Extraterrestrials

Angels & Demons
User avatar
RICHinCHRIST
Posts: 361
Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:27 am
Location: New Jersey
Contact:

Extraterrestrials

Post by RICHinCHRIST » Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:10 pm

I think I remember seeing a thread a while back about the existence of extraterrestrial aliens being classified as "demonic entities". Can anyone remember where that thread is?


Also, I'd be glad to see any links on this topic if you know of any websites devoted to this. I have an uncle who is infatuated with extraterrestrials and I'd like to study up a bit on it before I talk to him on Christmas Eve. Thanks!


Oh yeah, and Merry Christmas to all! I think it's a wonderful thought that our alien God (in the most reverent sense... His ways are not our ways) incarnated Himself to come and redeem us from our filthy and destructive ways! Praise Jesus!

User avatar
backwoodsman
Posts: 536
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 11:32 am
Location: Not quite at the ends of the earth, but you can see it from here.

Re: Extraterrestrials

Post by backwoodsman » Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:35 pm

Hugh Ross and his associates have several articles on the subject:
http://www.reasons.org/extra-terrestria ... encounters

User avatar
TK
Posts: 1477
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:42 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Extraterrestrials

Post by TK » Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:08 am

I am interested in the subject too... probably because I am interested in a lot of things that are mysterious (Bigfoot, lake monsters, etc.).

here are couple of other links:

http://www.johnankerberg.org/ankerberg- ... /ufo8.html

http://www.khouse.org/topical_bible_study/nephilim/

TK

User avatar
RICHinCHRIST
Posts: 361
Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:27 am
Location: New Jersey
Contact:

Re: Extraterrestrials

Post by RICHinCHRIST » Fri Dec 24, 2010 1:14 pm

Thanks for the links, it gives me some food for thought!

Singalphile
Posts: 903
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2012 12:46 pm

Re: Extraterrestrials

Post by Singalphile » Sat Oct 31, 2015 10:45 pm

I have no interest in aliens, except that I generally like science fiction.

I've heard some Christians shrug off sentient alien life as inconsequential. I disagree. If aliens were to show up here to say "hi", it seems to me that it would be potentially fatal to Christianity, in the same way that it would be fatal if we could someday view backwards in time and see that Jesus was never resurrected or some such.

Of course, it doesn't in any way damage the faith as long as it's pure make believe, which it currently is and always will be, I think.

When it comes to futuristic sci-fi, there's stuff like Star Wars (taking place "a long time ago") with lots of sentient life-forms, where there's no such thing as Christianity. (George Lucas is apparently somewhat religious.) There's stuff like Star Trek, also with sentient alien life, in which Christianity (and all religion) is considered obsolete and primitive. (Gene Roddenberry was some kind of pagan, I think.) There's the like of Firefly, with no alien life, where Christianity exists and is more or less respectable. (That show's creator is an atheist, I think, though seemingly very into the supernatural/spiritual.) In the sci-fi movie Pitch Black, some of the characters are Islamic pilgrims, I think, but I don't think there are sentient aliens. (I don't know about that movie's writers.)

I don't remember any sci-fi where Christians exist alongside extraterrestrial people, but I suppose it's out there.

... anyway.
... that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. John 5:23

User avatar
mattrose
Posts: 1920
Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:28 am
Contact:

Re: Extraterrestrials

Post by mattrose » Sat Oct 31, 2015 11:00 pm

Singalphile wrote: If aliens were to show up here, it seems to me that it would be potentially fatal to Christianity, in the same way that it would be fatal if we could someday view backwards in time and see that Jesus was never resurrected or some such.
Really? I wouldn't see it that way at all. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then pretty much everything about Christianity is a lie. If aliens exist, everything about Christianity could still be true. The existence of aliens fits fine with our theology (that there exists a God who loves to create and invite others into divine love). The Bible certainly doesn't tell us everything that God has ever done. It was written to earthlings. I would not be surprised to find we are alone or to find we are not.

Singalphile
Posts: 903
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2012 12:46 pm

Re: Extraterrestrials

Post by Singalphile » Sat Oct 31, 2015 11:22 pm

Hi, mattrose.

Yes. It would be fatal if we knew that Jesus wasn't risen. I meant to draw the comparison between the sci-fi aspect of the two scenarios, time-travel and aliens. Not that they'd necessarily be equally problematic/fatal.
mattrose wrote:If aliens exist, everything about Christianity could still be true.
Perhaps, but it would raise very serious questions and some problems, perhaps. I for one would be very surprised to find that there are other people more or less like us out there in some other galaxy(ies), and I really don't think there are.
... that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. John 5:23

User avatar
TK
Posts: 1477
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:42 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Extraterrestrials

Post by TK » Sun Nov 01, 2015 2:30 pm

I think they are on the verge of discovering life elsewhere. Even if its only microbes, we have to know how to respond. Some Christians totally freak out about the idea of life being elsewhere so they will be woefully unprepared and their own faith may be traumatized when it is found.

Even if they only find microbes or algae, the floodgates will be open; there would be no reason to believe at that point that there are not more advanced life forms scattered throughout the universe.

of course, if they are there, God put them there.

TK

SteveF

Re: Extraterrestrials

Post by SteveF » Sun Nov 01, 2015 5:46 pm

Whenever I hear Christians discussing the possibility of aliens, my mind always goes to St. Augustine discussing the Antipodes and, in particular, whether men were living there.

The reason I think about it is because at that time the other side of the earth was still an undiscovered mystery to him, just like the other side of the galaxy/universe is to us.

Augustine felt the existence of men in the Antipodes contradicted the Bible. I will add though, that depending on how one interprets the first 11 chapters of Genesis, Augustine may be still be correct in saying that it’s physically impossible for men on the other side of the earth to have descended from a single Adam.

Here’s a quote from Augustine’s book City of God discussing the Antipodes:

But as to the fable that there are Antipodes, that is to say, men on the opposite side of the earth, where the sunrises when it sets to us, men who walk with their feet opposite ours, that is on no ground credible. And, indeed, it is not affirmed that this has been learned by historical knowledge, but by scientific conjecture, on the ground that the earth is suspended within the concavity of the sky, and that it has as much room on the one side of it as on the other: hence they say that the part which is beneath must also be inhabited. But they do not remark that, although it be supposed or scientifically demonstrated that the world is of a round and spherical form, yet it does not follow that the other side of the earth is bare of water; nor even, though it be bare, does it immediately follow that it is peopled. For Scripture, which proves the truth of its historical statements by the accomplishment of its prophecies, gives no false information; and it is too absurd to say, that some men might have taken ship and traversed the whole wide ocean, and crossed from this side of the world to the other, and that thus even the inhabitants of that distant region are descended from that one first man. Wherefore let us seek if we can find the city of God that sojourns on earth among those human races who are catalogued as having been divided into seventy-two nations and as many languages. For it continued down to the deluge and the ark, and is proved to have existed still among the sons of Noah by their blessings, and chiefly in the eldest son Shem; for Japheth received this blessing, that he should dwell in the tents of Shem.

dizerner

Re: Extraterrestrials

Post by dizerner » Sun Nov 01, 2015 6:48 pm

Lol, thanks for that quote SteveF it was interesting. This quote "and it is too absurd to say, that some men might have taken ship and traversed the whole wide ocean, and crossed from this side of the world to the other" reminded me of the Kon-Tiki expedition. A man did traverse the Pacific Ocean on a mere raft.

As for aliens... the media hype makes it seem we are far closer to finding life on Mars than I think we really are. Most aliens in entertainment have abilities that seem miraculous and almost spiritual (e.g. often with telekinesis and teleportation)—also very otherworldly shapes. The universe is a big place to be sure, but I would argue that Scripture implies a uniqueness to mankind. I once pondered the possibility, not of different aliens, but humans living on earth like planets in many places—perhaps all with their own Adam and Eve's who either transgressed or didn't, and correspondingly needed a Savior sent (Jesus as multiple humans on multiple worlds). However, Scripture does seem to give a grand and sweeping, ultimate and all encompassing meaning to the Work and Person of Christ that is hard to get away from. It is a puzzle why God made us seem so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things—just some average planet on some average star off on the side of some average galaxy. Conversely we do have very specific fine tuning of the constants of the universal physical laws and the earth in what is called a Goldilocks habitable zone. I think humans are looking for something superior to them, in a metaphysical sense; also I don't think this fallen and cursed place was meant to ever truly feel like our home. I've heard stories of alien abductions or UFOs that seem to me almost like spiritual experiences, and it wouldn't be a stretch for me to think much of it is demonically inspired. Jesus did indeed claim to be the ultimate alien in that he said "I am not of this world" and if you read the old KJV, that Bible calls believers "aliens in a strange land" as well. ;)

Post Reply

Return to “Angelology & Demonology”