UFO from Biblical and Catholic View

[puer.dei]

Fr. Seraphim concludes:

“ UFO encounters are but a contemporary form of an occult phenomenon which has existed throughout the centuries. Men have abandoned Christianity and look for “saviors” from outer space, and therefore the phenomenon supplies images of spacecraft and space beings. ”

That’s very interesting. I remember years and years ago, reading about a theory (and I think it was from one of the UFO experts of the time) that was pretty much the same idea. That in ancient times, people saw the gods; later, it was visions of saints and angels; and when the techological age came, the sightings became flying craft. His theory was that these sightings are caused by something so far outside our experience, that the only way our minds can deal with it is to translate it into something more familiar.

 

[Anrakyr]

“ In a recent bibliography of UFO phenomena prepared by the Library of Congress for the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the introduction states that “Many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to demonic possession and psychic phenomena which have long been known to theologians and parapsychologists. ”
(Citation: Lynn G. Catoe, UFOs and Related Subjects: An Annotated Bibliography, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1969)

Fr. Seraphim concludes:

“ UFO encounters are but a contemporary form of an occult phenomenon which has existed throughout the centuries. Men have abandoned Christianity and look for “saviors” from outer space, and therefore the phenomenon supplies images of spacecraft and space beings. ”

I’ll take “Difficult questions the church doesn’t want too discuss.” For 1000 Alex.

Joking aside we’ve always been an expansionist species. We explore, learn, grow and test the boundaries of our world.

Why would that stop with our planet?

The church would be better off getting ahead of the curve and addressing ‘what if’ before we find life outside of earth.

As mentioned we found microbial life on Venus. While this doesn’t shatter the ceiling how long till we find a fish on Europa?

 

[TK421]

UFOs that are thought to be extraterrestrial are almost certainly misidentified aircraft, or the story is made up, or some combination of the two.

A long time ago there was something called the Drake Equation to estimate how much life was in the galaxy/universe, but since then, scientifically, the viability of complex life in the universe is increasingly extremely dim:

 

[TK421]

As mentioned we found microbial life on Venus. While this doesn’t shatter the ceiling how long till we find a fish on Europa?

No. There’s a possibility of microbial life in the Venusian atmosphere. If they actually confirmed it, it would have exploded on the front pages of every news outlet.

 

[whatistrue]

Except for the ones that sounded like Benedict Cumberbatch, anyway.

Nice voice portrayal, regardless of the quality of the film series itself…

 

[Anrakyr]

No. There’s a possibility of microbial life in the Venusian atmosphere. If they actually confirmed it, it would have exploded on the front pages of every news outlet.

Just like how companies all over the world have been scamming the recycling industry?

 

[TK421]

If they ever discovered extraterrestrial life it would explode on news outlets.

(That is assuming all life here isn’t already extraterrestrial in origin )

 

[BT3241]

There is life out there for sure we know from earth it happens even in the most extreme environments. Intelligent life if it does exist will be too far away to make a difference. If we saw a planet out there that we found evidence of life on we would send probes and possibly robot ships it will be too far for us to go ourselves. Not saying they are but maybe that’s what UFOs could be alien probes. I saw the video of the flying chicklet the pilot chased - that was real no doubt about it.

 

[Serpent_of_Paradise]

It is true that her visions, recorded by another person are not approved. They are however permitted to be read by Catholics; as they do have the appropriate Imprimatur, and Nihil Obstat. All private revelation will always by private, the laity are free to believe or not to. Having said that, she is in the process to Sainthood, and if you throw out all private revelation and miracles you will have a Church without Saints.

 

[Montrose]

It is true that her visions, recorded by another person are not approved. They are however permitted to be read by Catholics; as they do have the appropriate Imprimatur, and Nihil Obstat. All private revelation will always by private, the laity are free to believe or not to. Having said that, she is in the process to Sainthood, and if you throw out all private revelation and miracles you will have a Church without Saints.

It is the life that has been led plus miracles that are considered in the process, and not revelations (in her case) nor stigmata (in other cases). Neither of these matter. Almost all saints have not experienced either of these.

 

[Dan_Defender]

UFOs that are thought to be extraterrestrial are almost certainly misidentified aircraft, or the story is made up, or some combination of the two.

I agree. If there were advanced civilizations out there who can travel faster than the speed of light and therefore can make it to earth, they would be so technologically advanced that they would simply show themselves publicly, there is literally no risk from doing so. Instead, they would pick to come here and hide? doesn’t make sense.

 

[mythbuster1]

No, organic=carbon-based. Venus’ atmosphere is primarily carbon dioxide, and organic molecules can be produced by lightning in a CO2-rich, reducing environment.

 

[Gorgias]

Actually, they are approved because she is beatified.

If we knew for sure which parts came from her, those parts would be automatically approved.

No, that’s not true. Augustine is a saint, but his teaching on the “massa damnata” is denied by the Church. Aquinas is a saint, but his teaching that Mary wasn’t free from sin at the moment of her conception is denied by the Church.

Just because you’re a saint (let alone beatified) doesn’t mean that every word out of your mouth is “automatically approved” by the Church.

it is a normal practice during the sainthood cause for the Vatican to examine the Servant of God’s entire life and all of their public and private writings.

However, subsequent canonization doesn’t imply a seal of approval on “all their public and private writings.”

 

[No3]

Anne Emmerich revelations

Anne lives off the Eucharist alone for 12 years

From the moment she received the Sacred Wounds until her death, Anne Catherine Emmerich took no solid food, existing only on the Sacred Host. In fact, when she would try to eat or drink she would have a severe reaction and would vomit violently when attempting to consume food, even broth. She was however able to consume the Holy Eucharist and her diet consisted only of the Eucharist.

I find this interesting

I heard this story before . don’t know if it’s true

 

[AshCat]

Which, to be fair, could have been brought from Earth to Venus by one of the Soviet probes that landed there and flourished in the upper atmosphere, or have been carried by a chunk of the earth that was knocked loose by the collision of an asteroid on meteorite after organic life has begun on Earth. This is not out of the bounds of probability, pieces of Mars and our moon have been recovered here on Earth.

But I agree that the discovery of life on other planets does not contradict the Bible, it is simply not addressed (or of it is, it is addressed obliquely in some statements that are open to interpretation), any more than the mechanics of internal combustion engines are discussed. The Bible gives us the information anyone needs for salvation; it is not an encyclopedia. The existence of UFOs and aliens, or for that matter vampires and ghosts, isn’t really a salvific issue.

If intelligent life exists on other planets, they could have been saved by Christ’s sacrifice here on Earth, just as human souls in Japan or Britain were saved by an event in 1st century Roman Palestine they did not hear about for centuries - to benefit from Christ’s sacrifice, does it matter whether souls are separated by a several thousand miles or several thousand light years in distance, by two millennia or eons in time? If aliens are unaware of the event, missionary work could be mandated. It is also not out of the bounds of possibility that a resurrected Christ could have appeared to other civilizations on other worlds, as He did to groups on Earth. The old scifi movie “Red Planet Mars” is based on the idea that we may share a theology with alien cultures.

There could also be a local event where Christ was born on that planet, the theology of which is fuzzy but has been used a lot as a theme in science fiction. All these suppositions are not really something that is a pressing concern for us right now, but an interesting topic for speculation

Brother Guy Consolmagno of the Vatican Observatory has written and spoke a lot on the theological implications of life on other planets, I would suggest Googling what he has written.

 

[AshCat]

I agree. If there were advanced civilizations out there who can travel faster than the speed of light and therefore can make it to earth, they would be so technologically advanced that they would simply show themselves publicly, there is literally no risk from doing so. Instead, they would pick to come here and hide? doesn’t make sense.

They might not be piloted vehicles, and might not be faster than light. The speed of light might be an insurmountable technological barrier for space travel, if not for all, then at least for some of the civilizations in space whose craft we could be seeing. Our first tentative probes into the solar system were unmanned probes. I can see a possibility that some of the better documented contacts (like the recent videos released by the military) could have been sent as unmanned drones centuries ago to gather information, collect samples, etc. and process and transmit the information back to another civilization as a matter of scientific curiosity, without risking lives. (Long-distance space travel could be quite dangerous, after all, due to cosmic radiation exposure, micrometeorites, isolation, etc.) It would take them a long time (centuries) to get the information, but a sufficiently advanced (and maybe long-lived society) could be interested enough to fund such a project.

This would explain the evasive maneuvers (including some high speed changes in trajectory that would probably reduce any organic life inside to paste), indifference to engagement, etc. There’s no one inside, just a good AI program.