I think this can serve as a warning to thoughtful Believers:
from:
http://michaelsheiser.com/UFOReligions/2008/12/are-christians-the-only-ones-who-consider-et-evil/
I hope you caught his drift. In some early posts on this blog (those detailing “Balducci’s Conundrum”), I pointed out Partridge’s work on identifying clear parallels between the beliefs of those who embrace presumed ETs as “ascended masters” with theosophical/ Eastern occult/religious traditions.
Partridge echoes that same conclusion here: those whose view of ET as some sort of transcendent enlightened being tend to be intellectually rooted in theosophical thinking. But here’s the follow-up: that means these same people do NOT have the teachings of Christianity as their guiding intellectual framework.
By putting forth the thesis that those who view ETs as malevolent are intellectually rooted in Christian theological conceptions of demons, he is arguing that theology is at the heart of the disagreement over what or who ET is.
The transcendent ET vs. the malevolent ET is an intellectual parallel to Theosophy/Eastern religious ideas vs. Christianity. Partridge aims to prove this by arguing that there is no “malevolent being” tradition in Theosophy / Eastern religion that provides an explanation for how that view arose-and so the only viable explanation is the Christian notion of the demonic.
This raises two questions: (1) Has anyone else out there, aside from those whose worldview framework is based on Christianity, been calling the ETs of pop culture and “fringe” experience demons? Does anyone else besides Christians think this way about ETs? Partridge would seem to be saying “No.” (2) ”Without Christianity, would anyone have viewed ET as evil?” If there had been no Christian framework in operation to comment on the experiences of those who say they have been abducted, for example, would anyone have viewed ET as malevolent?
Bottom line: is the “malevolent ET” view uniquely Christian? What think ye? How would you rebut Partridge’s thesis (or affirm it)?
Technorati Tags: aliens, Christianity, demons, extraterrestrials, religion
Yet again, The Christian world view is unique in it’s declaration of The Truths of God and of Reality.
PING to above.