Christian Theologians Prepare for Extraterrestrial Life

Christian Theologians Prepare for Extraterrestrial Life

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Little green men might shock the secular public. But the Catholic Church would welcome them as brothers.

That's what Vatican chief astronomer and papal science adviser Gabriel Funes explained in a recent article in L'Osservatore Romano, the newsletter of the Vatican Observatory (translated here). His conclusion might surprise nonbelievers. After all, isn't this the same church that imprisoned Galileo for saying that the Earth revolves around the sun? Doesn't the Bible say that God created man -- not little green men -- in his image?

Indeed, many observers assert that aliens would be bad for believers. Jill Tarter, director of the Center for SETI Research, once wrote that finding intelligent other-worldly life "will be inconsistent with the existence of God or at least organized religions." But such predictions tend to come from outside Christianity. From within, theologians have debated the implications of alien contact for centuries. And if one already believes in angels, no great leap of faith is required to accept the possibility of other extraterrestrial intelligences.

Since God created the universe, theologians say, he would have created aliens, too. And far from being weakened by contact, Christianity would adapt. Its doctrines would be interpreted anew, the aliens greeted with open -- and not necessarily Bible-bearing -- arms.

"The main question is, 'Would religion survive this contact?'" said NASA chief historian Steven J. Dick, author of The Biological Universe. "Religion hasn't gone away after Copernican theory, after Darwin. They've found ways to adapt, and they'll find a way if this happens, too," Dick says.

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I would think that if (since I am UFO skeptic) we actually do make contact, the shock would cause a lot of people of all religions to lose faith... after all human religion is human centered and has little room to accomodate little green or gray or blue men.

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(visit the link for the full news article)

Why would people start to lose faith? It is not like the bible says humans are the only species alive. My mother is an older Christian and she believes aliens exist.
I don't really know though, I usually go the opposite of what the Vatican likes to think. It is just my thing!

I think because most people assume that we are thats why.

reply to post by grover


There is no religion that i've ever heard of or read about that says God only created human beings and only created life on this planet.

It will not destroy religion. It will change peoples perspectives towards one another.

Instead of hating each other for skin color
we can unite as one race - the human race
.....and hate Marvin for his big green eyes......


/end joke

But seriously - it would not debunk religion.

All that is, IMO, is atheistic wishful thinking.

reply to post by grover


As a Christian i hold different views of "aliens" that said, from a Christian perspective and IMHO if these aliens did arrive and as long as they did not contradict Gods word i could only see it as an extension of the limited knowledge i have of Gods creation.

However like another poster has said i wouldn't be listening and taking to heart anything the Roman Catholic Church said.

RCC gettin PC me thinkin

david

reply to post by Andrew E. Wiggin


I didn't say that there was but that a lot of people view it that way.

My mother, a devout Christian scholar from Cuba, is very old fashioned in almost every way you can imagine, so you would understand the shock I went through when my mother told me the follow:

"If you replace the word 'God' for the word 'Alien', the Bible begins to make more sense."

I asked her what she meant by this and she said:

"Not all believe as I do Bryan, it isn't an easy realization to come to. Just try it and you'll see what I mean".


I was 12 years old when she said this to me. And I've been on the hunt ever since. The problem is, she is never surprised by any new information I give her. Silly me, thinking I could find information she didn't already have.

Originally posted by projectvxn
My mother, a devout Christian scholar from Cuba, is very old fashioned in almost every way you can imagine, so you would understand the shock I went through when my mother told me the follow:

"If you replace the word 'God' for the word 'Alien', the Bible begins to make more sense."

I asked her what she meant by this and she said:

"Not all believe as I do Bryan, it isn't an easy realization to come to. Just try it and you'll see what I mean".


I was 12 years old when she said this to me. And I've been on the hunt ever since. The problem is, she is never surprised by any new information I give her. Silly me, thinking I could find information she didn't already have.

Your mother isn't as elightened as I and Biwhammy is on this then. There are fallen angels that the Bible talks about and ancient history shows that these fallen ones tried before to be the gods of men, they will do it agian under the guise of aliens. If you replace the word "God" with "Aliens" it actually makes a lot less sense, God is an uncreated being that created reality it's self, He exists beyond the constraints of time and space. So with that said I'm pretty sure God isn't a little grey man who takes you in the middle of the night into a ufo and does experiments on you.
The thing is, your mother is trying to understand God in a human sense. We can't do that as we humans have corrupt minds. Your mother (I'm sure unitensionally) is putting God in a human box, consticting Him to the confine of her imagination or what she can concieve, but God is bigger than that.

hello

I agree with this also, To me with the vatican also chucking its weight around saying they are our brothers it only makes this more true.

david

reply to post by jimmyjackblack


As soon as you claim to be enlightened you automatically rule out any possiblity of it.

ya know, the more i set and think about this, i actually just chuckled


what if alien communication HAS been under wraps for so many years because of the idea it would collapse the religious system

and now, its coming to a breaking point, where th govt says "okay, we'll let them know, but we need to prepare!!!"

And part of those preperations are getting the vatican to say aliens are a good possibility and they're our brothers



what if?

You may want to have that conversation with her I suppose.

My mother is no fool. She doesn't relegate god to her opinion. But the Bible is a different story. No pun intended.