There is NOTHING in the Bible that contradicts the possibility that God might have created other sentient beings in His image at other places in His Cosmos. By your definition, they would thus be "men". Since God Himself is not a material being, whatever aspect of man that is "in His image", is obviously NOT our physical form. We simply do not know exactly what that applies to.
This concept takes NOTHING away from the Gospel, which applies to OUR situation here in THIS tiny portion of God's creation. For all we know, the other "men" never failed God's test, as Adam did, and are currently living in the same union with the Creator that Adam lost.
Well, thank you for your insightful and contemplative post. I found it most enlightening and cogent.
Perhaps I shall also substitute capitalization for reasons in favor of my position.
I shall without doubt endeavor to make use of terms such as ‘baloney’ in future polemics in order to expand upon my own lexicon.
Such well disciplined and thorough apologetics are rare indeed.
I agree with Warthog. The bible never says that there are two and only two types of sentinent creatures. In fact, I think if you look at the living beasts/creatures/beings of Revelations 4 that are around the throne, and praise God, they don’t seem to fit either category of angels or man.
The strongest argument that I see for there not being alien life, is that the history of the world and universe appears tied to human history. In Genesis, the stars were created for the earth, not vice versa. In the Old Testament and in Revelations, the destruction and recreation of the universe appears tied to human history and judgement.
Is that to say that God could not have created another sentinent creature whose history he has also managed to time or before the destruction of the universe. No, he could have. I just think it’s doubtful.
In that respect, I agree with esquirette, that UFO sightings may well be the sighting of angelic vehicles similar to the “Wheels within wheels” chariot that one of the Old Testament prophets saw. And whether those angels are fallen or not, can’t tell.