Alien Ideas: Christianity and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

CRISIS magazine via CERC ^ | BENJAMIN D. WIKER

[Citizen Tom Paine]

John 10:16 (RSV) And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice.

[yendu bwam]

Hey Polycarp,

I too am waiting impatiently for The Two Towers! But on extraterrestrial life, I don't know. It's certainly possible that part of God's purpose is to draw forth living beings in different parts of the universe, and to help them achieve enough goodness to unite with Him. Jesus says the he will prepare a room for us in his father's house, and that his father's house has many rooms. We were created in God's image. But others may also have been, no?

[Telit Likitis]

Time to dust off "Perelandra", "Out of the Silent Planet" and "That Hideous Strength"

-Telit

[A.J.Armitage]

If no other life could exist anywhere in the universe would mean the universe is sterile. That we exists proves the universe is not sterile, but fertile. There would have to be overwhelming proof of the entire universe being sterile in order to completely negate the possibility of other life elsewhere. There is no such proof.

First, could exist and does exist aren't the same thing.

Second, if there are intelligent aliens, why aren't they here? That there are many civilizations but only one, us, with an urge to explore is as unlikely as many planets but only one, Earth, with native civilizations.

[mvpel]

Jewish tradition states that God created and destroyed many worlds before creating this one.

[moonhawk]

Indeed?

[judgeandjury]

Second, if there are intelligent aliens, why aren't they here.

They've probably already "been here, done that". Having vastly more intelligent and technologically advanced aliens watching us human beings go about our daily routines would probably be about as interesting to them as you or me watching some cows in a field going about their daily routines. The aliens probably visited us, took some notes, and then moved on to explore other worlds.

[TopQuark]

I nice overview of history, but the premise is very, very weak, and reliance on it for conclusion is probably harmful:

To be blunt, since it was the negative result of a century-long search for aliens, the absence of evidence is evidence for absence. What else would it be?

If this discussion were about the shape of the Earth and if it were conducted in XIII century, say, the author would conclude: "Since it was the negative result of a century-long search for the end of the world, the absence of evidence is evidence for absence: the Earth is flat and infinite."

The argument that one century of effort is somehow a definitive amount is pathetically wrong, and I am sorry to see a well-read asuthor to rely on it.

[TopQuark]

But probability does not demand any such thing, unless we think (with Epicurus) that the universe is governed by chance, and that, of course, would be a reason to give up our Christianity, not to rerig its cosmology.

So far we have built magnificent devices, from computers to microscopes, assuming quantum mechanics; that is, that the universe is governed by chance. Here is something that is positive after one century of effort, hence by author's criterion must be accepted, yet he does not even allude to this fundamental theory.

[TopQuark]

a humbling lesson for those inclined to hitch theological doctrines to the science of the day:

I would submit to you that the reason for a steady decline of religion in Europe is precisely this reactive posture, as a result of which the Church is always late. The laters failure is recent: to provide a properly strong response to the pill.

It appears that even as Europe proudly refers to itself as "post-Christian," the most learned representatives of the Church are not even aware of the necessity to be pro active and develope religious reponse to the changing environement in a timely fashion. And so the march of godlessness continues...

[RaceBannon]

John 10:16 is about Gentiles, not aliens.

[PatrickHenry]

ET meets the bible ping.

[This ping list for the evolution -- not creationism -- side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. If you want to be included, or dropped, let me know.]

[DallasMike]

Fourth, Christians should be equally wary of the idea that God would somehow be a second-rate deity if He allowed human beings to be the only intelligent embodied beings in the universe, since that would mean a lot of wasted space. What frightens us into making such claims is, I believe, the immensity of space itself. But while the vastness of the universe rightly humbles us, its size means nothing to God, an immaterial intelligence. Since He has no size, it is all the same to Him whether He makes the universe as big as a pin or a pin as big as the universe.

Some people use similar logic to further their belief that the universe is only 6,000 years old.

[Pahuanui]

Only by the beginning of the 20th century was science advanced enough to move from speculation to the actual search for hard evidence. As amply documented by Steven Dick in Life on Other Worlds: The 20th Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate, by the end of the 20th century, scientists had demonstrated to all but the most zealously intransigent that — humble Earth excepted — our solar system was devoid of intelligent life and most likely devoid of any life. Further, as biologists discovered the ever-greater complexity of living organisms and the delicate balance of conditions that make them possible, it became clearer and clearer that fewer and fewer places in the universe could meet the conditions required for even the most rudimentary forms of life.

I'm sorry, but that is such a pig-ignorant, arrogant statement it almost defies belief.

We, at this stage in the development of our technologies and the understanding we have of the universe, know so profoundly little about even our own solar system that the presumptions inherent to the above statements comment only on the author, not the possibility of extraterrestrial life or intelligence.

[Polycarp]

I'm just finishing reading the Narnia chronicles to my kids, and am considering Lewis'Space Trilogy next. Of course, all last winter was devoted to a thorough reading to them of The Hobbit and TLOTR. Thus the eager anticipation of The Two Towers.

[yendu bwam]

John 10 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Perhaps in the richness of time, Christ visits all those created in the image of God.

[yendu bwam]

John 14:2 says "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." The speaker is Jesus. I've always taken that as a statement that we're not alone.

Me too.

[oprahstheantichrist]

Bump for later

[yendu bwam]

So far we have built magnificent devices, from computers to microscopes, assuming quantum mechanics; that is, that the universe is governed by chance.

Well, TopQuark, we should be careful here. Yes, chance comes everywhere into play in quantum mechanics in the unfolding of events at the microscopic level. But the creation of the universe, and the deployment of its laws and mathematics, may not have been a chance event. Many believe it was not, especially given the extremely low entropy with which the universe was created, and all the order (which we see around us) which flows from the intial low entropy. Many also believe that quantum mechanics is essential to the possibility of free will - a possibility which also may not have been created by chance.