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greetings in Christ TXnMA

"I find it to be astoundingly arrogant for any of us on this third-rate ball of mud to insist (or even harbor the [unfounded] belief) that our Lord and Creator was so profligate and wasteful as to leave the entire rest of His unimaginably vast Creation unpopulated."

As an atheist I used to think christians were arrogant for believing we were the only life in the universe.(I didn't actually know if christians believed that but being a$$ about face was par for the course as an atheist).After all the universe was just so big.I eventually began to think that the main reason I believed that was because if life had just 'happened' here then it must have just happened elsewhere as well.After all,there was just so much room,as if there being room somehow mandated something happening.It seems to me that you are making the same statement only placing God where 'just happened' was.Which is fair enough but to attach "astoundingly arrogant" seems a bit harsh toward christians,such as myself,who don't happen to agree.

"I certainly find no Scriptural basis for such a belief."

The Bible speaks of us being the children of God,Jesus is going to reign on Earth,from Jerusalem.The new Jerusalem is going to descend out of heaven to Earth etc.The history of the universe in the Bible seems very Earth centred though granted absence of evidence isn't necessarily evidence of absence.Still to say that it's unfounded or that there's no scriptural basis for believing we're the only physical life seems a stretch.The Bible doesn't seem to talk about any other,so I actually don't see any scriptural basis for what you are saying.

""ETs"? I will not dishonor our Creator by insisting that they were/are not in His grand plan and design."

Well,I wouldn't insist that they don't exist but I don't find anything scriptural that compels me to think they do and the universe being really really big doesn't either.When I see so much 'new age' thinking that swirls around other-worldy life out there coming to save us and see so many who reject God insisting there's other life out there I can't help being suspicious.The Bible tells us there most certainly is other intelligent life in the universe.Some of it being malevolent and maybe trying to hitch a ride on man's desire to believe in some sort of physical saviour.

Sorry to ramble but since you are obviously a FRiend of bb and AG I'll assume I'm in good company.God bless.

Pardon my intrusion, but ...

You asserted, "Still to say that it's unfounded or that there's no scriptural basis for believing we're the only physical life seems a stretch.The Bible doesn't seem to talk about any other,so I actually don't see any scriptural basis for what you are saying."

Actually, the Bible speaks on many occasions of other created beings. Are you ommitting Angels from your reasoning? They are created beings. In fact, ANYTHING that is IN the UNiverse of God's Creation is a created thing.

A close reading of the OT gives reference to not only Angels but to firey chariots which descend from the sky. A close reading of the NT yields conevntional Physics defying events, not the least of which is the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb without rolling away the stone and then appearing in a locked and shuttered room with his followers.

What are identified as heavenly beings (there are several species, apparently) are beyond your or my ability to classify with finality.

And finally, there may just be a very significant reason why species from across the Galaxy are visiting Earth, watching humankind. It may well be that we humans are the ONLY species of created life in this Created Universe who have a God breathed spirit within our human soul. It is not inconceivable that many sepcies arising on other planets have reached technical capabilities beyond our current own, but lacking a spirit.

Pardon the intrusion. Just thought you might want to think about that, as a Christian citing the Bible as a 'proof source'.

Thank you so much for sharing your testimony and concerns, dear brother in Christ, and thank you for your encouragements!

Whether a person believes there is physical life elsewhere than earth or not surely is not a poison pill in his walk with the Lord.

I suspect Abraham would have had no reason to think about extra-terrestrial physical existence even though he had direct personal experience with a created being not of this world though he was in this world, e.g. Melchizedek in Genesis 14.

But then "world" to Abraham was probably limited to what he could physically sense with his eyes, ears, etc. And although Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine, we cannot say based on Scripture whether he was a spiritual being appearing as an illusion - or a physical being intersecting Abraham's 4D existence - or perhaps even a visitor from some other location in the universe.

Indeed, we cannot really know whether we are entertaining angels.

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. - Hebrews 13:2

But whether the universe is desolate of physical life forms or teeming with them, I am very confident that Adamic man has been specially blessed with the breath of God whereby he became a living soul.

And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. - Genesis 2:7

The Hebrew word for that is neshama. The souls of other living creatures in Genesis 1 are called nephesh and, according to Jewish mystics, return to the earth upon physical death.

Perhaps God never created another "living soul" that way. He doesn't say that He did.

God's Name is I AM.

Well, I wouldn't insist that [ETs] don't exist but I don't find anything scriptural that compels me to think they do and the universe being really really big doesn't either. When I see so much 'new age' thinking that swirls around other-worldy life out there coming to save us and see so many who reject God insisting there's other life out there I can't help being suspicious. The Bible tells us there most certainly is other intelligent life in the universe. Some of it being malevolent and maybe trying to hitch a ride on man's desire to believe in some sort of physical saviour.

Well said, mitch5501!

I had a pretty good immersion in "new age" thinking a few decades back — which postulated the existence of the Hidden Masters, a hierarchy of spiritual beings who really do run everything that takes place in the universe. If one signs up for the "training," and finds the right "spiritual master" to guide it, one can through one's own efforts eventually become such a spiritual being oneself — to, as it were, promote one's self into godhood.

Now G. I. Gurdjieff (I mentioned him in an earlier post) was a very prominent New Age guru. As mentioned, in his book Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, he has Satan and his collaborators racing all over the universe in space ships, trying to run things. What makes Gurdjieff unique among such gurus is that he points out — and laughs at — all the stupid things that "go wrong" when these "hidden masters" get their hands on things....

It's hard to tell where Gurdjieff "is coming from." He is a self-admitted master jokester. So I guess we need to take him with a grain of salt.

I only mention this, dear brother, because you suggested that "ETs" might be malevolent beings; i.e., those of Satan's party. The Holy Scriptures are silent about rocket ships; but they are not silent about the presence of Evil Ones — malevolent beings — in the World.

Or then again, maybe Kevmo's right, and UFO sightings evidence a secret government weapons program.

It seems there is no "hard" evidence for either view — or any view for that matter — at least so far. So I certainly wouldn't want to rush to the conclusion that just because there is life like us on Earth, there is life like us elsewhere in the universe. As dearest Alamo-Girl has already pointed out, if God did create "humanlike" creatures — living beings possessing soul, intelligence and self-consciousness; i.e., beings in His own image — that reside elsewhere in the Universe, He did not tell us about it.

So please forgive me if I'm a tad "agnostic" re: this issue of ETs and UFOs. As far as I'm concerned, the jury's still out.

BTW, I don't doubt that people who report such sightings have very likely seen something real. It's just that they cannot really tell us exactly what it is they have seen. But they do hold opinions about what they have seen.

Thanks so very much for writing, dear brother Mitch!