A few years back I posted this about Christians and Sci-Fi...
"People who know me know I'm a sci-fi guy. Often Christians don't go into the sci-fi realm because of different reasons and then announce that any believer who does like it and watch it is not strong in their faith "obviously." Really? The original Star Trek had Biblical references, on in particular I remember seeing was when they found a planet that was into sun worshiping. At the end of the episode it was Lieutenant Uhara that said, "not the sun, the Son of God!" It was an acknowledgement of God. Firefly had a Shepherd (pastor) as part of the crew, Babylon 5 recognized Christianity. Stargate had a character say, "There's only one God ma'am, and He don't look like that!" There are Christian sci-fi writers out there and I have a book of Christian sci-fi shorts. I keep waiting for a huge sci-fi on the level of a Star Wars of something to appear at the Christian bookstores, maybe even a Christian sci-fi movie... maybe some day.
Christianity and sci-fi can exist. Worried about aliens? Think they don't work with the Bible? Two thoughts on that - 1) Maybe there are aliens out there that we are not permitted to contact because we are fallen and they are not? 2) Firefly is the only sci-fi out there that doesn't use aliens, and a main character is a Shepherd/Pastor! Shiny! It is a series that has other themes that are not kid friendly so it's not a family sci-fi. Maybe someday we'll get something like Firefly that IS family friendly. The universe God made is so vast that it hold secrets we may never know until we get to heaven. "
I still agree with what I said then. Since then we've had The Avengers movie with Captain America saying, "There's only one God ma'am, and I'm sure he doesn't dress like that!" People try and say Left Behind falls into sci-fi, but not really. There were no lasers, not space ships, no laser swords, no visiting other worlds, no aliens, etc.
Now am I saying we need nonsense like this (see below)?
No. That's silly and irreverant to our Lord. What am I asking for? How about more of what CS Lewis did with his sci-fi trilogy?
Now, for whatever reason, Christian publishers shy away from good sci-fi, the superhero realm, but they have started publishing the fantasy market more. But why no sci-fi or the superhero realms? The Bible has superheroes as we would call them - Samson and his divine strength, there was a prophet who was so fast he ran on water, teleporation, Jesus flew, angels with swords of fire, healings, and so much more.
Those all sound like elements from good sci-fi and superhero stories - not that I'm saying the Bible is just a good story! Let's clarify that! All I'm saying is if that's what God can do in the Bible, then why do we shy away from stories in sci-fi, superheroes etc that depict similar things?
I long for the day when a Star Wars like movie is Christian based. We get movies that are Christian that are more than a War Room or God's Not Dead variety. I like those movies without a doubt, but how about something to reach the sci-fi and superhero guy in me and so many others? Look at the movies in the last number of years and they are dominated by things like The Avengers, Batman V Superman is next year, Star Wars is set to come back to the theatres in December, Star Trek is working on its next movie, Dr Who is going strong and has had showings in the theatres, and so on...
Maybe someone will have the nerve to make CS Lewis' trilogy into a movie run? I'm not holding my breath, but who knows?
