Intelligent extraterrestrial life

[Dowii]

I go to a Christian school. In my Bible class the other day we were having a discussion about aliens. It basically got to the point where we were debating on what it would mean for our Christian faith if we found intelligent life on a different planet. I would like to hear other peoples input and opinions on the issue. Thanks and God bless.

 

[Bick]

Hi Dowii. Yes, it would be interesting if an alien from another planet showed up on the Earth.

Personally, I don't believe this will ever happen, primarily because something like that, IMO, is not in the Bible.

Also, because of the vastness of space, and time it would take to travel to Earth from the nearest star (assuming there was a planet near by), even at the speed of light.

Also, leaving the confines of our solar system one would encounter high radiation from other stars or star systems.

I used to let my imagination run, thinking of the vastness of the universe, with its billions and trillions of stars, and wondered if there was life---even spirit powered life, such as angels.

And, then, some years ago, a pastor-teacher pointed out something fascinating from the book of Ephesians. That believers in Christ Jesus, who are in the body of Christ, have a future in the heavenlies, to experience all the spiritual blessings He has prepared.
We are told that through the church/body "the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places."

This is saying that we, the church/body, having spiritual bodies fit for the heavenlies,in the ages to come, will be sent to witness to the spirit beings (principalities and powers)through out the universe, the manifold wisdom, kindness and grace of God, through Christ Jesus.
Read the first three chapters of Ephesians, specifically.

Bick

 

[Poster]

I'm not religious,

I think if there was intelligent life similar to our own on another planet without our religious stories, that would be strong evidence that the stories are not true.

Wait... that's what happened when we discovered the 'New World', nobody had ever heard of *any* of our religions.

Either God had all the Filipino born go straight to hell with zero chance to be 'saved' from eternal torture, or, if there is a God, He's not so particular on the details. Just be good, you know, don't torture small children for fun, don't steal unless you have a very important reason (such as to save a life) and just basically do your best, try to get at least a B or B+

One might ask why it took Jesus so long, why didn't he just appear to Adam and get it over with?

Or, for that matter, why not just put humans directly in heaven before they could sin?

The lack of a Universal knowledge of the salvation procedure means either God doesn't have a problem with creating humans who will be tortured forever without any hope of salvation, or, there is a more obvious path to salvation than we have been lead to believe. Perhaps something like take care of your kids, don't beat your wife too much, pull someone out of the water if they can't swim, be nice, don't steal, that sort of thing.

Respectfully submitted.

 

[RND]

Isa 45:11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. 12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, [even] my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

"The cross of Christ will be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified they will behold Christ crucified. Never will it be forgotten that He whose power created and upheld the unnumbered worlds through the vast realms of space--the Beloved of God, the Majesty of heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph delighted to adore--humbled Himself to uplift fallen man; that He bore the guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of His Father's face, till the woes of a lost world broke His heart, and crushed out His life on Calvary's cross. That the Maker of all worlds, the Arbiter of all destinies, should lay aside His glory and humiliate Himself from love to man will ever excite the wonder and adoration of the universe. As the nations of the saved look upon their Redeemer and behold the eternal glory of the Father shining in His countenance; as they behold His throne, which is from everlasting to everlasting, and know that His kingdom is to have no end, they break forth in rapturous song: "Worthy, worthy, is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God, by His own most precious blood!" {AG 98.3}

I think it would be difficult to believe we are the only souls God ever created.

 

[John]

Life cannot come from non life, so if there is any life out there God had to have created them.

 

[Vic C.]

It wouldn't shake my Faith. I have to believe all life, everywhere, came from God.


Poster, please refrain from derailing the topic by dragging us into a straw man argument. Also, I respectfully ask that you not claim to know God's plan and methods of salvation.

Thank you.

 

[Poster]

Aliens vs Other people from another planet.

 

[Dante-Alighieri]

Since life can arise through relatively simple chemical reactions the odds of life existing somewhere else in the universe is pretty high.
In fact, one has to take into account that life elsewhere might not be carbon based, but something entirely different (silicon is proposed).

That being said, I would be surprised if there was not life out there, but I seriously doubt humanity will ever encounter extraterrestrial life, as space travel is so completely impractical that I doubt humanity will ever leave the solar system.

In order to travel to another planetary system outside of our solar system we would have to solve a lot of problems, such as:
Figuring out a way to travel exceptionally long distances faster than the speed of light without using traditional methods (i.e - we'd need to figure out a way to warp space rather than simply "speed up" as it is impossible to go the speed of light, nor would it be wise to travel the speed of light even if we could, as well as the fact that the speed of light is not exceptionally fast when discussing the notion of traveling between stars.

From a religious perspective, I don't see how discovering life would be an issue. The Bible is not all inclusive, there are a millions of things the Bible doesn't talk about. I certainly wouldn't refer to it for areas of cosmology, astrobiology, etc.




Dante

 

[Dante-Alighieri]

Also, I respectfully ask that you not claim to know God's plan and methods of salvation.

And just WHY can she/he not make such claims? Is the Bible not accessible to all? Can not any person read and discern God's plan and methods of salvation?
Furthermore, all I see here on this site is people claiming to know a lot of things that cannot be known. Why are you singling him/her out instead of others?


Dante

 

[John]

Since life can arise through relatively simple chemical reactions the odds of life existing somewhere else in the universe is pretty high.

Dude.

There is NO concrete evidence of life arising from non life, ALL we have is a hypothesis.

 

[Dante-Alighieri]

Since life can arise through relatively simple chemical reactions the odds of life existing somewhere else in the universe is pretty high.

Dude.

There is NO concrete evidence of life arising from non life, ALL we have is a hypothesis.

True. We do not yet fully know how life arose. But from what I've read there are some good hypothesis' out there.



Dante

 

[John]

True. We do not yet fully know how life arose. But from what I've read there are some good hypothesis' out there.

Until we can see without a reasonable doubt that life could arise from non life then i have good reason to doubt extraterrestrial life forms (even bacteria sized life) existing. Now if science does manage to lend convincing evidence to the hypothesis and create a decent theory then i will believe in life outside of earth.

 

[Vic C.]

Until we can see without a reasonable doubt that life could arise from non life then i have good reason to doubt extraterrestrial life forms (even bacteria sized life) existing.

John, may I ask, why? Is it because the Bible is silent on such issues? Is God not capable of creating life elsewhere in the universe?

 

[John]

John, may I ask, why? Is it because the Bible is silent on such issues?

That, coupled with what we know about Abiogenesis yes.

 

[Vic C.]

John, may I ask, why? Is it because the Bible is silent on such issues?

That, coupled with what we know about Abiogenesis yes.

I think I may have edited my post as you were posting. There's more to it then what you quoted.

 

[Dante-Alighieri]

True. We do not yet fully know how life arose. But from what I've read there are some good hypothesis' out there.

Until we can see without a reasonable doubt that life could arise from non life then i have good reason to doubt extraterrestrial life forms (even bacteria sized life) existing. Now if science does manage to lend convincing evidence to the hypothesis and create a decent theory then i will believe in life outside of earth.

Without pulling the thread into a deep discussion of abiogenesis, I (more or less) agree with point of your thread.

Personally, I don't rule out the possibility of life on other worlds (in fact, I think the odds are fairly high), however, I don't personally find reason to accept that there is extraterrestrial life as there's no evidence for it as of now.



Dante

 

[John]

[quote="vic C.":3626lk40]John, may I ask, why? Is it because the Bible is silent on such issues?

That, coupled with what we know about Abiogenesis yes.

I think I may have edited my post as you were posting. There's more to it then what you quoted.[/quote:3626lk40]



Yup that is what happened, lol

Is God not capable of creating life elsewhere in the universe?

He surely is and i honestly think that we will be able to see them and/or interact with them when we get to heaven, but as it stands right now i have no logical concrete evidence of other life.

 

[Dowii]

Wow this is a lot of responses. It is really interesting to hear everyones opinion. Keep them coming

 

[RND]

Since life can arise through relatively simple chemical reactions the odds of life existing somewhere else in the universe is pretty high.

Dude.

There is NO concrete evidence of life arising from non life, ALL we have is a hypothesis.

True. We do not yet fully know how life arose. But from what I've read there are some good hypothesis' out there.



Dante

Regarding your first declaration this seems like quite a backtrack to me.

The assumption that two single cell organisms got together and decided to mate for the necessity of protecting their future takes more faith to believe than simply having faith that God created all things.