Time-Travel Mass Before Jesus? Jesus’s DNA, Psychic Conversion & More Weird Questions

Dom Bettinelli (0:00)

Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World is brought to you by the StarQuest Production Network, and is made possible by our many generous patrons. If you'd like to support the podcast, please visit givemysterious.fm.

You're listening to episode 438 of Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World, where we look at mysteries from the twin perspectives of faith and reason. In this episode, Jimmy will be answering more listeners' weird questions. I'm Dom Bettinelli, and joining me today as always is Jimmy Akin. Hey, Jimmy.

Jimmy Akin (0:31)

Howdy, Dom.

Dom Bettinelli (0:32)

And folks, be sure to stick around for the end of the episode. We'll have your feedback on our recent episode, number 427, on the butterfly people of Joplin, Missouri. But first, Jimmy, you have a programming note you want to mention to the listeners and viewers.

Jimmy Akin (0:46)

Yeah.

As I mentioned, for scheduling reasons, we're this year only, we're devoting October to weird questions episodes. So enjoy today's weird questions.

Dom Bettinelli (0:58)

Very good. And what weird questions are you going to be answering today, Jimmy?

Jimmy Akin (1:01)

We're going to be looking at questions like, would psychically possessing someone and making them convert really count as a conversion? Did the Holy Spirit use one of Mary's eggs or is Jesus' DNA independent of her? Would it be blasphemous to think ancient astronaut theorists mistake God and angels for aliens? How credible is Malachi Martin?

What does relativity add to the Newtonian system? How should the extreme ages in the biblical genealogies be understood? Is there a real Catholic connection to the Michigan Melonheads legend? How much evidence is there for charismatic gifts today?

Is cosmetic surgery a form of mutilation? Could a time-traveling priest validly consecrate the Eucharist before its institution? What are the ethics of running computers on human brain cells? And more.

Dom Bettinelli (2:00)

Very good. And here are the answers to those questions.

Cy Kellett (2:05)

Hello, and welcome to Catholic Answers Live. That music, that particular music means we're about to have a lot of fun. And we are about to have a lot of fun. That's our Weird Questions music. That means today is Weird Questions with Jimmy Akin. And I've looked ahead, and there are lots of great weird questions coming up.

Also it's Propinquity Week here. We are concluding Propinquity Week here at Catholic Answers. Propinquity Week where everybody are almost there. I think everybody came home, and Jimmy in studio with us. Jimmy Akin, welcome back.

Jimmy Akin (2:37)

Hey there. I'm weirdly here. That's weird.

Cy Kellett (2:40)

It is weird. Yeah.

Jimmy Akin (2:41)

And I had a weird time coming here. As I was telling you before the show, my drive out from Arkansas, because I like road trips. Yeah. My drive out from Arkansas was pretty uneventful until the last three hours. And then I'm coming through Imperial County, about to get to San Diego County. And there's people who are not from here, won't know it. But there's this big, huge mountainous area, it's sometimes called the Mountain Empire.

Cy Kellett (3:07)

Yeah.

Jimmy Akin (3:07)

Out at the edge of San Diego County, you go from below sea level, which is where Imperial County is, to over, you know, 4000 feet in just a few miles.

Cy Kellett (3:19)

It's like switchback, switchback, switchback. It's very hard driving.

Jimmy Akin (3:22)

And then you've got this long, slow down ramp.

Cy Kellett (3:25)

Yeah.

Jimmy Akin (3:26)

And it's all rocky and mountainous and narrow. And so I never look forward to that part of the trip. I mean, it's beautiful, but I've got to drive it. So my hands do not come off the steering wheel during that. And so I'm heading up to the Hacumba Mountains, the mountain empire.

And I see this dark on the road ahead of me. And I'm thinking, is that a rainstorm? I don't want to be in a rainstorm when I hit the mountains. And so I'm getting to Acatilla Wells, which is... or Acatilla Wells, which is the last little town before you head up the mountains. And it turns out it's not a rainstorm. It's a dust storm.

And it was... the visibility... you could see these swaths of dust, you know, blowing... really intense winds. But these swaths of dust blowing across the highway... at times I could not see the car in front of me. Sometimes I could just see the headlights. And so I'm thinking, well, this is great because the mountains will break up the wind a little bit, and when I get to the mountains, I won't have this issue. And there won't be dust up all in the mountains. So, I'm feeling optimistic. Then I see lightning in the dust.