The trailers and commercials have piqued my interest for Prometheus. It looks like a great science fiction movie filled with suspense and mystery. My interest in Prometheus, which takes place in the Alien franchise universe, has also piqued my interest in those movies.
That raised interest, though, is competing with my great fear of the Alien movies.
Even though I love science fiction and am a self-professed nerd, I have never seen any of the Alien movies. I remember just seeing commercials for Alien 3 and those gave me nightmares. Yet I’m thinking about going against 30 years of fears and watching Sigourney Weaver take on some xenomorphs.
Here are some ways watching the Alien movies could spur spiritual growth.
Fear Not
One of the Bible’s most frequent commands is to “fear not”. People are commanded to fear not when encountering God or his angels and when facing terrifying circumstances. If I were to sit and watch the Alien movies, it would give me an opportunity to follow God’s command to “fear not”. I don’t live my life with that much fear; I generally trust in God and pray for his peace. When it comes to aliens, facehuggers and things bursting out of people’s chests, though, I get scared. With those images filling my head at night, I would definitely need to obey God and fear not.
Prayer Vigil
If I was feeling less than obedient, though, a prayer vigil might be in line. If Alien filled my head with too many disturbing images to fear not, I might be led to a night of prayer. Instead of tossing and turning all night while trying to fall asleep, it would be more worthwhile just to get on my knees and spend the night talking to God. In the middle of the night there wouldn’t be anybody to play Draw Something with so what else would I have to do?
Bible Research
After praying and not sleeping, spending some time scouring God’s word would also be in order. I wouldn’t be reading the Bible to figure out how to better live my life, though. I would scour God’s word for any evidence of alien life in the scriptures. If God didn’t mention creating xenomorphs on the 6th day then I might be able to sleep a lot better. If I got too caught up in theories on the Nephilim, though, I doubt I would find too much comfort in God’s word. Spending time in Levitcus, though, might be a better sleep-aid than Ambien.
I don’t know if I’ll watch the Alien movies. I’ve been told that they’re really good and any self-respecting nerd would have watched them a long time ago. A long time ago, though, I was scared of aliens and I still am today. Maybe trusting in God will help me overcome that fear. Also sleeping next to my wife who can protect me won’t hurt either.
Have you watched the Alien movies? If so, what do you think?
The first one Is really the only good one. The others are just to show a bunch of aliens killing and getting killed.
I held off on watching “Alien” for a long time for the same reason, but found, while I could appreciate it as an adult, I wasn’t “scared.” per se. I have only seen the original and “Aliens,” the latter of which I didn’t find creepy at all – just a good-old sci-fi action flick.
It would be interesting to hear what theological thoughts, if any, you’d have after watching the show, so let us know what you decide to do! Maybe Ripley has something in common with the female judge Deborah. How would she measure up as a woman of valor (Prov. 31)?