God, Lords and Prophecies OH MY!

[apollo123]

While I find the religious aspects of BSG completely fascinating, it also leaves me a little weary about how they plan on resolving or explaining it all. How does Six appear to know and predict the future? Where did Roslin's prophetic visions come from? Is the prophecy about Earth and Roslin being the "leader" actually real? Do the Lords of Kobol exist? Is there a God?

These are fascinating questions, but how will they get answered? I'm worried that either they will leave us in the dark forever or come up with something that is just ludicrous. Whether they decide to go with a purely scientific explanation, a religous/mystical one, or a combination of the two, I don't see how they can come up with anything that would be satisfactory. Maybe I've been disappointed by too many shows in the past that I'm a little jaded. Thoughts anyone?

[Qasim]

Dark forever probably

[userfriendly]

How does Six appear to know and predict the future?

as she said, she is an angel sent by God don't you believe her?
i know i would... "ya, of course, everything you say, darling..."

Where did Roslin's prophetic visions come from?

hallucinogene drugs can do strange things

Is the prophecy about Earth and Roslin being the "leader" actually real?

it all has happened before and it all will happen again

Do the Lords of Kobol exist?

probably they did. but they were no gods. there is only one true God.

Is there a God?

what is it that drives you to blasphemy?


btw, i count on RDM & co for resolving the storyarcs in a satisfactory manner. at least until i'm proven the contrary. otherwise i would spoil my own fun... and we can't have that, can we...

[madk99]

While I find the religious aspects of BSG completely fascinating, it also leaves me a little weary about how they plan on resolving or explaining it all. How does Six appear to know and predict the future? Where did Roslin's prophetic visions come from? Is the prophecy about Earth and Roslin being the "leader" actually real? Do the Lords of Kobol exist? Is there a God?

Have you noticed that the religious questions you are asking about the show are quite similar to actual questions raised by believers, non-believers, heretics, infidels, philosophers and coffee house patrons throughout the ages? I don't expect that all the questions could be answered to your satisfaction (in the show and in real life).
If we had the definitive answers we wouldn't call it religion -- we'd call it science.

BTW, have you heard the one about the agnostic, dyslexic insomniac?

He lies awake at night wondering if there really is a dog?

(an old joke but a favorite!)

[USA1290]

"...How does Six appear to know and predict the future? Where did Roslin's prophetic visions come from? Is the prophecy about Earth and Roslin being the "leader" actually real? Do the Lords of Kobol exist? Is there a God?"


Hello: I have some of the same thoughts. For my opinoin on #6, I have a post entitled SIX in this forum.
As for Roslin, I think it may be either divine or medication or a combination of both.
The prophecy is real, it is is the Sacred Scroll Of Pythia. She was a oracle who lived aprox.3500 years before the Cylon attack.

Now, re: the LOK & the Cylon One God, [I hope I do not offend anyone!] i was looking @ Hinduism. The Supreme Being is Shabd-Brahma. MY understanding is that this is a divine power & not a single divine person. The Hindu deities are manifestations of this power, Lord Vishnu & Lord Shiva etc. Prehaps the Cylon God is like S-B & the Lords of Kobol are manifestations & the Colonials have lost touch with that teaching. Prehaps it was in thier ancient past?
I have wondered if it is a SINGLE religion or if thier are branches & denominations as we have on Earth. It is STILL early in the series & we may find out later.

Thanks for your time,
Stephen

[userfriendly]

i don't think they've lost touch, especially not the people on geminon. i still think the difference is quite like our old and new testament. the colonials only know "the old testament" and the cylons have some more clues about it, because they have used the last 40 years to do "research"...

[USA1290]

i don't think they've lost touch, especially not the people on geminon. i still think the difference is quite like our old and new testament. the colonials only know "the old testament" and the cylons have some more clues about it, because they have used the last 40 years to do "research"...

Hello: I want to clarify. My meaning was that prehaps the Colonials had forgotten that teaching & had focused thier worship on the Lords Of Kobol instead of the 1 god.
In further research i've discovered that there are conservtive Hindus who believe in the literal truth of the gods. There are liberal Hindus who believe that they are metaphors. Does that make sense?

Stephen

[userfriendly]

it does. sorry, i obviously misunderstood you

but... to me the scriptures (or what the audience has heard so far about it) don't seem like the kobolians worshipped 1 god at any point. there just was one of 12 or 13 gods (that isn't that clear) who wished to be elevated above the others, and that one probably is the one true cylon god now (and coincidently the root for monotheism on the 13th colony, earth, i'd guess) - that's what i meant with the "new testament" thing, about which the cylons now know more about than the colonists.

[USA1290]

it does. sorry, i obviously misunderstood you

but... to me the scriptures (or what the audience has heard so far about it) don't seem like the kobolians worshipped 1 god at any point. there just was one of 12 or 13 gods (that isn't that clear) who wished to be elevated above the others, and that one probably is the one true cylon god now (and coincidently the root for monotheism on the 13th colony, earth, i'd guess) - that's what i meant with the "new testament" thing, about which the cylons now know more about than the colonists.

Oh ok, I see your point too also! I can hardly wait to see how this is resolved this week. What? Its NOT Jan yet?
I don't know if the spiritual storyline will be fully resolved or not.
I feel like it may be a subplot & touched on here & there.
Hope you have a good day.

[LoneStar1836]

I have wondered if it is a SINGLE religion or if thier are branches & denominations as we have on Earth. It is STILL early in the series & we may find out later.

I remember RDM mentioning this somewhere. I believe it was on one of the S2 podcasts (possibly one of the “Home” ones), but don’t hold me to it.

If I remember right he said something about the Colonials having different factions of their religion. So basically not everyone interprets the scriptures in the same way, while others may not believe in them at all.

[USA1290]

[QUOTE=LoneStar1836"...If I remember right he said something about the Colonials having different factions of their religion. So basically not everyone interprets the scriptures in the same way, while others may not believe in them at all.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I do remember during the Martial Law/Coup episode when Roslin was in the BSG brig. The guard on duty was a Geminon & [I believe Elosha was also. ]The guard said they believe in the literal truth of the scriptures. I took that to mean they were the conserative branch of Kobolism [my word as I have'nt heard a official name] I think that would mean that there is a moderate branch & a liberal branch, along with atheist & agnostics. Maybe there is even a cult of One God believers- somewhere in the fleet.

Thanks for replying,
Stephen.

[BubblingOverWithIdeas]

It has never been stated which Colony Elosha is from. Perhaps you're confusing her with Sarah Porter?

[MASON]

It has never been stated which Colony Elosha is from. Perhaps you're confusing her with Sarah Porter?

The Gemenon Representative on the Quorum of Twelve, voiced such a religious interpretation, however, and USA1290 may be mistaking Elosha for the Gemenon Representative, she had a similar acting style when speaking of the scriptures.

As a curious aside, here is a podcast interview with Lorena Gale (Elosha) in which she reveals that in the backstory provided her by RDM, Elosha had served on the Quorum of Twelve for twenty years.

[EDIT] After looking it up, I see we're in agreement, I was simply unaware of Sarah Porter's identity.

[apollo123]

Now, re: the LOK & the Cylon One God, [I hope I do not offend anyone!] i was looking @ Hinduism. The Supreme Being is Shabd-Brahma. MY understanding is that this is a divine power & not a single divine person. The Hindu deities are manifestations of this power, Lord Vishnu & Lord Shiva etc. Prehaps the Cylon God is like S-B & the Lords of Kobol are manifestations & the Colonials have lost touch with that teaching. Prehaps it was in thier ancient past?
I have wondered if it is a SINGLE religion or if thier are branches & denominations as we have on Earth. It is STILL early in the series & we may find out later.

That's an interesting theory and quite plausible given the fact that Ron Moore has stated that he tries to incorporate many different Earth religions in the show (though he himself is agnostic/atheist). I just hope that whatever explanation we get will not be the whole answer, only a suggestion of one.

As far as the One God vs. Multiple Gods, I think the show has shown that both sides have had some kind of "divine" intervention, so perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between, which I suppose coincides nicely with Mormonism.

[USA1290]

That's an interesting theory and quite plausible given the fact that Ron Moore has stated that he tries to incorporate many different Earth religions in the show (though he himself is agnostic/atheist). I just hope that whatever explanation we get will not be the whole answer, only a suggestion of one.

As far as the One God vs. Multiple Gods, I think the show has shown that both sides have had some kind of "divine" intervention, so perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between, which I suppose coincides nicely with Mormonism.

Hello: Thanks for replying. You may want to check this site out. It has a article entitled "Souls Of Cylons"http://www.beliefnet.com/story/166/story_16650_1.html They talk to RDM re: the title matter. I found it very interesting.
Thanks again for your time.
Stephen

[Doze]

Could the Cylon God be Satin? Six would then be a demon (who are fallen angels) and that’s why she only knows when something bad is going to happen.

[Keonyn]

This issue, or the fact it never see's any real progress and only layers of depth to the point it's starting to feel overplayed, is the main detractor in the series for me. You have one side worshiping a group of gods, which in reality doesn't match religion here, but yet their prophecies come true and there seems to be some truth to their religion.

Then you have the other side which worships one god which tends to match more closely to the religions we're taught. However this side is so obviously evil from basically raping the woman of the other side to acts of genocide and slaughter. Then account for the fact they chose Gaius of all people, a man who in all respects embodies the very nature of sin. Yet six can predict certain events so it's hard to completely discredit her as simply manipulative.

Either way, we're nearing 2 complete seasons and there's been hardly a hint of answers and only more questions. I love the show but honestly the lack of developments to the story gets tiresome and if Six and Gaius have a purpose or there's more to it than meets the eye they really need to start expanding on that or this whole thing is just going to start feeling old. They don't need to tie up all the loose ends and explain it all away, but a little something would be nice. So far we have a side that seemingly follows heresy but is the good side and we have another that follows proper religion but embodies every aspect of the sinful side of it, so where in all this is the good side? I'm sure Moore has a great plan to settle it all, would just be nice if he actually started wrapping some things up before he brought in even more, sadly so far the underlying aspect of the show is simply going nowhere. Something can be built up for only so long before it's overdone.

[Doze]

Then you have the other side which worships one god which tends to match more closely to the religions we're taught. However this side is so obviously evil from basically raping the woman of the other side to acts of genocide and slaughter. Then account for the fact they chose Gaius of all people, a man who in all respects embodies the very nature of sin. Yet six can predict certain events so it's hard to completely discredit her as simply manipulative.

Every time Six predicts something right it's always something every bad. She is as surprised of an act of kindness as Gaius is, when it happens. If the 13th God is a fallen God of the Earth colony, then he/she would be evil. Just an idea.

[Keonyn]

The one interesting thing, whether it holds any bearing or not but it is worth noting, is that there were 12 lord of Kobol and there are also 12 human cylon models. Makes me wonder if there is some sort of connection.