Faith and Fandom
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Stone Paradox

Does God Have a Prime Directive, Part 1

“Could God create a stone so heavy that even He could not lift it?” You’ve probably heard that trite tidbit of sophistry at some point in your life. A staple of philosophical discussions for centuries, this so-called “Stone Paradox” is an utterly ridiculous paralogism.

Here’s a better question: “Can God establish an edict that He Himself must obey?” Even with our limited cognitive functioning and infinitesimally narrow understanding of God’s nature, the answer is obvious. As unfathomable as it seems, God has a Prime Directive.

The Prime Directive (hereafter PD) in
Star Trek, which was surely established as a liberal-minded reaction against the colonizing mandates inherent in Manifest Destiny and other such expansionist agendas, stipulates that Starfleet officers shall in no way meddle in the affairs of impressionable alien species so as to prevent landing parties from destroying strange new worlds while in the process of exploring them. This binding dictate prohibits any Starfleet officer from tampering with the natural development of alien civilizations possessing a pre-warp drive level of technology in order to avoid the kind of cultural contamination witnessed in TOS episodes like “A Piece of the Action” and “Patterns of Force.”

Intended as a safeguard against the premature advancement of an alien race—which could kindle bloodletting, world wars or a nuclear holocaust—the PD is the guiding principle of the Federation. However, some Starfleet captains discovered chinks in the seemingly ironclad dictum and exploited them for personal gain (Captain Ronald Tracey in “The Omega Glory”) or altruistic purposes (Captain James T. Kirk on numerous occasions).

Even though, from a conceptual standpoint, a PD has its roots buried deep in Darwin’s theory of evolution, let’s suspend any theological objections to Trek’s prescription of non-interference for the sake of this argument. Since there’s little visual evidence to prove that a supernatural agency is at work in our world today, it’s logical to conclude that God has a PD. But how can we reconcile God’s supernatural interventions—the occasional undercover angel He dispatches to assist humans in desperate need or the various miracles He’s performed throughout the centuries?

In these instances, and many others recorded in the Bible, isn’t God breaking His own rules; in essence, violating His own Prime Directive? And wouldn’t such an infraction be considered a sin? And if so, who has the authority to punish God? To be continued…

March 1997