MovieChat Forums > Paul (2011) Discussion > Why is the belief in God and the existen...

Why is the belief in God and the existence of aliens mutually exclusive?

posted 12 years ago by runner-15
20 replies | jump to latest

As a sci-fi fan I enjoyed this movie.
But as a Christian there were some scenes I found offensive.
Am I the only Christian that believes in the existence of aliens?
When I look at the size and scope of the universe I not only believe they may exist, I believe they MUST exist. No God would create a universe with 300 billion +/- galaxies each with 300 billion +/- stars and leave it empty of life save for this one small planet in a isolated corner of the Milky way.
At the same time as a science buff when I study the wonderful complexities required for life I find it impossible to believe that life began by accident.
There had to have been a designer.
They could have made the movie without the God bashing and appealed to a even wider audience.
And don't even get me started on the 6000 year thing. There is nowhere in the Bible that says the earth is 6000 years old (By the way the movie even got this wrong and said 4000 years.)
The 6000 year myth comes from one man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbishop_Ussher I have been a Christian raised all my life in a very conservative area and don't know anyone other than a couple of uninformed little old ladies who believe this.

[–] Niceguyeddie690 12 years ago

The movie makes fun of creationists. They aren't targeting all Christians. If you dont believe the world is 4000 years old then they weren't making fun of you.

[–] hadmatter 12 years ago

They could have made the movie without the God bashing and appealed to a even wider audience.

Probably. But that's not the movie they wanted to make, and they are not required to water down their opinions just to create a more generalized appeal. So they made the movie that they intended. Some people loved it, some didn't. Why do you think they have a responsibility to not offend?

And don't even get me started on the 6000 year thing. There is nowhere in the Bible that says the earth is 6000 years old (By the way the movie even got this wrong and said 4000 years.)

If there is nowhere in the bible that says the earth is 6000 years old, then how can they be "wrong" for saying 4000?

In any case, there are people who believe (quite incorrectly, of course) that the earth is 4000 years old. It's not the movie that is wrong, it is those crazy people.

What really confuses me is why a person who is not a young earth creationist would be offended by anything in this movie, since the only Christians being ridiculed were YECs. Even Paul himself does not discount the possibility of the existence of god.

I am the sod-off shotgun.

[–] floppypig_16 12 years ago

The bible states that your God only created humans, angels and animals (I guess?) with intelligence. By that rationale, we would have to assume that either he also did this on other planets, yet failed to mention it in the holy book which is supposed to answer all... which is... interesting.

Or that he did not create aliens and they were (supposedly) created by a different "god"? I guess?

This would mean your god is no longer the "one and only" God, which kind of defeats the whole thing... so.....

Yeah. It is kind of hard to swallow aliens and the christian god in the same sentence.

No, there does not have to have been a designer. You say you study the complexities of life, study it some more. It really is all rather simple when you grasp the central concept and then realise it has been operating for millions of years (evolution).

You can even see artificial evolution that we garnered over just a few decades with the reptiles, I think (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that we shipped off to an island. Basically, we shipped off some reptiles (or was it birds?) to a place they had never inhabited before and, in only a few decades, they had started changing and developing to fit in with their new surrondings. They have had phenotypical changes like their jaw actually completely changed. That was a few decades, now compound that and imagine what it could do in MILLIONS of years....

It really isn't all that complicated. The details are, yes, but the general concept makes a boat-load of sense.

[–] rfunke 12 years ago

I don't get it either. I don't get the guy's comment who thinks the Bible should mention life on other planets. It's not a science book. It's a collection of books from different periods of time that are believed to be divinely inspired.

Science is not in conflict with religion. They serve entirely different purposes. Arguing over which is right or wrong is pointless and counter productive.

[–] I_Created_U 10 years ago

Science and religion are ontologically mutually exclusive and people who advocate for both at the same time are merely lacking in consistency, they fail to perceive the scope of the implications of those antagonistic cosmogonies.

If one is true, the other necessarily isn't.

People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs

[–] reaseltbim 12 years ago

That's because aliens were creatures created by the Devil. Just like God created humans the Devil created the aliens and they are evil. That's why they come here and abduct people and do the tests on people because they are created by evil and they want to come here and invade Earth, and make Earth worship their creator.
I'll look down, and whisper no

[–] galahadfairlight 12 years ago

Its great that you're so open minded about the universe, unfortunately theres lots of religious types that are not.

Take for instance the view that man is created in gods image.

Thats great and all, but if there are aliens in the universe and they happen to be superior to us in every way, why wouldn't they be the ones created in Gods image, instead of inferior us?

This signature has stupidity!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlgACO7ZBuw

[–] BrianZKing-1 11 years ago

Paul's existence would actually be a more compelling argument for intelligent design. It is evolutionary infeasible that a race could parallel evolve so similar to humans (sternal-xiphoidal process, tree-dwelling biped stance, pectoral-trapezial architecture, facial structure, hands and feet) in such a different environment. Seeing such similar species on such different planets is more suggestive of a common origin.

[–] king_of_bob 10 years ago

Paul's existence would actually be a more compelling argument for intelligent design.

No, it really isn't. Paul even refers to the irreducible complexity argument being garbage.

It is evolutionary infeasible that a race could parallel evolve so similar to humans (sternal-xiphoidal process, tree-dwelling biped stance, pectoral-trapezial architecture, facial structure, hands and feet) in such a different environment.

No, it isn't. Especially when we see the history of Pauls race and his planet does not appear all that different from Earth. It's unlikely, but not at all infeasible.

Seeing such similar species on such different planets is more suggestive of a common origin.

Given that we don't even know how common life is in the films universe, let alone intelligent life capable of traveling between stars, there is no way for us to calculate the odds of Paul's race being as similar to humans as they are. So this is in no way an argument towards the existence of a creator.

The new home of Welcome to Planet Bob: http://kingofbob.blogspot.ca/

[–] psdhart 11 years ago

Its great that you're so open minded about the universe, unfortunately theres lots of religious types that are not.

I agree

[–] vortexrider 11 years ago

Contrary to stereotypes many of us Christians are open minded here in USA, whether aliens exist or not does not change anything we believe, nor affect what we do. There are some states and some churches that have more extremist beliefs, but they are regional mostly, and they get most attention from the secular media.

[–] flickfix 11 years ago

Religion is founded on human's narcissistic believe that we are the reason the Universe was created. Earth is at the center of the Universe, and everything revolve around us, and so on. It's a good way to provoke, "Why are we here, what's the meaning of our existence?" That we have a purpose, a destined life.

So, naturally, God ( or those who write about God ) made everything as a support system for us. Then, aliens serve no purpose. Unless it's aliens we can eat when we made colony of other planets.

Yes, life a one unlikable lottery of the Universe. But think about the amount of time it took to get that lottery ticket and you'll see it's possible. And maybe our Universe had previously went Big Bang, expanded for gazillions years, contracted for another gazillion years back to singularly several cyclical times ( or hundreds of cycles ) before, with no life. Who knows. Also, this lottery ticket only last a short, brief blip in the entire lifetime of the Universe.

[–] vortexrider 11 years ago

They think these two are exclusive because some people, like ones commenting here aren't an Atheist or a Christian because they genuinely studied and analyzed both sides but want to be contrarian and they want to be right so they could brag and belittle the one on the other side.
In this case as you can see, there are more absolutist, dogmatic, extremists from the atheist side. They sound pseudo intellectual and usually it is an easy thing to spot.
Personally I think two, extraterrestrials and some religious beliefs can be true and somehow support each other. Who knows what science may be discovered in the distant future. God could be a representation of some gigantic supercomputer which somehow exactly fulfills every attribute required to be God.
But you'll only find prideful hate in online forums.