Don't laugh. There is plenty of evidence that a sizable percentage of UFO sightings, alien abductions, crop circles and other extraterrestrial manifestations fit into the realm of the supernatural. But God's Word shows us the truths behind those illusions.

I agree with that assertion.

As you see, I disagree with your book Kryptid.

Point taken. I'll stick with the non-demonic cryptids.

I'm not sure where I should have put this, so feel free to move it if another forum is more appropriate.

I currently have plans on making a book that deals with cryptozoology (the study of mythical/unconfirmed animals also called "cryptids"). My main focus is going to be the visual depiction of these cryptids. Most of these creatures are, of course, either hoaxes, misidentifications, folklore, or real flesh-and-blood animals.

The ones that concern me are the popular cryptids that may well be demonic in nature. My case in point is the Chupacabras, a telepathic, humanoid entity that sucks the blood of sheep in an unexplained way. My personal belief is that the Chupacabras is not only real, but a demon. However, the Chupacabras is also a popular cryptid, which has a large amount of controversy surrounding it. Since it is one of the most famous cryptids, it would feel unnatural for me to leave it out of my book. That is like cereal without milk.

However, given the the context of my book, I will have to draw it in order to include it. Is there anything wrong with depicting demonic creatures just for the sake of education? The point of my book is to show people what these creatures may look like. That's pretty much it. It's not meant to be demonic "propaganda". Many people don't even believe the Chupacabras is a demon. Other cryptids that might also be demonic are the Mothman, the Dover Demon, and the Popobawa. Is it wrong for me to draw them for a book?

I think you're in luck. My pastor says that Jesus is coming VERY soon. He said that it's not even a matter of years before His return. Of course, he doesn't know the day and time, since no one does, but he says that God has revealed things to him. What exactly, I don't know. He says that Jesus MUST be coming soon due to the recent events in the Middle East. Don't ask me to go into more details, since I'm not familiar with them. But I believe my pastor because he is on-fire for God. He's not afraid to preach Hellfire and brimstone.

I was actually quite concerned that we wouldn't make to this Christmas before the Rapture. I doubt that we will make it to another Christmas.

As said before, you're never alone in life as long as you have Jesus.

Man, with all of the colored font and capitalized words, it feels like you're kind of yelling at me. I hope you didn't intend it like that.

Of course God isn't going to ask us if what He does is okay with us. What concerns me is the fact that I can't reconcile how eternal punishment is good. If it is good, then there should be a way for me to understand it as such, and I'm looking for such an understanding here on this forum. If it isn't good, then somehow the Bible is flawed. Since no one wants to hear of that, then there must be some form of justification, and I want to know what it is so I can put my heart at ease and strengthen my faith.

I sometimes wonder why God even made mankind if He knew in advance that the majority of humans would end up in Hell. If He did not make humans, then no humans would sin, and no humans would be sent to Hell.

If you are one of those folks who is used to always getting what you prefer, you might not like the Internet.

I've been on the Internet for many years of my life, and I'm quite aware of what it is like. I'm also aware that the general attitudes of people on different forums are different. Since this is a Christian forum, I would naturally expect many of the members to have a helpful attitude towards another fellow member. It's not like you would expect me to say "I prefer that my enquiry be ignored because it is hypothetical" instead of saying "I prefer that my inquiry be addressed because I'm interested in its implications", do you? 

This is a forum, and anyone who wishes can reply in whatever manner they wish as long as the forum rules are obeyed.

Exactly, which is why I said I "prefer" that people make on-topic comments instead of saying that I "demand" that they do so.

I have a good idea: present your own educated speculation to your hypothetical, and other users can comment on your speculation if they wish.

Yes, I will do this:

If aliens have the same ability to understand and carry out moral acts as humans, I would expect God to hold them responsible and give them a means to attain salvation. What means of salvation would He offer them? Would Jesus' death on the cross on Earth be enough? This is something I'm stuck on.

Of course, one of the issues here is "does the intelligence and technological capability of an advanced species automatically indicate that this same species is capable of perfectly understanding morality as humans understand it?" I do not think so. A technological species must be capable of reason and must have some way to maintain cooperation amongst other members of the species to attain the goal, but that doesn't mean that they would understand morality. Take ants, for example. Despite their ability to build complex nests, maintain order, coordinate attacks, and store food, they can't understand right and wrong. An advanced alien species might be like them, but with a more complex brain that is capable of greater adaptive behavior strategies.

Just my views.

How exactly does this relate to apologetics? Forgive my ignorance if I've shown any.

I am a Christian, and I do believe the Bible, but I simply cannot wrap my head around the fact that God would punish someone infinitely for a finite number of sins. If you were God, would you punish someone that you loved forever? I've seen several potential explanations for why God is justified in punishing sinners forever, but none that I have yet read make sense to me.

I'm not trying to be rude, but I am confused.

Those comments aren't exactly helpful.

If you don't want to put constructive input into this, I'd prefer that you didn't reply at all. I want some educated speculation here.

(PS, my apologies for placing this thread in the wrong forum. I was unsure of exactly where to put it).

[1) Does human-like or superhuman intelligence automatically denote an ability to distinguish between right and wrong? Or could superintelligent aliens, despite being so smart, not be able to comprehend true morally?]

This topic is purely hypothetical, so please don't start off by saying "aliens don't exist" or anything to that effect. This topic DOES NOT deal with UFO sightings or alien abductions, so let us not concern ourselves with those kinds of things. This topic is FILLED with hypothetical scenarios, so don't take it too seriously.

Let us take a consideration. Let us assume, that since the Universe is so extremely large, God has decided to create life not just on planet Earth, but also on other planets as well. Let us also assume that some of these life forms are as intelligent as, or even more intelligent than, us humans. Assuming (purely hypothetically) that such a scenario is true, I ask your input on several questions:

1) Does human-like or superhuman intelligence automatically denote an ability to distinguish between right and wrong? Or could superintelligent aliens, despite being so smart, not be able to comprehend true morally?

2) Would God give such intelligent aliens an immortal soul and moral responsibilities? Or would they be nothing more than something like 'smart animals' which simply cease to exist when they die?

3) If such aliens did have an immortal soul and moral responsibilities, would Jesus need to come in their form and die for their sins too? Or would his death on the cross on Earth be sufficient for all intelligent life in the Universe? Would aliens go to the same Heaven as humans, or a different Heaven?

Even though the Bible doesn't tell us that there is life on other planets, that doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't exist. Maybe we simply weren't meant to know about each other. It is possible, that intelligent aliens are so far removed from us that we will never have an opportunity to hear radio signals from them before the end of this current era. In such a case, we would isolated from them and then it really wouldn't matter much whether God told us about them or not. After all, if obedient humans can make God happy, then couldn't he also create aliens that could be just as obedient as humans?

For those of you who remember me, I was Supercryptid. For some reason, it wouldn't let me log in as that username, so I had to make a new one.

Now, there is something about me that you should consider when you read this thread: I have reason to believe that I suffer from a disorder called "scrupulosity". For those of you who do not know what that is, it "is the obsessive concern with one's own sins frequently focusing on acts or thoughts not usually considered sins within one's religious tradition", as quoted from Wikipedia. It is related to obsessive-compulsive disorder, which I have also had in the past.

However, this thread is not about scrupulosity. It is about violence. If you want to say something about scrupulosity, please say something about the topic at hand as well.

It goes without saying that violence has become a large part of our movies, cartoons, comics, and pretty much everything else. Most people have a certain tolerance level of violence. They say that "x amount of violence is too much" and "x amount of violence is okay". Where should we draw the line? Even silly cartoon antics like turning someone into a pancake by hitting them with a hammer is a type of violence. But most people probably wouldn't condemn something so simple as that.

I think my main concern here is the "good guy vs. bad guy scenario". A hero fights for what is right and does what they can to defeat a villain who has ill intentions for the world. Surely, the hero's intentions are justified in doing that. There's a valuable lesson to be learned from such things, since it shows good triumphing over evil. But is that what people watch such shows for? Do they watch it for the moral values? Or do they watch is just because they are entertained by the acts of violence? A hero has a right to fight for peace, but do we have a right to enjoy his fighting?

Even now, I enjoy "action-based" media because I like to watch characters fight. That's true for many people. Assuming that, in the context of a fictional show, a conflict could be resolved either peacefully or violently, I would usually prefer (within reason) to see it settled violently. That's why someone would even watch an "action" show in the first place, isn't it? When you watch a good guy and a bad guy fight, you usually don't think "the good guy's doing something noble", but rather you would think "this fight is cool!".

Now, as for levels of violence, it comes in many degrees. At the least intense stage, you have comedic violence. People usually get bopped and thwacked without lasting injury in these sort of things. Then, you get to a more serious, but mild level of violence. People fight each other, but the biggest injury is usually nothing more than bruising. Higher still, you get to the point where there's a little blood here and there, and maybe even broken bones. At its worst, violence on TV or comics could reach the level of gore, dismemberment, impalement, as spurting of blood. In short, red becomes the most prominent color on the battlefield.

When is violence too much? Is any violence too much?

Now, I could be too stringent if I were to say that all violence, even justified violence, is wrong on TV. I know that I have been too stringent in the past. There was a time when I thought that almost every bad thought that entered my head caused me to sin. I'm not the only one either. In the New Testament, people have been too stringent as well. They even accused Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath by getting corn to eat, but Jesus defended them.