how do christians, catholics or any other religion feel about life elsewhere in the universe? what would they say if other life was found?
I’ll take a stab at this tho I don’t know how much sense I’ll make. I tend to think there isn’t life elsewhere in the universe but then I could be wrong. I think I remember that Billy Graham was asked this question once. He said something to the effect that if there was life elsewhere in the universe that it’s highly possible they aren’t affected by the sin problem because they never fell as we did or if they did God has probably made provision for them as He has for us. I still tend to believe though that there isn’t life elsewhere. I know some might then say, “Well, why all the space then, all the stars and galaxies”? The simple answer that I’ve heard given is that it’s to show God’s glory. It makes sense to me for the Bible says in Psalm19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmanent showeth his handiwork.
I also want to comment that I don’t believe that all this ufo/alien abduction stuff going on today has anything to do with aliens from other planets. I believe with a lot of other Christians that they are fallen angels (demons) pretending to be aliens. The things they do to people and the philosophies they promote give them away. Deception is the word to describe them. Anyway, that’s another subject. If you have any interest in that from a Christian point of view, I recommend the book Alien Obsession, What Lies Behind Abductions, Sightings, and the Attraction to the Paranormal. by Ron Rhodes. or Ufo Cults and the New Millenium by William M. Alnor.
If there was life elswhere and they were never tainted with sin, I don’t believe God would allow them to come here to Earth to be contaminated by contact with us. But as I said that’s not what I think all this ufo/alien abduction is about. Any of this make sense to anyone?
Once again-why do you separate Christians and Catholics? Catholics ARE Christians, Jack Chick’s spewings to the contrary.
elementzero1, you may want to consider strolling through this thread, where a few months ago I posed a very similar question and got some good answers.
thanks everyone
Most christian theologians don’t claim to have all the answers: even in strictly religious matters of faith, they feel they are exploring the unknown, and history has brought countless new developments in theology due to scientific and intellectual developments. While there might be a class of believers who think Biblical and other evidence suggests very strongly that we are the only intelligent (or even the only “living”) beings in the universe, I bet even they would, if confronted with the fact, reassess their theology to account for this new finding. So, sum total is that most believers are at least open to the possibility that there could be life elsewhere (who knows what god’s plans are?), and most of those that aren’t would, if history is any guide, at least be willing to reconsider their position in the face of a really solid amount of evidence.
I’m not a believer, but I hope I have enough insight into the theologies of various belief systems to be stating this accurately.
What about that Martian rock with the microbes on it or whatever they were? I thought it had been fairly well established that at least SOME life had evolved extraterrestrially. I think with all the untold billions of solar systems out there that life on other planets would be a mathmateical certainty. It would actually require supernatural intervention for there NOT to be life on other planets. (I’m not a UFO believer, though, not because there can’t be aliens out there but because the distances between stars are so enormous that it would take a space ship, even at the speed of light, thousands of years to travel from even the closest star).
I think it would be really funny if our first contact with extraterrestrials turned out to be some kind of alien fundamentalist missionaries out to show us humans the error of our ways- like little green “Zorak’s Witnesses” or something.
Seriously, though, I think that religion would have to adapt and try to redefine some of its principles. The importance of HUMANS would have to de-emphasized, for instance, but the notion of GOD would certainly live on. It wouldn’t surprise me if it actually evolved into something similar to the “Force” in STAR WARS; an all-purpose Galactic deity.