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252 Comments
- muffcakes, on 11/13/2009, -12/+86Religion starts with an explanation for that which is seemingly unexplainable. As more knowledge comes to light it forces the religion to twist and warp and incorporate all sorts of strange ideas and faulty logic. All because people hate to admit that their take on the world was wrong.
- OPR8R, on 11/13/2009, -2/+69Only the heteroaliens.
- bobhopeisgod, on 11/13/2009, -1/+39Do aliens need Jesus to save them?
- noPCtoday, on 11/13/2009, -0/+31...as opposed to gayliens?
- madwh, on 11/13/2009, -1/+31You mean the mexican classmate I had in junior high?
- deadlikeoscar, on 11/13/2009, -0/+29Aliens were probably smart enough to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Instead they took the fruit, and planted their own trees and then ate from those. Unfortunately, they are currently being sued by the RIAA and MPAA for making illegal copies.
- GorfTron, on 11/13/2009, -2/+29Any thinking person should ask why a loving god would design a system that requires people to be "saved" from his own punishments. Christianity reminds me of the mafia boss who makes you pay for protection insurance from his own men. I guess I am weird for seeing a contradiction in a God of love who also sends billions of souls to hell for a choice they never made. I'm sorry, but a nice Hindu never made a choice to reject Jesus. Hell is an idiotic punishment for a thought crime.
- namja23, on 11/13/2009, -0/+21What if an alien is named Jesus?
- muffcakes, on 11/13/2009, -2/+22@atomcpoet I believe reality is most likely an abstract representation of stimulus that my mind receives. I believe in things I haven't experienced because I can determine that their existence is the most reasonable explanation for the stimulus I receive. I don't have faith in their existence because I'm aware they might not in fact exist.
I haven't seen Neptune but it is more reasonable to believe it is there than any other explanation for the evidence for it's existence. Occam's razor.
"I have to disagree. Religion doesn't explain the unexplainable, it simply says there are unexplainable things."
Religion does not ask "where do we come from.". It says "We come from a dude named Adam who was made of mud, and had a female named Eve cloned from his rib. They made babies until they populated the world." Or it says "We all came from a giant sea shell that and even gianter bird dropped on the beach." Religion gives very specific answers to questions.
If indeed I exist in your mind then it was you who created my words via your imagination. I (or rather you) would like to complement me (or yourself) on this excellently written post. It's really a shame that we are the only one in this reality because that means there is no one else to see it. Why do we bother!? - PointGiven, on 11/13/2009, -1/+21 I have a mental image of a Jehovah's Witness preaching to Darth Vader...and failing.
- eastwood24, on 11/13/2009, -6/+26Never underestimate the power of pride and ignorance.
- sgvprelude, on 11/13/2009, -2/+20I've met Jesus. He's from Mexico and sells coke.
- Mujokan, on 11/13/2009, -0/+12"I find your excess of faith disturbing."
- AndrewDB, on 11/13/2009, -6/+15Aliens are smarter to not believe..............................................................................................in Jesus.
- Jektal, on 11/13/2009, -2/+11Does Santa ***** unicorns?
- angusm, on 11/13/2009, -1/+10I am now going to start the First Church of Christ, Predator. Look at the similarities:
- Predators come to the Earth from space; Jesus came to the Earth from Heaven.
- Predators have dreadlocks; Jesus is often portrayed with long hair
- Predators can be invisible when they want to be; after the Crucifixion, Jesus appeared to certain of his followers, but not to other people, suggesting that he too had the power of selective invisibility.
- When you kill Predators, they explode like a nuclear bomb; when Jesus was killed, there was an earthquake and the curtain of the Temple was torn.
What more evidence do you need, people? - inactive, on 11/13/2009, -2/+11Are aliens angels?
- Asrrin29, on 11/13/2009, -1/+10I know I'll probably be dugg down for this, but it is a very fascinating question. A lot of people are not fundamentalist extremest religious zealots, and neither are they atheists. So many people in the world believe in god AND accept and understand current scientific theories. For them, this is a legitimate question. For me this is a legitimate question. Does our one and only Jesus save everyone, or is there a "Jesus-like" entity for different intelligences? If we find intelligent life, what kind of theological issues would they wrestle with? The theological, psychological, and biological ramifications of discovering a completely alien culture are simply mind-blowing.
- Crimeodial, on 11/13/2009, -3/+11If alien's social evolution was anything like ours, they would probably have their own religions. I wonder if they would blow each other up over such silliness?
- KevinRowz, on 11/13/2009, -1/+9I think it's pretty obvious. Jesus saves the Christian aliens.
- SQLDigger, on 11/13/2009, -0/+8I think the more important question here, is, "Would Jesus save Alien?" And for that matter, What Would Predator Jesus Do?
- dumass4u, on 11/13/2009, -0/+8Of course not, what a silly question. His reindeer would get jealous.
- ryrocker, on 11/13/2009, -0/+8haha @atmoicpoet...
descartes said it best, i think therefore i am...
even if you doubt your own existence, you must first exist in order to doubt.... to not believe in consciousness is an oxymoron, since it is the conscious thought, the being, that needs to exist before anything can be considered
/philosophy burn - bunger, on 11/13/2009, -6/+14No... because Jesus doesn't exist.
- atomicpoet, on 11/13/2009, -4/+11@muffcakes: "I haven't seen Neptune but it is more reasonable to believe it is there than any other explanation for the evidence for it's existence. Occam's razor."
It's far more simple to believe Neptune isn't there since I haven't observed it.
"Religion gives very specific answers to questions."
Religion removed from allegory is a fool's game. This is true for most literature too. Who the hell reads Dante's Inferno as a science textbook?
Focusing away from how Adam and Eve were scientifically made, why not focus on how the original recipients of this story interpreted it? I submit that most of us come at that story from a skewed perspective since our culture is long removed from the original writers of that text.
"Why do we bother!?"
To amuse myself. Why does anyone else need to exist for me to enjoy the fruits of my own labour? - Hetman, on 11/13/2009, -1/+8We cannot even come to terms with this on our own planet. This thread is obviously full of christians. It is mostly American. However I assume if aliens did show up all three major western religions would assume that it is there religion that is still right. That does not even take into account eastern religions. Also scientologists would probably be in there bomb shelter awaiting extincition by a huge volcanoe.
- GorfTron, on 11/13/2009, -1/+8Culture, upbringing, family and all of the things that make a person believe a religion can't be wiped away. Some Christians actually believe a person from a different religious culture willfully rejects Jesus and hell is a good punishment for this "choice". I am skeptical of the existence of God but I have faith in 2 things:
IF God exists...
1) God is not insane.
2) God gave us brains and reason to be used, not ignored. - SimonWatson, on 11/13/2009, -0/+7that's silly
- EarlOfLade, on 11/13/2009, -0/+6What if the aliens came down and preached their own variant of religion and had a different god, claiming our gods are all wrong?
- GorfTron, on 11/13/2009, -0/+6True. I am mostly around Christians and every last one thinks hell is a good punishment for not being saved. They also think hell is fair because of the element of "choice" and free will. I'm sorry, but this makes no logical sense at all. None.
Many of the Christians who believe this also believe the Earth is 6,000 years old and that God flooded the entire planet to kill the evil people - 99.999999999% of its population(including evil babies and evil children). So I guess God wants me to believe a truth that is patently absurd and will punish me for believing the reality that he created. Nothing like good ol Christian free will and choice! - mrjoho, on 11/13/2009, -1/+7@Krakerjax: That reason being that the people penning their handbook on living morally at the time didn't think Pride was a good thing, so they made sure the writings reflected their viewpoint. Morality in a deity is a reflection of the morality of the culture that wants to reinforce their moral ideals by creating a superbeing that also believes the same way.
- WiseGuy1020, on 11/13/2009, -1/+7He cuts my lawn.
- Mujokan, on 11/13/2009, -1/+7Of course, but the crosses are a lot more complicated looking.
- Stap1eGun, on 11/13/2009, -4/+10If I was betting on it...
Odds aliens exist: 98%
Odds god exists: 0.000001% - angusm, on 11/13/2009, -0/+6The novel "A Case of Conscience" by James Blish deals with the religious implications of the discovery of alien life.
As I understand it, Jesus would only need to save aliens if they have 'fallen'. If they exist in the sinless state of Adam and Eve before the Fall, then they don't need saving. So the question then would be, is Man unique in having 'fallen'? Or is 'falling' a common characteristic of intelligent species?
If a significant number of intelligent races fall from God and require a 'salvation event' to set them straight, that has some pretty radical implications for God's relationship with His creation ("Ooops - another one gone to the bad. Why does that _keep_ happening?"). Conversely, if Man is indeed unique, that puts us in the role of God's Greatest Disappointment.
Either way, the theological implications are pretty thorny, and I bet the Christians are glad they don't have to deal with them just yet. - diggduggDOOM, on 11/13/2009, -0/+6No, I got that with the coincidental asthma/alien gas thing. The whole move still completely ignored the chaos that proof of alien intelligence would bring to (most of) the religions on earth.
I don't think Mel's character ever once asked "did Jesus die for alien sins, too?" - Hetman, on 11/13/2009, -0/+6I agree. The whole movie is kind of ridicilous. There is this thing called dew. When you run through a corn field at night/early morning you get very wet.
- jj101, on 11/13/2009, -3/+8Please let religion not be humanities export to the universe if we ever get off this rock.
- diggduggDOOM, on 11/13/2009, -3/+8This idea is one of the things that really bothered me about the movie Signs. I would think proof of intelligent aliens would create a crisis of faith, not cure one.
Ah well... tell it to the Space Pope (crocodylus pontifex) - DennisOhlson, on 11/13/2009, -1/+6@Atomicpoet. I exist enough for you to reply to me.
- mrjoho, on 11/13/2009, -2/+7I think the Aliens would find them tender, though with a few too many bones. The creationist would wonder what's going on as they are lead up the abattoir ramp like the sheep they strive to be.
- SQLDigger, on 11/13/2009, -0/+5I lost my faith in M. Night Shyamalan's ability to entertain because of that movie. "That's not an idea, it's a twist"!!!!
- Hetman, on 11/13/2009, -0/+5Digg just needs a religious/atheist section like reedit.
- Mujokan, on 11/13/2009, -0/+5One thing about solipsists, they don't care if you bury them :)
Given the constraints on information processing of the human brain, in some way you must just be redefining "you" as some much larger entity than normal, to hold this position. In the end it's a trick of definitions.
Saying that probabilistic = anything goes is a fallacy. - atomicpoet, on 11/13/2009, -17/+22I have to disagree. Religion doesn't explain the unexplainable, it simply says there are unexplainable things.
It amazes me how supposedly skeptical people are able to pick and choose which things to have faith in. An atheist is skeptical about God, but he has the unreasonable belief in his ability to experience a physical world in an objective way with a totally rational understanding of it. Never mind that whatever reality we experience is simply a result of a neurochemical reaction, and this experience varies person to person.
I am a solipsist. I assume no physical reality. It's not to say the possibility isn't plausible, but it's far more likely that everything is simply an invention of my imagination. Now the majority of people will say this is ridiulous, but I have yet to find a person who can prove to me Visigoths existed, Neptune exists, or Sudan exists. If I can't observe something, why should I assume it exists?
If everything is a product of my own imagination (and this is likely), then I am God of my own reality. It is also plausible that I am a product of someone else's reality, and this someone is God (though this is less likely). Theism, in this light, is logical.
Unlikely, though, is the presuupposition that unknown objects exist without cause or rationale. A material universe, void of ideas, is sheer quackery. - PointGiven, on 11/13/2009, -1/+6Oh and by Darth Vader I mean James Earl Jones/David Prowse, not that Hayden Christensen *****
- DennisOhlson, on 11/13/2009, -3/+8@atomicpoet You did not invent me, and your imagination did not Invent everything. My mother and father did the hoo haw lala lingy and created me. You cannot state that you have the sole power to invent everything with your imagination..Sure you might be able to see better then most people with your imagination, but its irrational to say that everything is created by your imagination. Not one person can do that at all Instead it should be not just you, but the whole world and every human being would need to be part of this imagination to create everything. I have control of my surroundings my imagination, you do not. Not at all. Sure you might be able to inspire people with thoughts But invent them no because the people themselves invent them . But i typed this to you, everyone that has typed this to you, exist. You cannot argue that they do not exist, because i am speaking to you right now. This just sounds like Narcissism with philosophy tacked on to it. Now please.. While i do agree with a few statements, like you do control your own reality that you are in. You do it in a I am everything. Look at me way, which is not good at all. For If you do invent anything, it is just a shallow version of what it could or could not be.
- gimmeslack12, on 11/13/2009, -1/+6So in other words Religious Leaders convened to "make-up" a new rule huh? No handsy's and No blocky's!
- MaTT2011, on 11/13/2009, -0/+5you forgot: /s
This all really sounds like either a fairly clever troll post or an illustration of a tenuous grasp of metaphysics, very sophomoric. - Junkyarddawg, on 11/13/2009, -2/+6How many aliens can dance on the head of a pin?
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