I took my wife on a date to see the sci-fi adventure comedy Paul which has received critical acclaim and earned a respectable 7.4 rating at IMBD. It’s basically a buddy movie about two British comic book geeks who stumble across a real live alien on the lamb from the feds. What you don’t see in many of the reviews is that it is an unambiguous yet subtly subversive piece of anti-Christian propaganda. The bias and ridicule are ubiquitous and aggressive. If this sort of parody had been aimed at Muslims, the critics would have denounced it as spiteful hate mongering. Of course, in Hollywood mongering is a mandate and hate is a virtue as long as it is aimed toward Christianity.
As the two bungling protagonists assist their little alien buddy Paul in escaping from the men in black they come across two Christians, a father and daughter, Moses and Ruth Buggs . The deleterious caricature is transparent as they are portrayed as ignorant hicks isolated in a cultic subculture correlated to the suppression of everything fun. Kristen Wig’s character, Ruth, wearing a one lensed pair of glasses to hide her defective eye, enters the scene wearing a T-Shirt picturing Jesus shooting Charles Darwin in the head, which reads, “EVOLVE THIS.” This offensive shirt is now being marketed by the producers.[1]
She is asked, “Why would Jesus want to shoot Charles Darwin?” She answers curtly, “Because of his blasphemous theories! …Are you men of God?” The response, “We’re men of science… ya know, we believe in the establishment of a biological order through the maelstrom of physical and chemical chaos.” Ruth promptly retorts, “The world is only 4,000 years old and can only be the product of intelligent design.” This is the nature of the parody. It’s inane and obvious enough.
Of course, the Dawkobots are rolling in isles over this sort of lampoon but the typical agnostic probably only finds it mildly amusing. Yet, it’s loaded with disingenuousness that likely slips by the average non-Christian. The most heinous aspect is that no real disciple would ever wear a shirt portraying Jesus shooting Darwin or anyone at all for that matter. In case this escapes you, Jesus is the one who taught “Love your enemies” (Mat 5:44). Not to mention, as the omnipotent author of life he would hardly need a weapon. When Peter tried to protect him from the cross he admonished, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt 26:52).
In contrast, one would have to say the characterization of order from chaos was generously accurate given scientific materialism. However, the 4,000 years is completely disingenuous as not even the most hard core young earth creationists would argue such a view. The next point is more subtle and indeed the most subversive because intelligent design is attached. While intelligent design denies that “biological order comes from the maelstrom of physical and chemical chaos”, it does not entail a denial of evolution nor a belief in a young earth. The actual proponents of ID define it as such:
Within biology intelligent design is a theory of biological origins and development. Its fundamental claim is that intelligent causes are necessary to explain the complex, information-rich structures of biology and that these causes are empirically detectable.[2]
Yet the average movie viewer has just been conditioned to associate ID with an exaggerated parody of young earth creationism. Of course the typical moviegoer is enjoying the comedy and is not likely engaging this material critically enough to see they are being manipulated. That is how good propaganda works.
But that is not really the worst aspect of Paul’s anti-Christian agenda. When Ruth first sees Paul she screams “Demon.” While many Christians do believe the UFO phenomenon to be demonic, secular scientists like Jacques Valle[3] and Pierre Guerin[4] see the possibility as well. When faced with the reality of alien life Ruth gladly surrenders her Christian faith and is eager to get about the business of freedom. She has been set free to enjoy what life is really about, swearing and fornicating. As if this is what true freedom is all about. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth (Jn 8:34).
The mere existence of extraterrestrial life is represented as a complete defeater for Christianity. This is a commonly held misconception that should be addressed. It’s false. Theologians are not at all threatened by the possibility that God has not told us everything. Ted Peters writes,
Now, in my judgment, such alleged conventional wisdom regarding the predicted demise of religion is misleading and unfounded. It is misleading because it commits the fallacy of false alternatives: either believe in the ancient God of Israel or believe the speculative facts about ETIL (extraterrestrial intelligent life). This is a false set of alternatives, because theologians both Christian and Jewish could easily absorb new knowledge regarding extraterrestrial life.[5]
In fact, during his talk at the God Man and ET conference Dr. Michael Heiser presented a case that historically theologians were even branded heretics for not believing that an omnipotent God probably had created other worlds.[6] Thoughtful Christians are so rarely portrayed in Hollywood, if the movie producers ever actually acknowledged one they might lose their faith in hedonism.
Still yet, the anti-Christian polemic gets even worse…
And more subversive… Paul has healing powers. First he heals fundamentalist Ruth’s bad eye winning her to atheism. In one scene he resurrects a dead bird and then promptly eats it quipping, “I’m not going to eat a dead bird am I?” Yes Paul can resurrect the dead. Of course, these powers are attributed to the magical properties of evolution. But as the movie progresses we learn that in healing Paul takes on the wounds of the subject. Paul reveals that it is too dangerous to bring a human back to life. That is, until near the end of the film when Simon Pegg’s character is blasted by Ruth’s violent shotgun toting Father named Moses. Paul himself almost dies in absorbing the deadly wound and saves the day. Sound familiar?
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. (Is 53:5)
Curious that I characterized this film as anti-Christian propaganda. In the Greek, the term rendered “antichrist” ἀντίχριστος not only refers to one who opposes Christ but also to one who usurps his position.[7]
[1] “Paul Evolve This Mens T Shirt,” http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Evolve-This-Mens-T-shirt/dp/B004Q72TDY (accessed May 4, 2011).
[2]William A. Dembski and Henry F. Schaefer III, Mere Creation: Science, Faith & Intelligent Design (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 16.
[3] “The ‘medical examination’ to which abductees are said to be subjected, often accompanied by sadistic sexual manipulation, is reminiscient of the medieval tales of encounters with demons.” Jacques Vallee, Confrontations, p. 13.
[4] “UFO behaviour is more akin to magic than to physics as we know it… the modern UFOnauts and the demons of past days are probably identical.” Pierre Guerin, FSR Vol. 25, No. 1, p. 13-14.
[5] Ted Peters, “The Astrobiological Delusion Regarding the Future of Religion” Counterbalence, http://www.counterbalance.org/astrotheo/astro-frame.html (accessed May 3, 2011).
[6]“God Man and ET,” http://www.michaelsheiser.com/UWConferencePage.htm (accessed May 3, 2011).
[7]James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), DBLG 532.
About Cris Putnam
I use to ‘believe” in the “creation” accounts found in the torah and old testement. Until I began researching the genisis of these stories. I found out they all are copies of the clay tablets of Sumeria. Yes…thats right. The Sumerian accounts of mankinds existance written in stone are over 2000 years older than any myth thats found in the so-called holy books.
All one needs to do is search out Nephilim. By their story alone debunks any story about the so-called flood. Which will lead you to knowledge. Not some fantastic supernatural “god” that walks around in the shade of Eden. Killed animals and clothes Adam/Eve. Couldn’t find Cain etc.
You will find out they were many “gods” that our ancient ancestors thought were GOD.
Last but not least. You will understand the REAL history of mankind. Not some perverted and distorted man made religion.
Mark, No serious ancient near east scholar thinks the OT accounts are copies but their are some similarities. Yet wouldn’t we expect that to be the case, given the account in the Bible? Of course all ancient cultures would have a common memory of the basic story handed down by tradition. And your comment about the Nephilim is rather odd since the origin of that story is the same OT that you are dismissing. I don’t see how their story says anything about the flood, the Sumerians actually have the flood epic as well. The OT is not silent on small ‘g’ gods either, read Psalm 82 sometime and then perhaps do a little research over at this site and you will see that Bible has better answers than you are aware of.
no where in scripture does it say how old the world is.. some people misunderstand what the scriptures say..
Art, that’s true in fact the world is already there in Gen 1:2 before the week even ensues. My personal view on creation is explained here
The “we can’t advance unless Christian thought is removed” thing has really been picking up steam lately. Nothing new, of course, but for the past couple years it has been full speed ahead with this agenda.
Ross, makes you want to ask them, “advance to what?” If this movie is a hint, then freedom sought is a regression to adolescence.
Very insightful article; Thank-You for posting it. I wouldn’t watch anything that came out of Hollywood. The producers/writers, and actors, are so deluded, so perverted by this world, that they can’t help but distort ANYTHING decent and of real value; at least most of them.
Nancy,Unfortunately its largely so, although their are a few decent film makers.
and it never said it was animal skin
Mark,
Your argument that the Sumerian texts are older than the Bible is not evidence that God does not exist. Pretty crazy, really. Abraham was brought OUT of the “raging sea” of people. Those stories were passed down from generations, but the Bible was spoken by God to His authors.
If God can create the heavens and the earth (which you don’t believe, fine), then He can certainly create a book by influencing the very people He created. If you don’t believe, then fine. But you can’t prove your faith any more than I can. Thats why its called faith.
Frank, you are correct and what I was trying to infer to Mark is that if one were to grant that the biblical narrative is true, then it follows that that most ancient cultures would have preserved a tradition about the Fall, nephilim and the flood. So far from falsifying Genesis they simply corroborate it. The differences also authenticate the biblical account because they show how it better matches reality. For instance in the Sumerian flood epic found in Gilgamesh the boat described is not seaworthy. In contrast, the dimensions given in the Torah are extremely stable and engineers have constructed models demonstrating it to be virtually capsize resistant. Consider that biblical faith is not a leap in the dark but more akin to trust. Because we have good evidence, we trust the Bible. Biblical faith is earned active rust.
You people read waaaaay too into stuff. It was mocking those who believe unquestioningly against logic and fact. Not an attack on you’re faith. He didn’t tell her to change or die, he gave her an option. Which is what it’s really about. If you’d take the time to actually watch the film, they are all actually a bit put off by her excessive vulgarity and childish ideas of not following rules. Although I doubt the people who didn’t catch this the first time will pay attention, but i’ll spell it out for you, because you’ve proven thought to be too difficult. THE POINT WAS ABOUT HER SHEDDING THE OPPRESSIVE BELIEFS OF HER INSANE FATHER AND FINDING HERSELF! NOT AN ATTACK ON CHRISTIANITY, IF YOU FELT THIS WAS AN ATTACK THEN CHANCES ARE YOU’RE ONE OF THE OPPRESSIVE CHRISTIANS WHO “BELIEVE” SOME STUFF THAT’S A LITTLE MORE OUT THERE THEN THE CONCEPT OF “Paul” HIMSELF.
Anon, apparently you’re too obtuse (or brainwashed) to see it (2 Cor 4:4). The aliens name was Paul (see Apostle Paul Rom 1:1), the daughters name was Ruth (Ruth 1:4) the Fathers name was Moses (see Ex 1:10) ad nauseam. Believing in alien life when there are no proven life supporting planets within the known universe is against logic and fact. Belief in the God of the Bible is far more rational.
Cris, could you explain how and what you mean by “Belief in the God of the Bible is far more tational.”
Where is the evidence, outside of the Bible, that proves its validity? How is the “lack” of evidence for alien life different than Christian faith?
On a side-note, I am myself a “believer” and, like most Biblical and other ancient scholars, know that the Bible was never intended to be taken literally. We should be asking questions. We should be willing to find our own evidence that cites why our faith works for us.
Wynetta are you serious? Where is there evidence? Never mind archeological science has found many of the ancient sites but the evidence of Christ’s resurrection is overwhelming IF you want to look it up. I know I know you’d rather not because it would mean you have to change your lifestyle. Like you said to me last time: “it would mean I could not sleep with my boyfriend outside of marriage” blah blah. It always boils down to moral stuff with you.
To Cris and Frank.
It seems “belief” has superceded logic. Which is very dangerous to the human condition.
It’s funny you mention Abram (Abraham). Did you not know he resided in Ur. An outpost within Sumer? Were you aware that Abram’s father worshipped the moon? And just how “great” was this person Abram? First he was granted secret knowledge to manipulate his followers. Just as he LIED about his half sister/wife Sarah to Egyptian authorities. Then he is going to sacrifice his firstborne to a “god” just like other tribes were doing at the same time. If you can’t connect the dots by now. Something is seriously wrong with your train of thought. Back to his sister/wife. Who else on earth interbreed within their families? If you guessed royalty. Then good for you. If you said it’s because of a shortage of women, your very mistaken in your Belief.
The same bloodlines from ancient Sumeria/Mesopatamia have imposed their will upon mankind for TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS through RELIGION! It makes no difference if your from India, Iran, Brasil, Niger, England, America or Mexico. Your worshipping the same diety (s) of the MYSTERY RELIGION. The center for the secret mystery religion is in Rome. From here it wages war against mankind in every way. It’s out post lie in THE CITY OF LONDON, TEL AVIV, WASHINGTON, D.C. All one has to do is observe the Egyptian symbols that plague these cities. If you haven’t figured out your manipulation through man made religions by now. It’s not too late. Break the chains of your bondage by refusing to be controlled by the few who keep the knowledge from you. Man is not a dumb stupid animal that these perveyers of myths and supertitions imply. Man’s freedoms do not come from other men or those who demand submission through THEIR religion(s).
Mark, Seems to me your “belief” has superseded the evidence. Jesus taught people to live humble lives of integrity. His harshest words were for religious leaders. I agree Rome lost their way… so do lots of Christians, you should look into the Protestant Reformation. I just don’t see any reason to believe your grand conspiracy theory. However, I do have very good reasons to trust the scriptures. I wonder what led you to those bizarre conclusions.
Honestly, there is not much of a difference between people who believe that the world was created a few thousand years ago when people poofed from dirt and ribs and communicated with talking snakes, and people who believe that a vague, invisible brain-like thing created the world so that humans could rule it one day and read a book about people poofing from dirt and ribs and communicating with talking snakes. It’s like the people who believe that the world is magically going to end after people are teleported to heaven at an undefined time in the future, laughing at the people who believed the same thing would happen last week. The distinction is arbitrary. There’s science, which has had a consensus for over a century, and there are people who believe things like the entire universe being created for humans and animals originating from a giant boat.
“There’s science, which has had a consensus for over a century, ”
Like the consensus of an eternal universe up until 30 years ago when oooops… looks like it DID have a beginning! –>See Genesis 1:1
Those observations began in the early 20th century, not the 80s (why even take the time to respond before you google it to see if it’s true?). In any case, it is rather silly to say that because one popular idea has changed, that all others must as well, especially since the prior idea was formulated long before electricity was discovered and before the rise of modern science and technology which allowed us to observe the universe and discover more about it and formulate these ideas. But believing that ALL ideas will change as a result is just called “wishful thinking”. A century from now, 2+2 will still equal 4 and we will still observe gravity and alleles will still shift in frequency within populations (evolution). Sorry.
I guess I don’t understand what the big deal is with this movie. I have no interest in seeing it because it looks dumb, but why is it okay for popular media to mock scientologists, mormons etc. but not fundamentalist Christians? These people literally believe that donkeys and burning bushes have talked, yet demand to be taken seriously. If you believe weird things, some people are going to laugh. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, and I’m not advocating putting anyone down, as everyone is human and are subject to decisions based on their backgrounds and experiences and understanding of a subject (or lack thereof). But at the same time, it’s like, stop feeling bad about it. Everyone gets mocked and characterized–blacks, whites, gays, muslims, jews, etc. etc. And to be fair, people believing that animals came from a giant boat is kind of hilarious. I don’t believe that, centuries from now, people will laugh at the idea that organisms evolve by shifts in alleles, but I do think they’ll get a chuckle at the idea that people (usually of European decent) use to believe that animals came from a giant boat.
John, Actually it was in 1973 that Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking wrote their paper which proved given general relativity time had a beginning. The Big bang cosmology was fought against tooth and nail well into the 1980s so my statement of the last 3O years was entirely accurate. Your right that there is absolute truth 2+2= 4 today and it will in a million years. It’s also true that Jesus is Lord and that everything in this universe is subject to his authority. Those who are ignorant of that fact are in great peril. The movie is disingenuous and deceptive as well as being irreverent.
this was the one thing that ruined the movie for me!
mirooi I agree… but I went into critical mode quickly so it became an exercise in analysis.
This article is a joke 🙂
Let me guess, you’re going to ‘avoid’ this movie now because it portrays christians as being dumb. I hate to say it, but the gullibility you need to believe there is an ‘omnipotent’ being floating above us is about the same of that of children that believe in santa clause.
I know that this comment probably won’t get posted, and if it does, i’ll recieve hate comments back, but the truth is that you need to expose yourself to the outside world. Having read the bible, the torah, the morman books and various other religious texts, I’ve come to the conclusion that the most logical explanation for existance is evolution.
If you exposed yourself to these ideas, rather than sheltering yourself in a bubble of ‘god only’ propaganda, you might see that there is more out there than just ‘evolution is not possible because the world is only 6000 years old.’
I had a christian friend tell me that they had disproven carbon dating, because a christian scientist had taken a ‘brand new rock from a volcanoe’ and carbon dated it. They found that the rock was too old to be dated! Thus, they had disproven carbon dating. She had been taught this inside one of her ‘christian bubbles’ at her overly religious private school.
If she had delved a little deeper, she would realise that yes, the rock would have given results of 6000 years old. But not because carbon dating is a load of bull. Carbon dating is testing a substance to see how much radioactive carbon 14 is present. It has a relatively short halflife, of around 6000 years, but carbon 14 dating is affected near areas where there are volcanoes, because volcanoes emit a large amount of carbon 12 and carbon 13 (Look it up on wikipedia). which are stable and non-radioactive.
Just delving a tiny bit further into what carbon dating is shows that their christian ‘science’. If this movie was against muslims, you’d have no problem with it.
You want us to not discriminate against your cultist beliefs? Then go and look outside. Go to the window, go on, look outside your bubble. Besides, the christain-mockery was my favourite part of the movie! I know real christians that are like this. 🙂
It seems that the argument presented in the article went past you, my major criticism is that very few Christians believe the world is 6,000 years old and the Bible does not even teach that idea. The complaint was it presents an inaccurate and bigoted caricature. I understand that you think evolution is the best explanation for what you see, but are you aware that evolution has no answer to the origin of life. Evolution presupposes reproducing life for natural selection to take place. Life has never been generated from non life as far as science can tell. With no answer for the origin of life, ultimately you really have no answer at all.
Evolution is NOT abiogenesis. Why do people like you not get this? We are not sure how life formed but we know that evolution is real. “God did it.” is not an answer because it does not explain anything. God doesn’t explain its own existence if it existed at all.
You misrepresented my point, I never said evolution is abiogenesis but rather that is inadequate without it. I said evolution needs reproducing life to get started, so until the question of how life started is answered you do not have an answer for origins.
It’s just a film that takes the piss out of both sides of the argument!!
I really wanted to see this. When it finally showed publicly on the sci-fi channel, I was just so disappointed.
All I saw a film aimed at mocking the Christian religion.
I felt like I was being ridiculed.
We really are living in the end of days.
Wah wah wah… please, Xtians, stop with the “we’re being persecuted!” rhetoric.
You don’t see athiests crying about Kirk Cameron’s latest box office swill, do you? Oh no, they made a movie about Noah, as if he was real! I feel like I’m being ridiculed!
Get over yourselves. Hopefully, the only “end of days” in which we are living are the final days of religious stupidity dictating the laws of the land.
Wow, crazy and butthurt! What a combo.
Hi! Dօ you knoԝ if they make any plugins to protect аgainst hackers?
І’m kinda paranoid aboսt losing everythinɡ I’ve wߋrked hard oո.
Αny suggestions?
The AAD recommends that regardless of skin type you use a broad-spectrum (protection from UVA and UVB rays), water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 30 year-round.
The commercial marble cleaners apply putty powder so as to polish or break the dulled tiles in your home.
The resulting hydrostatic pressure puts quite a burden on foundation walls.
To get so worked up about a comedy movie, shows real devoutness.
I believe you’ve lost your way, as in a bad christian.Doesn’t it say to love your enemy, not judge him?Do you expect people of different faiths, or no faith to act like a christian?If so you are a fool, closed minded, and haven’t taken to heart what Christianity is about, as most christians I now know are, rife with hypocrisy and judgments of others
when you could be working on your own heart and place.Love your brother.