Alien Ideas: Christianity and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

CRISIS magazine via CERC ^ | BENJAMIN D. WIKER

[Johnny Shear]

I've not read all of this yet, but this much is a FACT...

If aliens are ever proven to exist (Even microbes on another planet or moon), Fundemental Christianity (And many other religions) are DONE!

I'm talking about the kind of worshipers who believe the bible is absolute, literal truth...

According to them, God made Adam and Eve...Not Adam, Eve and Mr. Spock. (Which is my basic problem with any "Religion" who's followers call it the "One True Faith".)

[Varda]

LOL! I was objective last year.

[Polycarp]

Fundemental Christianity (And many other religions) are DONE!

Thank God I'm Catholic, not a literalist fundamentalist.

[MHGinTN]

Did God make the humankind present when Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden ... according to your perspective?

[PatrickHenry]

End-of-session placemarker.

[A.J.Armitage]

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.

But the farmer has interests in the cows other than looking at it.

A better anology might be a native creature, like the buffalo. Even if we couldn't eat them, we'd still have had an interest in the land they were on. And even if aliens were good-hearted enough to let us have Earth, why not use Mars and Venus?

[A.J.Armitage]

Quite possibly for the same reason that we aren't spread out all over the galaxy ourselves.

They all devoloped rocketry within the last hundred years?

[RaceBannon]

Since Gentiles means those humans that were not Jews....

[bzrd]

I am of the opinion that earth is where it's at---in terms of intelligent life, in the universe. This is based on my understanding of scripture as well as my addmittedly limited understanding of cosmology and biology.

The Bible doesn't explicitly rule-out the possibility of life on other worlds. However, though, it explicitly states that Satan is the prince of the air. The "air" in this context, includes the earth as well as the second Heaven--which is the everything except the third Heaven where GOD dwells.

Given this, I would be leary of anyone/thing that claims to come from another world. This hypothesis would be rather easy to test, I think--if someone would do a study on abduction victims to see how many are born again, Bible beleiving Christians.

If I were confronted with ET, the first thing I would do would be to invoke the name of Jesus Christ.

In terms of biology, I have seen no compelling evidence that supports the notion that inert matter can form life--regardless of the time [or size of the universe] involved.

I realize there is a lot of speculation in this area, but in my mind it is exactly that--speculation.

As for the oft-quoted line by the late Carl Sagan..."if we are alone in the universe, there is a an awful lot of wasted space"...[pardon the paraphrase].

We are not alone---at least I know I'm not. Also, Sagan's statement is based on the assumption that the only use this universe will ever see, is by us humans in our presently created state.

My Savior said "In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you."

I plan to do some REAL traveling one day. So can you, accept Jesus Christ into your heart today.

Brian.

[A.J.Armitage]

'Cuz the trip is really, really, really, really long.

And why can't they make ship supporting numerous generations on the way over?

And, even if they stayed put, there should still be evidence. Radio, ect. If intelligent life were as common as some people think, we'd know by now.

[A.J.Armitage]

If aliens are ever proven to exist (Even microbes on another planet or moon), Fundemental Christianity (And many other religions) are DONE!

Nope.

[Physicist]

And why can't they make ship supporting numerous generations on the way over?

Because they don't know how to power such an object for that long, can't guarantee a minimum reliability over that long a haul, and can't afford to build it in the first place.

And, even if they stayed put, there should still be evidence. Radio, ect.

We've barely begun to listen. RadioAstronomer can give you some hard numbers on how many star systems we've checked thoroughly for radio transmissions.

If intelligent life were as common as some people think, we'd know by now.

If we'd found it by now, it would mean that the galaxy is bursting at the seams with civilizations.

[crystalk]

The source of course is Mark 16:15.

If all one is going to do is look in a dusty commentary from hundreds of years ago, and recite to me that that long-dead author claims that kosmos means "world," then you have a tautology. Since old habit was to do that, and old habit is what you are quoting, then of course old habit is the only way to think!

Garbage in, garbage out!

I never said the KJV translators were STUPID, or that they didn't find "world" in their Greek dictionaries as the meaning of "kosmos." I am saying it is time to expand our understanding, think outSIDE the book.

At least the KJV had the grace to correctly translate "creature"-- that is half the battle.

My opponents are invited to tell me what EARTHLY creatures, other than humans, they are preaching the gospel to, or planning to do so soon.

I am going to call them speciesists for refusing to preach to gorillas and chimps.

[TopQuark]

Second, if there are intelligent aliens, why aren't they here? Firstly, we may not be important. Secondly, do not forget that we are of any interest at all for just about 10,000 years. And another civilization may ve so far away that it takes light this many years to travel. IN other words, as they look NOW at our Earth, they see Neanderthal-like creatures from which that light was reflected. They will see us, with our TV, satellites, libraries, etc. only 10,000 years from now.

[ninenot]

Straw man. Christian doctrine does not have to "change" if there are other populations in the universe. There's no doctrinal statement either way, logically.

All we NEED to know for salvation is taught by the Church.

And that's all we NEED to know.

[crystalk]

I might also note that "kosmos" is translating the Hebrew word "olamim" which means planets, worlds, universe.

If that is what one means by World, then fine. If Arcturus and the Pleiades are "part of our world," because we can be conscious of them and learn something about them, then you can translate "kosmos" as "world". If you are determined to.

It certainly is not limited to this ball of rock, to the Planet Earth.

[Desdemona]

Why are you pinging me?

[Joe Hadenuf]

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

Do we really know they are not? Or have been already in the past?

We always seem to think that aliens would be similar to us in size etc.

Imagine an alien spacecraft the size if a shirt button, that held 2000 space travelers. It wouldn't even show up on radar, and the chances of actually seeing it would be very remote.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Which explains Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Need air? Olaf Stapleton's novels posit that exists only as energy.