If intelligent extraterrestrials exist, what about God?

MSNBC ^ | October 2, 2011 | Clara Moskowitz

[EveningStar]

The discovery of intelligent aliens would be mind-blowing in many respects, but it could present a special dilemma for the world's religions, theologians pondering interstellar travel concepts said Saturday.

[Iron Munro]

God created the entire universe, not just Washington, DC, New York, Earth or one solar system.

[eclecticEel]

the principle of mediocrity — the idea that your own example is most likely typical unless you have evidence to the contrary

What nonsense. When you have a single data point you can't say anything about whether your datum is typical or atypical. When you're ignorant about a subject - which in this case we all are - it's best just to own up to it.

[hwkbeer]

Dr Chuck Missler did some study on this very subject.His research is interesting.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3473883928564642733#

[UCANSEE2]

Isn’t ‘science’ merely a methodology to try and understand God’s creation?

[Hegewisch Dupa]

not only not suffice; not accurate

[ballplayer]

When I speak with one I will let you know what it says

[Nevermore]

Only someone with the IQ of an MSNBC reporter could rationalize that the existence of ET has anything to do with the existence of God.

Here's a thought to rock your world, Clare: the existence of God does not even depend on what theologians think - imagine that!

Now, Tinkerbell...that's another matter...

[Scythian]

There is no life anywhere else, and if there is, on nearby planets it will be microbrial that was blasted off from the planet and hit mars, or whatever due to massive meteor impacts.

[zeugma]

Well, the Bible does say he sent His ONLY son.

It also doesn't say He was never dispatched elsewhere.

[dfwgator]

Relax. The physical universe is just an illusion. It really doesn’t exist at all except in the mind of the ego.

"Can I buy some pot from you?"

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

In my Father’s house are many mansions:

Just as in Genesis...where the word "day" could mean a period of millions or billions of years (See Genesis and The Big Bang...so could the word "mansions" mean 'habitable planets that will support life'.

[GraceG]

Does anyone doubt that we have enough tech to fake an encounter with “intelligent extraterrestrials”.

I would imagine the marxists and socialists would fake an encounter and the “aliens” would tell us that Socialism and Environmentalism are what we we HAVE to do otherwise they will Exterminate us.

[dfwgator]

Just as in Genesis...where the word "day" could mean a period of millions or billions of years

Reminds me of a joke:

"A man goes up to God and asks him, 'What's a million years to you?'...God replies, 'A second.'

The man then asks God, 'What's a million dollars to you?'...and God replies, 'A penny.'

Then the man asks God, 'Can I have a penny?'...and God replies, 'Sure, in a second.'

[chesley]

I don’t think it would be a problem, myself.

But even if it were to be, it only becomes a problem when they actually find intelligent life elsewhere. So far, not a problem.

[Our man in washington]

You know what would be a problem for atheists? If they discovered that our Universe had a definite start date.

You know what would be an even bigger problem? If they discovered that if you changed the initial settings of the Universe by extremely small amounts, life could never have existed. If that were true, we would have to assume a cosmic plan or assume an enormous number of Universes where one randomly had the perfect combination for life. Using Occam’s razor, the first would be the best explanation.

You know what would be a still larger problem? If observation actually affected behavior of particles, which would suggest that conscious beings were part of the cosmic plan. If consciousness were just a random accident, why would it influence how particles behaved?

You know what would be an even bigger problem? If the laws of the Universe were really simple, such as the force of gravity and the electomagnetic force decreasing by exactly the square of the distance. If our Universe were just one of an infinite number of randomly created Universes, we might expect the decline would be the distance to the 2.1654th power or something. After all, if you pick a bunch of random numbers, you wouldn’t expect to find many whole numbers or even rational numbers.

Let’s hope, for the atheist’s sake, that they never discover these things. Oh wait, they have.

[Dansong]

Not a problem at all! The Bible acknowledges angels as God’s creation, life-forms yet not human. Thus, the first ET’s...

[RIghtwardHo]

I think that is a fair statement. Both are a search to understand truth and reality.

I think it is detrimental to both for one to exclude the other. They need not be enemies.

[Lou Budvis]

The article is actually accurate that Christianity would have more difficulty dealing with intelligent aliens than other religions. Orthodox Chrisitanity teaches that God becoming the Word Incarnate was a completely unique event. So there is the question of how other alien species attained salvation.

IMHO the answer may be that intelligent life does not exist elsewhere in the universe. When you start looking at all the conditions that have to be present to sustain higher life forms as we understand them, the odds of another intelligent civilization start dropping dramatically.

I’m still waiting though on science to explain how a self-replication life form arose spontaneously from inorganic materials.

[Big_Harry]

My belief is that if God created other life, the essence of that life would still be in His image regardless of how the physical bodies might adapt to the environment. I would think that they would also be creatures of free will, and they would also be capable of great good, or great evil. Of course, the evil ones would be the ones to find us.

Like us, out of the 40% that say they are believers, only about 20% of that number would be devout, 2% would pay their tithes, and less than 1% would witness effectively about their religion.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith, I am nothing." "Oh," says man, "but the Babel fish is a dead give-away, isn't it? It proves You exist, and so therefore You don't." "Oh, I hadn't thought of that," says God, who promptly vanishes in a puff of logic. "Ah, that was easy," says man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white, and gets killed on the next zebra crossing.

- - Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy