Belief in life on other planets?

[centurionguard]

It wasn’t concerning to me, just a random thought. I remain focused on serving God, as everyone should be. I just wondered what everyone thought, so please don’t attack me over it.

First of all friend I wasn’t attacking you for your views or opinions.
I was only voicing my own opinions as an alternative to being strongly driven about concerning oneself over the fasination of other sentient life in God’s creation out amongst the uncountable planets, Stars and Galaxies.

In my humble opinion for what little my voice is worth I too like you have a intriguing fasination about the plausability of other sentient life existing in the vastness of space. Humans by comparison in the grand scheme of the entire scene and unscene Universe are but microscopic creatures that God chose to place a part of Himself in each one of us.
God did not create us for the sake of our bodies of flesh. Its our soul that He values.

I would not dare suppose to be arrogant in making any definitive voice in what God has created in Supreme Wisdom beyond this planet earth. Given the ineffable complexity of Time, Space and Matter and its clockwork perfection, beyond what human science in their infancy is capable of perceiving with five primitive senses. I dare say there’s far more to this entire seeable Universe than the human race as long it it exist will ever understand or know.

The Universe wasn’t just created for humans. It belongs to God to do as He Wills. Were just a small part of it. Inasmuch as there is fasination with greatness in things bigger than ourselves, we should also consider the vastness of that which exist far smaller than ourselves. Either end of the spectrum is too mind-boggling for my mind.
So much for the human folly and invention of measurement.

Ecclesiasticus Chapter 3 Verses 21-25 puts it all in prospective for myself IMHO.

[21] For great is the power of God alone, and he is honoured by the humble. [22] Seek not the things that are too high for thee, and search not into things above thy ability: but the things that God hath commanded thee, think on them always, and in many of his works be not curious. [23] For it is not necessary for thee to see with thy eyes those things that are hid. [24] In unnecessary matters be not over curious, and in many of his works thou shalt not be inquisitive. [25] For many things are shewn to thee above the understanding of men.

Fraternally Yours In Christ
Chris

 

[Nimzovik]

So your saying if I meditated on a monkey than I would be meditating on God? Why not just meditate directly on Lord Jesus Christ instead of your idea of nature? And since aliens are not proven to be real and since God never said anything about aliens than yes its okay to ignore aliens. How is it gonna help you get closer to God or Heaven by wasting your time with aliens? Are those aliens gonna teach you the beatitudes. Are those same aliens which supposedly abduct people by force gonna give you the eucharist. Are those aliens gonna teach how to better help others.

Nimzovik Responds in Bold.

Lol! Humorously put. However-is that not how Science got it’s start? Finding God by Probing His creation? Contemplation of the wonder of the stars does indeed inspire the awe of God methinks. Please note. Such an approach never invalidates Praying to God

Aliens have never been proven to exist and once again what does it matter in the end? but since you keep trying to prove to people that aliens exist here we go.

Yes it matters. **We should not ignore fellow sentients of God. **

How is it physically possible for aliens to travel the distance they would need to in order to reach us? And how would they survive such a mission. And if they did travel that far why are they not trying to make contact?

Oh yes? Why must they be from another planet? Could they not be from another dimension? I am quite aware of the matter /light speed barrier. However a truly advanced race millions of years past our own, with alternative resources available to them that we do not have, may indeed have discovered mechanisms that we are unaware of. Think aobut it. We only recently discovered Quantum Mechhanics. How can we claim we know so much when we really know sooooo little of what does exist?
**For a discussion of relevant Physics involved see here: **

youtube.com/watch?v=_TXZegj_7u4

and here: youtube.com/watch?v=WBwrErRqEyM

And the answer is because aliens are not visiting earth. Whether their is other creatures or humans out in the universe is unknown but on earth their are no aliens besides my Mexican friend Carlos but that is a different type of alien.

And as far as abductions go its never been proven and all of these people who say they were abducted are liars they are money/fame hungry and you can tell because they make a lot of money of their cases.

Oh yes? And the Implants found in the said people? I realize it is far easier to call People, Militaries and Government officials all aorund the world Liars and fame mongers than it is to burst one’s bubble.

I truly do not understand why people feel so very threatened by this subject.

These people who claim they were abducted write books, go on tv shows and go on interviews and some are even apart of movies and throughout all this time they are getting richer and more famous. And do these aliens know about the internet why not just learn about us through their instead of abducting us. If their smart enough to come to earth why cant they figure that out. I mean the internet has entire books and a ridiculous amount of photos and videos including medical videos.

And next is the aliens sightings and in my opinion those alien sightings are a mix of many things. First is government aircraft and remember governments around the world have aircraft that we dont even know about. The nazis back in their time even had aircraft that looked very similar to alien ufos and their are even photos of these objects online. And if they had that back then think about what governments have nowadays.

And a second explanation is people once again lying about sightings for money or fame.

And yet it is the very Military(s) itself of a variety of Nations from Mexico to Iran to Belgium (just for a sampling) that report such sightings and recorded with high tech equipment. **Note also it is the American Governmet that denies UFO’s- *other ***Government’s official do not.
Such as Canada: youtube.com/watch?v=RGyFWyNuF3s
Mexico: youtube.com/watch?v=hKdvBidbwnQ

And a third is the Devil creating illusions in order to get peoples focus away from God. And it truly works so many of these people who worry about aliens and waste all their time on aliens weaken their faith or even sometimes lose their faith. Its like they worship these aliens instead of God. The Devil is a deceiver and is very powerful and very intelligent so if creating a few illusions in the sky at night can hurt some peoples faith then he will do it. If he can possess people he can and does to create those alien lights.

Another explanation for a small amount of the sightings is consumer products that fly like small things such as strange balloons for example in mexico they have a strange shaped balloons which people mistake as alien ufos. And other things such as even floating lanterns and toy planes and so on.

Ok. So if 95% is bogus what do we do about the real 5%? IF You want samples I will give them.

My point is their are many explanations for those sightings that have nothing to do with aliens and when you focus so much time on something which is pointless and in my opinion a lie you are taking away time from God. Instead of researching and worrying about aliens how about you worry about how you can help poor people in the world. Or how you can help local people in your area out. Their is much to do in the world and so much time we can spend with God why waste it worrying about flying saucers.

I reiterate: Accepting the reality of UFO’s and Aliens does not preclude performing religous acts of Mercy. It is just accepting reality. Nothing more. Nothing less.

 

[Joe_5859]

Is there life on other planets? Please explain. Personally I dont think there is, and I got into a discussion on it. Please tell me the Catholic teaching on this, thank you.

As you may gather from the variety of posts, there is no official Catholic teaching on this. The Catholic Church is not in the business of issuing official Church teachings on every minutiae of every unanswered question. That’s simply not Her purpose.

But you can certainly wonder about it if you want to. And good Catholics may disagree.

I took an Astronomy class in college on extraterrestrial life (seriously!). We got to talk to the woman from SETI who Jodie Foster’s character was based on for the movie “Contact”.

 

[catholiclee]

Lol! Humorously put. However-is that not how Science got it’s start? Finding God by Probing His creation? Contemplation of the wonder of the stars does indeed inspire the awe of God methinks. Please note. Such an approach never invalidates Praying to God

** I dont know anyone who has gotten closer to God by watching an alien movie or reading a book on aliens. no offense but you seem like you watched way to many sci fi movies and tv shows. I know exactly how you think I was in your position and was very interested in Aliens but I realized that it was all pointless and taking away from God so until you actual see an alien in person stop worrying about it.
**

Yes it matters. We should not ignore fellow sentients of God.

**But the problem is we dont know if they exist and if they do their the ones who are purposely ignoring us not the other way around. People spend billions of dollars on aliens making films writing books and tons of research so I dont think people are ignoring them at all.
**
Oh yes? Why must they be from another planet? Could they not be from another dimension? I am quite aware of the matter /light speed barrier. However a truly advanced race millions of years past our own, with alternative resources available to them that we do not have, may indeed have discovered mechanisms that we are unaware of. Think aobut it. We only recently discovered Quantum Mechhanics. How can we claim we know so much when we really know sooooo little of what does exist?

** Their is no proof their is other dimensions and even if their is why on earth do you think God would allow these aliens to skip from their dimensions to ours? To me it sounds like you are more interested Aliens more than God. And if us human beings know so little why are you so inclined into believing the theory from human beings that their is other physical dimensions and that physical creatures could travel through them?
**
Oh yes? And the Implants found in the said people? I realize it is far easier to call People, Militaries and Government officials all aorund the world Liars and fame mongers than it is to burst one’s bubble.

I truly do not understand why people feel so very threatened by this subject.

**Yes because those people with implants couldn’t have possibly of lied(sarcasm).

I mean look throughout history how so many people have manipulated others why do you believe those people who claim they got implants? could they not have lied or could they not have even put those implants into their own skin for fame and money?

And a lot of people including government and military are liars. All throughout history people especially governments and military have lied. And its much easier to go on believing people especially the ones in power then to question them. And burst what bubble if aliens do exist what does it have to do with being Catholic? I never said its not possible that other creatures exist but only that their is not enough proof to support this claim especially the theory that their on earth hiding from us.
**

And yet it is the very Military(s) itself of a variety of Nations from Mexico to Iran to Belgium (just for a sampling) that report such sightings and recorded with high tech equipment. Note also it is the American Governmet that denies UFO’s- other Government’s official do not.

**Have you ever thought that those government sightings are aircraft from other countries I mean the US has drones all over the world without approval from those countries. And again you did not listen to what I said because those sightings are also the Devil trying to manipulate people with illusions and that includes manipulating Militarily. And also their is actually a good reason that the US government would deny it and that is because its their aircraft that are behind it going into places that they are not supposed to and also the US government does not want people to know about their advanced secret aircraft. Our government has more military bases in other countries than any other nation and spends almost half of all world military spending the lowest estimate is 41% and has spent more for decades. China only spends 7-8% and their population and military numbers and population are so much larger.
**

Ok. So if 95% is bogus what do we do about the real 5%? IF You want samples I will give them.

**First of all I never said 95% are bogus but instead that 100% are actually bogus and this does not mean that everyone lies but also that a lot of people are mistaken about what they saw. Someone might see a very expensive military aircraft or some other object and think its a UFO. Your samples or links are not solid proof and also if these aliens are so smart why cant they be more discreet not have all those sightings.
**

I reiterate: Accepting the reality of UFO’s and Aliens does not preclude performing religous acts of Mercy. It is just accepting reality. Nothing more. Nothing less.

**Its not accepting reality because once again Aliens have never been proven to exist until their is solid proof which means they come on earth then you can talk that way. And why did you just ignore all the other explanations I gave you like the fact that the Devil can and does use illusions which people think are aliens? and I will ask you this once don’t you think its possible that someone accidentally mistakes a military aircraft especially an advanced one for a Alien UFO. And a side note its not a coincidence that a lot of these sightings also just happen to take place near military bases.

And I never said that you cant believe i aliens be Catholic or do acts of Mercy I just said it takes time away from those things.
**

 

[Nimzovik]

ok… If you wish to continue to deny the voluminous, copius amounts of eyewitness accounts, photographic evidence, physical trace evidence from landings etc, Military observaion via qualified personnel in terms of identifying aircraft, Presidents, NASA, airline pilots,the Vatican’s astronomer, Astronauts, miscellaneous Govenments, all around the world, as liars, con men and ignorant, that is your perogative.

Peace be with you.

 

[aragonjohn1]

Perhaps the aliens would find it amusing rather than arrogant.
It could be they don’t need any redemption or saving at all themselves!

Weird but, that would almost be intriguing.

Merry Christmas
God bless You

 

[Nimzovik]

Or… They could the soul status of animals…

 

[vera_dicere]

I think there is. Why should we limit God’s power to intelligent life existing on just one planet? That He came to save just humans? I think that’s rather arrogant and pigeon holes God into a small little box.

If there is intelligent life on other planets, only them and God know what means of salvation was offered to them? Perhaps an alien Jesus?

However, I doubt contact will be made within my lifetime, or even the next few hundred years. We’re certainly in no technological position to do it currently; and as for aliens contacting us? Well, they could be in a stone age or so far advanced they know better than to mess with us primitatives, like a prime directive?

 

[odile53]

Since the entire universe exists in the Mind of God, I do not discount the possibility of the existence of intelligent life elsewhere, either physically or across the time-space continuum. And if such intelligent life exists, and fell from grace as we did, I am sure that God would see to it that salvation was offered to them in some way known only to Him.

 

[Mintaka]

C.S. Lewis’ speculations aside (and they’re good speculations, but mostly were aimed at H.P. Lovecraft and others seeing space and aliens as intrinsically evil and hostile), we don’t see any evidence that Creation gets better or worse outside of Earth. Adam was given dominion over all the creatures, so any intelligent creatures out there were probably also affected by Adam’s fall.

James Blish did an amusing counter to Lewis (and to Clarke), in which he pictured aliens that didn’t need salvation as actually having something very different going on. A Case of Conscience and Black Easter are the books in question, although they’re normally printed as a single book these days. I will say no more, lest I spoil it for you.

 

[Nimzovik]

Frankly - **if **any alien abducts me and subjects me to tests agaisnt my will - said alien is evil in my book.

Aliens are not your friends regards,
Nim

 

[x1980x]

Doesn’t CS Lewis have a fiction trilogy about this? I forget what it’s called though. In that story, humans were the only ones that fell from grace, so only we needed to be redeemed, pretty interesting. Been a while since I’ve read it though. Anyone else heard or read these books?

This was his Space Trilogy. It seems that the biggest problem from a Christian perspective in considering intelligent life on other planets is whether or not they need Jesus as their savior. South Park actually handled this question in a way and stated that some of the extraterrestrial Gelgameks are Catholics.

There doesn’t appear to be a theological issue with non-intelligent life on other planets, at least not anymore than there is a theological issue with discovering an island in the Pacific devoid of human life but which has a new species of cat on it (i.e. none at all).

 

[Nimzovik]

Degrees of soul/spirit. perhaps. Perhaps Aliens, like Lions, simply do wiothout thought of conscience.

Hyoer intelligence does not equate to soul.

 

[brierpatch1974]

Peopel talk about saving the aliens or that they wouldnt need to be saved. If they exist did you ever think they may come to say your wrong and that they are here to teach you what is the real truth as they see it?
Not saying they exist or would be right but no one knows what they would think or believe.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

Peopel talk about saving the aliens or that they wouldnt need to be saved. If they exist did you ever think they may come to say your wrong and that they are here to teach you what is the real truth as they see it?
Not saying they exist or would be right but no one knows what they would think or believe.

Key words 'as they see it." This doesn’t mean it will be the Truth, and if their truth rejects God, then it is a false truth.

I don’t think it really has anything to do with theology, because theology for us is solely concerned with our (humanity’s) salvation and relationship with God. Following that premise, the existence of alien life would have absolutely no affect on theology or our belief.

 

[Nimzovik]

It is to be noted that, according to some UFO involved abductrrd, certain aliens have **no **qualms what so ever in regard to rape of both human genders and producing mutant /hybrid offspring…

 

[Dolezal]

IMHO, I truly** fail** to see how all this is …‘irrelevant to our Religion’

Yes, that’s obvious.

since to meditate on nature (in this case alien life) is to meditate on God…

Correct, to study nature is to study God, but the existence of extraterrestrial life is strictly a scientific question and not a philosophical one.

Should we ignore our fellow sentients created by God?

Your question does not make sense. I cannot ignore observable entities for which empirical evidence is completely lacking.

 

[Nimzovik]

Au contraire.

There is indeed empirical evidence. Do your homework. Check out the links I provided in the thread.

If you then continue to deny the existence of extraterrestrial life, and it’s presence/interaction here on earth, then there is nothing more I can do for you.

The question is ***not ***what evidential proof I can offer you of extrateresstrial life. The **real **question is: ‘what evidence are you capable of accepting?’ What evidence is not too threatening for you? What evidence will you allow to impinge upon the threshold of your ‘cosmos paradigm’ and permit to burst your bubble?

How can I reach people that disbelieve in knee jerk fashion, when people violate the Scientific Method? When they refuse to even examine the evidence?

Denial and rationalization are indeed powerful defense mechanisms.

 

[Pedro_1987]

I personally believe there is life on other planets. But there are factors to consider. Would that life evolve in a fashion to even be conceivable with human minds? Also, not all life is intelligent, you could easily have a planet full of animals. Or even a planet full of plants or bacteria. Or a planet where lifeforms didn’t fork like that and have completely different domains/kingdoms.

Having said all that, I think God meant for us to be seperate. Science states that nothing can travel faster than light, and we see no loophole. Science fiction likes to speculate that we will find a way around that, but there may be no loophole, and that’s just the way life is. We are seperated by lightyears, even travelling at the rate of the fastest known thing in the universe, it will take several years to even get to the nearest life supporting planet, and just as long to get back. There’s the issue of supplying air, water, food, and fuel, and finding people willing to put that many years of their life into a trip that may very well be fruitless. I don’t think we’ll ever meet aliens, nor will they meet us.

I’ve heard an interesting theory that angels are aliens that have gone through their own apocalypse. It makes sense, especially considering some of the forms you see angels taking in Job. It would also mean the Kingdom of God is ever expanding with all the alien planets thriving.

 

[Dolezal]

**Au contraire.**There is indeed empirical evidence. Do your homework. Check out the links I provided in the thread.

I’ve seen it. I guess I overlooked the empirical evidence.

See here; for life on Mars. youtube.com/watch?v=I8cNLoA6Nh8 one has to get to minute 13 first.

Actually, go to minute 22 and compare his “digital enhancement” with the photo made by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The question is ***not ***what evidential proof I can offer you of extrateresstrial life. The **real **question is: ‘what evidence are you capable of accepting?’

Empirical evidence, which would be needed to justify your claim.

How can I reach people that disbelieve in knee jerk fashion, when people violate the Scientific Method? When they refuse to even examine the evidence?

I agree that there are objects that have not been identified. But let’s get back to the topic of extraterrestrial life.

Denial and rationalization are indeed powerful defense mechanisms.

I do not deny or accept the existence of extraterrestrial life because there is no empirical evidence for extraterrestrial life. Is that so hard to understand?