Science Fiction and Theology - Part 9 - God and Science Fiction

There is always a popular front to any discussion of intellectual battle. In the case of the debate of science verses God, science fiction is that front. In it you will see every type of ethical quandary, every stand against conforming to a certain idea of God, every challenge that technology has given to claims of Scripture. But why does this matter?

It matters because in the end it is the story teller who wins. If a person lectures on the differences between God and science or an ethical dilemma most people will tune him out or fight him, but if someone tells a story and takes those issues and weaves them into that story, they are accepted and thought on with deepness.

Does that mean I would like to see it disappear. No. Some of the greatest mental challenges I have ever read to my faith have appeared in the pages of Science Fiction, and because of them I have had to re-think God and his relationship to the universe. In the end, it is the challenges that make faith stronger, not when it is easy.

The only thing that is really missing is the science fiction writers of faith. Ones that want to demonstrate a wider understanding of God as one who rules not just earth, but the universe and how the universe's possibilities do not in any way disrupt the truth of who He is or what He does. Perhaps that is because, Theists in large part have accepted a certain view of God. In this view there is little room for using one's imagination and combining it with new ideas of God and science. Also many Theists look upon science as the enemy and that leads to a prejudicial treatment of the subject. This means there is only a small pool of people to draw from for the purpose of demonstrating, in story, that faith does not have to be sacrificed in order to be scientifically accurate.

I do not know what the future hold but I do know that right now the people who do not have faith hold and edge, they hold it because they are willing to rethink everything and to question what is commonly held. The Theist then finds himself to afraid or ignorant to act because he is stuck in a single minded theology that cannot see beyond certain borders.

My only appeal is that this changes -- God did not give us reason, imagination and common sense for us to sit them on a shelf and not use them. I think God want to see us use creativity and thought to construct our own view of the possible. If we did maybe more people would realize that there is more out there than we previously thought or imagined and have a new respect for the wonder and creativity of God.