Aliens and Faith Essay

There are many religions throughout our world. Some are even based on the actual worship of what these believers call, Aliens from outer space. The majority of religions though do not believe in intelligent life outside of human beings on planet Earth. Christianity is a main religion practiced worldwide; part of its belief for most believers is just that, that we are the only intelligent life created by the Christian God. The possible existence of extraterrestrial life though does not give reason that religious beliefs are not true. The belief of an omniscient creator of all things, including our never ending expanse of Universe and the possibility of what it holds, show that an omniscient creator’s power is never ending and our faith should be as well. All religions require you to have faith, and with faith we can accept any possibility. When people entertain the idea of extraterrestrial life they feel it casts doubt that the gods or God of many religious beliefs cannot coincide with the reality of life. Quoting an anonymous source, here is one opinion: Christians claim that the Bible has all the knowledge of how, when, where, what and why life was created and everything that God has done. The Bible explains that God created angels and humans and animals on earth. That pretty much covers everything God has created from earth to heaven. If God doesn’t mention aliens in His creations and only speaks of how He sacrificed Himself for us it could be claimed that God did not create any other life form outside earth. I think it would be absurd if God created other life forms in other parts of the universe and gave them free will and then going through another self-sacrifice. Besides, there is only one evil source, namely Satan that serves as our earthly test. This Satan only dwells on earth and not in other worlds. That is why aliens cannot exist. If aliens exist or come to earth it directly proves that Christianity is a fake (QTD). Yet we are taught in this religion in particular to have faith in the God of Christ. That our faith can move mountains or raise the dead, if we just believe, then it can be done. In Him all things are possible. Aliens can still be a possibility even with religious beliefs, extraterrestrials and religion can still exist together. Keeping in tune with the Christian religion, also being the popular religion worldwide, we hear that the catholic faith of Christian belief states that they believe and are researching the existence of extraterrestrial life being a reality. In my opinion this possibility exists,† Funes, the director of the Vatican Observatory, told L’Osservatore Romano. † Astronomers believe the universe is made up of 100 billion galaxies, each of which consists of 100 billion stars,†¦ Life forms could exist in theory even without oxygen or hydrogen. † (News). The Catholic Religion is the oldest Christian based religion historically and is very dominant and deeply rooted with many assets. They will have scientist, astronomers, and researchers continuously providing facts and reasoning behind this coexistence. Ted Peters writes: â€Å"During the formidable period of medieval Scholasticism, despite the forceful impact of Aristotelian philosophy, Christian Theology was by no means wedded to the idea that God created only one world†¦ Not only did some of our best minds affirm the idea of multiple worlds, some even spoke positively regarding the existence of extraterrestrial life. † (Delio 250) There is the belief that any other life forms created where angels or demons and that aliens are not part of these creations. We can show that alien life forms can coexist with even these creations and it not disprove religion still. There are few places in the bible that speak of life outside of humans and none mentioning aliens or extraterrestrial life, but they are there. â€Å"praise ye him , all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts†¦for he spoke and they were made. He commanded and they were created† (Psalm 148:2). Contrary to popular belief, the Bible does not say that the only intelligent beings populating the universe are humans, in fact God created countless â€Å"non-human intelligent beings† before mankind. God is known throughout the Bible as the Lord of Hosts (Flynn). To show faith in the God of Christ we can believe in the possibility of these beings and it not disprove them. Even in scriptures it does not come out and say it but it gives seed to the idea and possibility that God did create other hosts of this life. On a more general level the fact that alien life exists would mean that we are not the center of the universe. Most religions now recognize that the earth is just a lump of rock, they still believe that WE as human being are the most important thing in creation, that we occupy a special place in God’s plan. The existence of aliens would seem to make this implausible especially if they are more advanced than we are (on all levels, intellectually, spiritually) This would mean that God has acted in the development of the aliens in a away he did not act in ours, which in turn would mean that we do not occupy the paramount role in God’s creation, which as I said is a fundamental idea in religions. For Christianity, Judaism and Islam the existence of aliens is especially problematic. All these religions are based on the idea of a covenant between us and God. Weidemann, a self-confessed Protestant Christian, mentioned a few potential answers. Maybe aliens are not sinners, like human beings, and as a result are not in need of saving. On the other hand, the principle of mediocrity – the notion that own case in point is most likely standard except if there is proof to the opposite – casts skepticism on this, he pointed out. Weidemann stressed that if there are extraterrestrial rational creatures at all, it is safe to believe that virtually all of them are sinners as well. He added that if aliens are sinners Jesus did not save them too. Weidemann asserted that their position among intelligent creatures in the universe would be very outstanding (Delage). With extraterrestrial life in the universe being seen as a possibility and many biblical references giving seed to this as truth, believers maybe are being tested with this theory as another way that we are tested in our faith. We are asked to have faith without seeing, and to believe without question the infinite intelligence of God the infinite possibilities he has, to let the unknown exist and still believe with a faith unfounded.