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With
the success of the 'Spirit' Rover probe to Mars, if and when we
do find life on other planets how do you think that would impact
Religion? Do you think the Bible would apply? Would Christ have
died for aliens also?
Our Answer:
Finding evidence
of non-intelligent life on another planet has no effect on our beliefs.
God can create and put life anywhere He wishes.
It would be
exciting to find life on another planet. Science continues to move
ahead. The historical trend is that, as new scientific discoveries
in biology and microbiology have been made, the more evidence in
favor of intelligent design (God) there is. It seems the more we
know, the more the scientific evidence points to God.
If we find life
somewhere else in the universe, there are many possibilities as
to what this could mean. A few are:
<> Finding
plants, microbes and single cell life on another planet--or even
animals, fish or other larger life forms--just means that God put
life there.
<> Finding
intelligent life would make things interesting, but it wouldn't
change anything.
On the sixth
day of creation when God created man on earth, man was a unique
creation of God. What makes man unique? It's not our intelligence,
it's that we were created in the image of God. This isn't talking
about our physical shape, it means who we are... our characteristics
such as the ability to love, our ability to create, our ability
to care for others are all a reflection of God. That's why we are
special to God, that's why God loves us so much.
It is interesting
to note that all people (on earth), in all cultures, have some sort
of beliefs about God. This is just what the Bible tells us:
Romans 1:8 "From
the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky
and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities--his
eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever
for not knowing God."
God has created us in His image and God has put
the knowledge of Himself in us.
But what if we find intelligence life in other planets
that is just like us. Life that has all our characteristics and
is thus created in the image of God?
That would prove the Bible was wrong. But this type
of question is not meaningful.
The WHAT IF Question: The problem is that
you can play "what if" games forever. Asking an unanswerable
"what if" question does not mean the question deserves
an answer. Asking an unanswerable "what if" question proves
nothing. Anyone can make up countless "what if" questions
that have no meaning. Five year olds are great at doing this. For
example, ask: What if we open a grave in the Middle East and find
Jesus' bones? If that happens the Bible is proven wrong because
it proves Jesus was not bodily resurrected. But just because someone
asked "what if", that does not mean that the question
describes something that is possible. That you can think of a "what
if" question proves nothing.
Back to the
possibility of life on other planets: The bottom line is that I'm
excited about finding life on other planets. We will learn a lot
-- and I have have 100% confidence that the Bible will not be contradicted.
In spite of huge amounts of effort to do so, in 3,500 years nothing
has yet contradicted the Bible, nor proved anything in the Bible
to be untrue. That's a pretty strong historical trend.
Yours in Christ,
Steve
Mission to America
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