The Unknown, Fear, God, and ID4/Alien/Aliens/Other-Sci-Fi-Movies

"Humans tend to fear that which they do not understand, and destroy that which they fear." I found this quote while, browsing the HiveMind at Arstechnica again. It was on some dude's tribus, and it really hit me. Quick Backgrounder: Over the last few years, I've often pondered about the nature of the God I believe in. Now, the Bible states that God is of many natures (from which some people extrapolate and say that the Bible actually mentions several Gods, a thinking which IMO is flawed, as the Bible clearly states that God is One). Sometimes He is wrathful (Sodom & Gomorrah, Egypt, Eden, etc.), sometimes He is forgiving and loving (Jesus, Abraham, Noah, etc.), and sometimes, the Bible gives an awe-inspiring view of God (miracles, Jacob vs. God: FIGHT!!, Job, etc.). To summarize, there are examples of God's nature throughout the Bible, each one different and reflective of a different aspect. What I am not saying is that everything is God, or that God has many incarnations (Hindu beliefs), or that all gods are God (New-agey beliefs, ie. Allah, Vishnu, Brahma, Ameratsu are all God). Yet, God seems to be completely separate at times and seems plural.

Now, for the quote. As much as we try to understand God, our thinking is just too limited for a complete understanding that only God can attain. This seems like a deus ex machina scenario, but somehow, it's the only one that I accept and am able to live with, ATM. The thing is, I'm fairly intellectual at times, so I'm supposed to not be able to sit well with such an argument. Makes this kinda contradictive, eh? The quote first states that we fear what we do not know. To put it into the context of the story, it's something like, "because we cannot fully understand God, we fear God." Fair enough I suppose. We fear God. But the quote has a second part. We destroy what we fear. The Bible says something about fear of God being a good thing. Is this fear the same fear as the one we think of when we face off with a cougar, or getting jitters before we do something incredible/incredibly stupid? I don’t think so. The fear that’s talked about in the Bible has a sense of respect, IMO. Or else who would dare say no to God? Who would dare question God? Plenty of people have done so.

Now, this type of fear-respect does not apply to everyone. Some people do not understand God, and not necessarily fear him as if He were some kind of monster, but fear him because they simply cannot wrap their heads around Him or His nature. Thus, some people may seek to destroy God. This also has been attempted before. We are still doing it, but through science and logic, two things God already gave us. The “theory” of evolution, the “Big Bang” theory, and such are examples of how humans try to understand Creation, and at the same time try to supplant God with something perceived to be self-running.

In short, because we fear God, we also try to understand God. However, since God cannot be fully understood by anyone, we try to destroy Him because we fear Him. We fear that somehow, we may get supplanted. How the hell does this tie in with Aliens and other sci-fi movies/books?

In many movies and books, aliens are portrayed as biologically superior, and possibly technologically superior. Humans are portrayed as biologically weak, but “tenacious” is often the word used when describing humans. We destroy what we perceive to be superior just because of their existence and because of some inherent flaw in their way of operating. We may not think that what we are doing is wrong. Just food for thought, y’know. This ties in with our attitude towards God. God is so much more than us it’s impossible for us to fathom Him. And thus, we will try to destroy what is superior to us because of fear.

Tune in next week, same Pie channel, same Pie TIME!!!