175. Are the Aliens Liars, Lunatics, or Lords?
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We’ve explored much about alien theories, but now a whole new official cast of characters claims they’ve seen or heard about evidence that They’re Here. And now this common Christian response has become a meme: aliens are just demons. Well, are they? If these creatures exist, are they deceiving us? Or maybe if they fly all this way only to be seen or crash, they’re just kind of stupid? Or perhaps they’re here to teach us a better way? We shall explore a familiar theme in a new fashion: are any aliens liars, lunatics, or lords?
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Concession stand
- This is our latest installment in the ongoing Armies of the Aliens series.
- We won’t say your favorite thing re. aliens. Maybe an earlier episode did.
- For example, some of this overlaps with end-times fan theories (ep. 80).
1. The aliens could be liars—that is, Satanic agents.
- This is perhaps the most common evangelical view (close to Stephen’s).
- Plenty of these videos and “eyewitness” accounts are pranks or scams.
- But many people who claim closer encounters are messing with spirits.
- Some researchers see parallels between aliens/medieval demon visits.
- A few people have halted “alien” activity by calling on the name of Jesus.
- Alien Intrusion, an older book by Gary Bates, documents some of these.
2. The aliens could be lunatics—they make no sense.
- Zack knows more about this, but why travel to Earth in the first place?
- We’re not losing precious materials like minerals or natural resources.
- Military “hauntings” make little sense without some material motive.
- Also, all that technology and their spaceships keep being seen in public?
- Crashed spaceships seems even more comical for advanced beings.
- If aliens exist, then perhaps they are just as stupid as humans can be.
3. The aliens could be lords—spiritually enlightened.
- This is a common notion across all of science fiction, often in 1980s–90s.
- Of course we have plenty of Star Trek examples for “incorporeal beings.”
- Stephen once glimpsed a TV movie with heroes happily “absorbed.”
- After that, aliens went back to being invaders and mysterious forces.
- But we wouldn’t be surprised if aliens went back to sex-affirming “lords.”
- And with that, we’re right back to the “aliens are demons” idea again.
Mission update
- New article this Thursday: Should We Seek the Gospel ‘According To’ Popular Stories?
- New review this Friday: Victoria McCombs’s pirate fantasy Savage Bred.
- Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild!
- There you can join conversations about this Armies of the Aliens series.
Com station
Guild heroine Jenny Hasteen said about episode 174:
Excited to listen to this! Let’s face it, most of us homeschoolers were philosophically shaped by Adventures in Odyssey.
Mahina also remarked in the Guild:
It was a really long one but felt too short! I’ve got to go back and listen to Phil’s other episodes. Philosophy never sounded interesting to me but now I’m intrigued
Next on Fantastical Truth
Back here on Earth among us humans, God has called every person to create stuff using his stuff. But as we know, many Christian leaders and churches have gotten busy or really ignorant. They don’t heed our Creator’s call to lead a rich imaginative life for the common good in our world. How can we cultivate this vital mission? Ted Turnau, author of Popologetics and coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent (with Stephen), has a new big book out: Oasis of Imagination: Engaging our World Through a Better Creativity, and a shorter companion, Imagination Manifesto: A Call to Plant Oases of Imagination! Ted will make his Lorehaven debut to help our creative gardens flourish.
When I was growing up, the idea of aliens existing was kind of seen as ‘silly’ or ‘crazy’. It was ok to have them in a story, but there was some caution around them because of how far off base people get when they go down the alien rabbit hole. Furthermore, some of the Christians I grew up around recognized that some people’s fascination for aliens started to come before their relationship with God. Somewhere in my late teens or early twenties my attitude toward aliens changed a bit. I wasn’t usually demeaning about it, but as a kid I didn’t really believe in aliens and was pretty sure they didn’t exist. Now that I’m older, I’m somewhat ‘agnostic’ on the idea — aliens MIGHT be real, but they also might NOT be real. I will watch, weigh out all the information and see, just as I do with a lot of other topics.
I do believe it is important to discuss the hypotheticals of this issue, though. When some shows and documentaries discuss the search for alien life, they sometimes talk about waltzing up to the aliens the minute they are discovered, trying to communicate with them and ‘introduce’ them to what humans and planet earth is like. That probably isn’t a good idea. We should observe any aliens as long as possible before we even consider introducing ourselves. With aliens, we would have very little idea of what we are actually dealing with, and the minute we make them aware of our existence, we can’t take that back. Like it or not, the side that is aware of the other first has the advantage.
When it comes to the trustworthiness of aliens, we could unfortunately have a scenario like in Young Justice, where some aliens seem to be benevolent, but we have no idea what is really going on with them and it turns out that their benevolence is a manipulative front for something horrific. But then we could have aliens that genuinely ARE good and act almost like missionaries in the sense that they have a genuine desire to help, and we could attack them or even start a war when it isn’t necessary. But even if the aliens were genuinely benevolent, that doesn’t mean we should automatically accept their help or leadership. Any ‘help’ the aliens give could backfire in a way that neither side anticipated.
I would rather people be more wary of aliens than careless. At the same time, humans getting scared and panicky is also a problem, and could be almost as devastating as being naive. We need to think of all the possibilities, account for them and learn how to handle them, but we need to do it in a wise and calm manner, not in a way that leaves us too panicked to see that we are stumbling toward (or being herded toward) a metaphorical cliff.
If aliens were real, spreading fear and confusion could actually be their strategy. They could be coming in just close enough to do all manner of weird, random things because they know it’ll send us all into a tizzy. One that will eventually weaken us or set off a chain of events that practically destroys us. The more varied, random and controversial the ‘encounters’ are, the more effective this tactic will probably be.
Or, this tactic could be one that humans use on each other. Whether or not aliens are real, there is a very heavy psychological aspect to this issue. People could easily use the idea of aliens to manipulate others.
As far as podcast length goes, I think it would be good for each episode to be about an hour on average, but if the conversation is good and flowing, go ahead and let the episode go longer.