My wife, a former Jehovah’s Witness(1) , received this email from her mother, active in the WTBTS. I thought I would pass it along, as it is wholly incorrect. This single email, being sent to WTBTS members shows a singular lack of awareness about the movie “Avatar” and about the internet as a whole. The author of this email is instilling a false scriptural based fear in those WTBTS members reading the email. For additional reading, see the forum post Should a Christian see the movie Avatar over at jehovahs-witness.net. Disclaimer – I have no seen Avatar but plan to. Additionally I have no affiliation with jehovahs-witness.net aside from finding it when I searched for(2) “Family Worship Research (AVATAR)” on Google. I have left the original formatting, colors and links. Any additions I have made have been with footnotes. START EMAIL NOW, ISN’T THIS INTERESTING!!! After discussing with our family and several friends about the popular movie “Avatar”(3)
, and the prevalence of “avatars” on the Internet, we thought that others might be interested in what we found in our family worship research, tell us what you think: Merriam-Webster Dictionary:(4) av·a·tar: the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu) Mankind’s Search for God p. 106:(5) avatar-a manifestation or an incarnation of a Hindu deity Mankind’s Search for God p.116 Buddha – Gautama, founder of Buddhism; Hindus view him as an incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu Wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar(6) In Hinduism, Avatar or Avatāra (Devanagari अवतार, Sanskrit for “descent” [viz., from heaven to earth]) refers to a deliberate descent of a deity from heaven to earth Sound familiar?!? “And the angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place he has reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the judgment of the great day” Jude 6 Similarities between the Hindu goddess Kali(7) (left) and a character from the movie (right).
Another interesting point…the race of blue humanoids(8) in the movie are called “Na’vi” on researching that look what we found on Wikipedia:(9) Navi – (singular, Hebrew, plural: Nevi’im) refers to a (or the) prophet in the Hebrew Bible. We hope you all found this as interesting as we did. This is very interesting information to know especially since “Avatar” is one of the most popular movies in the world right now. Its good to keep well informed…(2Corinthians 2:11) . . . that we may not be overreached by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs.” We thought this was very interesting and researched it ourselves too. We put the word “avatar” & “Incarnation” into our spiritual google ( Watchtower Library)(10) . In searching for and it brings up a whole lot more interesting points from other publication. Agape, END EMAIL Footnotes are for reference only and may have little, if anything to do with the text from the post. Also know as “The Witness’” and “Watchtower Bible and Tract Society”. Who I will refer to as the WTBTS in this email. The title of the email Synopsis of Avatar from the IMBD. You can view the article here. When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge’s intentions of driving off the native humanoid “Na’vi” in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na’vi people with the use of an “avatar” identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand – and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora. Written by The Massie Twins See Merriam-Webster for the FULL definition of Avatar that includes, as #4: an electronic image that represents and is manipulated by a computer user (as in a computer game) Not having a copy of “Mankind’s Search for God” I could not refute any of the definitions presented. But, in reading any of the other links provided you will find information of a non-sinister/satanic nature. See also Wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(computing) where the first entry is: An avatar is a computer user’s representation of himself/herself or alter ego, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games,[1] a two-dimensional icon (picture) or a one-dimensional username used on Internet forums and other communities,[2][3] or a text construct found on early systems such as MUDs. It is an object representing the user. The term “avatar” can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user.[4] This sense of the word was coined by Neal Stephenson[5] in 1992’s Snow Crash who co-opted it from the Sanskrit word avatāra which is a concept similar to that of incarnation. Since the emails author likes to use Wikipedia, I thought I would use it as well. As for Kali, you can find information about her here. Under the Iconography section “she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art“. Under Origins, The ‘Ratri Sookta’ in rigveda actually calls her as Goddess ‘Ratri’ and regards Ratri as the Supreme force in the universe. In the Tantras, she is regarded as the Shakti (Power) of The Great Mahakala(a form of Lord Shiva). Her portrayal on dead bodies in crematorium symbolizes her presence in the hearts of devotees who have killed their Earthly desires and want Supreme Consciousness in the lap of the Ultimate Mother, Kali. In another form, she is regarded as the destroyer, the Mahakali as Kali Tantra says-”kali kalanat” meaning Kali is the one who finishes. Kalika Purana depicts her as the “Adi Shakti” (Fundamental Power) and “Para Prakriti” or beyond nature. So, aside from the BLUE color (of which we know that Kali’s skin is actually BLACK) there is NO connection with Kali and the characters in the film Avatar. You can also look at Wikipedia for the Disambiguation page of Navi that also lists: The character Navi in the video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Navi can also refer to the study of Nevi’im, the Books of Prophets, a traditional Hebrew reference to the study of that section in the Hebrew Bible. An alternate name for the star Gamma Cassiopeiae. The name of one of the main villains in season four of television series 24. Navi, a village in Võru County, Estonia. A pseudonym of a famous Michael Jackson impersonator from Essex, England. You too can search the WTBTS Library here. In searching for ‘Avatar’ and ‘Navi’ I got a “Search Results Error”. I then searched the WTBTS website (www.watchtower.org for ‘Avatar and Navi’ using Google. Guess what? Nadda. There was NOTHING in ENGLISH for that term. To be fare, there was nothing I could understand. Try the search yourself. Use the link. Exciting, huh?
