I wrote this in response to my friend's assertion here that we should not rule out the possibility of the existence of aliens.
No, I think we can rule out the possibility of aliens altogether. Where do they fit in with God's plan? Where is the biblical allowance for them? True, we might say that about many things - birthdays, computers, and other things the Bible doesn't mention. But if there were alien life forms, this other race of beings would have to be damned in the fall of man. They Bible says that as a result of Adam’s sin "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of child birth right up to the present time" (Romans 8:22) God holds them accountable for our sin?
And what of their relationship to their Creator? If they were cursed by the fall of Adam, are they saved by Christ’s coming to earth as a man and dying as a man to redeem man save them also? Or must He come to Mars in the body of a Martian to bring the Martians salvation also? Of course not, “For Christ died for sins once for all” (1 Peter 3:18).
Could he have created them at a later date, or an earlier? No, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) And if you believe in six day creation, as I do and I know you do, Andy, here is the “beginning” of the first day. Then six days later “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because he rested from all the work of creating He had done.” (Genesis 2:1-3) So if God made aliens, as I see it, He would have had to have done it in those six days, they would have to come under the curse of Adam, and Christ’s death as a man would have had to save them from God’s wrath. Does this agree with the Bible theologically? I may not have made myself very clear, but Andy, you at least know the context within which I am arguing.
Another point, isn’t the search for alien life spurred at least partly from the fear of man “being all there is”? We are corrupt, perverse, immoral, degraded. Humanity presents a grim picture to the most optimistic of people – those who are optimistic hope we’ll get better, we’ll find world peace or make poverty history. Only the completely deluded are content with humanity as it is right now.
Who would want current man to be the pinnacle of evolution? Those who search for extra-terrestrials want to find them because if man was “it”, there is no hope, for man would be the highest rational power in the universe.
But man isn’t “it”. He isn’t the highest power. If by “aliens” we mean “rational beings other than man” they do exist. But they don’t inhabit some distant planet, nor will billions of dollars find them.
The Bible speaks of angels, of demons, of Satan, and of course, of God. Man is not alone.
6 comments:
Hi Jono, excellent points you raise, and certainly require me to get my mind in 5th gear. I'll add a link to your response on my original post - will sleep on it and get back to you ;)
Great to have you back in the blogosphere!
It's good to have both sides of the argument... not that Andy's was really an argument for aliens. The main point was that he didn't want to rule it out. I thought along those lines until I read your post and now I'm not so sure...
How do you define 'alien' anyway? An alien is anything extra terrestrial, right? So an angel that is on earth could be classed as an alien.
I do believe in aliens after all..
Hi Jono, what do you make of Australiens?
Don't believe in them. No such thing. Don't believe what people tell you about them.
And What-ho young Simeon.
I'm not a six day creationist. But for the purposes of this comment, let's pretend that I am. This blog post says:
So if God made aliens, as I see it, He would have had to have done it in those six days, they would have to come under the curse of Adam, and Christ’s death as a man would have had to save them from God’s wrath.
Let's assume that every single life form that will ever exist in the Universe was made prior to the end of the first week. I don't think a six day creationist must say this, but let's say that that is true.
What beliefs do you hold that rule out the above scenario that you have describe? What, specifically, prevents you from thinking that aliens did in fact come under the curse of Adam, and that when Christ died on earth, he died for them as well? All that would be really required is that God somehow reveal this fact to them.
I'm not saying these things are true, but I just don't see why you think that your existing beliefs rule them out, as you put it.
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