Kepler Telescope

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Faith1960

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I just read something that said the Kepler telescope found new Earth like planets, stars, whatever, and they, particularly one, seems to possibly be suited for life.

If we ever find life elsewhere, does that undermine or go against our faith?
Would Christianity, Catholicism in particular, still be true?
 
It is perfectly possible for sentient life to exist on other planets. It would have no effect on our Catholic faith because our faith is meant for us humans as God created us. Other beings on other worlds might be unfallen or they may not be created in God’s image–sentience isn’t the only criteria for being created in God’s image. Apes and dophins have fairly high intelligence, and yet they do not discern good from evil because they simply don’t have that capacity. Other beings on other worlds may be like them, we cannot say. Apart from all this, a planet designated as “class M” doesn’t guarantee there is any life, let alone sentient life on it. But, whatever comes, Christ and his Church are true–true for us, and no doubt true for the rest of the universe, as well, for truth is truth no matter where one goes.
 
Faith1960 said:
I just read something that said the Kepler telescope found new Earth like planets, stars, whatever, and they, particularly one, seems to possibly be suited for life.

If we ever find life elsewhere, does that undermine or go against our faith?
Would Christianity, Catholicism in particular, still be true?
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When I go to England, I drive on the left, because that is the law there. When I am in the US, I drive on the right, because that is the law here.

I’m not sure what the laws are on another planet, but because I am an earthling, I follow Jesus.
 
I’ve always thought the “in my Father’s house there are many rooms…” passage allowed for the possibility. Who knows? It just MIGHT increase our faith and understanding of the wonder of Christ.

Blessings,
Stephie
 
I’ve wondered from time to time if Christ couldn’t manifest himself on another planet, similarly to how he did for us. Then again, maybe not. Thoughts?
 
If they do exist they may have a different plan of salvation (presuming their race ever even sinned or fell in the first place). If they do have a different plan of salvation that wouldn’t invalidate ours.
 
EmeraldOak said:
If they do exist they may have a different plan of salvation (presuming their race ever even sinned or fell in the first place). If they do have a different plan of salvation that wouldn’t invalidate ours.
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What if their plan of salvation isn’t different from ours?
 
Della said:
It is perfectly possible for sentient life to exist on other planets. It would have no effect on our Catholic faith because our faith is meant for us humans as God created us. Other beings on other worlds might be unfallen or they may not be created in God’s image–sentience isn’t the only criteria for being created in God’s image. Apes and dophins have fairly high intelligence, and yet they do not discern good from evil because they simply don’t have that capacity. Other beings on other worlds may be like them, we cannot say. Apart from all this, a planet designated as “class M” doesn’t guarantee there is any life, let alone sentient life on it. But, whatever comes, Christ and his Church are true–true for us, and no doubt true for the rest of the universe, as well, for truth is truth no matter where one goes.
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What if they aren’t unfallen and are created in God’s image?
 
Faith1960 said:
What if they aren’t unfallen and are created in God’s image?
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I don’t think this affects our beliefs at all. As others have said before, The Bible is for (at least) just humans.

Other intelligent life may have been redeemed in different ways. They might have theological similar events, but with major physical & historical differences.
 
Scientifically speaking, our own planet tells us that life is extremely unlikely even on a planet of ideal conditions.

Our earth is such a planet. If life came about “easily” then it would have originated in multiple places. But that’s not what happened. Every living thing on earth - every mammal and insect and flower and fish and bird and fungus and bacteria - EVERY living organism can be traced back to a single one-celled organism called the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). Had that one cell not survived to reproduce then the earth would very likely be sterile of all life today, even though the conditions of our planet are ideal for life.

Darwin discovered this using reason long before genetics absolutely confirmed it using mathematics.

If different species traced back to many different last common ancestors then it would indicate that life will readily arise under ideal circumstances. The fact that every living thing has a common ancestor indicates that life does not readily arise.
 
I’ll believe in alien life when I physically see it.

Until that day comes, I won’t bother with the philosophy of it.

ICXC NIKA
 
DavidFilmer said:
Scientifically speaking, our own planet tells us that life is extremely unlikely even on a planet of ideal conditions.

Our earth is such a planet. If life came about “easily” then it would have originated in multiple places. But that’s not what happened. Every living thing on earth - every mammal and insect and flower and fish and bird and fungus and bacteria - EVERY living organism can be traced back to a single one-celled organism called the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). Had that one cell not survived to reproduce then the earth would very likely be sterile of all life today, even though the conditions of our planet are ideal for life.

Darwin discovered this using reason long before genetics absolutely confirmed it using mathematics.

If different species traced back to many different last common ancestors then it would indicate that life will readily arise under ideal circumstances. The fact that every living thing has a common ancestor indicates that life does not readily arise.
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Extremely unlikely and impossible are two different things. What IF we’re not the only beings out there?
 
I can’t too excited just yet. The Kepler telescope can’t actually see planets. It has a photometer instrument which looks at stars. It measures small changes in brightness which might be caused by one of the star’s planets making a transit in front of the star. (False positives can be caused by variable stars, but false positives can be weeded out by various means.) Data collection is just the beginning. It’s the data analysis that makes the projection of potential planets, since Kepler isn’t actually looking at planets.

After analyzing the data, what it’s looking for is planets in the goldilocks zone—i.e., not too close to the star and not to far away. Just at the right distance from the star to have the potential for liquid water—which Kepler cannot measure in any case.

So even with all these variables and analysis, the astronomers find a number of possible planets in the potentially habitable zone. That doesn’t mean they support life or that they have life. Just that they might be able to.

One astronomer estimated (mathematically) that within 1,000 light years of earth, there could possibly be 30,000 habitable planets.

Maybe God intended them for us to expand into.
 
-] by in I /-]
JimG said:
I can’t too excited just yet. The Kepler telescope can’t actually see planets. It has a photometer instrument which looks at stars. It measures small changes in brightness which might be caused by one of the star’s planets making a transit in front of the star. (False positives can be caused by variable stars, but false positives can be weeded out by various means.) Data collection is just the beginning. It’s the data analysis that makes the projection of potential planets, since Kepler isn’t actually looking at planets.

After analyzing the data, what it’s looking for is planets in the goldilocks zone—i.e., not too close to the star and not to far away. Just at the right distance from the star to have the potential for liquid water—which Kepler cannot measure in any case.

So even with all these variables and analysis, the astronomers find a number of possible planets in the potentially habitable zone. That doesn’t mean they support life or that they have life. Just that they might be able to.

One astronomer estimated (mathematically) that within 1,000 light years of earth, there could possibly be 30,000 habitable planets.

Maybe God intended them for us to expand into.
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I don’t understand your last two sentences. Do you mean that maybe there are people out there?
 
Faith1960 said:
-] by in I /-]

I don’t understand your last two sentences. Do you mean that maybe there are people out there?
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There may or may not be people out there. There also may be planets without life but which could be suitable for human colonization.
 
JimG said:
There may or may not be people out there. There also may be planets without life but which could be suitable for human colonization.
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If there are aliens out there would that undermine or go against our faith? Or mean that Christianity or Catholicism isn’t true?
 
Faith1960 said:
If there are aliens out there would that undermine or go against our faith? Or mean that Christianity or Catholicism isn’t true?
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No.

The Gospel is for human life, full stop.

Aliens are beside the point where the Church is concerned, although their discovery would force our self-image as human beings way down (which is what alien aficionados want, IMNAAHO).

ICXC NIKA.
 
GEddie said:
Aliens are beside the point where the Church is concerned, although their discovery would force our self-image as human beings way down (which is what alien aficionados want, IMNAAHO).

ICXC NIKA.
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What do you mean, can you elaborate?
 
Faith1960 said:
Extremely unlikely and impossible are two different things. What IF we’re not the only beings out there?
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Well, when I say “extremely unlikely” I an using a colloquial term used by quantum physics. To be more scientifically precise, there is a “small but non-zero chance” of life on OUR planet, much less on ANOTHER planet (even if there are many trillions of planets capable of sustaining life).

There is a “small but non-zero” chance that you (or your room, or your house, or the earth) might suddenly appear in the core of the sun. or far beyond the orbit of Pluto. But the probably of such an event is so small that would not likely not occur in a trillion trillion ages of the universe.

That’s roughly the scale and scope that I am talking about when I speak about the likelihood of life arising on a planet of ideal conditions. Our own planet proves my point. I should not be here to respond to you, and you should not be here to read my response.
 
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