Are we alone?

[BenRosa]

In the context of Christianity, what would it mean should a contact be made with beings of another planet? How would, or should, it affect the faith as we know it?

Thanks in advance for any and all comments...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. a shattering of a God ideal, I'd guess

for the only thing anyone has to work with are their concepts, at least until they have had a direct experience. My experiences would tell me that the discovery of life forms on other planets would not change my concepts, though for others their ideal may be shattered.

[PsychoDad]

23. Maybe not so much the God Ideal,

But maybe a shattering of a androcentric ideal... The prevailing concensus, I think, among the christian right is that humans are unique in their place in the universe, and in God's love for us. To learn that there are othersin the universe created by the same god, and quite possibly loved just as much as we are, might do quite a bit to shatter the Idea of their beliefs.

[bennywhale]

2. It would expose the bible

somewhat. But maybe minds back then didn't contemplate the possibility of other beings.

Maybe the messages from God are literally universal

[Cocottelle]

3. Here is some

wild non-sense from me.
If Christians believe that God created the Heavens and the earth, that statement itself states that God is not from this earth. This means that he came from somewhere else, which in turn can only lead to the conclusion that God is an Extra-terrestrial being Himself. Yes, you "heard" me right, I am saying God is extra-terrestrial.

Therefore, I conclude that if to be a Christian one must believe in the existence of God and in God as the creator of it all, then Christians believe in extraterrestrials and in extraterrestrial activity.

Furthermore, Christianity teaches that God is watching it all, that He cares for us, and that He influences and therefore "is in touch" with us. Contact with God is claimed to be established all the time by Christians.

It is because of all the above that, in my humble opinion, contact with beings from another planet shouldn't affect Christianity at all.

Now, consider this... Do you think that it is because of the teachings of Christianity -- the fact that God is extra-terrestrial -- that we always think of ETs as superior beings?

[chknltl]

36. Luv this, bookmarked it as well thank you.

Welcome to DU Cocottelle. You posted a most profound notion here. Well done. Have you ever been exposed to something known as the "Michael Spirit"? (No, not the Christian one), Methinks you might enjoy it. Here is a link: http://messagesfrommichael.com/index.html
ps this is not a spam from me, just something which you might find worth exploring a bit.

[Tux]

4. 2 responces from Christians

Mass suicide since the Bible isn't literally true and losing faith since aliens aren't in the Bible but are next door. A 3rd reaction would be asking the aliens for jobs.

[Cocottelle]

7. I may be wrong

since I am not a very religious person nor do i know the bible very well. I believe extra-terrestrial life is indeed mentioned in the bible. I did some quick search for it. Perhaps Christians on the board might be of better help with this question than someone like me who doesn't know Christianity very well.

[Zorbuddha]

26. The Bible is fraught with ufo and alien references

Metaphorically, or otherwise, you are correct.

The only Christians that the idea of aliens threatens spiritually are confused or misguided.

[shrike]

34. Ezekiel is the most famous

Ezekiel's "vision" is interpreted by some as a visit from an alien ship. It makes me chuckle that the same people who term the bible utter nonsense will regard the Ezekiel story as an eyewitness account of a close encounter.

I personally have no idea what the Ezekiel story means. But then I'm Catholic, and we don't take the bible literally.

If you haven't read the story, Ezekiel sees a "wheel within a wheel" in the sky, and there are beings inside of it. He interprets it as a divine message. Others (meaning today) interpret it as a visit from E.T.

[LaurenG]

37. Read Ezekiel

There is a description of what seems like a UFO. You never know what these writers were trying to say or what they saw...

[Warpy]

5. Christ's teachings were valid ones

so if you suddenly find out the universe is teeming with life, and you have to rethink that "earth is the center of god's attention" thing, you are still left with teachings to base your life upon.

Taking away the myth in no way diminishes the teachings. In fact, it may enhance them in a way. If he's no longer a god, then it becomes more possible to follow in his footsteps when it comes to his teaching.

Believers may find a greater god when the one they now believe in gets let out of his earthbound box.

It is going to take a tremendous amount of rethinking for some people, and some people will be incapable of doing it to the point that they'll agitate to ban science completely and work to make sure we never consider exploring anything above our atmosphere ever again.

[NEOBuckeye]

9. Walls are made to be broken down.

"People can be very frightened of change"
-- Captain Kirk, Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country

[Joyce78]

6. I'm alone

I'm fairly new to DU (contributed $$, received my thank-you letter and DU bumpersticker, but only see my star when I reply to a message) but can't find anyone to help me provide a link to say, a mag article, in a reply to a posted message. Also, I've noticed that I've never received a "Welcome to DU" greeting from anyone. Oh well ... don't really need the greets, just need instructions for providing a link. Thanks.

[Cocottelle]

8. WELCOME to DU!

From a new poster!!!

[Joyce78]

10. Thank you very much!!

[NEOBuckeye]

11. Try this link, Joyce

click here!

And welcome to DU! :hi:

[Joyce78]

13. Thanks to you also!

NEOBuckeye?? You live in Ohio??

[NEOBuckeye]

18. Yes I do!

NorthEastern Ohio = NEO

Do you live in Ohio as well?

[Joyce78]

12. Thanks again!

Now to the other part ... I'm looking for help to provide a link to a mag article. Someone earlier today was listening to Randi and she was talking about RFID (Checkpoint Systems, Inc.) technology. I know of a very informative article regarding this but don't know how to provide a link. Sorry, I know this isn't the proper place to be talking about this, but I could use some instruction. Thank you.

[NEOBuckeye]

15. Okay, here's the format

(link:www.yourlink.com|Name of Your Link)

Except use the hard brackets ]< instead of )(.[br />
Hope that helps!

[bananas]

14. Welcome to DU!

Welcome to DU!
I think you just paste the url in as plain text,
like this: http://www.google.com

[NEOBuckeye]

16. That works, too!

[Joyce78]

17. Many thanks to all of you!

For your welcoming greetings and also the help provided. Will try the instructions provided ... thank you for taking the time. My husband and I are two little blue drops in the Red Sea aka Southwest Ohio (not Cincinnati nor Dayton ... a town called Springboro ... we call it Springboring). Again, thank you to all ... have a good evening, and now I'm going to try to provide RFID info to an earlier post!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Actual contact with extraterrestrials is unlikely,

since reaching the closest star (whether it has planets or not) would take four years traveling at the speed of light (over 6 million miles an hour).

The best we could hope for would be radio contact with a huge time lag.

But suppose that such a thing were to occur. It would certainly shatter the ideas of the fundamentalists. But it would not shatter the faith of the liberal religious, because we have no problem with science. We have already moved beyond the notion of the old man sitting up on a cloud.

Besides, who's to say that the extraterrestrials wouldn't have a religion?

[BenRosa]

20. True...

it's not very likely given current technology...the question will probably be more interesting in about 25 years from now.

I'm agreeing with the posts that believe a contact should not shake Christian beliefs. Our Father sent us His son because we rebelled and lost His grace but He loves us too much to see us be disconnected from Him. Perhaps, others (if they exist), didn't fall and are still in harmony with Him. In that case...the Christ would not have had to come to them as a Redeemer.

Peace...

[H2O Man]

21. True.

ET seemed almost Christ-like. I think extraterrestrials would likely be Christian.

Around 1492, Christianity had to adjust to Christopher Columbus's "discovering" the New World. The writings of Columbus and others right through the colonial era in the United States show that the Indians were recognized as having more Christian attributes than their savage European brethern. The Euro-Christians adjusted to the shock by introducing the conveniences of civilization to the Indians, and killing them.

[Zorbuddha]

32. That's an extremely limited view.

Many said airplanes were impossible. Then space-flight, then a trip to the moon. Limiting possibilities to our present day perspective is silly and historically proven unwise, repeatedly. We have much to learn about our world, much less other worlds. We still can't explain how bumble bees can fly.

There could be extraterrestrials here now that we might not even be able to notice or acknowledge.

[Nihil]

35. That's a worrying thought ...

> who's to say that the extraterrestrials wouldn't have a religion?

I've always assumed that anyone advanced enough to travel the distance
and find us would be advanced enough not to fret about philosophical
differences between cultures but your note made me wonder ... I'd hate
them to be of the same mindset as the Conquistadors ...

[The Straight Story]

22. Would not affect my faith at all

God never said there was nothing besides us in the universe. I think it would be cool :) and for the record, No I do not think we are alone.

[PsychoDad]

24. Not a christian here,

But I belive that it is the "nature" of the creator to create and that life is the penultimate expression of that creativeness. I am also sure that the "program" (for lack of a better word} that led to life on this world also applies to every other world in the universe, for we are told that the creator is Lord, Cherisher and Sustainer of all the worlds, seen and unseen, the giver of life.

I think the universe may be teeming with life, and that we will find it in the most surprising places.

[Dcitizen]

25. Won't change my faith, In God We Trust.

[Brentos]

27. Nah.

Nothing in the Bible itself pre-supposes that only earth-bound humans are the only creatures that are intelligent in the universe, nor that they are the only ones God created for a purpose. The Bible is NOT a document of all people and all times, it is a document that very specifically focuses on (after a brief section on creation) a specific family, then people (physical), then people (spiritual). The Bible never purports to be the holder of all knowledge, only that spiritual and ritual knowledge to lead a specific type of person to God. It is quite possible that there are other planets where God created life, or life grew up on its own, it doesn't negate any part of the Bible. Now, it would upset many religions based on the Bible, as their fundamentalist world-view means that they are the center of the universe.

[ThoughtCriminal]

28. Prophecy is always adapted to meet new realities

Fundamentalist religious leaders would claim that the appearance/discovery of aliens was predicted by the Bible. No matter what happens, scripture can be reinterpreted to match. Remember when Armageddon was a prediction of nuclear war with the Soviet Union? Oops, it's a conflict with Iraq, oops we meant Iran, oops we meant China...

[Disturbed]

29. Aren't angels..

extraterrestrials?

[Igel]

30. It would affect Xianity trivially.

In fact, I think contact with extra-terrestrials would quickly be given a positive spin.

Christ can't return until the gospel of the kingdom of God's been preached to all nations (ethnoi, I supposed). If they discover us, it'll be taken as a sign that God's called them, and they should be converted (or the attempt should be made); if we discover them, missionaries will soon follow.

[supernova]

31. Wouldn't affect liberal xtains that much

in terms of theology.

But yes, fundies would have a problem because they beleive themselves to be the rightful center of the universe.

[GOPBasher]

33. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

To answer your question, I'd say that Idon't know how it would affect Christianity. It depends on what the aliens believed. For example, imagine if they happened to believe the same thing as Christians, more or less! That would give a lot of weight to the religion. On the other hand, what if they believed something closer to another religion, or something that's unlike anything we have here? That would be a different effect.