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Tim "Mr. UFO" and Religious Scholar Acharya S


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
November 26, 2006:

Tim "Mr. UFO" Beckley, the Associate Producer of The Paracast, joins us in a wide ranging session covering what many consider to be the sorry state of UFO investigation. Will things ever get better? The possibilities will be debated.

Also on the show, religious scholar Acharya S, author of "The Christ Conspiracy," will challenge your belief systems with information on what she calls "The Greatest Story Ever Sold."
 
Tim seemed to monopolize the segment to the point that Gene and David were struggling to get a word in.

I really enjoyed Ms. S's unapologetic presentation of her views. I had already read or heard most of what she was saying but I did learn a thing or two. It was very interesting to hear that she acknowledges an "infinite" universe with all of its spiritual implications. I "don't buy it" either.
 
I enjoyed Tim's segment, but he tended to delve into his accomplisments too much. At one point towards the end he was giving a diatribe of his work history like he was in a job interview. David took the conversation by the reins and kept it further on-topic. That gave me a good chuckle, hehe.

At first with Chara's "Christ Conspiracy" took me a back and i resisted. Eventually i was intrigued about all the historical patterns and factoids she was sharing. I do not agree with her premise, but there is some truth to what has occurred.
 
Tim did a lot of talking about the sorry state of UFology and sorry to say he's part of it. Been to his website? Its the same new age crap thats all over the place nothing new just a rehash of the same stuff we've seen over and over.

Does he even believe in the stuff on his site? According to him during your show he doesn't! MJ12 / Roswell he doesn't believe it, but he promotes it. It just sells better so thats what he's pimping. He didn't bring anything to the show except put me in a bad mood. I had to turn your show off I was so disgusted.


Today I fast forwarded Tim "Mr Please STFU" and listened to the rest of your show. It was fantastic.
Acharya on the other hand was a first class guest. Thought provoking and stimulating. Thats why I listen to the paracast. Thanks for having her on.
 
Guy.W said:
Tim did a lot of talking about the sorry state of UFology and sorry to say he's part of it. Been to his website? Its the same new age crap thats all over the place nothing new just a rehash of the same stuff we've seen over and over.

Does he even believe in the stuff on his site? According to him during your show he doesn't! MJ12 / Roswell he doesn't believe it, but he promotes it. It just sells better so thats what he's pimping. He didn't bring anything to the show except put me in a bad mood. I had to turn your show off I was so disgusted.


Today I fast forwarded Tim "Mr Please STFU" and listened to the rest of your show. It was fantastic.
Acharya on the other hand was a first class guest. Thought provoking and stimulating. Thats why I listen to the paracast. Thanks for having her on.

Tim says he sells books on a variety of topics and with a variety of viewpoints to make a living. He also uses his income to help fund research, although I don't think he's done much of that in recent years.

So take what he said on the show as his real opinion. A publisher can release a book and not endorse its content.
 
First of all, this is my first post and I don't mean to offend, but I must
strongly take issue with "Acharya." I found her to be quite annoying frankly.
She started with the premise that Jesus did not exist historically, and right
there she's in intellectual quicksand. She tossed about so many red herrings
and off the wall tangential wanderings that the whole thing fell apart. No
scholar contests that the dying god archetype exists, but to then state that
that means Jesus did not exist is very shaky. Many, many non sequiturs ran
through her interview. Yes, yes, I know, I'm entering that big taboo of ad
hominem attacks, but again, very annoying lady (or is that ad feminam?). I
do want to offer nevertheless my rave reviews for The Paracast. It's my
favorite bar none and I tend to be a Carl Sagan rationalist, but even he
had his "paranormal" views. A very good read is George Basalla's Civilized
Life in the Universe, Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials. He has some
info on Sagan's views that surprised me, who thought that Sagan put the nix
on any visitation at all. Published by Oxford University Press. A last comment
about "Acharya": not even the Jesus Seminar contests the existence of Jesus!
Two very good books by this group are The Five Gospels, What Did Jesus Really
Say? and The Acts of Jesus, What Did Jesus Really Do? The scholarship of these
two are really quite good, and the voting system described is very fascinating.
And have you heard that old saw that if you can find in the midst of some dense
thesis a telling inaccuracy that that just MAY put the lie to the whole thing?
"Acharya's" mention of Justin Martyr to buttress her argument is totally bogus
and inaccurate. Ok, enough from me, and keep up the great work, Gene and
David! No argument from me on their performance, that's for sure. Kim Cupples
 
Umm Tim seems pretty jaded about the whole UFO scene and it shows, I kept waiting for him to scream "hey you kids get off my lawn"!!

The whole segment was just him just ranting and it really turned me off. can't you tell?

Didn't mean to be so harsh. I know he's your friend.
 
interestedINitall said:
Tim seemed to monopolize the segment to the point that Gene and David were struggling to get a word in.

I really enjoyed Ms. S's unapologetic presentation of her views. I had already read or heard most of what she was saying but I did learn a thing or two. It was very interesting to hear that she acknowledges an "infinite" universe with all of its spiritual implications. I "don't buy it" either.

I agree here. Mr. UFO likes the sound of his own voice heh. I also can't understand how you can sell something you do not endorse.. I mean common! I think it seriously harms a person's credibility. Its like selling cigarrettes to children - you don't think its right, but hey... you need to make some money (obviously this is an extreme example and I don't mean to cause offence, but it illustrates my point I think). Also, was it just me, or did Tim Beckley call the paracast the powercast? lol

I enjoyed the second interview with Acharya, it offered some interesting insight, thought I think I'll have to listen to it again because I was doing something else while listening to this segment.
 
meciar said:
I agree here. Mr. UFO likes the sound of his own voice heh. I also can't understand how you can sell something you do not endorse.. I mean common! I think it seriously harms a person's credibility. Its like selling cigarrettes to children - you don't think its right, but hey... you need to make some money (obviously this is an extreme example and I don't mean to cause offence, but it illustrates my point I think). Also, was it just me, or did Tim Beckley call the paracast the powercast? lol

I enjoyed the second interview with Acharya, it offered some interesting insight, thought I think I'll have to listen to it again because I was doing something else while listening to this segment.

While I don't speak for Tim, it comes down to this: Book publishers do not generally endorse all the disparate viewpoints of the titles they publish. That's quite normal in the industry, so why expect Tim to be different?
 
I think the point the poster is trying to drive home is Tim seems really jaded by the topic at this point. That is understandable with so many years in that it gets to the point where you either lose intrest or "need a break" from the topic. I always like hearing him talk but you can hear it in his voice that a lot of this is either bothering him about the topic or he is losing intrest in the subject.
 
cottonzway said:
I think the point the poster is trying to drive home is Tim seems really jaded by the topic at this point. That is understandable with so many years in that it gets to the point where you either lose intrest or "need a break" from the topic. I always like hearing him talk but you can hear it in his voice that a lot of this is either bothering him about the topic or he is losing intrest in the subject.

Oh yes, jaded indeed. I think over 40 years chasing after UFOs has left him extremely frustrated. He does have a point, of course. I think the UFO field is a big mess, and not much has changed over the years. Some of the players are the same, some are different, but I pity the person who becomes interested in this subject and then tries to make sense of all of it.

But we intend to try to filter through the junk and find the truth wherever it takes us.
 
Well, Gene might give me hell for saying this, but I felt that this interview with Tim was one of our weakest ones segments ever. I respect the role Tim has played in the field for so many years now, but I did indeed feel that he was not exactly engaging in a discussion with us, it was more like a diatribe lacking any real meat. You win some and you lose some, and I'm really happy that we had a strong second half of the show.
 
David Biedny said:
Well, Gene might give me hell for saying this, but I felt that this interview with Tim was one of our weakest ones segments ever. I respect the role Tim has played in the field for so many years now, but I did indeed feel that he was not exactly engaging in a discussion with us, it was more like a diatribe lacking any real meat. You win some and you lose some, and I'm really happy that we had a strong second half of the show.

I agree that Tim seemed to be in a venting mode. Let's leave it at that.
 
David Biedny said:
Well, Gene might give me hell for saying this, but I felt that this interview with Tim was one of our weakest ones segments ever. I respect the role Tim has played in the field for so many years now, but I did indeed feel that he was not exactly engaging in a discussion with us, it was more like a diatribe lacking any real meat. You win some and you lose some, and I'm really happy that we had a strong second half of the show.

Thank you for your honesty, David.
 
cottonzway said:
Thank you for your honesty, David.

Agreed, this is why I keep on listening to the paracast. You guys critique everyone even if its an associate producer. We all want to find out the truth right? I'm still concerned that "Mr. UFO" would publish books that he doesn't think represents any truth... in effect he is contributing to the clutter and mess all of us have to dig through. Just my $0.02. I'm sure he's a good producer of the "powercast" (about 6:15 in) lol ;)
 
What I did like about the first half of the show is that it did give me some background about Gene - I didn't know Gene had actively investigated UFO's since his teenage years. I think this sort of information helps the listener appreciate the stand-point of the interviewer as well as the interviewee.

What I found a little depressing though, was the realisation that both Gene and Tim (and I guess, David too) have been actively pursuing the 'answers' since the 60's and still appear to be no closer to them now as they were then.

Isn't that a depressing thought?
 
Excellent point, Rick!

I think that begs a number of questions:

- What is it that everyone is looking for? The Truth? How will you know when you have it?
- What can you do about it if you do get it?
- Why continue after so long?
- If you feel you've found it on a personal level, why continue seeking something strong enough to convince the most skeptical person on earth?
 
Sepherant said:
Excellent point, Rick!

Hey, thanks for the ego boost! ;D

Sepherant said:
I think that begs a number of questions:

- What is it that everyone is looking for? The Truth? How will you know when you have it?
- What can you do about it if you do get it?
- Why continue after so long?
- If you feel you've found it on a personal level, why continue seeking something strong enough to convince the most skeptical person on earth?

This is exactly where I am right now...

...which is why I raised those very questions in this thread: Where is the UFO community heading?
 
Thank you, Guy! I really appreciate your comments.

I listened to Tim's show and was pleasantly surprised.

Guy.W said:
Tim did a lot of talking about the sorry state of UFology and sorry to say he's part of it. Been to his website? Its the same new age crap thats all over the place nothing new just a rehash of the same stuff we've seen over and over.

Does he even believe in the stuff on his site? According to him during your show he doesn't! MJ12 / Roswell he doesn't believe it, but he promotes it. It just sells better so thats what he's pimping. He didn't bring anything to the show except put me in a bad mood. I had to turn your show off I was so disgusted.


Today I fast forwarded Tim "Mr Please STFU" and listened to the rest of your show. It was fantastic.
Acharya on the other hand was a first class guest. Thought provoking and stimulating. Thats why I listen to the paracast. Thanks for having her on.
 
I'm sorry if you are offended, but I simply must state the truth, which is: There is no credible, scientific evidence that Jesus Christ existed as a historical personage. Comparative mythology, in fact, points to a character as mythological as Hercules. These are the facts, and I cannot account for someone being annoyed by them. To me they are highly liberating - and quite important to be explored and exposed. I am not comfortable allowing such facts to be buried because someone objects to them. What I stated on the short show is by no means all there is to the argument. I can assure that the many thousands of people who have written to me over the years to thank me for exposing these facts have not found me to be a "very annoying lady."

To my knowledge, there were at least three members of the Jesus Seminar who argued that Jesus Christ is not historical, including Dr. Robert Price.

Your comment regarding me and Justin Martyr is in itself "totally bogus and inaccurate." It is also vague, as in you do not specify exactly what it was I said about Justin Martyr that made you react in this manner. Interested parties may wish to read the excerpt about Justin Martyr from my book Suns of God:

The 'Historical' Jesus? | Gospel Dates | Justin Martyr | Memoirs of the Apostles

Cheers.

Kim323 said:
First of all, this is my first post and I don't mean to offend, but I must
strongly take issue with "Acharya." I found her to be quite annoying frankly.
She started with the premise that Jesus did not exist historically, and right
there she's in intellectual quicksand. She tossed about so many red herrings
and off the wall tangential wanderings that the whole thing fell apart. No
scholar contests that the dying god archetype exists, but to then state that
that means Jesus did not exist is very shaky. Many, many non sequiturs ran
through her interview. Yes, yes, I know, I'm entering that big taboo of ad
hominem attacks, but again, very annoying lady (or is that ad feminam?). I
do want to offer nevertheless my rave reviews for The Paracast. It's my
favorite bar none and I tend to be a Carl Sagan rationalist, but even he
had his "paranormal" views. A very good read is George Basalla's Civilized
Life in the Universe, Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials. He has some
info on Sagan's views that surprised me, who thought that Sagan put the nix
on any visitation at all. Published by Oxford University Press. A last comment
about "Acharya": not even the Jesus Seminar contests the existence of Jesus!
Two very good books by this group are The Five Gospels, What Did Jesus Really
Say? and The Acts of Jesus, What Did Jesus Really Do? The scholarship of these
two are really quite good, and the voting system described is very fascinating.
And have you heard that old saw that if you can find in the midst of some dense
thesis a telling inaccuracy that that just MAY put the lie to the whole thing?
"Acharya's" mention of Justin Martyr to buttress her argument is totally bogus
and inaccurate. Ok, enough from me, and keep up the great work, Gene and
David! No argument from me on their performance, that's for sure. Kim Cupples
 
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