E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Colleen1 said:

I was simply trying to say that I enjoy some science fiction but tbh the concept of an alien being presented in a sense as being similar to a human or at times half human e.g. Spock (who btw I think is a great character) bothers me somewhat. However, the fact that I view this aspect of science fiction as pretty much complete fiction makes me feel more comfortable watching / enjoying sci fi.

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A lot of the concepts within Sci-Fi with human/alien hybrids is interesting to consider. For many, it is similar in essence to what occurred when angels and humans mated in Genesis 6 and a lot of mess occurred..whereas others say that there should not be a condemnation of the subsequent child resulting from a union. For that individual hybrid or child has choices and intelligent thought, similar to Spock or other characters.

Colleen1 said:

I was simply trying to say that I enjoy some science fiction but tbh the concept of an alien being presented in a sense as being similar to a human or at times half human e.g. Spock (who btw I think is a great character) bothers me somewhat. However, the fact that I view this aspect of science fiction as pretty much complete fiction makes me feel more comfortable watching / enjoying sci fi.

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Something that came to my mind: In a hypothetical situation where someone was a believer and they fell in love with someone who was non-human...and the person falling in love with a non-human was a believer (be it Orthodox or Catholic or Baptist, etc), how would that person need to be treated? How would the resulting children of that union need to be treated? WOuld it be that the person alongside their family be treated as an abomination or treated on the basis of what choices they choose to make in line with what is revealed in the scriptures? If they came to church, would it be reasonable to expect mistreatment?

In the world of someone like Gene Roddenburry of Startrek, it would not be surprising to have another such as a believer in Christ be portrayed as the antagonist to a marriage between a human and non-human creature....due to his belief that adhering to supernatural ideology/religion leads to looking down upon others whom the religion didn't mention....

I think that's part of the reason others slipped in things within Startrek like Spock and others with mixed background...for they were trying to raise the point of how others that're different don't equate automatically to being evil, as there were others exceedingly corrupt and yet normal while Spock constrasted with them as being noble/what humans often respected. Other movies in Sci-Fi have sought to bring out the point, such as District 9 when it showed aliens landing in South Africa and being violently mistreated by people (akin to racism) even when they were peaceful/refugees.....or Avatar , where humans went to another planet and began to steal resources from the native population while calling the natives "savages" due to their culture....and the main hero of the story actually fell in love with one.

The "John Carter of Mars" novel series that precedded much of what's seen in Sci-Fi also spoke on the issue when the main hero (John Carter) fell in love with a Red Martian.....something many often pondered on when it came to the concept of relationships

Easy G (G²);60869094 said:

A lot of the concepts within Sci-Fi with human/alien hybrids is interesting to consider. For many, it is similar in essence to what occurred when angels and humans mated in Genesis 6 and a lot of mess occurred..whereas others say that there should not be a condemnation of the subsequent child resulting from a union. For that individual hybrid or child has choices and intelligent thought, similar to Spock or other characters. To me, although I'd never be for the action without pause, I would tend to think that the main reasons why it'd be bothersome is because many assume that having a mixture must mean the mixed person's evil. To me, it's in the same realm as test-tube babies or cloning....something that needs to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

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Yes, there is a lot to consider regarding these issues. Yes, one would need to look at the issues unique to every situation. ...lots to think about.

Colleen1 said:

Exactly, some of what I was thinking and I was trying to say it in a diplomatic way. The other aspect I had in mind was relational issues....but I was just trying to be subtle / diplomatic in how I expressed it.

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What do you mean by relational issues?

Easy G (G²);60869094 said:

Something that came to my mind: In a hypothetical situation where someone was a believer and they fell in love with someone who was non-human...and the person falling in love with a non-human was a believer (be it Orthodox or Catholic or Baptist, etc), how would that person need to be treated? How would the resulting children of that union need to be treated? WOuld it be that the person alongside their family be treated as an abomination or treated on the basis of what choices they choose to make in line with what is revealed in the scriptures? If they came to church, would it be reasonable to expect mistreatment?

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I understand what you are saying but the issue wouldn't be differences among humans. It would concern 2 differing species.

Easy G (G²);60869094 said:

I think that's part of the reason others slipped in things within Startrek like Spock and others with mixed background...for they were trying to raise the point of how others that're different don't equate automatically to being evil, as there were others exceedingly corrupt and yet normal while Spock constrasted with them as being noble/what humans often respected.

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I tend to agree and have spotted the analogy / symbolism. However, the reality is that it concerns 2 different species and not simply differences among humans and with the scientific research we are encountering today, there is a lot to consider. This is a huge issue therefore my attempt to be subtle and diplomatic.

Getting back to Roddenberry, what we were discussing earlier....

He was a weird kind of liberal. Usually liberals wouldn't be opposed to eugenics, yet Gene seemed to bring that eugenics stuff up on multiple occasions and he painted it in a bad light.

He also wasn't a technology-will-save-us-all type of guy. He had a fascination with hermits. So many Trek episodes had hermit type guys who wanted to get back to nature and avoid the material, to avoid the technology that man had invented....

He also seemed to focus on what a screw-up mankind is and how that's our greatest strength...paradoxically strange

He paints weird liberals like in The Way to Eden to be unreasonable and each time someone tries to make a utopia free of violence or to try to avoid war, he paints them in a pathetic, unrealistic, odd light.

And yet on the other hand he paints humanity in this limitless potential light along with infinite diversity, obsession with racism, united nationsish stuff, and other weird leftie stuff. Gene was an oddball LOL

Star Trek vs. Star Wars

gurneyhalleck1 said:

Star Trek vs. Star Wars

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I love how everyone is aghast, except for Spock, who'd rather watch in 3D

yeah, Spock wearing the Tholian visor had me laughing more than anything!

ArmyMatt said:

I love how everyone is aghast, except for Spock, who'd rather watch in 3D

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The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was the "Monster Dolls." They creep me out and I wonder what Father Seraphim would have thought of them. Talk about genetic fusion--Barbie doll and zombie? Saw them in Target recently and wondered, "What on earth now?" I also thought, "Well, I guess it's to get us ready for them when they come." Who "they" are, I don't really know. But I know I had a very strong revulsion.

Rafaela said:

The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was the "Monster Dolls." They creep me out and I wonder what Father Seraphim would have thought of them. Talk about genetic fusion--Barbie doll and zombie? Saw them in Target recently and wondered, "What on earth now?" I also thought, "Well, I guess it's to get us ready for them when they come." Who "they" are, I don't really know. But I know I had a very strong revulsion.

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I hear you. It is kind of odd when you really think about it.

Rafaela said:

The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was the "Monster Dolls." They creep me out and I wonder what Father Seraphim would have thought of them. Talk about genetic fusion--Barbie doll and zombie? Saw them in Target recently and wondered, "What on earth now?" I also thought, "Well, I guess it's to get us ready for them when they come." Who "they" are, I don't really know. But I know I had a very strong revulsion.

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yeah I saw them too. just another way that we try to make the occult cute or trendy.

ArmyMatt said:

yeah I saw them too. just another way that we try to make the occult cute or trendy.

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Yes, that's definitely happening around the world. There are so many examples of this in tv, movies, books, etc. There's also this trend in presenting the occult as a defender of the down trodden. This is so appealing especially to young vulnerable people. It's rather ingeniously scarey.

gurneyhalleck1 said:

Getting back to Roddenberry, what we were discussing earlier....

He was a weird kind of liberal. Usually liberals wouldn't be opposed to eugenics, yet Gene seemed to bring that eugenics stuff up on multiple occasions and he painted it in a bad light.

He also wasn't a technology-will-save-us-all type of guy. He had a fascination with hermits. So many Trek episodes had hermit type guys who wanted to get back to nature and avoid the material, to avoid the technology that man had invented....

He also seemed to focus on what a screw-up mankind is and how that's our greatest strength...paradoxically strange

He paints weird liberals like in The Way to Eden to be unreasonable and each time someone tries to make a utopia free of violence or to try to avoid war, he paints them in a pathetic, unrealistic, odd light.

And yet on the other hand he paints humanity in this limitless potential light along with infinite diversity, obsession with racism, united nationsish stuff, and other weird leftie stuff. Gene was an oddball LOL

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Gene in his views was symbolic (IMHO) of what Solomon noted in Ecclesiastes when he said "What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted" ( Ecclesiastes 1:14-16 )...and "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief" ( Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 ). Human wisdom can only go see the problems of mankind in part, but can never solve the issues since it refuses to acknowledge the key solutions found only in Christ....and because of the refusal to submit, things can never be straightened out as they were meant to be.

It's like the atheist who can see that it's not right for men to rape women...but because he doesn't believe in God, he has no basis for saying something is absolutely wrong outside of saying "I just think it's wrong!!!"--even though everything within him knows that what he sees isn't right (as the Lord wrote the Law on man's heart in Romans 1:18-28 and Romans 2-3).

Colleen1 said:

Yes, that's definitely happening around the world. There are so many examples of this in tv, movies, books, etc. There's also this trend in presenting the occult as a defender of the down trodden. This is so appealing especially to young vulnerable people. It's rather ingeniously scarey.

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yep, and when you have guys believing in the absurd, like Jedis in England or Wiccans who worship Tolkiens Valar and Maiar, it shows how deceived we are becoming

ArmyMatt said:

yep, and when you have guys believing in the absurd, like Jedis in England or Wiccans who worship Tolkiens Valar and Maiar, it shows how deceived we are becoming

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A strange thing to do, forgetting that their author, Tolkien, was very specific about the Valar and Maiar having an Author, a Creator, Iluvatar, Eru the One.
But that's the mistake neo-pagans always make; worshiping the creature rather than the Creator.

ArmyMatt said:

yep, and when you have guys believing in the absurd, like Jedis in England or Wiccans who worship Tolkiens Valar and Maiar, it shows how deceived we are becoming

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Yes, agreed. That's one of the reasons why I emphasize the fact that I do see fiction as just that...fiction. Some people can get rather carried away when it comes to how they respond to movie / tv they like.

rusmeister said:

A strange thing to do, forgetting that their author, Tolkien, was very specific about the Valar and Maiar having an Author, a Creator, Iluvatar, Eru the One.
But that's the mistake neo-pagans always make; worshiping the creature rather than the Creator.

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Good point.

rusmeister said:

A strange thing to do, forgetting that their author, Tolkien, was very specific about the Valar and Maiar having an Author, a Creator, Iluvatar, Eru the One.
But that's the mistake neo-pagans always make; worshiping the creature rather than the Creator.

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that is interesting, but I am sure Eru-Illuvatar will get added to the mix, along with Aslan and the rest eventually.

Rafaela said:

The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was the "Monster Dolls." They creep me out and I wonder what Father Seraphim would have thought of them. Talk about genetic fusion--Barbie doll and zombie? Saw them in Target recently and wondered, "What on earth now?" I also thought, "Well, I guess it's to get us ready for them when they come." Who "they" are, I don't really know. But I know I had a very strong revulsion.

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Can't stand those things...and I put them in the same catetory as the Troll Dolls that were really popular in the 80s/90s. Got one as a kid and I instinctively dumped it...