[soc.religion.christian] More Star Trek theological dialogue

smith_c@ncsatl.uucp (Spawn of a Jewish Carpenter) (10/30/89)

[The first part is also being posted in this group.  I didn't combine
them because it doesn't look like this posting is designed to be
tacked onto the other one. --clh]

I seem to have neglected to include this section in my earlier text file. 
Sorry for the omission.  I hope you like it, too, though it's more humorously
oriented.

	Hic Est Iesu Nazoraean Rex Iudaeorum

He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
Who turned darkness into morning,
and darkened day into night,
Who summoned the waters of the sea
and poured them over the earth,
Who makes Taurus set hard on the rising of the Vintager --
He who does this, his name is the Lord.

                           -- Amos 5:8

At any rate, here's more:

DATA:  Logic would seem to dictate that all things must have a beginning
       and an ending.  Yet that is not always true; where, for example,
       does a circle begin?  If the universe is circular, there would seem
       to be no reason for the existence of God.

PICARD:  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without
         end.

DATA:  Yes, the more accurate translation would seem to be, "In the beginning,
       when God began creating the heavens and the earth,"; yet that is a myth
       of creation, told from the perspective of small, fiercly warlike desert
       tribe of ancient earth.

RIKER:  I believe it was Unamuno who said, and I'm paraphrasing, "Were one to
        ask the ant, assuming ants were concerned about such things, 'for whom
        was the world created?', the ant would reply, 'Why, for the ant, 
        of course!'  And the ant would reply rightly!"  Something like that.

PICARD:  Myths of creation were often influenced by other myths of different
         cultures.  The Bible is no exception to this rule.  But a myth isn't
         necessarily fictional or untrue; mythological statements of ancient
         worlds often speak to universal aspects of life and reality.
         They're often therefore profoundly true statements, even if told in
         the form of parables.  The Genesis myth is a statement of faith whose
         intrinsic meaning rises above time and space; they are the biblical
         writer's attempt to express history's relationship to God.  It speaks
         of the beginnings in a very concrete way, to moments in time when
         history and eternity meet at a focal point in space, and therefore,
         essentially, to moments which cannot be historically described.
         Myths are often essential to faith.  The Bible, I think, is done an
         injustice when biblical myths are treated as if they were historical;
         or historical events as if they were mythical.

WESLEY:  (screwing up his courage)  I'm not sure I believe in God.

GUINAN:  (Swirling her drink behind the bar, silently listening to the
         conversation, puts down her glass, briefly makes a triangle with
         her hands, resumes swirling her glass, remains silent.)

WESLEY:  (amidst the silence)  Well, I've got a science project to work on.
         It's logical, tangible, and makes sense.  (leaves)

PICARD:  (aside to Riker; amused expression on his face)  Adolescent atheism.

RIKER:  (smiles, takes a drink)

WORF:  Atheism?  What's that?

PICARD:  Someone who denies the existence, in any form, of any God/Creator,
         whatever.

WORF:  (eyes narrowing)  Ah.  We have such in Klingon society.  We administer
       K'raghk in such cases.

RIKER:  K'raghk?

WORF:  Yes.  K'raghk.  One is slowly immersed in boiling k'rath, a mixture
       which stings the flesh, severely, eventually resulting in death.

PICARD:  (Shocked)  Slow torture?

WORF:  It is rare, Commander.

RIKER:  What do you mean to accomplish by that?  Drive the devil out of his
        soul?

WORF:  The what?

RIKER:  The devil.  The Evil One.  Those who cause people to do evil.

WORF:  A strange concept.  We have no devil.  We believe people are responsible
       for their own actions.

RIKER:  Well, we do, too, but....still....

WORF:  As your Old Testament puts it, we throw the evil out of our midst.

PICARD:  I don't approve, Worf.

WORF:  Excuse me, sir.  I am a Klingon.  I wasn't asking for your approval.

PICARD:  (nodding)  I deserved that.  (takes a drink)
-- 
                                                    |
Sincerely,
gatech!ncsatl!smith_c