Terminator Genisys, Machine Religion & Time Travel: Is it a religious concept or scientific reality?

Just watched the film known as Terminator Genisys - and absolutely loved it. The entire concept of machines rising up to create a reality (due to man giving it impetus to see its own survival as important above all) has always stood out to me - and in seeing the film play out, I was very much impressed with the way that the machines literally created values in mankind that were not present before. The fact that the machines and the humans literally seem to be fixated on one central character (John Connor) as the man to change the future (along with his mother, Sarah Connor) has always seemed like a type of Christ and the Mother of the Messiah.....seeking to ensure a hope for a future devestated in ways mankind is not aware of because of its dependence on technology and its gradual destruction of the natural world

But the most interesting concept in the movie (as with all the terminator films) was seeing its perspective on time-travel - and the idea that it's possible that everything is happening at every point.

• Terminator Genisys': The franchise time-travel explained

Seeing the film play out, I couldn't help but consider when the idea of time travel came about and if it was a concept that science brought into view or if it was a concept that was religious-based and that science built upon from there. Moreover, with time travel as a concept, part of me had to consider how it would impact views on theism and non-theism: Does the ability to change time mean that morals are able to be changed as well and that nothing is set (or that all things truly are possible - a concept well accepted within Open Theism and interesting when seeing the concept of God existing at all points) ....or does time travel with pre-destination loops mean that there is a spiritual dynamic with Fate/Destiny where what has happened is what was always meant to happen. I can only hope what I am saying makes sense.

But for those who have seen the film (or appreciate the franchise), I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter: What do you think on time-travel and what do you think of its significance with religious dialogue?

gordRedeemed said:

Not sure what you're talking about good sir. There is no Terminator movies after Terminator 2.

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Hoping this is a joke since there were 3 others (i.e. Terminator Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation, and Terminator Genisys).

gordRedeemed said:

As to your question, it's quite probable that all things past, present and future already exist in an infinite amount of variables. With the proper outlook on reality, people can perhaps hop between these different life lines that have different variables.

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Not certain as to how that would look with hoping, although De Ja Vu comes to mind...

gordRedeemed said:

De Ja Vu would most likely be sort of a temporary hop into a different life line that had a similar setting but a slightly different reality.

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De Ja Vu is an interesting dynamic since I have often seen it from a point

gordRedeemed said:

De Ja Vu would most likely be sort of a temporary hop into a different life line that had a similar setting but a slightly different reality.

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I have wondered on the concept of De Ja Vu and the meaning behind it when it comes to the potential of differing time lines or experiences in life that could have been - although I tend to see De Ja Vu from the perspective of Destiny, that you're essentially living out a flash-back of something you either saw in a dream before (making what happened then a matter of seeing the future) or you're living out something that has already happened when seeing the end of all things and how they play out......

gordRedeemed said:

De Ja Vu would most likely be sort of a temporary hop into a different life line that had a similar setting but a slightly different reality.

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De Ja Vu is an interesting dynamic since I have often seen it from a point

gordRedeemed said:

No. There were only two. The 3 movies you mentioned have been scoured from my memory. Salvation especially.

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Salvation wasn't that bad, I thought - although with Terminator 3, I was cautious..

gordRedeemed said:

I saw both in the theater. I actually didn't mind T3. Salvation I thought was just horrible. So bad I don't think I will even give Genisys a shot.

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Going by Salvation, which wasn't including Arnold, as the barometer - when T3 and others had the approval of the original director of the Terminator series, it would be rather silly not dealing with Genisys - especially if in a thread covering the film/its concepts religious

Jane_the_Bane said:

Almost every Terminator-film followed a different time travel logic:

The original "Terminator" stuck to a clear-cut approach of: "Whatever happened, happened." The past cannot be changed because it's already what it is, and the T-800 and Kyle Reese create the future they tried to prevent and/or protect.

Terminator 2 changed this premise completely: the future *could* be changed, Skynet was prevented from being created, and the nuclear holocaust didn't happen. With the destruction of the time-traveling machines AND the man who'd create the genocidal self-aware AI, the dreaded future ceased to exist.

T3 - if we want to take it seriously - completely ignored this, and did not really bother figuring out the ramifications of time travel. They needed more killer robots from the future, so they were there. The future became BOTH malleable AND predetermined.

I did not watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles, and I mostly pretend that Terminator: Salvation never happened - so here's to thoroughly enjoying "Genisys" when it hits theaters in my country this week.

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Never saw the Sarah Connor Chronicles - so there's a good bit of gap with the way things played out there.

If you read the Terminator series logic with time-travel, what's fascinating to me is the fact that it seems both the resistance and the machines both focus (regardless of the ways that time logic shifts) on the Great-Man theory: John Connor and his bloodline are either the key to salvation for mankind or the key to destruction for mankind.

It does bring up the thought that time-travel itself seems to have a lot present in it with certain key figures shaping what we experience in time, be it for good or bad.
https://arrowheadmanor.com/learning/on-great-man-theory/
https://seonaidhceanneidigh.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/greatness/

Jane_the_Bane said:

Hegel and his "Weltseele/Weltgeist" (world spirit/world soul) come to mind here.

The worst thing about "Terminator: Salvation" was the last-minute re-write:
When they basically established that the heart was the key to emotion and humanity (not just as a symbol, but as a literal organ associated with these functions), they lost me. It broke my suspension of disbelief so utterly that my enjoyment of the film just evaporated in an instant.

And the worst part is: this film could have been epic if they had stuck to the original ending, i.e.: John Connor dies, yet the proto-Terminator assumes his identity, because there always needs to be a John Connor. THAT would have been awesome!

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By the heart, do you mean Marcus's heart? I was thinking he also had a brain as well - even though it was interesting. The original ending would have been amazing as well and I do wish it would have been played out the way it was....