Maybe Jesus was a demon

I saw Disclosure Day a few weeks (months?) ago with friends. As we were leaving I noticed one of my friends looked sad (the movie wasn't that bad), so I went over to see what was wrong. She was talking to another friend about something she read online about the movie being offensive to Christians.

As soon as I heard that I, naturally, started laughing. (What are Christians not offended by?) She explained how, in the film, the way the aliens controlled people was akin to demon possession. She also didn't like that Emily Blunt's character felt Christ-like. If you were to interpret the film literally, one could surmise the film was suggesting that Jesus did not receive messages from God but from something or someone else.

Her explanation rattled me because, in the film, the aliens are benevolent. They posses people and give them the terrifying power of...empathy and understanding. So when she said demon possession, I came to the only rational conclusion: Maybe Jesus is a demon.

I blurted this out to my very shocked, very religious friend and was promptly reprimanded by my husband: "You can't just call Jesus a demon." A few days later, I heard from my religious friend's husband that she was more offended than we all realized, and she even forced him to read the Bible that night.

As we were laughing over this, I kept asking for clarification. Why was the movie so offensive? I didn't think Spielberg was trying to say anything about Jesus or Christianity, however, he did include a scene with a nun explaining how it was possible for humans to not be the only beings on Earth. Other than that, religion wasn't the focus at all, and calling Blunt's character "Christ-like" was a stretch. The "chosen one" is an archetype that shows up so much in fiction and mythology. It's not always about the Jesus, just the archetype that gets recycled in media all the time.

But the fact that the aliens' power (controlling minds my expanding people's consciousness/knowledge) was called "demon possession" made me think. There are all these Bible stories about people being spoken to by booming voices and burning bushes. What if (commence Ancient Aliens voiceover) that voice was a benevolent demon/alien who wanted humans to be kind and empathetic to one another?

I guess I can see why Christians are offended. Demons are supposed to be evil, and aliens are supposed to be nonexistent. But it's fun to think about, and as a former Christian, I don't take it seriously.

I asked my friend if I needed to apologize for calling Jesus a demon, and he said not to worry about it lol.