Uncle Roger's Notebooks of Daily Life

Je'Sus -- The Missing Goa'uld

In the 1994 movie Stargate, a team of soldiers travel to a distant planet where they encounter an alien who calls himself Ra (the Egyptian sun god). It turns out that the ancient Egyptian "Gods" were all just aliens on a power trip who used technology to appear divine and to enslave humans.

The spun-off television series, Stargate: SG-1, introduced viewers to a whole host of heavenly hosts (pardon the pun) -- In addition to various Egyptian gods and goddesses who were, according to the series, simply aliens bent on domination, there were also Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Celtic, Aztec, Mayan, Hindu, African, Babylonian, and even Canaanite "Gods" among the list of alien imposters.

In addition to the bad guys pretending to be supernatural, there are also the good guys, the Asgard, who are responsible for Norse mythology. "Gods" such as Thor, Freyr, and Loki are, it turns out, the little grey men that are so popular with UFO nuts. Like the Goa'uld, they use advanced technology to secure their place as holy ones. Unlike the Goa'uld, however, they act as divine protectors rather than overlords.

Now, I don't for a minute believe that anything about Stargate is true. It's a brilliant idea -- that the Gods of old were just Aliens passing off technology as magic to the primitive natives -- but it is the basis for a movie and television show, nothing more.

Like much of the arts, however, I think there are issues raised, questions asked, lessons to be learned. If the Egyptian (and assorted other flavors of) Gods were actually just Aliens and humans back then were too stupid to figure that out, who's to say that's not true of other gods? In the series, lots of gods from lots of religions are portrayed as Goa'uld or Asgard, but there is one that is conspicuously absent.

Oh, yes, I went there. What if Jesus was nothing but an alien with some pretty spiffy technology? So Jesus brought people back from the dead (and even did that himself)? Yeah, so did the Goa'uld, thanks to their sarcophagus. Water into wine? Simple molecular manipulation. Fishes and loaves? Please. Just beam down some leftovers. Sure, Je'Sus wasn't quite the evil dude that Apophis or Ra was, but he did have his twelve Jaffa.

Now, as I said before, I know that Stargate isn't real and that the Egyptian gods of old were not aliens, they were simply the product of undeveloped intellects and over-active imaginations trying to explain the world around them as best they could. The thing is, the same is true of Jesus.

Related Links Stargate Major and Minor Goa'uld Gods of Stargate SG-1

[ Posted: 23:00 | home | print ]