APO 204

Nathan Stoney

November, 20 2007

                                                Sci-fi: For Christians?

Increasingly, over the past few decades the sci-fi entertainment has become more common and popular, even to the point of being called the most popular genre of the 20^th century by Steven Spielberg. Since sci-fi portrays possible new technologies, distant space travel, and imaginary extraterrestials, it is quite fascinating and the graphics and special effects are unparalled in other genres. Now, is sci-fi profitable entertainment for men and, in particular, Christians? To answer this, we will discuss three questions: Where did sci-fi originate? What does it teach? and How does it glorify God?

Although the precise origin of sci-fi cannot be exactly pinpointed, five literary works from the first half of the 18^th century have been recognized as the key influential works of this genre. The most popular and renowned of these was undoubtedly Mary Shelly’s book Frankenstein, which is basically a story of how a scientist created life. Being driven by a desire for new scientific discoveries but still being categorized as fiction, sci-fi has unlimited potential and license to portray anything in a scientific and sophisticated way, even if it is scientifically impossible. For example, distant space travel is common in sci-fi films but it is known to be physically impossible because once an object reaches the speed of light it requires all of the available energy in the universe for acceleration and deceleration. A spacecraft traveling at this speed would be destroyed by hitting just a small dust particle. Since unrealism pervades this genre, the general public is somewhat duped into forgetting that sci-fi is fiction and supposes that the scientist are on the verge of new scientific breakthroughs when the scientists already know it is impossible. Anyone, even Christians, do not normally think when being entertained so this allow them to enjoy it and like it. Is this O.K.? Let us look at the next question to find out.

            From the evolutionary model of world history sci-fi is actually predicted to be true, because if life evolved on Earth it could have evolved on any other planet and could be millions of years more advanced. Obviously, sci-fi and evolution are connected and both promote a worldview without God and leads to the exaltation of men as they evolve and invent into new and wonderful things possibly how to live forever. With this as its underlying assumption sci-fi is diametrically opposed to God and His word and actually encourages men to move and think in a direction against God ( Ps. 14:1; Gen 1:1; Col 2:8). Christians who endorse sci-fi by watching it and buying the films are supporting a genre that is primarily against the true God and aiding anti-God sentiments. Since this the scriptures remind us to “ abstain from all appearance of evil”, one must see that participating in sci-fi will greatly inhibit his testimony to others.

            Being anti-God, how can sci-fi glorify God? From what I have seen it can’t unless the person is learning about it so he can explain how it is scientifically inaccurate and anti-God to a friend who has questions. It is not profitable for Christians to think on untruth (Phil 4:6) and take part in things that do not strengthen his walk with Christ. Watching or reading sci-fi actually nullifies you to it so it won’t bother you when it should which is not healthy for Christians. God is glorified when we keep Hs ways and praise Him for all that He has done for us not by entertaining ourselves, especially with something that supports false teaching.. Rom 12:1-2 tells Christians to be transformed by the renewing of our mind and this is done by hiding God’s word in our hearts (Ps. 119:10-11) and abiding in Him ( John 15:7-8). In the light of the scriptures sci-fi can be easily recognized as weight ( Heb 12:1) that will at least distracts us from the truth and possibly cause us to doubt the one and only true God.

            What does all this mean? For Christians sci-fi is a poor genre of entertainment to choose because it is so closely tied with evolutionary worldview and promotes man’s ability to surpass the impossible. It puts man in God’s place and although it is fiction it is presented in a convincing manner. Since the Lord Jesus Christ commands us to “Watch and pray” (Mt 26:41),  and Redeem the time in evil days ( Eph 5:16), Christians must look at their choices of entertainment and seriously reevaluate them.

                                                         Newspaper Article

                    Did the Bible authors trust Genesis?

Many Christians claim to trust the Bible as the authoritative word of God but when it comes to the first eleven chapters of Genesis they say it is full of stories or legends that are to be taken as allegories and metaphors. Now, let us have a look to see what the other Bible authors have to say about these chapters and if they deemed them as actual history that affects biblical doctrine or just as good stories to learn moral lessons from. To do this we will look at three biblical individuals that are mentioned in the first eleven chapters of Genesis and also mentioned in the N.T.: Abel, Enoch, and Noah.

Lk 11: 51 “ From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias,

which perished between the altar and the temple; verily I say unto

you, It shall be required of this generation.”

Here from Jesus’ own mouth we see how Jesus considered the first few chapters of Genesis. While condemning the lawyers for not being an example and help to men, He seriously informs them.” That the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation”. He then continues the rebuke by reminding them of some of the crimes their ancestors committed; “From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple (Lk 11:50)”. First of all, if the foundations of the world existed for millions of years before men had evolved then the first prophet’s (Abel) blood could not have been shed at the foundation of the world. Citing these examples of killing God’s spokesmen, Jesus convicts His audience and clearly reveals to them how man has consistently attempted to silence God’s prophets. If these examples were not actual people but fictitious legends, the argument would have been ridiculously fallacious. Since Abel and Zacharias were actual prophets unworthily slain by the lawyers’ ancestors, Jesus considers them responsible for the hideous crime. Being the Son of God, the judgments of Jesus are always just. In Heb 12: 23-24 God is described to be the Judge of all and Jesus as our mediator whose blood it is “ that speaks better things then that of Abel.” Now what power does the blood of Jesus our mediator have if it is being compared to the blood of a metaphor? If Abel’s was blood was just imaginary then Jesus’ would be imaginary to be a consistent comparison. Most definitely, the writer considers this information from Genesis to be literal.

            Ju. 14 “ And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam. Prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Our second character is Enoch. Importantly, we note in Jude that Enoch is, “the seventh from Adam”. This phrase firmly shows us that the author not only accepted this character as a real person but also states when and how far from the first man he lived. Using Enoch’s historical prophecy of judgment on false teachers, Jude solidly presents the coming judgment on false teachers. Truly, if Jude presented this warning knowing it was an imaginary prophecy from an imaginary person. Could he logically expect it to have an affect on the false teachers? The false teachers would have laughed at him and not even paid any attention to him. With the early and unique departure Enoch had from Earth it is easy to understand why false teachers then and people now do not believe the Biblical account. Solidly , though, Heb 11:5 confirms Gen 5: 22-24. There are no discrepancies and all the details we are given match up, showing us that the historical facts were accurately kept over thousands of years. Metaphors and legends would have been changed and stretched over this length of time. This is another strong confirmation that this character was a real and prominent historical person to the Jewish people over thousands of years.

Mt 24:37 but as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Finally, we will look at Noah and the great water judgment of his day. Although many Christians firmly assert that Noah’s Flood was no more than a tiny local event, that has no affects on biblical doctrine or is just a myth, Christians who consider the way the N. T. authors treat Noah and the Flood realize that they fully held it to be historical fact. In his epistles Peter makes reference to Noah’s Flood for an example of God’s patience with the ungodly but also reveals the certainty of coming judgment on wicked men. Simply, reading the text reveals that Peter regarded Noah’s Flood as not only an actual, historical fact, but also as an unparalleled event that demonstrates God’s thoroughness and imminence in judgment. If this event was a myth or local event, why would Peter use it to refer to the coming day of judgment? It would entirely lack any power and raise serious questions on the doctrine of judgment. According to the Bible judgment is coming for all and there is no neutral zone! (Rev 20:15) One is either good or bad!. Definitely, Peter is not the only N. T. author who mentioned Noah. In Heb 11:4 the author tells of Noah’s faith in God when the flood came. If the flood was a legend, faith would be believing in imaginary things. Faith is “ the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen”(Heb11:7 ), not something make-believe.( Rom 8: 24-25). Now, how about we go to the mouth of Jesus and see what He has to say about Noah’s Flood. Yes, Jesus really did mention it!  (Jesus is the Living Word so all the scriptures are His words.) When referring to the day that the Son of Man returns (Mt. 24:36-39), Jesus compares it with days of Noah. In both of these judgments the prerequisite is unimaginable wickedness and the result is judgment on all. Obviously, one who takes Noah and the Flood as a myth or local flood is holding to an interpretation that is not based on scripture and contradicts essential doctrine of the Christian faith such as the Lord Jesus Christ’s second coming.

Studying these three historical people, one must start to see the validity and importance of the first eleven chapters of Genesis and how it relates to biblical doctrine. Undeniably, all the Bible’s authors dogmatically believed Genesis as true history!