It’s a noteworthy event when a new Steven Spielberg film comes out. The master of cinema has produced such masterpieces as Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, and Schindler’s List amongst his 37 films. Two of his major films, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and ET-the Extra Terrestrial, have looked at the theme of visitors from outer space. His latest, Disclosure Day, released this summer, returns to that theme.
I have to admit what intrigued me was the claim made by some that Spielberg thought this would cause Christians to rethink their faith. It turns out that he made no such claim – he actually asked a broader theological question - “Is God only the God of this planet, or the God of everywhere life might exist?".
The film itself, while being the stereotypical blockbuster with limited plot and lots of chase scenes, does attempt to raise if not answer some big questions. It doesn’t give any credible answers but does showcase some of the current cultural memes.
For example, this is a great film for conspiracy buffs. It’s not a plot spoiler to say that ET lives and has just been covered up by the government and the Establishment. Just quite how hundreds of people who saw Nixon viewing a dead alien are supposed to have kept quiet for 50 years is never explained. But then as all good conspiracy theorists just know, any evidence or reason you offer against their conspiracy is just part of the conspiracy.
What if aliens did exist? This is not a new question. Thomas Chalmers, the great Scottish church leader in the mid 19th century, wrote a book called "A Series of Discourses on the Christian Revelation, Viewed in Connection with Modern Astronomy", in which he argued that the vastness of the universe meant that it was likely that there were other forms of life. He argued that this did not diminish God’s special care for humanity. To put it in Spielbergian terms: Jesus didn’t die for ET.
If there were aliens it would really make no difference to the Christian faith. It is not part of our faith that they don’t exist. Personally, when I see the evidence, I would have little difficulty in accepting that there was life on other planets. But there has, as yet, been no evidence. Star Trek, Star Wars, ET and Disclosure are no more evidence than Oliver Stone’s JFK is evidence that President Kennedy was killed by the government.
Of course this does not stop the true believers from believing. I remember in a church debate once discovering that the debater had the idea on his website that one particular Christian leader he was opposing was actually an alien. And what amused me about his website was that it had Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" as his theme tune. I'm pretty sure he didn't know what he was playing!
The argument that Christianity is just a story to explain away aliens is nothing new. Even the great empirical scientist Richard Dawkins once suggested, without any evidence, that life on earth might have come from other planets. A few decades ago, Erich Von Daniken’s ‘The Chariot of the Gods’ suggested that parts of the Bible such as the book of Ezekiel were evidence for extraterrestrial life coming down to earth. Jesus as spaceman is not a new theme.
But although, as in all good stories, there are hints of the Christ story in Disclosure Day (the stigmata, the figure who has come to save us), the film is really more about epistemology, than it is religion. How do we know what is true? Where do we get our information from? What does revelation have to do with what we know?
In that respect Disclosure Day is very contemporary - and yet dated. No, everything is not a conspiracy theory. No, governments are not covering up the truth about aliens because it would freak out ordinary people and upset the churches.
The reality is that we do need to know the truth. The reality is that there is a mystery – but a far bigger and greater one than Spielberg envisages. It is the “mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations” (Colossians 1:26-28). This is a mystery that has now been revealed. Not through intrepid journalists or brave online bloggers, but rather revealed to the Lord’s people – through the Scriptures.
What is that mystery? As Paul tells the Colossians, the mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is how we know the truth, when the One who is The Truth, is revealed to us. The irony is that the Colossians were being tempted into the same kind of esoteric Gnosticism, where those ‘in the know’ can reveal all kinds of spiritual and life secrets. There is nothing new under the sun. The reason people do not believe is that they are still in darkness.
But then as now, what the world really needs, is not another Spielberg blockbuster, but the revelation of Christ. And therein lies the great opportunity for the Church. If we remember that ‘he is the one we proclaim’, we will be a light in the darkness, a source of real enlightenment, for those who know that there is someone out there – it just ain’t ET.
The full disclosure that we need is Christ. And we need to proclaim him in all his fullness. Humanity’s search for meaning and purpose cannot be fulfilled without Christ. Our hearts are created for God, and they are restless until they find their rest in God (Augustine).
One final thought. The film is set against the background of a world in chaos, heading towards self-destruction. The world is heading towards a Judgement Day – not one that will be saved by the Terminator, but one in which every hidden thing will be disclosed (Luke 12:2). That is a terrifying thought. But not for those who already know that they have been forgiven and granted eternal life through the mercy of Christ.
Disclosure Day asks some of the right questions and hints at all of the wrong answers. Christ alone is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). We have the greatest story ever told. It is true truth. Let’s tell it.
David Robertson writes on https://substack.com/@theweeflea
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