Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Implications for Christians (especially for Jesus as the son of God)

[Biffster]

@pkbites

Of course some do. But many of the fundamentalists do not.

When I was a kid being indoctrinated by religious nonsense by a church that was biblically literalistic, one of the doctrines was that God has always been, he had no beginning and will have no end. Their definition of “always” meant just that. Not when time began, but always. The dirty looks I got when I asked what god was doing a trillion years before he made Earth were priceless. And I never received a satisfying answer.

It’s an excellent question, pkbites, and one that is unanswerable as long as we keep thinking of God in human terms. Take nature, for example. Nature has existed for at least as long as the earth has, and even longer, for as long as the universe has. What was Nature doing a trillion years before man existed, or for the millions of years while the dinosaurs were the dominant life form on this planet? I don’t think we have a problem contemplating Nature as purely existing, or Life as purely existing, or even Existence as purely existing. It’s just the human point of reference that troubles us. World without end.
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[Nava]

@sbunny8

I read a sci-fi story once about Catholic priests who traveled to a planet 20 light years away with the goal of converting the planet’s indigenous aliens to Christianity. Before they had much chance to thoroughly explain just what Christianity is, the aliens reinterpreted it all to suit their own needs and started calling themselves “Christians”.

Apparently, their society had a rigid set of rules about procreation. Long story short, if your spouse dies for any reason, you’re considered an outcast from society. So the outcast aliens reinterpreted the message of forgiveness and redemption to mean they could get married again and re-enter society. Then the Catholic priests kinda look at each other and wonder what to do next.

Shrug, it’s not as if that bit goes against Catholic doctrine. A Catholic priest worth his salt would be happy to count that as a doctrinal victory and keep on rollin’.

@Biffster

Probably because Catholics don’t condone divorce and remarriage; the first marriage must be annulled first—no small feat to accomplish.

That doesn’t include widowers. And annullment is a lot easier to accomplish than most people think and was even before the latest simplification of the paperwork. My aunt could have gotten her first marriage annulled in exactly the same time and simultaneously with her divorce; why she chose not to is a mystery lost to the mists of age, idiocy and craziness.

[John_DiFool]

@Biffster

It’s an excellent question, pkbites, and one that is unanswerable as long as we keep thinking of God in human terms.

Guess you missed the “suspended” tag next to his handle…

[Biffster]

@John_DiFool

Guess you missed the “suspended” tag next to his handle…

Guess I did. Is that important? I count many “sinners” among my friends.
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