If someone had told me 30 years ago that the line between christianity and science fiction would become blurred, I would not have believed it. Back then, sci-fi was about Star Wars, Blade Runner, Dune and Close Encounters of the Third Kind while christianity was the Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Not any more. Now we have books like Nephilim Stargates by Thomas Horn which attempts to marry Bible stories with mythology and modern science (and human women with fallen angels/aliens from outer space) and christians are just lapping it all up. Somehow the Bible isn't enough any more - it's boring. Extra-terrestrials and UFOs and Watchers from beyond the world are much more exciting, as are conspiracy theories and mutant trans-humans. Just type 'nephilim' into google or Amazon and you will see what I mean. (The Daniel Project movie which I reviewed in an earlier post also includes mentions of communication from beyond our world and the Nephilim.)
Don't get me wrong - I think that there are things going on in labs around the world that christians should be concerned about because man always has a tendency to play god. Embryo research is one of them, however I don't believe we are about to see any mutant humans or resurrected Nephilim. Such theories are based, in my opinion, on extremely suspect interpretation of a few verses in Genesis, bolstered by non-biblical texts and a good dose of unsanctified imagination! Herescope does a good job of debunking a lot of what Horn has to say. The sad thing is that far more christians will read Horn's books than read Herescope.
Another interesting marriage happening now is that of quantum physics and new age spirituality. I studied quantum mechanics at university. It is a way of describing the behaviour of sub-atomic particles, just as classical mechanics describes the behaviour of larger things such as cars and planes. Now, however, we have 'quantum spirituality'. I'm not exactly sure what it is but it appears in books as diverse as Soul Tsunami by Leonard Sweet and The Shack by William Young. It seems to mean that 'God is in everything' or, in other words, panentheism. This is not biblical - according to the Bible, God created everything and He sustains everything but He is not IN everything.
I also came across fractals a few years ago when a fellow computer programmer showed them to me. There's nothing special about them - they are just a pictorial representation of a mathematical formula - however they are now being endowed with spiritual significance. According to Jean Huston, a New Age advocate of human potential,
“Fractals show a holistic hidden order behind things, a harmony in which
everything affects everything else, and, above all, an endless variety
of interwoven patterns.” They are being used to support the non-Biblical theory that order evolved out of chaos. There is a hidden order behind things - He is called God and He is a person, not an impersonal force. Again, Herescope has some very good articles on both fractals and quantum spirituality and the flawed theology of The Shack.
When people stop believing in the God of the Bible, they will believe in anything, including aliens, ghosts, messages from outer space and superhumans. Sadly, it now seems that some christians have also started to abandon the Word of God and believe in such things. Science fiction is just that - fiction. It should not be confused with the Truth.
