Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us. –Council of Chalcedon (451 A. D.)
(Warning: the usual Christian disclaimers for pop cultural references apply here.)
One thing that can really help a person explain the theology of the incarnation is watching the mostly paganish show Buffy the Vampire Slayer or its spin-off Angel.
In that fictional world, demons are commonly portrayed in a way that mostly resembles space aliens. They usually come from other dimensions rather than planets (one episode in BtVS season four even crossed that line making it even harder to differentiate between fantasy and scifi) but they are pretty much creatures that could easily fit in a Star Trek episode.
But in some shows the principle is revealed that these demons have gone through alterations to come into the human plane. They are “mixtures” or “impure” to some extent (vampires are espcially impure hybrids with human beings and thus looked down upon). So they are superior in strength and durability usually, but they are still ultimately defeatable if one has super strength of one’s own, or the proper battle axe, or a handy source of high-voltage electricity. Indeed, when dealing with incorporeal demonic forces, the common strategy is to find some way to get the being to materialize and then deal with the monster that results via weaponry. Continue reading