Is there any theological justification for G-d's revelation beyond our own Earth?

[meltzerboy]

As I stated on the current “Big Bang” thread, I just viewed a show on PBS about the hypothesis of the multiverse. This idea states there may be an infinite number of universes, some of them perhaps very similar to our own, while others very different in terms of the composition of matter, the number of dimensions, and other features. The multiverse concept has not been proven by observation and empirical research and can only be hypothesized by means of mathematics. It is currently supported by string theory, the concept of dark energy, and the notion of inflation. It makes one think, even more so than the existence of a single universe, about the possibility that G-d may have revealed Himself to beings who live in different universes. That idea doesn’t sound to me theologically justified, so my question as a believer is why did G-d choose only our own microscopically tiny planet to make His presence known?

 

[ThereWasADream]

If you had started your thread asking about God revealing himself to extraterrestrials, I may have been replying differently at this point, but instead I must say that since you yourself admit that the idea of the “multiverse” is not backed by observation or empirical evidence, only mathematical hypothesis, believing in it is really a matter of faith. By the way, in my opinion, string theory is a poor attempt by some scientists to fill in the necessity of God’s existence.

To answer your question simply, no, I don’t think there is any. If there is indeed a multiverse, and there were sentient beings/beings created in God’s image within it, then of course God would desire them to be brought to Him…but for us to be concerned or to even conjecture about this possibility, don’t you think some more convincing evidence for the multiverse should preface such an argument?

P.S. Wouldn’t the theory of the multiverse also say there must exist a universe with no God? Which would be ridiculous, because it would seem to me that it violates His omnipresence…just further reasoning why we should be a bit skeptical of it.

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

It makes one think, even more so than the existence of a single universe, about the possibility that G-d may have revealed Himself to beings who live in different universes. That idea doesn’t sound to me theologically justified, so my question as a believer is why did G-d choose only our own microscopically tiny planet to make His presence known?

If the theory of multiverses was correct, it would dismiss Catholicism completely. Firstly, it would mean that the proclamation of sainthood would be null, as a person who lived a saintly life in one universe could have easily lived a sinful life in another universe. For example, Ignatius of Loyola converted in our historical universe, but would have carried on being a soldier in another universe. St. Augustine of Hippo converted to the religious life in our historical universe, but could have been a drunk and a party-goer in another universe. The proclamation of who is a saint is predicated on the fact that this universe is all that exists and that there are no “alternative lives”. Secondly, the multiverse theory would mean that the Church hasn’t been teaching “truth” for 2000+ years. It couldn’t, because the Church could easily have taught something else in a different universe. This is similar to what is called in philosophy as the “Schrondinger’s cat” paradox. One would have to be pretty hard-hearted to not view this as a refutation of religion entirely.

I’m not a physicist so I don’t know very much about string theory, quantum mechanics and all of that. I’m skeptical of people who claim they know about these fields because the fields are very technical. However, I have studied Chemistry extensively. Many scientific theories allude to God’s non-existence. As a psychologist meltzerboy, even you know about confirmation bias and attribute substitution (cf. “God of the gaps”) and how these both contribute to the phenomena we term “religion”.

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

P.S. Wouldn’t the theory of the multiverse also say there must exist a universe with no God? Which would be ridiculous, because it would seem to me that it violates His omnipresence…just further reasoning why we should be a bit skeptical of it.

No it wouldn’t, because God is also considered to be in philosophy as transcendent (outside of the physical world): “"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).