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Seen a Time Lord lately?
One of the hottest television shows comes from Great Britain. Russell T. Davies resurrected the old Doctor Who series from oblivion. This science fiction series has been around since 1963 and originally started off as a children’s show. Mr. Davies spun off a new series, Torchwood, in an effort to produce a more adult version of science fiction. Torchwood is certainly much more adult in its themes. Very adult! It is a dark, nihilistic exploration of our world in conflict with alien life.
Recently, the third season of Torchwood drew huge critical acclaim for its miniseries, “Children of Earth”. I watched the show on iTunes and was momentarily shocked by a short scene in the first episode. A physician is talking to Gwen, one of the Torchwood team members. He has witnessed mysterious suicides by Christians. He said these Christians are killing themselves because they now realize Earth is not unique in the universe and there is life elsewhere. Since that means we humans are but insignificant specks of life in a vast universe then life has no meaning and there is no God. All of life comes from pure evolution. Why go on living, they asked. Their answer was to kill themselves since everything they had ever believed in was a lie.
What about you? If you are a Christian, how would you react if you discovered there was life outside the Earth? If aliens appeared on our galactic doorstep tomorrow, would you be devastated? Would you, as a Christian, commit suicide in bitter despair?
This question of humanity’s place in the universe is at the heart of my next book, “The 11th Demon: Children of the Bloodstone”. The book asks just such questions although it, in no way, encourages despair and hopelessness. Rather, the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe would have two possible meanings. First, God created life in more places than Earth. Second, just because these extraterrestrials may not believe in God, it doesn’t mean there is no God. Rather than feeling hopeless, I would be excited.
What about you? Do you believe there is life elsewhere? Are aliens living among us? Do you believe God could create life somewhere else in the universe other than Earth? These are fascinating questions. Think about it. Pray about it. Talk about it. In future blog posts, I will begin to unfold some of the scientific facts behind these questions as well as some of the theological implications.
Rather than running off to a room, closing the door, and considering suicide, I would think that most Christians would have a more thoughtful and rational approach to the possible presence of other life outside the Earth. Mr. Davies storyline is typical of non-believers who equate belief in the God of the Bible with anti-intellectual lifestyles. Forget the fact that all of modern science was birthed in a God centered, Christian worldview. The enemy of early science was not God. It was the Church. And, the Church of that time was controlled by power hungry humans. In spite of that, these early pioneers of modern science such as Copernicus, Blaise Pascal, Gallileo, Tycho Brahe, and their contemporaries forged on with their scientific discoveries in search of the mysteries of a Creator who had brought into existence such a fabulous universe. Isaac Newton, himself a Christian, took the Biblical process of scripture “exegesis” and adapted it into what we now know as the scientific method. It is sobering for skeptics to realize that we owe modern science to the method developed by Augustine to verify the truthfulness of scripture.
So, in future posts, I will begin to unfold fascinating and telling arguments and discussions about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. All of which will set the stage for the release of “The 11th Demon: Children of the Bloodstone.” Look to the skies!
