Jesus Christ, Extraterrestrial? If life is found on other planets, does Christianity come unraveled?

>> We have literally hundreds of billions of galaxies

There’s always the chance we could be seeing the same galaxy more than once from a different time in a different place. But that’s just academic nonsense...

I believe that we have to keep an open mind to God's power

You might want to enlarge on what you think your statement means.

The Power of God was most amazingly seen in the Ressurection of Jesus Christ....think on that a bit...and ponder carefully.....because their are more ressurections to come when He returns. How much greater can you get than that??????? without taking on the New Age Spirituality mantra?

BTW Though you say you don't get into the new age stuff...your statement is exactly what they tell people who become their new initiates. So be careful you're not already carrying their message.

Furthermore God has placed 'barriers' to our understanding of His infinate ways...and that with purpose.

Not only is His Peace past our understanding...but His Power..His Might..His Wisdom...all that He is is beyond our understanding...and shall remain so this side of heaven...just as He has said...'Your ways are NOT my ways"...and you should know the rest.

However all the attributes of God were and are seen in His son Jesus Christ...if one wants to know these then read about Christ's walk upon this earth, that is' why in 'Revelations'....it's called the 'revealing' of Christ.

"These things are written that you may KNOW"..... .....The true problem is man does not want to look to the place that God has chosen to reveal His power...and that is in His very word and the Power that His words welds. Man resists reading it..and Satan keeps Him from it... because he does know the power Gods word has in the life of those who seek the Lord....he saw that in the wilderness while tempting Christ.

"BTW Though you say you don't get into the new age stuff...your statement is exactly what they tell people who become their new initiates. So be careful you're not already carrying their message. - caww

Please don't "pick and choose" portions of my post for the purpose of trying to take me to task... I also stated in full: "I believe that we have to keep an open mind to God's power, and a closed mind to those that would try to twist God's word to fit their agenda. I believe that the instructions provided to us by God are not to be "adjusted" for political correctness or for the purpose of appeasing scientists."

I meant no harm in my original post. I explained my belief and you have decided that I must need a lesson of some sort. You make the statement "How much greater can you get than that??????? without taking on the New Age Spirituality mantra?" and then follow it up with "Furthermore God has placed 'barriers' to our understanding of His infinate ways...and that with purpose." To say that "God has placed 'barriers' to our understanding of His infinate ways" and yet to chastise me for saying that I believe we have to keep an open mind to God's power is quite a puzzlement to me... For you to make your statement, you must acknowledge that God has ways that we are not meant to understand, yet you are telling me that I am supposed to be closed minded to his power and to accept the Resurection of Jesus Christ and the coming resurections as "enough." I do accept the Resurrection as the ultimate demonstration of God's power thus far. But God made me as a curious creature that is to study and to follow his instruction and one that wonders "how much more there is that I will understand when I get to heaven". I am not just an automaton that reads, downloads a program, and then lives my life as some sort of drone. I don't take on the mantra of New Age Spiritualism... whatever that is supposed to be. I just read my bible and understand what it is that God requires of me:

Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Luke 6:46 Why do you call me, `Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?
Luke 10:25-28 [25] On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" [26] "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" [27] He answered: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, `Love your neighbor as yourself.'" [28] "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
Mark 10:17-20 [17] As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" [18] "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. [19] You know the commandments: `Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' " [20] "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Mark 10:21-23 [21] Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." [22] At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. [23] Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"

To me, to wonder about the greatness of God is to allow me to learn more...

I know that you may have had good intentions here, but I have to tell you that your method and attitude speaks so loudly that I can not hear what it is you are trying to say. I will not be spoken down to by someone that is trying to read more into my statements than was intended, and I will not argue with that person. With that, I will say that I hope God blesses you, and that you may wish to think more strongly about how you approach people that may have not worded something exactly as you would have. You might alienate someone with whom you had more in common than you would think. You really don't know me and have tried to compare me to some New Age believer. I really find that offensive and will end the conversation here...

I know that you may have had good intentions here, but I have to tell you that your method and attitude speaks so loudly that I can not hear what it is you are trying to say.

You might just very well be right on that note....

I hope your Independence Day was filled with the glorious liberty of the sons of God, as enjoyed, still, to some degree, in the USA.

I am delighted, of course, and intrigued that you found little to disagree with in my little rant on the Bible 'n stuff.

This IS a peculiar spring, yes? Here it has not been all that hot yet, praise God, but it's very humid and we have seemed to have more rain than usual. The corn is tall and beautiful in the fields, and the beans look promising.

One day I will have a garden. Before the Lord comes. But the smart money is not betting that way.

Caww,
How say you to that part of Romans 8 that describes "the creature" (ktisis, right? My Gk NT is packed up) as subject to futility.

I don't think it would be in any way a deal breaker ( or a covenant breaker?) if some unfallen rational animal were discovered somewhere, but I think the easier interpretation is that the whole shebang (theological term) was cursed when man fell.

Seems like some escalations of festivities are closer than ever . . .

Not sure what the truckers alerts about massive troop and materiel movements will turn out to be . . . sounds very sobering.

God’s best to you Bro.

Would love to see you.

Maybe in the air . . . sooner than we think.

To those with an honest heart, it is humbling to realize you know so little about the way God has constructed this Universe in which you dwell.

AMEN!

Christianity does not come unraveled. If there are aliens, it signifies God’s creation. The Bible is not a detailed history or scientific book to note down every possibility. Also, we do not believe that if anything is not written in the Bible it is false.

Say's the man who evidentially believes in some mythical sky fairy... partner I got some bad news for ya, you remember what it was like before you were born? That's exactly what it'll be like when your dead... nothing.

You'd better make real sure about that before you die.

I don't think it would be in any way a deal breaker ( or a covenant breaker?) if some unfallen rational animal were discovered somewhere, but I think the easier interpretation is that the whole shebang (theological term) was cursed when man fell.

There are already fallen rational creatures that are not going to be redeemed. They are called demons, the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12)

Redemption is for mankind and that's all we need to concern ourselves with.

All these *what if* mental exercises about the possibilities of something that is not likely to ever happen are an exercise in futility.

Christians would be better off worrying about how to deal with a lost and dying mankind, to whom salvation is offered, than hypothetical scenarios about beings which may never exist.

This is very interesting GL, since Jesus died for this world and not the Universe....He would have to become an alien to redeem them otherwise........

“The earth is unique in the Scripture where the cosmic drama of good and evil are manifest.... It is all centered on planet earth where the human soul is the prize which God and Satan are battling for.

The gospel is for mankind who are sinners, not for beings on other planets, Jn. 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son ... that the world through him might be saved that world is planet earth’s inhabitants. ......”Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners which essentially means on our planet”....... That the God who created all things became a man.” I Tim 1:15 “he is the propitiation ... for the sins of the whole world, not the universe’...... God made only one way for God to forgive any sinners it is paid by God himself becoming one of them.......

It is for this reason Jesus had become a man to redeem us. He would have to become one of the aliens to redeem them. Then it hardly makes sense to have this same process repeated on countless other planets throughout the cosmos..... So that every different creature that needs salvation he would need to become each kind to redeem them. .......This becomes a antichrist doctrine described in I John 4:1-3 Christ has come in human flesh ( a human species) and continues in the same body forever.

If they did not sin they would all be like Jesus. Which destroys the uniqueness of the “only begotten son.”

How many times would Christ need to give his life to redeem other civilizations? Each time he would have to become that species since that is the very reason he became man and not something else...... Biblically Jesus Christ is the only Savior, and His death was done once as the only perfect sacrifice for sins ever offered in the universe (Heb. 9:23-28; 10:12-14).

The scriptures over and over repeat the reconciling of humanity all through Christ that occurs on planet earth Christ died only once and would never be repeated for another species..... (Eph.1:7,10 Phil.2:10 Col.1:2 Rev.5:9,13) The scripture speaks of the gospel preached to all of the world, not to all the universe!

If other types of morally responsible life existed elsewhere in the universe they would have a right of choice just as Adam did..... And if they made the wrong choice they would require salvation just as Adam did. They would need redemption by believing in Christ for salvation. Since sin would have affected their world as well as the universe just like Adams did.

http://www.letusreason.org/NAM26.htm

see post 232...good one.

I actually wrote “rational animals”, not “rational creatures”, on purpose, to exclude angels and demons.

Caww, I disagree that Jesus came only to save those on the planet earth. I appeal to Romans 8 and to Colossians for a proclamation of IHS as Cosmic Lord in whom all things hold together, who redeems the whole creation which was subjected to futility.

I don't think that IHS would have to become a Klingon to save the Klingons. If Klingons are rational animals (no matter how bad tempered and tetchy they might be) then they are substantially “men”. It is not DNA or physiology that makes us men, it is that we, though animals, are given reason and a rational will (however little we choose to use either.)

Metmom: obviously I don't think that these conversations are useless. I think that they reveal important issues which approach the core of what we proclaim, how we think about ourselves and about Jesus. Here caww and I are disagreeing about the nature and meaning of the Incarnation and, so to speak, the range of Christ's saving work. These are not unimportant questions.

Sure, if all of us spent all our time talking about the spiritual life of Romulans, while babies starved in the streets, that would be a grave sin. But if because of these speculations we understand our call to feed the poor as a cal to live in the love which can and indeed has redeemed (or not) the Klingons, if there be any, that would not be useless information.

obviously I don't think that these conversations are useless. I think that they reveal important issues which approach the core of what we proclaim, how we think about ourselves and about Jesus. Here caww and I are disagreeing about the nature and meaning of the Incarnation and, so to speak, the range of Christ's saving work. These are not unimportant questions.

The whole question is irrelevant to sharing the gospel with a lost and dying mankind. It is useless in that it is spending time debating over hypothetical scenarios.

There is nothing in Scripture that addresses that issue and anything said on the subject is mere speculation and the opinion of man.

The issue of whether Jesus' death in regards to the earth and the spiritual realm is settled. Whether there is life on other planets is totally speculative at this point and and is likely to remain so for a LONG time. Unless some rational being breaks through to let us know that they exist, then the capability to detect and contact life on other planets is so far beyond our capabilities at this point, that it's meaningless.

As far as rational animals, which is not what the article that the thread is about is addressing, we have found none on this planet, save mankind and I'm not even so sure about that sometimes.

There are people dying and going to hell under our very noses every day. Our responsibility before God is to preach the Gospel and make disciples. Our mission field is our planet.

Unfortunately, since the early days of the Church there are, among the lost or not yet saved,those who ask questions like, "If there were reasonable creatures on other planets, would the redemption wrought by Christ apply to them also?"

It seems to me that caww's understanding of the work of Christ is that it is local. It seems, on the other hand, quite clear to me that Paul says that it covers all of creation.

Now that difference of opinion goes to how one reads Scripture (which is certainly 'here and now' enough that a lot of non-Catholics have said we Catholics don't do it properly) AND how great a miracle was wrought through Christ.

You talk about sharing the Gospel with a lost and dying humanity. Certainly in one sense it is enough to say, "Jesus Christ, God the Son of God, the all-powerful, loves you enough to save you and is well able to save you."

But as I think of Psalm 18, with its wonderful description of God straining the seams of Creation [Hailstones and coals of fire!] to come to the aid of the Psalmist, I can't think that the question of whether the redemption wrought by Christ was local or universal is unimportant.

And I think Paul provides the answer, so I am not leaving Scripture behind as I think about the question.