Recently I've been reading articles about all these findings of exoplanets. They usually talk about where it's located, how far away it is, how big it is, if it's in the habital zone or not and the possibility of life living there. Every single one I've read, some comments had to do with God and the future of religion.
One comment comically said: "I wonder if Jesus has been to all these planets."
Another more seriously said: "However, more curious than to see the actual life form, I will be curious to see what is going to be the Evangelical response to life in other planets. Becuase the Bible doesn't talk about God creating life in "exo-planets" I guess they will be in denial of it."
Some talked about the evolution of the life-forms and how they would fit with their environment on their planet, compared to how we evolved to fit our environment. Without a doubt, environments on other planets will be wildly different than Earth's.
There is even discussion that life could be under the surface of the moon Europa that orbits Jupiter. Scientists say that as the moon orbits Jupiter in it's elliptical path, the moon stretches, which would cause friction and heat on Europa, and because Europa is covered in massive amounts of ice, there very well could be oceans of water underneath it all. And where there's water, there could be life.
So, where does God come into all of this? Should our faith in God be shaken? I say not at all. It just shows how powerful and majestic our God is.
Even if these discovery leads to prove evolution, I don't think it should shake our belief. I will be the first to say that evolution is a possibility. I haven't seen the evidence myself, but many people say it's there. I'd say it would be ignorant for us to dismiss all that evidence. I went to a Christian college and one of my science professors said he believes in evolution and says it does not go against biblical teachings. The days of creation follows the steps of evolution.
I was watching a documentary that Stephen Hawking was narrating. "Into the Universe" I believe is what it was called. He himself suggested that there may be a God because so much, from the Big Bang up to the creation of the Earth, was perfectly put into place. However, of course, he added the disclaimer saying that because of the possibility of multiple universes that the chances of one having everything perfectly in place is highly probable.
Now, the only thing I can see from all this space exploration that could damage the faith in many believers is the discovery of sentient alien beings, that don't look human, that have no concept of God, and have all the same theories on the origin of the universe as us. If these aliens look like us, then, don't you think we would have the same designer? If, they're at least humanoid, and have a concept of an intelligent designer, then don't you think God is real? Now if these aliens don't look anything like humans, and have no concept of God, then we would have to look at their history and see if they ever had a "fall."
But my main point in this post is to tell all you believers to not lose faith because of all these planets and the possibility of life being discovered. God knows what he's doing.
Mrs_Odessa Is faith so fragile that proof of other life-forms is going to destroy your idea of God? That explains a lot about why christians are so hostile to science.
parson420 It shouldn't. I wrote this post to give Christians assurance of their faith. That one comment I copied really made me see the need to give encouragement to other Christians to keep their faith in the face of these impressive discoveries.
Mrs_Odessa You know I find this a lot about religious people but did you read what I asked? I asked do you think that faith is that fragile?
parson420 Oh. Sorry. Some people's faith could be that fragile. So yes, I guess faith can be that fragile. But, we're humans that struggle with challenges daily.
Romans 4:18-24
"Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Mrs_Odessa Ok look, I was wanting to talk to you not have a lecture from the bible, so thanks hope you do well good luck!
parson420 What? I'm sorry. I was trying to answer your question and pointed to a part of the Bible that had a similar situation where a man's faith was being challenged.
Mrs_Odessa Yeah no I mean your opinion, not one you read about, and its not a challenge its reality.
Bloodlust-Prince Beautiful post! You really raised up some good points.
If life was discovered on other planets I would still continue to have faith, the discovery of other life might make it even stronger!
I believe that the Bible we read, is missing a lot of sections. Firstly, a lot of it could have been misunderstood and lost in translation. Secondly, the Roman Catholic church changed some sections of the Bible to use as propoganda.
I do believe in God and Jesus though, I just don't have much faith of what we read in the Bible as "the word of God."
Also, why could make us the only living creatures in this gigantic and infinite universe?
parson420 Apologetic and the reliability of the Bible is a whole other discussion. But in short, yes some could be misunderstood or lost or lost in translation, but there are thousands upon thousands of manuscripts to back up what we have in the Bible today. Manuscripts before the Roman Catholics ruined everything.
If you read C.S. Lewis' space trilogy, I heard that's an interesting read about life on other planets
kayla_weisenheimer this really popped out: "Now if these aliens don't look anything like humans, and have no concept of God,..." ummm, most life forms on earth do not look humanoid nor have a concept of god, yet it's perfectly acceptable that god created them. so why shouldn't the theists blindly accept the idea of the same designer when it comes to other planets and extraterrestrial forms? even the fact that these 'heavens' exist should be enough why the sudden need to use critical thinking and question? "then we would have to look at their history and see if they ever had a "fall." what is this arbitrary fall? and why is that a main element in deciding whether or not a god created others elsewhere. see the contradiction here. either you believe or you don't. in this case it is all or nothing.
also this bit got my attention: "one of my science professors said he believes in evolution and says it does not go against biblical teachings. The days of creation follows the steps of evolution." there you go, the bile is a primer for the unsophisticated early man. just like one begins with "see spot run..." one will eventually be able to understand the mechanics of "see" and "run".
finally in your reply to Bloodlust-Prince: "Manuscripts before the Roman Catholics ruined everything." this really piqued my curiosity. i need clarification of that statement. i suspect it will be fascinating.
parson420 I meant sentient beings that aren't humanoid. You know, are aware of their surroundings, can think and solve complex problems, build space ships and think about their future and what happens when they die.
And by the "fall" I meant it as a comparison when man fell and had to leave the garden
And my reply to Bloodlust-Prince, he stated that the Roman Catholics changed some sections of the Bible to use as propaganda. I can't really argue with that because there's a lot of things the Catholics did that I'm not to happy about. (The Crusades, indulgences, ect.) So the Roman Catholic church used religion for selfish gain. They built elaborate cathedrals while people were starving. They killed Muslims, while saying it is God's will. They burned people at the stake, while those people were trying to set things right. There are many things the Catholics did that gave Christianity a bad reputation.
kayla_weisenheimer thanks for addressing my points.
of course i understand what you meant by humanoids...hence my whole premise for the other living organisms on earth accepted as being created by god, so why even bother questioning other sentient (and non sentient) life. it makes no sense to say that unless one is complex and self-aware, then one is not god's creation? i also know what you meant by "fall".should these other worlders be living in an advanced state of enlightenment and utopian splendour, would make them divine...or not? that's what bugs me the most are these 'conditions' that theists place on things.by your logic, unless a race has had a violent history(fall) then they are not god's creatures. and can i assume that flora and fauna were also expelled (fall), but aren't complex sentient beings, then they too are not god's creatures? when it comes to faith it's all or nothing. sorry.
especially when you go on to quote your prof, "the days of creation follow the steps of evolution." again that tells me all or nothing.
the last bit "Manuscripts before the Roman Catholics ruined everything" was ambiguous in it's structure.i understood it as the manuscripts ruined everything before the roman catholics came around...my misread. BTW i agree, cannot argue with the extent of the damage done (and continues to be done) by the RM Church.
parson420 I'm saying if we discovered intelligent aliens, and they don't have any concept of what God is, people will wonder why. Why didn't got give them knowledge of His existence to them? It could shake the faith of some believers.
kayla_weisenheimer there in lies the rub...hence all these highly emotional exchanges between faiths and theists versus atheists.
what i'm inferring here is that god only exists if beings have awareness/knowledge of the existence of a deity. and if god did not 'make himself known' to aliens, then it's time to question? seems to me that the faith of many is precarious and often warped and twisted to fit a personal human agenda.
maybe these aliens were not naughty like us and did not need to be controlled by fear by their peers...
parson420 Yeah exactly. I don't think it would be time to question, but some people may begin to question, hence the reason why I wrote this.
ICARUSTIC I agree with your first paragraph. No matter what life forms are created, that is due to God. If you go back far enough mankind did not believe in the God that Christians accept now and they were really humanoid, lol...
kayla_weisenheimer it's either/or...no conditions.
ICARUSTIC I don't understand that as a reply to what I said. Do you mean that I cant just agree with part of what you said, but its either all of it or none of it?
kayla_weisenheimer yes my reply pertains to the 1st only. i just paraphrased the closing of that paragraph. 'all or nothing'. sorry for the ambiguity.
ICARUSTIC Jesus said somewhere 'I have sheep in many folds'. Why is it assumed that is restricted to earth, or even this universe? Hawkins tried to leave a get out by raising the same question, though in different terms, that Voltaire did in asking 'Is this world the best of all possible worlds'?
There are at least two ways of answering that. One is we cannot know, partly because to calculate what all possible worlds would be like and their evolution will never be possible, and partly because it would be our judgement that would be applied and would clearly be very biased.
The second answer is NO, because God will create a New Earth to live on with men and that would not be necessary if this was the best possible.
What really surprises me is that I would have thought the most fundamental tenant of a person who believes in God would be that He is the source of all things in whatever form in whatever place. Now if your faith in that is shaky then the rest of it is built on quicksand. Is that not why the bible starts in the right place with the story of Creation?
hanschas The earth is in a unique situation, various things have to be in place for intelligent life. (note "life" on other planets could be just a microbe, but intelligent life is another thing) The moon causes tides and changes in the sea level on a daily basis. The earth's axis is 27 degrees off center for the seasons. We have massive planets that formed in the further-est orbits that attract asteroids that could have destroyed the earth. The earth is just at the right distance from the sun so we can have liquid water. Many of the other "habitable" planets have only one thing, and that is the distance to their sun. One is vulnerable - no cyclic conditions of weather, or tides to create the movement of the seas. Seems rather strange that we have all the right conditions, other planets are sadly lacking? Even so, if there was intelligent life some where up there at this very moment, we would be looking at their past, where they are still swinging around in the trees lol. Signals from them take centuries to get to us, that is why we hear and see nothing from them I assume the big bang theory here, where everything came into being, more or less at the same time, giving Murhies law in some instances, we could be far more advanced that other systems, and then too there could be more advanced systems than we are. Looking up into the sky we look into the past, the inverse is also true, these beings hear nothing from us as they are observing us from a lot of centuries ago.
So we can conclude, that we are on our own, for the existence of other beings, are separated from us by time, you could call it "the great divide" Of course there is the situation that exists that man was created, and not evolved, so there are not any other intelligent beings.
The trouble is we have missed the greatest historical lesson of all by unconditionally accepting evolution as a fact, where as the real origins show us something completely different. Evolution has covered up the true story of earths history, and if you yourself will research this field, you will see for yourself, that there is a massive cover up. All the "favorite" theories of our origins have been challenged, and even with the "big bang" theory, there is something postulated that makes more sense. You can research this by googling "The brane theory"
parson420 One comment I read on a post about this said that the life on those planets would have evolved to fit their environments. That's why we rely on the Moons gravity, and our seasons- we have evolved to accept them. Other lifeforms on other planets would have evolved to fit to their lack of seasons, or having no tied.
And you bring up a good point about the large planets keeping asteroids from wiping out Earth. I heard them called 'Comet Sweepers" because the comets that could have hit Earth, hit them first.
ArtLove When and if life is actually discovered elsewhere is what will get my attention......not just the discovery of planets.
wirelessguru1 Why pay attention to anything? It is much better to live your life with a "blindfold" and believing in some imaginary and invisible being!