That’s an interesting thought…. provided God exists in the capacity Christians believe:
1. Would God still be able to “save” any aliens sharing human ancestry if they didn’t live on Earth, if they never were “saved”?
2. If God created humans in “his” image, did “he” also create aliens in “his” image? How would humans react if any aliens said THEY, the aliens, were created in “his” image?
3: Is there a version of “him” out there basically known as Space God?
4. And based off the previous question, are there multiple religions in space that all basically have the same origin stories for their deity but they all claim to be the one TRUE religion?
5: Is there a space hell? Space devil? Space Jesus? Space Crusades? Are there alien theologists that desperately want to study humans to ask how they came to discover God but see “him” as looking human instead of whatever non-Euclidean shape “he” obviously has?
I should really stop asking theological questions of a comic’s universe when I haven’t even had breakfast yet…
1. If we go by ALL CREATION, then yes.
2. It depends. 😉 If we go standard, I’m sure they would go into the whole: ONLY EARTH HUMAN LOOKING CREATION, but other thoughts go into different paths for different creation. I remember reading a few stories that went that route and thoughts on it.
3. Different names for the same thing. I just don’t want to deal with it so won’t. 😉
4. Possibly. It happens here. 😀
5. For my own usage, and simplicity, because as you can see, it would be so easy to get bogged down in various details and all the different kinds of religions that could be created or variations of ‘non-religion’, I would say Heavan and Hell are a constant that would be very much the same, even if the name changes. I’m sure there would be alien theologists with those questions and interests, just wanting to learn.
I do have plans for the future of things to happen, which can’t be avoided, particularly a scene that’s been on my mind for over a decade, because Chel’s going to end up at the brunt of a lot of a LOT of reactions that are sadly, going to be typical reactions by the majority based in fear and appearances. I don’t want to dwell on it, because honestly, it can be very depressing to go through outright community rejection.
I intend to keep some things ‘private’ to the characters. It’s things that I don’t need to go into detail in, because the more detail I go into on certain aspects, the less widely relateable a character becomes. I would like to avoid that. I pick out defining statements and then use them on rare occasion when they are necessary as reminders.
I am NOT going to go about the ‘save the alien’ storyline. 😛 No. Just. No. Whatever Lexx decides over time is what he decides and nobody may ever know if it’s not necessary. You might recall that at this point in time, his whole outlook is that it’s better to NOT believe in any sort of supreme being than believe and also have to believe that entity absolutely hates him because of his life situation. In another way, that can be sad for me, since as I’m writing this, I am the supreme being. 😀 I am responsible for it all. 😀
In response to number 2…it is fairly common to interpret that ‘in his image’ line to refer to other than the physical, but rather to our capacity to feel, empathize, reason, learn, and reach out to others. In other words, our souls – which is the part of us that’s eternal, and thus the part that it makes the most sense to be in his image. Given that, there’s no reason why the line couldn’t apply to beings who are physically very different from us, if that core is similar – and there are many who think that any alien that WASN’T similar in those respects would be too alien for us to relate to enough to determine whether they were truly sentient.
As far as the comic goes, that’s obviously up to the author (who has already written a lovely reply at this point).
As far as real life goes, obviously we haven’t discovered (or been discovered by) aliens yet. But a lot of what you are thinking about reminds me of an early debate in the church. At the very start of the Christian church (before the term “Christian” was even a thing – believers identified as Jews who followed Christ) there was a lot of debate over the role of Gentiles in the church. Gentiles were different – they were not descendants of Abraham, they did not have the words of the prophets, they did not practice Jewish religious customs, etc. Paul in particular discusses the topic in great detail in his letters to various churches, which are included in the Bible as the books of Romans, Corinthians, etc.
The gist of is is that, as far as the Bible is concerned, being saved has nothing to do with your biological ancestry and everything to do with your attitude and actions. A “Gentile” who earnestly seeks to do good works and live righteously is a “Child of Abraham”. Paul speaks of people who “show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts”. That is, people who seek righteousness and are following God without even knowing it. You can be saved without even knowing that “being saved” is a thing. Knowingly practicing faith still has value, but that’s a whole topic in and of itself. In any case, the main point is that your biological origin doesn’t exclude you.
As for being created in God’s image, most people interpret that to mean we have our own will and can make our own decisions, not that we are literally physically identical to God. You could have blue skin and twelve arms and still be created in God’s image.
It’s hard to say what the full implications would be if intelligent alien life was discovered – at this point, we can only speculate on the possibilities. For all we know, alien life could be so alien we wouldn’t even know how to communicate. But it’s still fun to think about.
As a Christian and a science fiction author, I have had to give the above some thought.
Jesus told his desciples that he has another flock that they know nothing about. There has been much speculation about where those other flocks may be. A common speculation is that the Native Americans’ “Great Spirit” is the one God of the universe. Many SF and fantasy works refer to him (or her) as “The Maker” or “The Great Goddess.”
There is much arguing about trifling details here on Earth, so I expect that, should we find aliens, that some will be equally disagreeable.
The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God loves all of his children, even those who hate him. I therefore expect that salvation will be available to all.
There are many more details that I have speculated about, but I’m confident about the above.
5 thoughts on “Alien Dice Day 29 08 03”
Aria
That’s an interesting thought…. provided God exists in the capacity Christians believe:
1. Would God still be able to “save” any aliens sharing human ancestry if they didn’t live on Earth, if they never were “saved”?
2. If God created humans in “his” image, did “he” also create aliens in “his” image? How would humans react if any aliens said THEY, the aliens, were created in “his” image?
3: Is there a version of “him” out there basically known as Space God?
4. And based off the previous question, are there multiple religions in space that all basically have the same origin stories for their deity but they all claim to be the one TRUE religion?
5: Is there a space hell? Space devil? Space Jesus? Space Crusades? Are there alien theologists that desperately want to study humans to ask how they came to discover God but see “him” as looking human instead of whatever non-Euclidean shape “he” obviously has?
I should really stop asking theological questions of a comic’s universe when I haven’t even had breakfast yet…
Tiff
1. If we go by ALL CREATION, then yes.
2. It depends. 😉 If we go standard, I’m sure they would go into the whole: ONLY EARTH HUMAN LOOKING CREATION, but other thoughts go into different paths for different creation. I remember reading a few stories that went that route and thoughts on it.
3. Different names for the same thing. I just don’t want to deal with it so won’t. 😉
4. Possibly. It happens here. 😀
5. For my own usage, and simplicity, because as you can see, it would be so easy to get bogged down in various details and all the different kinds of religions that could be created or variations of ‘non-religion’, I would say Heavan and Hell are a constant that would be very much the same, even if the name changes. I’m sure there would be alien theologists with those questions and interests, just wanting to learn.
I do have plans for the future of things to happen, which can’t be avoided, particularly a scene that’s been on my mind for over a decade, because Chel’s going to end up at the brunt of a lot of a LOT of reactions that are sadly, going to be typical reactions by the majority based in fear and appearances. I don’t want to dwell on it, because honestly, it can be very depressing to go through outright community rejection.
I intend to keep some things ‘private’ to the characters. It’s things that I don’t need to go into detail in, because the more detail I go into on certain aspects, the less widely relateable a character becomes. I would like to avoid that. I pick out defining statements and then use them on rare occasion when they are necessary as reminders.
I am NOT going to go about the ‘save the alien’ storyline. 😛 No. Just. No. Whatever Lexx decides over time is what he decides and nobody may ever know if it’s not necessary. You might recall that at this point in time, his whole outlook is that it’s better to NOT believe in any sort of supreme being than believe and also have to believe that entity absolutely hates him because of his life situation. In another way, that can be sad for me, since as I’m writing this, I am the supreme being. 😀 I am responsible for it all. 😀
Kalietha
In response to number 2…it is fairly common to interpret that ‘in his image’ line to refer to other than the physical, but rather to our capacity to feel, empathize, reason, learn, and reach out to others. In other words, our souls – which is the part of us that’s eternal, and thus the part that it makes the most sense to be in his image. Given that, there’s no reason why the line couldn’t apply to beings who are physically very different from us, if that core is similar – and there are many who think that any alien that WASN’T similar in those respects would be too alien for us to relate to enough to determine whether they were truly sentient.
Sabreur
As far as the comic goes, that’s obviously up to the author (who has already written a lovely reply at this point).
As far as real life goes, obviously we haven’t discovered (or been discovered by) aliens yet. But a lot of what you are thinking about reminds me of an early debate in the church. At the very start of the Christian church (before the term “Christian” was even a thing – believers identified as Jews who followed Christ) there was a lot of debate over the role of Gentiles in the church. Gentiles were different – they were not descendants of Abraham, they did not have the words of the prophets, they did not practice Jewish religious customs, etc. Paul in particular discusses the topic in great detail in his letters to various churches, which are included in the Bible as the books of Romans, Corinthians, etc.
The gist of is is that, as far as the Bible is concerned, being saved has nothing to do with your biological ancestry and everything to do with your attitude and actions. A “Gentile” who earnestly seeks to do good works and live righteously is a “Child of Abraham”. Paul speaks of people who “show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts”. That is, people who seek righteousness and are following God without even knowing it. You can be saved without even knowing that “being saved” is a thing. Knowingly practicing faith still has value, but that’s a whole topic in and of itself. In any case, the main point is that your biological origin doesn’t exclude you.
As for being created in God’s image, most people interpret that to mean we have our own will and can make our own decisions, not that we are literally physically identical to God. You could have blue skin and twelve arms and still be created in God’s image.
It’s hard to say what the full implications would be if intelligent alien life was discovered – at this point, we can only speculate on the possibilities. For all we know, alien life could be so alien we wouldn’t even know how to communicate. But it’s still fun to think about.
Ray Drouillard
As a Christian and a science fiction author, I have had to give the above some thought.
Jesus told his desciples that he has another flock that they know nothing about. There has been much speculation about where those other flocks may be. A common speculation is that the Native Americans’ “Great Spirit” is the one God of the universe. Many SF and fantasy works refer to him (or her) as “The Maker” or “The Great Goddess.”
There is much arguing about trifling details here on Earth, so I expect that, should we find aliens, that some will be equally disagreeable.
The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God loves all of his children, even those who hate him. I therefore expect that salvation will be available to all.
There are many more details that I have speculated about, but I’m confident about the above.
Follow me on Twitter
My TweetsMeta
Subscribe to Blog via Email