Why is the Universe so vast?

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copeland45

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The physical universe is practically non-ending and ever-expanding. We can’t even see a fraction of the galaxies that exist for millions and millions of miles.This leads me to ask several questions:
  1. In a universe so large, is it naive to think that Earth is the only planet with life?
  2. Is it required, theologically, to believe that Earth is the only planet with life?
  3. Could the God of our Faith be the same God for another people on another planet with a different faith?
  4. Could there be multiple Gods in the Universe: one for our World (God of Abraham) and others for other worlds?
  5. Has the Bible addressed these issues? If so, what does it say?
 
copeland45 said:
  1. In a universe so large, is it naive to think that Earth is the only planet with life?
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Yes. But we’re talking about ‘life’ not humans necessarily!
  1. Is it required, theologically, to believe that Earth is the only planet with life?
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No.
  1. Could the God of our Faith be the same God for another people on another planet with a different faith?
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There is only one God according to Christianity.
  1. Could there be multiple Gods in the Universe: one for our World (God of Abraham) and others for other worlds?
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No.
  1. Has the Bible addressed these issues? If so, what does it say?
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No.

Sarah x 🙂
 
atheistgirl said:
Yes. But we’re talking about ‘life’ not humans necessarily!

No.

There is only one God according to Christianity.

No.

No.

Sarah x 🙂
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I wonder if your answers would be different if I replaced the word “life” with “humans”?
 
copeland45 said:
Atheistgirl: for Question 3 you are saying “yes”
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If you’re a Christian Jew or Muslim then yes, because you all believe there is only one God, so regardless of what other life forms on other planets believe, if they believe in multiple Gods, their wrong, if they believe in one God, their right, although that God might not necessarily be the God of the Abrahamic religions, in which case, they’d still be wrong.

Sarah x 🙂
 
copeland45 said:
I wonder if your answers would be different if I replaced the word “life” with “humans”?
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If they’re humans, then they came from Adam and Eve, either literally, or from the point in time God infused the first man and the first woman with a soul, so the claim of the Christian Churches, in their mind, would apply.

Perhaps these other humans would have more evidence on their planet for a Deity 🤷

That would be good 👍

Sarah x 🙂
 
atheistgirl said:
If they’re humans, then they came from Adam and Eve, either literally, or from the point in time God infused the first man and the first woman with a soul, so the claim of the Christian Churches, in their mind, would apply.

Perhaps these other humans would have more evidence on their planet for a Deity 🤷

That would be good 👍

Sarah x 🙂
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The creation story of Adam and Eve is specific to planet Earth. What is unclear is whether Adam and Eve are supposed to symbolize all humanity for all time and for all planets in the Universe.
 
Atheistgirl: you are an atheist I guess. Okay. Putting aside the creation of planet earth for a moment, what is your explanation for the existence of the universe? How did it come to be?
 
copeland45 said:
The creation story of Adam and Eve is specific to planet Earth. What is unclear is whether Adam and Eve are supposed to symbolize all humanity for all time and for all planets in the Universe.
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That’s only a problem if you think of Adam and Eve as literal.

If the occupants of the other planets are human, then it’s not a problem if you think they became human from however they evolved, when God first infused them with a soul.

Same process, different planet.

So the same One God applies.

Sarah x 🙂
 
copeland45 said:
How did it come to be?
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You’re kidding me, right? 😛

If I knew that, I’d win the Nobel Prize for Everything 😃

What I think is there was never a time, ever, when there was nothing.

And from this ‘something’ whatever that was, the universe emerged.

It’s possible the universe keeps expanding and contracting to a singularity then expanding then contracting then expanding …

We just don’t know.

Yet.

But science will tell us the answer, and all we need to know, one day 👍

Sarah x 🙂
 
There is a very interesting thread about the Big Bang theory: Does the Big Bang Suggest a Creator God? Maybe you should discuss the matter there.

About other lifeforms, God created Adam and Eve in his image, so should we expect him to do the same everywhere else and populate the universe with humans ? Is “image” a very loose concept in this context ?
 
Why is the universe so vast?

Why did the dinosaurs exist only to become extinct?

Why are we discovering microsopic life?

Just like any marvels in creation, the Catechism has an answer as to why God made creation so:
III. “THE WORLD WAS CREATED FOR THE GLORY OF GOD”
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293 Scripture and Tradition never cease to teach and celebrate this fundamental truth: "The world was made for the glory of God."134 St. Bonaventure explains that God created all things “not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it”,135 for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness: "Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand."136 The First Vatican Council explains:
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This one, true God, of his own goodness and “almighty power”, not for increasing his own beatitude, nor for attaining his perfection, but in order to manifest this perfection through the benefits which he bestows on creatures, with absolute freedom of counsel "and from the beginning of time, made out of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal. . ."137
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294 The glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created. God made us “to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace”,138 for "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man’s life is the vision of God: if God’s revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word’s manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God."139 The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the creator of all things may at last become “all in all”, thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude."140
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As for extraterrestrial life/humans, there seems to be nothing about it that contradicts our faith so it’s an open question. It is, however, not necessary to say that there has to be ET’s for the universe to serve its purpose. Its vastness already serves as a testament to the power of God. Appreciation of God’s goodness and power draws us to him.

And yes, the Catechism teaches there is only One God for all of creation.
 
Raikou: if the Catechism quote that you cited, does “world” = “universe”

I HATE the word “world.” Either say Earth or say Universe.
 
copeland45 said:
Raikou: if the Catechism quote that you cited, does “world” = “universe”

I HATE the word “world.” Either say Earth or say Universe.
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The next line say For God created all things…

So that’s everything.

Sarah x 🙂
 
Fomalhaut said:
About other lifeforms, God created Adam and Eve in his image, so should we expect him to do the same everywhere else and populate the universe with humans ? Is “image” a very loose concept in this context ?
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What if there is another God with a different “image” who created a different life-form in his “image” on another planet? Presumably these other types of beings – whatever they are – would have their own “bible” and believe that their God is the only God.
 
I tend to think that if God had created other beings like us humans (with a soul, in the image of God etc.) that there would have been some kind of mention of it at some point in the OT or the NT. The universe is mentioned, man is mentioned, angels are mentioned. Anyhow, the universe is far too huge, we’ll never be able to know if there is a colony of humans living 5 billion light years from our galaxy. I don’t rule out the possibility absolutely, but I think people who think we came by chance, that we are the results of a million random occurrences, that we are here because the perfect conditions for life just so happen to exist here, not because God engineered those conditions so that life could flourish, these people are more likely to think it highly likely that we aren’t alone in the universe, and that it would be presumptuous or arrogant to think so. If the universe is indeed a testament to God’s glory, Heaven will be awesome!
 
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