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Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?
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If an Alien landed on Earth looking for a Worldview of truth?
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Rod
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Jun 02, 2015 06:02PM
Imagine a space alien lands on planet earth. He begins his quest for religious (or atheistic) truth. Where should he start?
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I say start by having a look around.
Mr. Alien spots and observes Buddhists, Christians, Mormons, Hindu's, Vikings, Atheists, and every degree of confusion and abuse inbetween...
"Would one baptize an extraterrestrial? "One should first ask, what's the purpose of baptism? What would one achieve after baptism and who is it for?
Baptism is for the called out people (human beings) of God after repentance and to then receive the gift of the holy spirit of God. It would therefore not fit the purpose of any extraterrestrial.
I therefore say that if an alien is on a quest for truth, the first question to ask is what is its purpose here on Earth?
Thanks Christalife. Although an extra-terrestrial might just be another branch of humans. WE wouldn't know until we tried breeding. But thankfully there are NO aliens so this will never be a serious issue.
But the point:
How would an alien go about looking for religious truth? Or the lack of? There is definitely a world full of religion to sort through. And the temples of atheism would have to be investigated as well.
How? As I had mentioned before Rod - purpose!
This search for purpose should aim to answer reason for existence, even before that - initial cause (Is there a first cause? A necessary being? An uncaused cause?), and then how to live according to that purpose.
Sounds great.Not sure if it would lead the Alien to Islam or Hinduism. Atheists might assume that would be in their favor. Please explain more.
If an alien manages to land on earth, it means that the difference in technological sophistication and economic prowess between them and us is probably greater than the difference between western Europeans and the indigenous people of the Americas 500 years ago. And we all know how that encounter turned out.
And that equals religious truth How?
I am not sure about this, but could it be that Christianity is considered the truth by most ppl today partly because it happened to be the religion of the "winners" (the Roman empire, and later the European colonial empires)?
Who cares who WON!?It's all about what facts match our reality best.
And our world just can't seem to ignore those Jews. Something about them really makes people angry enough to have a holocaust or two. Between that and all those other religions borrowing from the Bible... Hmmm, there's something worth looking into there.
Rod wrote: "Who cares who WON!?It's all about what facts match our reality best.
And our world just can't seem to ignore those Jews. Something about them really makes people angry enough to have a holocaust ..."
Many, if not most, pogroms were done by self proclaimed Christians. What does this say about Christianity with this logic?
And yet Jesus and Paul were Jewish?! Hmmmm.
This tells us more about Satan than it does Christianity.
I can't believe this conversational topic died so quickly. This was to be my finest moment. :c(
This was the funniest topic EVER! I just assume people are boring... or have jobs and busy families... or thinking is too difficult this time of year.
Rod - where would our alien get his information from? Could he read minds? If not then, unless he is an incredible speed reader, he'd glean his info from the same sources we do: TV, print media, and readily available entertainment outlets. From this he could only conclude: Satan is in total control of the earthly realm. Oh sure, some try for the heavenly high ground, but cultural temptations rule the day. Our alien could only conclude that hedonism vastly outstrips (pun intended) any other mortal worldview.
Yes, they would have to see which writings match reality. It would be fun to observe aliens observing Buddhists to see if they come back from the dead as cows or grasshoppers.
As much fun as observing atheists abuse the word GOOD.
The bible only has 1 talking donkey, 1 talking snake, and a 1 time risen Savior. And it mentions lots of evil - like Robert said.
Xdyj wrote: "Rod wrote: "Who cares who WON!?
It's all about what facts match our reality best.
And our world just can't seem to ignore those Jews. Something about them really makes people angry enough to have ..."
It's me who's going to give YOU a pat on the back for this one (without being paternalistic, of course).
The Robert who has chimed in here is the Robert with the creation pseudo-science book and "God's" imprimatur, and the Mark of Cain being the Oriental eye nonsense.
Robert Core may care to divert for a moment (happens a lot) from this most profound topic, and expand on his Christian biblical conclusions regarding your ancestors - especially the stuff about them not even existing until after the mythological Flood of Yahweh and that terrible mythological incident with the God Gate in the Middle East that explains far more reasonably than the sciences of linguistics, why humans now have different languages (and rainbows and such)
It's all about what facts match our reality best.
And our world just can't seem to ignore those Jews. Something about them really makes people angry enough to have ..."
It's me who's going to give YOU a pat on the back for this one (without being paternalistic, of course).
The Robert who has chimed in here is the Robert with the creation pseudo-science book and "God's" imprimatur, and the Mark of Cain being the Oriental eye nonsense.
Robert Core may care to divert for a moment (happens a lot) from this most profound topic, and expand on his Christian biblical conclusions regarding your ancestors - especially the stuff about them not even existing until after the mythological Flood of Yahweh and that terrible mythological incident with the God Gate in the Middle East that explains far more reasonably than the sciences of linguistics, why humans now have different languages (and rainbows and such)
Rod wrote: "This was the funniest topic EVER! I just assume people are boring... or have jobs and busy families... or thinking is too difficult this time of year."
Or because many people do not want to talk to someone who refuses to take them seriously :)
Whoa! the atheists are taking over. And they're GROUCHY.
Stuart - the Tower of Babel explains the linguistics part. So what was the mark of Cain, Stuart? You probably are even loathe to consider that Atlantis was the "Great City" founded by Cain's offspring. What a lack of imagination you suffer from. Are all atheists such insufferable bores?
Rod - REALITY? That's almost as undefinable as "logical" or my personal favorite "pure reason". Next you'll tell me you've cornered the "truth" market. Still got Seth riding a Brontosaurus to work?
Here's a little passage out of my sci-fi book that addresses this issue.
"Yith" is an alien who has used relatively advanced genetic engineering, plus some informatics techniques, to transform himself into human form. His purpose was to become the human same-sex partner of our narrator.
**********************************
"It seems I didn’t have the rope to plumb the depths of how deeply Yith loved me. When he was quoting (the book of) Ruth at me (earlier on), I didn’t take him literally. “Your God will be my God” – the bible is non-specific on the status of, umm, trans-species-uals, and I wasn’t expecting him to take an interest in our church. And then there was, “where you die, I’ll die” – needless to say, I still had high hopes that somehow, he wouldn’t have to cash in his interstellar career because of a fleeting dalliance as my (if I should be so lucky) life partner.
Nonetheless, he treated it all very literally, it seemed. He allowed himself to be baptised as a member of the Tserkvem tse Vweialer, our church (on the planet Vweialer), shortly after we got together. Our pastor Tomas Ngeitam told me, in answer to my queries, “Of course there’s a scripture for aliens – we’ve just never had to use it before.” He read the following before baptising Yith:
“Nurture your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may see the extraordinary truths in your laws. I am an alien on the Earth; do not hide your commandments from me. My soul, at all times, is crushed with longing after your justice.”
Pity that it named the Earth instead of Vweialer, but it caught the gist. That’s Psalm 119 if you’re curious; the word for ‘alien’ is Hebrew ‘ger’ – as the dictionary says, ‘guest; by implication, a foreigner, alien, or sojourner.’
***********************************
"Yith" is an alien who has used relatively advanced genetic engineering, plus some informatics techniques, to transform himself into human form. His purpose was to become the human same-sex partner of our narrator.
**********************************
"It seems I didn’t have the rope to plumb the depths of how deeply Yith loved me. When he was quoting (the book of) Ruth at me (earlier on), I didn’t take him literally. “Your God will be my God” – the bible is non-specific on the status of, umm, trans-species-uals, and I wasn’t expecting him to take an interest in our church. And then there was, “where you die, I’ll die” – needless to say, I still had high hopes that somehow, he wouldn’t have to cash in his interstellar career because of a fleeting dalliance as my (if I should be so lucky) life partner.
Nonetheless, he treated it all very literally, it seemed. He allowed himself to be baptised as a member of the Tserkvem tse Vweialer, our church (on the planet Vweialer), shortly after we got together. Our pastor Tomas Ngeitam told me, in answer to my queries, “Of course there’s a scripture for aliens – we’ve just never had to use it before.” He read the following before baptising Yith:
“Nurture your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may see the extraordinary truths in your laws. I am an alien on the Earth; do not hide your commandments from me. My soul, at all times, is crushed with longing after your justice.”
Pity that it named the Earth instead of Vweialer, but it caught the gist. That’s Psalm 119 if you’re curious; the word for ‘alien’ is Hebrew ‘ger’ – as the dictionary says, ‘guest; by implication, a foreigner, alien, or sojourner.’
***********************************
Robert wrote: "Stuart - the Tower of Babel explains the linguistics part. So what was the mark of Cain, Stuart? You probably are even loathe to consider that Atlantis was the "Great City" founded by Cain's offspr..."
The Tower of Babel is primitive fable to explain why we have languages. Yahweh got wrathful again and punished the humans below. Simple stuff for simple people.
The Dead Sea is so salty because Yahweh got wrathful again and turned a woman into a block of salt. Simple stuff for simple people.
Rainbows appear in the sky to remind Yahweh not to get wrathful again and open the windows of the biblical dome we live under. Simple stuff for simple people.
The Jewish deity Yahweh is mythological.
The Bible fables are mythology.
Yahweh is not "God".
The Bibles are not the "Word of God".
Atlantis founded by the Sons of Cain ...? Not a shred of mythology, let alone evidence, offered to back that up.
But we did have the word "imagination".
"Imagination" is probably the most important word Robert Core has used.
"Imagination" is probably the most important word in all Christianity.
The Tower of Babel is primitive fable to explain why we have languages. Yahweh got wrathful again and punished the humans below. Simple stuff for simple people.
The Dead Sea is so salty because Yahweh got wrathful again and turned a woman into a block of salt. Simple stuff for simple people.
Rainbows appear in the sky to remind Yahweh not to get wrathful again and open the windows of the biblical dome we live under. Simple stuff for simple people.
The Jewish deity Yahweh is mythological.
The Bible fables are mythology.
Yahweh is not "God".
The Bibles are not the "Word of God".
Atlantis founded by the Sons of Cain ...? Not a shred of mythology, let alone evidence, offered to back that up.
But we did have the word "imagination".
"Imagination" is probably the most important word Robert Core has used.
"Imagination" is probably the most important word in all Christianity.
The Tower of Babel is a plangent parable that quasi-explains why we have languages (a storyteller's attention-grabber) in the context of making a complex point about how attempts to maximize human power by pretending to achieve the status of God need to be broken up. This parable supports all the precautions we employ when we favour democracy over dictatorship in our lands. Relatively complex stuff for simple and complex people.
The Dead Sea is so salty 'because,' in a parable story, Yahweh took volcano-like action against inhospitality and the ancient custom of battle-rape. In a separate metaphor worked into the same parable, a woman was turned into a block of salt because she showed attachment and nostalgia to evils that she ought to cleanly leave behind. Complex stuff for simple and complex people.
Rainbows that appear in the sky have been attached a symbol that we can use to remind ourselves that, as much as Yahweh is capable of destroying evildoing, as in the parable story of Noah, storms, even the most fearsome, are not signs of divine wrath.
The Jewish deity Yahweh is the Creator of the empirical realm and the inspirer of illustrative stories favouring the honest and the good over the wiles of evil-doers.
Some Bible episodes are parables, that is, illustrative fictions that convey complex moral-philosophical messages.
Yahweh is "God".
The Bible is the "Word of God" as received 'in earthen vessels,' mostly through the mechanism of inspiration by the Spirit of God, plus the direct quotations of the Son.
'Atlantis' is a story that has no known basis and no known moral-philosophical import. It can, however, be used in literature to summon nostalgia about a lost ideal civilization, as with Arcadia.
"Imagination" is probably the most important word in all civilization. Those who are unable to conceive of the depths of illustrative parables, and who must flatten them to literal truth or literal fiction, are unfit as teachers. They either cannot understand complex illustration, or they reject the complexity out of a sort of unedifying prissiness.
The Dead Sea is so salty 'because,' in a parable story, Yahweh took volcano-like action against inhospitality and the ancient custom of battle-rape. In a separate metaphor worked into the same parable, a woman was turned into a block of salt because she showed attachment and nostalgia to evils that she ought to cleanly leave behind. Complex stuff for simple and complex people.
Rainbows that appear in the sky have been attached a symbol that we can use to remind ourselves that, as much as Yahweh is capable of destroying evildoing, as in the parable story of Noah, storms, even the most fearsome, are not signs of divine wrath.
The Jewish deity Yahweh is the Creator of the empirical realm and the inspirer of illustrative stories favouring the honest and the good over the wiles of evil-doers.
Some Bible episodes are parables, that is, illustrative fictions that convey complex moral-philosophical messages.
Yahweh is "God".
The Bible is the "Word of God" as received 'in earthen vessels,' mostly through the mechanism of inspiration by the Spirit of God, plus the direct quotations of the Son.
'Atlantis' is a story that has no known basis and no known moral-philosophical import. It can, however, be used in literature to summon nostalgia about a lost ideal civilization, as with Arcadia.
"Imagination" is probably the most important word in all civilization. Those who are unable to conceive of the depths of illustrative parables, and who must flatten them to literal truth or literal fiction, are unfit as teachers. They either cannot understand complex illustration, or they reject the complexity out of a sort of unedifying prissiness.
The Jewish deity Yahweh IS the Creator of the empirical realm and the inspirer of illustrative stories ..." (The emphasis is mine.)
Two simple words Mark: Prove It
Quoting Bronze and Iron Age Jewish literature is not proof that the mythological Jewish deity Yahweh inspired so much as a verse of it.
Or that the mythological Jewish deity Yahweh created anything - including the universe and Jesus.
The mythological Jewish deity Yahweh is mythological. He's imaginary - just like all the other versions of "God" that imaginative human minds have imagined.
And then other human minds come along and imagine numerous and varied and often conflicting "plangent parables" that may lie within these fables. Which, in my view, may be exactly the intention of the Jewish priests who wrote and rewrote the fables.
And who decides - and by what objective criteria - which of these fables are "plangent parables" and which are reality ...?
Jesus' virgin birth may be a plangent parable.
Jesus' magic tricks may be plangent parables.
Jesus' resurrection may be a plangent parable.
Jesus' glorious Second Coming may be political spin put on a failed Messiahship (I just made up a fancy word too, to demonstrate how wonderfully clever I am).
Two simple words Mark: Prove It
Quoting Bronze and Iron Age Jewish literature is not proof that the mythological Jewish deity Yahweh inspired so much as a verse of it.
Or that the mythological Jewish deity Yahweh created anything - including the universe and Jesus.
The mythological Jewish deity Yahweh is mythological. He's imaginary - just like all the other versions of "God" that imaginative human minds have imagined.
And then other human minds come along and imagine numerous and varied and often conflicting "plangent parables" that may lie within these fables. Which, in my view, may be exactly the intention of the Jewish priests who wrote and rewrote the fables.
And who decides - and by what objective criteria - which of these fables are "plangent parables" and which are reality ...?
Jesus' virgin birth may be a plangent parable.
Jesus' magic tricks may be plangent parables.
Jesus' resurrection may be a plangent parable.
Jesus' glorious Second Coming may be political spin put on a failed Messiahship (I just made up a fancy word too, to demonstrate how wonderfully clever I am).
Three (four?) simple words Stuart: Prove It Isn't
Quoting tabula rasa as a default-reality is not proof that the Jewish deity Manitou didn't inspire the verses of scripture.
Or that the Jewish deity Tqeltkukwpi7 didn't create anything - including the universe and Jesus.
The mythological tabula rasa is mythological. It's imagination at its dullest - just like all the other versions of self-defeatingly unwarranted negation that imaginative human minds have dimly imagined.
And then other human minds come along and negate numerous and varied and often spuriously-found-to-be-conflicting "plangent parables" that may lie within inspired scriptures. Which, in my view, may be motivated by angry emotions that reject positive views because some promise, somewhere, seems to have been broken.
And in this mode of dejected negation, the ability is lost to make a reasonable determination of which scriptures are "plangent parables" and which are reality ... even by people who accept the physical evidence that there was no worldwide flood, etc.
Jesus' virgin birth may be a plangent parable, but there's nothing to contradict that it wasn't.
Jesus' magic tricks may be plangent parables, but there's nothing to contradict that they weren't.
Jesus' resurrection may be a plangent parable, but there's nothing to contradict that it wasn't.
Jesus' glorious Second Coming may be political spin put on a failed Messiahship, but then again, some people are so vulnerable to an impression of failure that they become very nervous that they've made up a fancy word too, to demonstrate how wonderfully clever they are. So the idea of failure may merely be a premature judgmental ejaculation.
Quoting tabula rasa as a default-reality is not proof that the Jewish deity Manitou didn't inspire the verses of scripture.
Or that the Jewish deity Tqeltkukwpi7 didn't create anything - including the universe and Jesus.
The mythological tabula rasa is mythological. It's imagination at its dullest - just like all the other versions of self-defeatingly unwarranted negation that imaginative human minds have dimly imagined.
And then other human minds come along and negate numerous and varied and often spuriously-found-to-be-conflicting "plangent parables" that may lie within inspired scriptures. Which, in my view, may be motivated by angry emotions that reject positive views because some promise, somewhere, seems to have been broken.
And in this mode of dejected negation, the ability is lost to make a reasonable determination of which scriptures are "plangent parables" and which are reality ... even by people who accept the physical evidence that there was no worldwide flood, etc.
Jesus' virgin birth may be a plangent parable, but there's nothing to contradict that it wasn't.
Jesus' magic tricks may be plangent parables, but there's nothing to contradict that they weren't.
Jesus' resurrection may be a plangent parable, but there's nothing to contradict that it wasn't.
Jesus' glorious Second Coming may be political spin put on a failed Messiahship, but then again, some people are so vulnerable to an impression of failure that they become very nervous that they've made up a fancy word too, to demonstrate how wonderfully clever they are. So the idea of failure may merely be a premature judgmental ejaculation.
Back to the failed point of the OP:"Imagine a space alien lands on planet earth. He begins his quest for religious (or atheistic) truth. Where should he start? "
Maybe by stepping OUT of his ship. :cD
