What if I told you that not only the world we live in is way crazier than we may think, but the Bible is equally as crazy. There is a growing number of phenomenon spreading throughout our culture that is sparking conversations about Angels, Demons, the Paranormal, the Supernatural, Ancient Giants, Cryptids, and even…Aliens/UFOs.
Ok, before you give me that really confused look, hear me out. When I started this blog, I intended to blog within the bounds of the Bible, Theology, and Culture, and, believe it or not, these fringe topics dip into all three. Although this will be an ongoing series, I will be dipping in and out of this subject so as not to become chained to it. My goal is not to become a paranormal blog site. I only want to bring up things that I think can or do have a connection to the Bible and may or may not have an effect on the way we think about our theology. I have had my own experiences with things that would find themselves on the fringes of Christian beliefs, but I believe that thinking about these things will have a profound impact on the way I view the world. The truth is…the world around us is thinking of these things and we should too.
Aliens in Academia
Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist who has taught at the University of Oxford and is has authored several books, one of the more popular ones would be his book, The God Delusion. Dawkins is a well-educated man who is also an ardent atheist. In an interview with Ben Stein, Dawkins was pressured by Stein to give answers to the evolutionary view of the origins of life. Dawkins actually suggested that it is possible that Aliens seeded life here on earth…There are some obvious problems with this, but we will get to that in one part of this series. My point is that Dawkins is not alone in this type of thinking and we need to be aware of this. Going unchallenged, this view offers some explanatory power and satisfaction to the intellectual and spiritually curious while giving them permission to deny a God that could hold them accountable.
Stats
USA Today synthesized some data from Pew Research concerning the supernatural. The data speaks for itself: “65% of Americans told Pew they believe in the
supernatural — reincarnation, spiritual energy, yoga as spiritual practice, the ‘evil eye,’ astrology, connecting with the dead, consulting a psychic or experiencing a ghostly encounter. And 49% say they've had ‘a religious or mystical experience.’”[1] Some research concerning extraterrestrials suggests that 47% of people polled believe they exist and 19% say they have had an encounter of some kind.[2]
Let's Wrap This Up
I would like to warn you that the rabbit hole we are about to journey through is not an easy one. Several years ago I decided to explore some these mysterious caverns of the fringe (as I said, I had some experiences that needed some explanation) and some of what I found fundamentally changed the way I look at the world, my faith, and the scriptures that I (and many others) hold sacred for the better. It was a challenging task, but I found that these perplexing questions that seem to push against the Christian belief actually play into a supernatural/ancient near-eastern view of the Bible. We will explore some of these issues and see what the Bible has to say about them. These ideas may be strange at first, but it is Okay To Think through them.
Bonus
I recently read a book that fundamentally changed the way I read the Bible. The author, Dr. Michael Heiser, wrote two versions of this book: The Unseen Realm - A scholarly, peer-reviewed book with lots of depth, and Supernatural - The same content as The Unseen Realm, but was written for the layman.
Sources
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[2] http://www.openminds.tv/new-survey-shows-nearly-half-of-americans-believe-in-aliens/40710
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