So in the news recently, over 600,000 UFO enthusiasts have signed up to storm Area 51, in the belief that Alien bodies are being kept there. I thought the story was sciency enough to warrant the attention of the forum. In an ideal world, I would hope it would be successful, so as to put to rest the mystery once and for all, even if nothing is there. However, in reality I suspect the raid will be a disaster, and many will be injured or even killed if it goes forth.
How should we respond to this? Iām looking for evidence which debunks the conspiracy theories. Also, if aliens were to be found, would it shake your faith?
In my Jewish/Noachide tradition, speculation as to the existence of life on other planets goes back a long way. The Talmud speculates as to whether or not the āMerozā mentioned in Judges 5 was another planet, whose inhabitants failed to help Israel against Sisera (Judges 5:20 mentions the stars/planets fighting against Sisera). Itās an interesting speculation, and though ultimately flawed, suggests that belief in extraterrestrial life was not theologically abhorrent to the Ancient Jewish Sages.
I am less schooled in the Christian tradition followed by most BioLogians. What have historical christian theologians such as Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and others had to say about alien life, if anything?
Ehā¦ Iād say itās just a fun social media craze and will probably fizzle, but maybe Iām wrong and this will be our generationās Woodstock.
From my understanding, there isnāt much evidence to begin with. I have no problem believing the government was testing some kind of flight vehicle and used crash-test dummies just like anyone should when testing safety features. It was the Cold War, after all.
I donāt think the existence of extraterrestrial life would shake my faith much, but hopefully it would cause me to hold it with more humility, if there are others out in the universe that God cares for also.
This wikipedia article on āCosmic Pluralismā may shed some light on the history of this (or give you some avenues for research) on the subject.
Since we (most Christians of more recent centuries) have no trouble accepting the various pluralisms as part of Godās world (i.e. new species discovered, new lands discovered, new cultures discovered) ā¦ it seems to me a difficult case to make why that allowance for and even celebration of pluralism which has already crossed so many borders should be abruptly stymied by an atmospheric or an interstellar boundary. Not that this stops some Christians even today from thinking in these terms, but it seems that those who feed on Christian consternation probably have the harder case to make, that this is all supposed to be looming as a rising religious angst. We have plenty of justified concerns over so many other things that this may qualify as an interesting diversion. [which is fine by me, by the way - donāt take this as me knocking this topic at all. Good questions lead to discussion and hopefully education.]
Iām sitting in the quiet area today, and this made me LOL. I will seek damages from BioLogos.
BTW this whole āArea 51ā thing is being staged by the Decepticons to distract us while they move the frozen Megatron out of storage inside Hoover Dam. Our only hope against them is an ancient weapon brought to America by the Knights Templar and currently stored under Trinity Church in New York City.
The size of the universe is a double edged argument that balances a near certainty of alien civilizations existing somewhere else with a corresponding likelihood that we will never meet them. Furthermore, the structure of space-time effectively separates us from the vast majority of the universe. All evidence of encounters with aliens has the same subjective character as spiritual experiences and thus likely falls in the same category as religion and other cultural myths like fairies. This is not to say that they are not real but are at least elusive enough that without proof we cannot expect others to agree to their reality. When the possibility of magic, super advanced technology, or a non-physical reality is accepted then reality tends to become a matter of choice and personal experience.
The idea of aliens is only a threat to a Christianity mired in the delusion of entitlement and a monopoly upon God, which is absurd to begin with. A more rational approach to Christianity must realize that God is much much much bigger than both Christianity and humanity, and that no sane human being would ever imagine that they can claim any ownership of God. I believe in a God who is infinite and could thus easily be involved with an infinity of civilizations either in this universe or in a multiverse.
P.S. It should be noted that my equating the claims of religion with those of fairies and UFOs is simply a matter of honesty and not one of ridicule. I am a Christian and subject to consistency with the findings of science believe in its claims, but I am quite willing to give my respect to other cultures with beliefs which have no more objective evidence to support them than my own.
How timely it all is! Today, we released an interview with Karin Oberg, an astrochemist. She even talks about alien life and whether the knowledge of it would shake her faith.
We will have more coming on this topic from our president, Deb, in the next week.
Is Deb going to have answers for us? I donāt want to hear from her unless she lays all these matters to rest and also addresses the looming doom from Megatron that @sfmatheson warns us about. Would have more to say now, but need to get to the local grocery store to buy things for the bunker.
Iām happy to hear that at least some people who are signing up are doing so as a kind of joke. But I worry that there will be some who donāt get that. Hopefully no one gets too gungho and literal.
Interesting! Even in my town in West Michigan, someone told me he believed in the Annunaki/Gilgamesh etc story of aliens. He offered me a book he found in the library, which I canāt recall. He took the Sumerian story of making mankind to work as actually aliens making men to find gold for them. I suspect he was talking tongue in cheek.
While iām open to the idea of animal alien life existing I donāt believe in intelligent alien life since if that was so we would have discovered them by now. My faith wouldnāt be shaken if alien life is found.
Agree with you except for ādiscovered them by nowā part. The universe is just so big that it is unlikely. If physics cannot find a way to travel outside of the currently known constraints, it is highly unlikely we will ever travel outside our solar system, and our best instruments can now only crudely find and coarsely describe planets around other stars nearby. If life could arise around one in a million stars, a thousand stars might have life in our galaxy. A few might have intelligent life, but the nearest one might be half way across the galaxy. We and they will both be extinct before learning of each otherās existance.
