It occurred to me the other day... God could have created a really small Earth, consisting of nothing more than the Garden of Eden and some nice scenery to look at, or maybe a square block a few hundred miles on a side for people to settle over a few centuries - but isn't it a testament to the wondrous generosity of God that he didn't only create that, but also created the Earth as big as it is, that it took millennia to explore? And not only that, but there's space out there too... which is vastly bigger than the Earth... Isn't God amazing?
Sometimes I also think about whether there are aliens out there in space... I used to think that there were lots of aliens out there, like in Star Trek, only with more variety than could be shown on a sci-fi show with a limited budget. But (this has been debated by philosophers many times over I'm sure) if there ARE aliens out there, then are they made in God's image? And do they need divine grace? And if not, why not? So I've come to the conclusion (for the time being, barring any further evidence) that if aliens do exist, they are probably one and the same as "angels" as described in the Bible - beings of unimaginable splendor which cannot be put into words, created by God for some unknown reason (at least I don't know, maybe someone else does?) and with a limited degree of free will (Satan was capable of rebellion, of course, but the rest of the angels seem to be rather subservient to God - is this their intrinsic nature, or is it a choice they make, made obvious due to superhuman wisdom?) and not needing (or perhaps not capable of responding to?) divine grace.
Speaking of aliens, I saw in my neighborhood a statue on someone's doorstep of a beady-eyed green alien holding a globe, and that got me thinking... The true appearance of God is supposed to be so awesome that only on rare occasions can someone see him face-to-face and not die of shock, right? Such as the ancient Jewish high priests having to go through elaborate rituals in order to enter the Holy of Holies, and even then only once a year? And in the book of Revelation, where Jesus appeared to have a sword (yes, a SWORD) dangling from his mouth? Well, what if that's because the "true appearance" of God is something that human beings would find repulsive? And speaking of frightening, vaguely human-shaped creatures with power over the whole world and things dangling from their mouths, what about Cthulhu??? Could it be??? Nah, that's about as silly as comparing the pope to Emperor Palapatine just because they have both been seen to make the same facial expressions at certain points in time - just an eerie coincidence! Maybe, though, the appearance of God changes depending on who is looking? Such that those who believe in him in a mature manner see him as a comforting heavenly father, while those who might be less mature in their beliefs see him as a harsh taskmaster, and those who completely oppose him see him as something even worse? I suppose it's possible... or maybe I'm thinking too much of this Japanese RPG I never got all the way through, where there's this church which worships this god (by the name of Zehaal... wonder if there's any significance to that name?), and opposing the church are these witches with various natural powers, and the witches claim that Zehaal is attempting to destroy the world... never did get to the end of the story though, and I'm not sure I ever will... besides the fact that I hardly ever finish anything I start and drop for a while, and the fact that the game was getting kind of annoying (ok, WHICH crystalline platemail was that again in my inventory? the one that's enchanted with +5 vs. fire, or +2 vs. darkness? oh, I have to check EVERY LAST ONE to find out!), I seem to recall the plot going in the direction of "OK everybody, we've got to stop Zehaal from destroying the world!"... and unless the plot has any more surprising twists, I kinda expect the final confrontation to be with the creator of the world, and I'd really rather not have to kill him, even in a fantasy game, you know?
Well, that's enough for now... hope someone's reading! ;)
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