Joan Of Arcadia - The 10 Commandments of Joan of Arcadia

Atti's Angel · 11-24-2003, 05:45 PM

The 10 Commandments of Joan of Arcadia

1. God cannot directly intervene.
2. Good and evil exist.
3. God can never identify one religion as being right.
4. The job of every human being is to fulfill his or her true nature.
5. Everyone is allowed to say no to God, including Joan.
6. God is not bound by time -- this is a human concept.
7. God is not a person and does not possess a human personality.
8. God talks to everyone all the time in different ways.
9. God's plan is what is good for us, not what is good for Him.
10. God's purpose for talking to Joan, and to everyone, is to get her (us) to recognize the interconnectedness of all things, i.e. you cannot hurt a person without hurting yourself; all of your actions have consequences; God can be found in the smallest actions; God expects us to learn and grow from all our experiences. However, the exact nature of God is a mystery, and the mystery can never be solved.

Article

"I wrote the show's 10 commandments. It filters down from there. If the people at the top understand, people as you progress down will understand, too." ~ Barbara Hall

Thanks to Sweetwater Gal for posting this at the TV thread!

[ 11-24-2003: Message edited Atti's Angel ]

**Rainstorm Jenny** · 11-24-2003, 07:39 PM

thats pretty interesting

Atti's Angel · 11-24-2003, 07:50 PM

Everyone is allowed to say no to God, including Joan

This is what made me wonder in the last episode. When God said "Cut it out. This wasn't part of the plan." and "retake the test"

~*Magical*~ · 11-24-2003, 10:42 PM

I remember reading these back on the JOA thread on the TV board. Its really good that this show has 10 commandments that are like a guidebook for how they will deal with God. God is a touchy subject on TV and especially for viewers. It will be important for this show to stick to these rules so they dont change their cannon too much and they dont allienate viewers.

Quote:

Everyone is allowed to say no to God, including Joan
This is what made me wonder in the last episode. When God said "Cut it out. This wasn't part of the plan." and "retake the test"

She could have said no, but he was right in the end because Joan did bring some of the pain onto herself by talking back to the teacher like she did. If anything I would think that that commandment could have been used in the ep before when God asked Joan to prevent Adam's art from being in the show. Before she knew what the ultimate consequences were (of Adam quitting school) she could have said no to God. But she never did. You would have thought she would have said no since it would hurt Adam. But, again, in the end God was right and trying to steer her in the right direction.

[img]smilies/love.gif[/img] Jenn

M3 · 11-25-2003, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ~*Magical*~:
If anything I would think that that commandment could have been used in the ep before when God asked Joan to prevent Adam's art from being in the show. Before she knew what the ultimate consequences were (of Adam quitting school) she could have said no to God. But she never did. You would have thought she would have said no since it would hurt Adam. But, again, in the end God was right and trying to steer her in the right direction.

This was one of the episodes I missed over half of [img]smilies/pout.gif[/img] I don't understand what the end point was? What did God ask her to do? Or rather, not ask her to do? And she was questioning if it was God or the Devil talking to her? How did all that end up.

Commandments! Hell, I'd just be happy if a show I like doesn't have CHADs and continuity errors. JUST ONE!

~*Magical*~ · 11-25-2003, 09:30 AM

M3: In this ep God asked Joan to not allow Adam to submit his artwork into the artshow. At first she didn't understand why and started to question if it was really God asking her to do it or the devil. She tried so many different ways to not let Adam turn in his art, including asking to buy it. But Adam said she didn't and would give it to her for free-after the show was over. During the show an older lady bought the piece for 500 dollars. After this Adam thought that he didn't have to go to school anymore because he could just sell his art. Joan got really frustrated and went into the art area and smashed Adam's art with a chair. People saw her doing it and Adam got really upset with her and left.

You can read a really in depth summary of it at
Telvision without pity. They do good jobs!

[img]smilies/love.gif[/img] Jenn

[ 11-25-2003: Message edited ~*Magical*~ ]

Atti's Angel · 11-25-2003, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ~*Magical*~:
She could have said no, but he was right in the end because Joan did bring some of the pain onto herself by talking back to the teacher like she did. If anything I would think that that commandment could have been used in the ep before when God asked Joan to prevent Adam's art from being in the show. Before she knew what the ultimate consequences were (of Adam quitting school) she could have said no to God. But she never did. You would have thought she would have said no since it would hurt Adam. But, again, in the end God was right and trying to steer her in the right direction.

[img]smilies/love.gif[/img] Jenn

True, I think she should have done that in the last episode. It's just I don't think I could say no to that painter guy, he freaked me out, maybe that is why she said yes. I would have liked an argument with the cute boy god [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[ 11-25-2003: Message edited Atti's Angel ]

Paulipdid · 11-25-2003, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atti's Angel:
The 10 Commandments of Joan of Arcadia
3. God can never identify one religion as being right.
7. God is not a person and does not possess a human personality.
[ 11-24-2003: Message edited Atti's Angel ]

3. But yet can identify is it is wrong?
7 But has human feelings?
Well Im asking for things in the show...
Pau [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Atti's Angel · 11-25-2003, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paulipdid:


3. But yet can identify is it is wrong?
7 But has human feelings?
Well Im asking for things in the show...
Pau [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

3. No, I don't think so. I believe that he cares for all religions

and 7, didn't he say in the first episode that he had a great personality [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

~*Magical*~ · 11-25-2003, 10:06 PM

Quote:

3. But yet can identify is it is wrong?

We don't even know what religion Joan is, right? So I think God does represent all religions. Or just represent that a higher power is working on the world and the people in it.

Quote:

7 But has human feelings?
Well Im asking for things in the show...

And I think he does. I think #7 is really just saying that God is not really a person and doesn't take possession of people who are already in the world, he just creates the form of a person when talking to Joan. I dont know if God has human feelings in this show. I mean, I guess he has to, if we go by creation or whatever then if God created humans, giving them human emotions, then somehow he must have them or understand them.

[img]smilies/love.gif[/img] Jenn

Paulipdid · 11-25-2003, 10:09 PM

Well Thanks for the answers... I thought that he had human feelings but there it was expresed but I assumed he had just wanted to be sure...
Pau [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Sweetwater Gal · 11-26-2003, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atti's Angel:
7. God is not a person and does not possess a human personality.
8. God talks to everyone all the time in different ways.

7. So... I guess this ultimately means that the incarnation of the Cute Boy is just that. Not a real boy that God possessed, but just one of God's many faces to Joan? [img]smilies/look.gif[/img] *snaps fingers* Darnit!

8. I'm kind of hoping that one day, Joan will be talking to God and Grace just happens upon the conversation and has her usual input. I think that would be interesting...

**sunnykerr** · 11-27-2003, 11:02 PM

That would be excellent! Grace, walking in and intervening in her own Grace-way.

You know there's gonna be more to Grace. I don't think think they would have specifically made her father a rabbi without wanting to go somewhere with her faith. Not as a Jew, but just as a daughter of a clergy-member.

At least, I hope that wasn't just to have Joan go to more than one clergy person to question the nature of God. I mean, if it was just that, it would still be a good idea.

But to make the rabbi be Grace's father...

***Wildfire Girl*** · 11-27-2003, 11:07 PM

BTW, where did these 10 Commandments come from? [img]smilies/look.gif[/img]

And Sweetwater, I believe that cleared up the issue we had on the TV Board about whether God possessed a person or not. [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

**sunnykerr** · 11-27-2003, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atti's Angel:
"I wrote the show's 10 commandments. It filters down from there. If the people at the top understand, people as you progress down will understand, too." ~ Barbara Hall

Barbara Hall is the show's creator and executive producer, I believe. Someone correct me if I am wrong!

In other words, Karen... I think that makes her this show's Bernie!