Christian reaction to alien contact

Assume that aliens publicly introduce themselves to Earth someday. How would Christians respond to this? Would missionaries leave for the alien world to give them the good news about Jesus? Or would they assume the good new is only for humans? Or would they have a crisis of faith?

reply to post by cloudyday


Was this a real question? Or just a taunting of Christians?

Most would just fall for the delusion, like most non-believers. The rest of us who understand( I am not claiming special knowledge or wisdom or any such thing) what and who aliens represent would not do......anything.

We understand that this is probably the first step to reveal the antichrist.

reply to post by cloudyday


often wondered that myself.

My opinion here only....I think many Christians, faced with knowing what they believe in is a lie, will in fact commit suicide. Some will form into bands to shoot at ET. Some will go insane. I know an older lady here in my town, she thinks all aliens are demons from Hell. I asked her what would she do if a lot of them landed, and she said plainly that she would get her dead husband's pistol and shoot herself in the head. She says that would mean a complete takeover by Satan.

Little do they know what really goes on out there in Space!

Depends on how liberal the christian is. Some will say they are demons, and begin casting them out in the name of Jesus. Others will proselytize, and still others will definitely have a crisis. There is a broad spectrum of christianity to consider here. So your question is really too broad to get a pointed answer.

But I'm sure there will be a few bouncing in shortly to set you straight. You might want to take a look at one of Revelation Generation's threads. He addresses this issue from a fundamentalist point of view.

ETA: Here you go: We really ARE alone...

They would probably perceive the aliens as demons sent by the devil himself, and attempt to cast them out.

reply to post by cloudyday

Vatican Says Aliens Are Our Brothers

www.disclose.tv...

It has already been discussed among Christians, the possibility. They believe this only shows HOW GREAT GOD IS. This is the position the Vatican puts out and comments from within the Vatican say there will be no conflict of religion. Christians all get their marching orders from the Papacy and will fall in line with whatever the Pope says. If not a splinter group may break away, rename itself and claim to be another faith altogether - they are all the same faith. Faith is faith - aliens or no aliens.



I DO think alien contact will mitigate conflicts in the Mideast shedding doubt on both Judaism and Islam and hopefully cause them to unite. Is this naive?

Originally posted by cloudyday
Assume that aliens publicly introduce themselves to Earth someday. How would Christians respond to this? Would missionaries leave for the alien world to give them the good news about Jesus? Or would they assume the good new is only for humans? Or would they have a crisis of faith?

I'm sure there would be a lot of confusion over it since many people think that we are the only intelligent life in the universe, but the bottom line is that the Bible is silent on intelligent alien life. It doesn't say it's out there, it doesn't say it isn't. Certainly if ET life is ever encountered, one of the first things on anyone's agenda would be to discuss their religious beliefs, to determine if they have religions like we do and to see how their beliefs align (or don't align) with ours. It would be a fascinating discovery process for sure.

Christians will do what they do to everyone else, judge them prior to getting to know them, spew some memorized written passages to them, and take it upon themselves to fulfill what they think God wants them to do... which is kill them, on their way to Walmart to buy goods from child slaves.

reply to post by autowrench


Contrary to popular belief, aliens revealing themselves would not automatically mean Christianity is a lie. Things were a lot stranger in the old testament time, with the introduction of heavenly beings it would only make these times more like the past. Of course though, even "believers" these days will abandon their faith if aliens show up.

If aliens did appear, many, and I mean almost everyone, will shift their perspective of reality to be more in line with these beings. Atheists will have a new hope, every one of them, there's no way an advanced being wouldn't absolutely shift their reality. During that time, there would be a huge resistance to anyone who maintained an "outdated" or "barbaric" belief system and would likely be killed.

People seem to believe humanity is past killing like the nazis killed but the worst has yet to come.

reply to post by cloudyday


i have spoken to my Coworker about this very topic and he said if we ever do have contact they will be demons posing as alien. He is evangelical.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
Christians will do what they do to everyone else, judge them prior to getting to know them, spew some memorized written passages to them, and take it upon themselves to fulfill what they think God wants them to do... which is kill them, on their way to Walmart to buy goods from child slaves.

Any discerning christian would not take up arms with aliens or any fellow man. Those times have been given to the world and will pass as time passes. It is not up to us to shift in any way the events that would take place. Those who would take up arms would be killed or would decide to believe differently altogether.

Originally posted by cloudyday
Assume that aliens publicly introduce themselves to Earth someday. How would Christians respond to this? Would missionaries leave for the alien world to give them the good news about Jesus? Or would they assume the good new is only for humans? Or would they have a crisis of faith?

Christ didn't incarnate into an alien to die for them, they cannot be redeemed. Same thing for angels and Nephillim. They cannot be redeemed either. And I'm with Jacques Valle, these creatures are both "demonic" and "extra-dimensional, not extra-terrestrial." They are fallen angels, which are spirits that can appear in any shape they want. In the Bible people entertained them as guests without knowing. For fun sometime research what thousands of people have reported to UFO investigators that all abduction experiences cease immediately when a victim calls out for help in Jesus's name.

I would mostly be focusing on my family and their wellbeing and taking everything the "aliens" proclaimed with a grain of salt.

I certainly won't fall down and worship them as superiors as some who have posted here will.

They are secretive for a reason. Secrets generally don't have my best interest at heart.

Violence? Only if they get too close without assuaging my legitimate concerns.

reply to post by cloudyday
*shrug*

I'd handle them just like everyone else (Aliens are people too?)...they might be demonic or may just be our space brothers from some other mothers, but they can't really be much worse than anyone else in general. Already plenty of bad people here doing atrocious things anyway, so might as well share the message and peace with them all the same.

I don't think christians would handle it any better or worse than anyone else in general, especially now that the Vatican has pretty much OK'd the idea for the catholics, at least.

Easy... they will either kill them or try to convert them, if neither works, inslave them (if possible).

My fear is that if Aliens do come to make friendly contact, some idiot rednecks will run out of their single wide baby huts and start shooting up into they air at them, thus making them mad and blowing up our whole planet. I hope they will be smarter than that and not take offense but you never know.

Originally posted by cloudyday
Assume that aliens publicly introduce themselves to Earth someday. How would Christians respond to this? Would missionaries leave for the alien world to give them the good news about Jesus? Or would they assume the good new is only for humans? Or would they have a crisis of faith?

edit on 21-11-2011 by cloudyday because: (no reason given)

I'll provide some thoughts.

1) There is, an anthropocentric (human centered) understanding of the Christian faith.

While all of the Creation has the potential to be redeemed, redemption is but a small part of the hope of the Gospel. The greater part is the hope of humankind in the words, "God became man so that man might become god."

So, while my departed pet dachshund has a part in the (not yet arrived) Kingdom of God, my pet dachshund has no hope of becoming god. Man, however, does, by virtue of the work of God become man-- that is, in the Incarnation in which God and man were joined-- fully God and fully man. That is the hope of the resurrected human-- but AS FAR AS WE CAN TELL, of no other life form.

2) From that, the Christian would want to know if the essence of what it is to be human exists in whatever form the alien life possesses. They may look different, but are they human? I would hope so.

If they are essentially human, then the initial interest would be in learning of their spirituality-- what they perceive and sense and believe.

If they are not essentially human, I imagine some Christians would seek to evangelize them anyway. I wouldn't-- not any more than I would evangelize my pet dachshund. I loved my pet dachshund, but he was not human and so has a limited (but not too shabby) promise in the Gospel.

From my spiritual perspective, I do not care about their technology or society or natural abilities, they will remain teleologically (ultimate end) inferior to humans.

However, that does not mean that God does not have a benevolent and wondrous purpose for the other creatures-- and telling them of our hope may play a role in their own teleological end.

3) There are mystical powers. Some available to the Church and its/Her members. If this hypothetical aliens race had members interested and willing, the mysteries of Baptism and the laying on of hands would be an interesting matter to attempt-- an experiment... Does the alien race receiving such mysteries respond with any sort of perceivable spiritual awakening?

4) There has been some speculation that the "anti-Christ" will actually present himself as an alien-- but in fact will be a demon merely pretending to be such. Several (mostly evangelical-- end of the world type) novels have been written using that theme.

You can imagine, fairly easily, I think, how aliens arriving with technological solutions in the midst of a world in crisis could be seen as more than mere saviors, but as gods-- especially by the non-religious.

5) As we have all witnessed, people will do what they want to do; but in the Church some actions are to be spiritually discerned and directed. That does not happen nearly often enough-- too often faith and reason become usurped by agenda, impulse and fear-- or as if it is a democracy driven by popular opinion-- it is not, rightly so.

I have little doubt that speculative theologians have and continue to work on such possibilities as how ought the Church respond to an alien contact (Rome tipped its own hand in that regard not long ago). So faith and reason will be used; but, as is always the case, so will the less measured responses be seen.

I'll tell you what I would do if and when it ever happens. I could speculate, but something like that would almost certainly cause one to reconsider his assumed reaction.

That's a tough question..considering the type of society we live in. We humans are taught that we are very special to God and created only a little lower than angels. If we are this big a mess, I can even begin to think what (Angels or Messengers) could do...if they want too.
We failed in the Garden and we are failing miserably now. If others are out there...and are an older species than we are... let's hope they aren't like 'O Special Us..BUT .If we are God's first attempt at creating a sentient being who can reason and understand their destiny.(created for Planetary life that is)..then we are a failed creation that didn't live up to God's expectations and that is the reason we need saving.. Many of his Angels were a failure too...these refused to take God's orders and rebelled against Him.
Free Will you say?
Free Will is only Free Will to a certain extent...somewhere down on that long leash you are running on, you going to be hauled in. One way or the other ...for good or for bad.

Originally posted by autowrench
My opinion here only....I think many Christians, faced with knowing what they believe in is a lie, will in fact commit suicide. Some will form into bands to shoot at ET. Some will go insane. I know an older lady here in my town, she thinks all aliens are demons from Hell. I asked her what would she do if a lot of them landed, and she said plainly that she would get her dead husband's pistol and shoot herself in the head. She says that would mean a complete takeover by Satan.

Little do they know what really goes on out there in Space!

In no way does alien life negate the Gospel. And, by the way, in no way does belief in the Gospel make one an idiot. To the contrary (on both points) alien contact would very much present exciting potential for leaps in metaphysical understanding.

Of course, the real crisis would be that the aliens arrive preaching Christ Crucified. It happened.

Augustin of Canterbury arrived in England expecting to convert the pagans there, but instead was quite surprised to find a procession of Christian clergy and laity approaching to welcome him.

How the Gospel got to England is lost to history (but, perhaps not to legend), but the Church, thinking it already understood what was "out there" was pleasantly surprised to find that it did not meet a resistant "other" but its own brothers and sisters.