
favorite term in the new world lexicon."

"You mean 'Future-nuts'," Nichols wryly muttered under his
breath knowing the remark would be ineffective at this point.

Instead he proposed, "Consider this further, if it was true,
for Christianity there would be no resurrection, forgiveness,
salvation, and hereafter."

"I really hadn't thought about it before in that way, sir."

"Many religious people aren't going to like that viewpoint.
Only Jesus experienced resurrection for our salvation and
forgiveness of transgressions to ensure us a place in the
hereafter." Nichols quietly reflected.

"This implies," he considered further, "it's poof and we're
gone at the end, and there is no soul.  Turn out the lights
the party's over.  There is no afterlife, and science could
bring back anyone, defrost the remains of somebody who is
frozen like Birdseye, whenever they're capable of doing so,
say in about 100 or 200 years.  Is that about it?"

"I guess so, sir."

"Evolution confronted Genesis on the origins of the species,"
the editor remarked, "but this one goes after Matthew, Luke,
and John, as well as Jesus!"

He paused momentarily to consider a few biblical passages,
and the consequences for other major religions; the billions
of Hindus and Buddhist who believe in reincarnation.

"What about the souls already in the hereafter," he proposed,
"or as in eastern religions those embodied into another life?
And, how does this so-called science reinstate those departed
into their previously deceased, frozen, and beheaded remains?
What if souls can't and don't want to return?  Furthermore,
in cryonics bodies are frozen at -340F degrees.  Have you any
idea what happens to human cells at that extreme temperature?"

"More importantly," he continued, "there is the little matter
of creating the spark of life itself.  God's domain!  Even if
someone doesn't believe in a hereafter, but cryonics instead,
how about that neat trick?!"

"But, it's not me, sir."

The editor laughed and lectured, "Don't internalize any story
as if you were engaging in the practice yourself and promoting
that interest.  Always try to be objective!"  He again raised
his voice for the benefit of the remainder of the office.

With those remarks, Henry Nichols motioned for the discussion
to continue inside his office, a less public arena, where he
could conduct a more personal conversation.

Once in his private domain, he acquired from the bookshelf a
copy of the Bible, opened it to Matthew 22:31-32, and remarked,
"You sound like the Sadducees who did not believe in heaven."

"What, sir?! 'Sad-you' who?"

"Sit down and listen!" Nichols snapped and composed himself.
"Here it is in Jesus' own words." He found the proper verse.

"'And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read
 what was said to you by God, ~I Am the God of Abraham, and
 the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob.~?  He is not God of
 the dead, but of the living.'"

.

"What does all that mean, sir?"

"Originally, the passage Jesus quoted was in Exodus when God
was defining Himself to Moses by the burning bush in 1450 BC.
God invoked the present tense stating, ~I Am,~ in explaining
who He was, but at the same time the verse reveals Abraham,
Issac, and Jacob still remain.  Where?  In heaven, where God
intended the righteous to be in the afterlife.  Jesus used that
verse to demonstrate the existence of heaven."

"A reporter," Nichols reminded his charge, "should know the
use of tense to reveal information.  And, when you interview
someone often information is imbedded in the response which
was not intended by the initial question.  God described who
He was to Moses in Exodus 3 in response to his question, but
He also revealed something about heaven."

"There is more about the nature of heaven in Luke, again from
the words of Jesus this time before the Pharisees.  In this
example, a poor man and rich man passed away with the former
arriving before Abraham in heaven, while the latter was in a
place of torment.  The rich man pleaded to Abraham for some
assistance, which could not be provided.  This is the reason
why in Luke 16:26."

"'And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has
 been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to
 you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'"

"Sir, departed souls cannot return?"

"Yes, that is the point, there is a great chasm which cannot
be crossed.  Souls, the spark of life, can't return to their
previous form.  In the afterlife, their position is fixed until
Jesus appears again, and thus cryonics won't work."

"But, what if somebody doesn't believe in the Bible, sir?"

"Many do not," Nichols reflected, "when someone mentions
anything about Jesus and the Bible, they stop listening."

"This concerns the nature of God," he continued, "and
the heart of religion.  Let's assume for a moment cryonics
is somehow correct, then there would be no resurrection,
no forgiveness, no salvation, no afterlife, and science rules
everything.  God and religion do not exist."

"What do you think, sir?"

"The $64,000 question!" Nichols chuckled. "We all face the
same final event.  There are no exceptions.  Most people are
afraid of death, because it's something beyond our reality.
Abraham is correct, no one returns from the dead.  Promises
of immortality are among the oldest and persistent hoaxes
throughout time.  This is just a more recent version, and
people afraid of death are likely to believe almost anything
and foolishly spend their money.  But, nobody can tell them
otherwise even on this one inescapable inevitable journey.
They will not listen to Jesus, Moses, the Bible, or any of
the prophets.  However, death is final in our physical form."

"For Christians, the afterlife promises many rewards, and
the same holds true for Moslems.  For Hindus and Buddhist,
life continues through reincarnation in another new form.
We have something to look forward to, but not as we are..."

Nichols replaced the Bible on the bookshelf and somberly
commented, "Curious more than fearful, it's the explorer
imbedded within, to open that next door and see eternity.
Sure, I pray it's on Abraham's side."

He returned to his desk and assumed an editorial demeanor.
"Drop the religious angle, it's too controversial."

"But, sir, it could be important.  The previous cryonics
CEO and President resigned after being with the firm for
less than two years.  He is also an elder in his church.
Seventh Day Adventists literally believe in the Bible.
I'd like to include that in the story, and follow with
some of your passages."

"All the more reason to drop the issue," Nichols counseled.
"Wonder why he even considered the job in the first place?
Tell me what else you have on Ted Williams."

"Sir, Ben Bradlee, Jr. called twice from Boston."

"He's up to something," Nichols concurred, "persistent and
resourceful, just like his dad.  Still in Cambridge?"

"Yes, sir.  He was editor of the Boston Globe for 25 years.
Now he's writing a definitive book on Ted Williams, devoting
full time to it, and has interviewed 600 people, so he said.
He wanted again to contact Bobby-Jo, but couldn't..."

"I can't divulge that kind of information," he interrupted
and Nichols' voice became more subdued. "She said not to,
and that's a firm pledge which Ben understands."

"Bobby-Jo and Mark do not want to discuss anything related
to her father because of legal obligations, uncertainty on
publication content, and the topic of her 'daddy' has been
difficult for her when he was alive and now afterwards."

"Are there other issues?" Nichols changed the subject.

"Yes sir, two, Florida museums and Williams sculptures."

"One at a time," Nichols leaned back in his chair to listen.

"The Ted Williams Hitters Hall of Fame and Museum moved last
month from Hernando to Tropicana Field and reopened April 10.
The original building is gorgeous, it won a design award, and
opened in February 1994.  It contained numerous artifacts and
memorabilia, and has a 85 seat auditorium for historic films.
Outside there was a 'walk a fame' with engraved reminders of
famous baseball players.  Ted Williams himself would be there
when he could, but attendance dropped after..."

"Maybe that'll change once he's defrosted," Nichols laughed.
"Unintentionally or deliberately the museum closed.  Go on..."

"Yes, sir.  At Tropicana Field, the museum is in an arcade
by the gift shop.  Items that didn't fit were put in storage."

"What about public access?" Nichols inquired.

"Sir, it's limited to when there are home games, and is open
two hours before they start and until the last inning."

"Museums are important," Nichols reflected, "for public images
and for preserving history and retaining culture.  The national
Mall downtown, for example, the monuments, memorials, museums;
everything featured should be uplifting remembrances.  What is
selected and designed for the Mall should be proper and correct.
Unfortunately, there are groups deliberately bent on modifying
our images and heros."

"Ted Williams," Nichols summarized, "is a national icon and
American baseball hero, and his image has been diminished.
He's frozen in a ghoulish nightmare the practices of which
should be investigated.  During April, his original museum
building was closed with the contents relegated to obscurity.
Now, tell me what you have on the sculptures you mentioned."

"Sir, you probably saw the news coverage several months ago
on the 'death mask,' which was done in poor taste, but the
artist boldly claimed it was a tribute to Ted Williams."

"Based on my observations," Nichols interjected, "nothing
could be further from the truth.  His perspective was again
revealed with the depiction of Britney Spears giving birth,
which also is obscene.  But, he claimed that artwork was in
support of pro-life.  This is not a master artist, but rather
a master of deceit, saying one thing and meaning another."

"On the other hand, an accomplished sculptor of Williams is
Armand LaMontagne," Nichols mentioned. "His highly realistic
works include 'On Deck' and 'Swinging Away.'  He completed
life-size renditions of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Bobby Orr,
Larry Bird, and many others.  LaMontagne rightfully deserves
national coverage, but doesn't seek that kind of publicity."

Nichols decided to switch subjects, "Now, tell what you know
about his cryonics treatment, without anything religious."

"Yes, sir.  He passed away at 83 years old and succumbed to
congestive heart failure and complications from a stroke on
July 5, 2002.  They flew the remains from the hospital, and
immediately treated him for cryonics suspension."

"In the Arizona lab, they drained the bodily fluids, severed
his head from the torso, slowly lowered the temperature to
-340F degrees, and eventually stored the remains in separate
stainless steel containers.  The process took about two weeks.
There are two sources; Arizona Republic, July 12, 2002, and
Sports Illustrated, August 13, 2003."

Nichols nodded and inquired further, "Now, tell me what you
know about the legal aspects of his cryonics placement."

"Well, sir, his 1996 will stated cremation with the ashes
spread over the Florida Keys along with those of Slugger
his Dalmatian.  His current condition and placement was
based on a hand-written note which he allegedly signed in
a hospital November 2, 2000, and subsequent contracts with
the cryonics firm in July 2002."

"You're right, the December 26, 1996 Last Will and Testament
stated a funeral, ceremony, and cremation," Nichols agreed.
"The remains were taken before that could occur.  Have you
seen that other piece of paper?"

"Yes, sir, apparently he signed or initialed it, at least
there is a signature.  Here's a copy of the note."

   JHW, Claudia, and Dad all agree To be Put into
   Bio-Stasis after we Die.  This is what we want,
   To be able To be Together in the Future, even
   it is only a chance.

"It doesn't matter if he signed it or not," Nichols stated.
"A hand-written will is called a Holographic Will, and that
text was written by the son."

"Holographic Wills are not valid in Florida according to
State Code Section 732.501-502.  About twenty states permit
Holographic Wills, but Florida does not.  In places where
they do permit such wills, they must be written entirely by
the testator, and immediately incorporated into an existing
formal will.  This was not done."

Nichols continued, "As for contracts with the cryonics firm,
the family attorney John Heer reviewed those documents in
December 2004.  The contracts were signed and dated July 5
and July 26, 2002, which was postmortem."

"OK, clean up your story.  Write on placement and treatment,
include as sidebars the bit about his museums in Florida and
LaMontagne's sculptures.  Leave religion to the theologians.
Now get out of here, I've got a paper to run!"

.

Note:

For more information on the condition of
Ted Williams, and for examples of artwork
by Armand LaMontagne, see this website.

http://www.saveted.net

This website includes an "Action Agenda"
which outlines "Nine Things You Can Do to
Help Save Ted Williams."

.
__________________________________________

  NATIONAL WOMEN'S BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
             Richard C. Jaffeson, Executive Director
     PO Box 15282, Chevy Chase, Maryland  20825

                           HallFame@USA.com
                  http://www.eteamz.com/hallfame

         "National Women's Baseball Hall of Fame"
         is a registered trade name with the State
         of Maryland.  MD672265, October 19, 1998.

         Programs, articles, and contents presented
         herein are protected under provisions of the
         U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
         Fame Forum registrations are listed below:

TXU877085, TXU959430, TXU973266, TXU013972,
TXU986753, TXU949885, TXU004037, TXU022893,
TXU026161, TXU047111, TXU050230, TXU061149,
TXU088068, TXU120937, TXU148132, TXU163784,
TXU170668, TXU196853, TXU211917, TXU216769,
TXU234252, TXU253116, TXU260664, TXU180346
TXU181096.

      Copyrights(c), NWB Hall of Fame, 1998-2006
___________________________________________