Be very afraid because aliens are coming!

 

Be very afraid, because aliens are coming!

I watched “Independence Day” with two of our girls last night. Pretty interesting movie—especially seeing what “they” were teaching about space, aliens, and fear back in 1996. Hilarious in spots, too.

For many of us, a movie like this has always been straight-up science fiction with heavy emphasis on the word “fiction”. But we are all being pushed to believe in an endless universe that just happened to exist, where something happened to explode, which somehow produced perfectly round planets, and on one of them life somehow sparked, became more and more complex, and eventually led to this moment we’re living right now—only to end in utter meaninglessness because we just happened to be born, happened to survive, and will happen to die—possibly at the hand of aliens. The end.

That story requires more faith from me than believing in what the Bible teaches about a God who loves me, who created every incredibly beautiful thing that I see, who established the earth as a home for His most prized creation—humans made in His own image—who set the sun, moon, and stars above to provide light for the day and for the night, and who sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our failures; our sins. Jesus who was miraculously born of a virgin, who modelled and taught how to live a life pleasing to God, willingly died a horrible death on the cross in my place and for my sins, unbelievably rose again defeating death, in front of hundreds of His followers ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and is coming back with the clouds to gather His people.

Because of Jesus we can enjoy relationship with our Creator—living a life of real purpose found in worshiping God with every aspect of our lives, loving others as we would love ourselves, leading people to the hope we have in Jesus which is for all, and trusting Him for the promise of eternal life in the place that He has prepared for us, His followers. Each of us need only to repent of our sins, believe in Jesus, be baptized into the faith, join the community of believers, and follow the leading of God’s Holy Spirit.

Both paths require faith.

I choose to put my faith in Jesus, who said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).