Comments for Aliens? Be not afraid at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 13 out of 13 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:20:12 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6227 Science Fiction seems, unfortunately, to be yet another precinct of culture that is hostile to the Church. For example, Michael Moorcocks ugly BEHOLD THE MAN or just last year, Terry Pratchet joining Dawkins, Hitchins and others in demanding that the Holy Father be arrested and arraigned when he visited England, Scotland, and Wales. Many years ago a friend gave me a short story about an Anglican missionary who discovers that his alien converts, believing that the Crucifixion demanded imitation, crucified one of their own. Arthur C. Clarke's short story about the Star of Bethlehem being a supernova that destroyed a civilization also seems to represent a hostility to the Church. Mr. Clarke is on record as calling religion a virus, a infection to be eradicated. (Although C.S. Lewis praised CHILDHOOD'S END.) A Catholic imagination has never been more important... - Graham Combs Sun, 06 Mar 2011 16:11:10 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6211 Thomas..... Adam and Eve had very much to be proud of, so perhaps got a little too big for their britches. Pride is an attractive temptation for people so very gifted. They were outsmarted by the devil despite their original, unfallen nature and preternatural gifts. He was a clever tempter because he had already committed his own original sin, and was even able to convince half of the heavenly hosts to join in the grand mutiny. God gave the original couple sufficient grace to resist temptation but did not isolate them from it. Free, rational creatures must be able to withstand the evil influence of other free creatures. They failed the test of love. It was deliberate. - Berto Bartos Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:08:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6198 Grump: "Man may have been made perfect, but his descent was so obvious that he needed saving from hell, as no other species on earth, needs. Which makes him the worst of creation, ipso facto." But we are also the only beings made for Heaven, which makes us the BEST of creation! - Marcus Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:30:35 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6194 Hi Moz! Actually there is such a Sci Fi novel. Its called "The Facade" written by Dr. Mike Heiser. - John Hoben Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:27:28 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6192 The paradox of Oringinal Sin makes no dent in my faith in God or my accepatance of all that the Church holds to be revealed by God, but I am still puzzled by how Adam and Even could have been tricked into sin if they themselves did not already have Orginal Sin. After all, pride, avarice, weakness before temptation, and the inclicnation to worship creations instead of the Creator, are parts of our fallen nature as the result of Original Sin. So how did our first parents fall into sin if they did already have those flaws. It adds little to expalin this just to say that they had free will but abused to it disobey God. No doubt our greatest theolgians and Doctors of the Church have wrestled long and hard with this one, but I haven't found anything that doesn't have me resorting to the hope that I will grasp these things in the next world. - Thomas C. Coleman, Jr. Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:46:16 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6191 Again, the venerable C.S. Lewis should be consulted. He wrote a trilogy of outstanding theological/science fiction works ("Out of the Silent Planet"; "Perlandra"; "That Hideous Strength"). He demonstrates quite aptly that the Christian worldview can contain many worlds, even within our own space-time dimension. The interesting thing is, that doesn't even seem to be his main concern... - Billy Bean Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:00:14 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6188 William, to balance out those who think so much of themselves. : ) - Grump Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:49:57 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6187 The Fall of Adam and Eve, from whom we are all descendants, resulted in making all of us earthlings the victims of Original Sin. Thus rather than never experiencing death as initially intended by God in the Garden of Eden, we earthly people suffer from the flaws of our wounded nature, including death and concupicence,which leads us into sin against God. Could aliens have a more perfect nature, because they are not affected by our Original Sin? - Rudy Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:26:00 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6186 So, Grump' "If there are other species, one can't help believe they are more intelligent and "humane" than the flawed one that exists on Earth." Why do you think so little of yourself? - William Z Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:25:44 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6185 Jake...actually that conclusion was mine, not Clarke's. Man may have been made perfect, but his descent was so obvious that he needed saving from hell, as no other species on earth, needs. Which makes him the worst of creation, ipso facto. Face it, Adam and Eve blew it. - Grump Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:16:59 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6184 The last part gave me the chills. Would love to read a sci-fi book with that as its theme. - The Moz Wed, 02 Mar 2011 04:29:30 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6183 Grump I don't get it. Explain why your buddy thinks they must be better than us? They could be but who knows and what in the universe gives us a clue in either direction? Either way this is exciting! How will the secular people feel if these new aliens find them to be naive and vapid and only respect and desire serious consultation with the religious? Maybe from another perspective fundamentalist secularism would seem absurd. (I have a feeling Battlestar Galactica and other pop sci fi got it wrong..religious belief will thrive in the Space Age and not everything will be named after a Greek god!) - Jacob R Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:49:05 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/aliens-be-not-afraid.html#comment-6181 I think it was sci-fi writer Arthur Clarke who said there were two possibilities about life in the universe, both frightening: "Either we are alone or we are not alone." If there are other species, one can't help believe they are more intelligent and "humane" than the flawed one that exists on Earth. Or, put another way, the difference between the universe and human stupidity may be that there are limits to the universe. : ) - Grump Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:10:02 +0100