Christian view on aliens?

MayberryMayberry Regular
edited August 2010 in Spurious Generalities
I was watching Alien 3 and it got me wondering what Christians believe in terms of aliens. If we are able to come into contact with aliens, it could possibly destroy the majority of the religion. I know pretty much nothing about this, so let's see what you guys have to say.

Comments

  • mashlehashmashlehash Regular
    edited July 2010
    I'm not christian but I used to be christian and my brother is christian and I remember the pastor damn near ripping his own dick off to prove to my brother that aliens do not exist.
  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited July 2010
    From http://www.christiansymposium.com/
    Christian Symposium Vision:

    To present Biblical evidence that the phenomena and entities commonly referred to as "aliens" by popular culture are indeed spiritual in nature - opposed to genuinely extra-terrestrial - and is best described as the activity of "fallen angels" intent on deceiving mankind away from a knowledge of the true God and gospel of His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

    So in other words, as usual, the Christians toss science out the window on this one too. As in any case where something does not line up with their views they alter reality with faith based statements which can be neither proven nor dis-proven. Since you can not dis-prove their statement they march forward, boldly confident in their correctness, and ignore the fact that they have proven nothing.
  • StephenPBarrettStephenPBarrett Adviser
    edited July 2010
    Didn't the pope say that they agree to the possibility of aliens? I think he did around the same time as Russia's disclosure. U.S.A was supposed to have a disclosure on Black Friday last year but it never happened.
  • DysgraphiaDysgraphia Locked
    edited July 2010
    Depends what denomination.

    Catholics are liable to believing anything, From Jesus appearing on a burnt taco crust to aliens.

    Evangelists on the other hand like stated in the post ^ would most likely accept them as beings deceiving the common man from the word of god. If it doesn't suit their needs they'll manipulate to do so, just like any other religious branch would.
  • Big baby jesusBig baby jesus Regular
    edited July 2010
    Aliens are only 5000 years old and were made by God.
  • grayboygrayboy Acolyte
    edited July 2010
    Wouldnt God be an alien ;)
  • Big baby jesusBig baby jesus Regular
    edited July 2010
    If God were an alien wouldn't you be one too ;) He isn't alien to humans, just to sinners.
  • AzureAzure Acolyte
    edited July 2010
    Check out Genesis 6:1-4
  • MayberryMayberry Regular
    edited July 2010
    Azure wrote: »
    Check out Genesis 6:1-4

    Explanation?
  • DysgraphiaDysgraphia Locked
    edited July 2010
    Answer: Genesis 6:1-4 refers to the sons of God and the daughters of men. There have been several suggestions as to who the sons of God were and why the children they had with daughters of men grew into a race of giants (that is what the word Nephilim seems to indicate).

    Pretty vague tbh.
  • SilosighbinSilosighbin Regular
    edited July 2010
    My housemate is a Christian and doesn't believe in Aliens at all. I don't think any of 'em do.
  • MayberryMayberry Regular
    edited July 2010
    My housemate is a Christian and doesn't believe in Aliens at all. I don't think any of 'em do.

    Good thing I'm not religious then. I love aliens. We wouldn't have the degree of tentacle porn that we have today without aliens.
  • ImaginariumImaginarium Regular
    edited July 2010
    lol look no further than genesis, my friend.
  • AzureAzure Acolyte
    edited July 2010
    lol look no further than genesis, my friend.

    TY
  • ArmsMerchantArmsMerchant Acolyte
    edited July 2010
    Whatever elserone might say about the author or authors of Genesis, it is fairly certain that they didn't know much about astronomy--at the time, there was no difference between astronomy and astrology (not that that was a bad thing).

    To get some insight into how evolved these people really were, look at Exodus--especially the parts that tell you when it is okay to sell your daughter into slavery, or kill one of your own slaves.
  • RuptureRupture Regular
    edited July 2010
    I believe aliens exist somewhere, knowing the unimaginable vastness of space and the billions of planets that exist that we will never know about, its very likely. However I doubt we will ever meet them or even get in contact with them. Unless of course they can come up with some form of travel that circumvents the great distances between star systems.

    However, even if they have to technology and means for faster than light travel, how could they know where we are located? It would be like finding a piece of sand in the ocean. They could spend millions of years just looking and finding nothing. And what is our lifetime compared to a million years? What is the lifetime of our entire race compared to a million years?

    They have to have the technology we can only dream of.
    They have to be looking exactly at the right place, with no clue to our location whatsoever.
    They have to look at the right time, so they don't miss us.

    In the end, I think we are safe to say that we won't ever make contact.

    Also lol@ christians

    just to stay on topic
  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited July 2010
    Rupture wrote: »
    I believe aliens exist somewhere, knowing the unimaginable vastness of space and the billions of planets that exist that we will never know about, its very likely. However I doubt we will ever meet them or even get in contact with them. Unless of course they can come up with some form of travel that circumvents the great distances between star systems.

    However, even if they have to technology and means for faster than light travel, how could they know where we are located? It would be like finding a piece of sand in the ocean. They could spend millions of years just looking and finding nothing. And what is our lifetime compared to a million years? What is the lifetime of our entire race compared to a million years?

    They have to have the technology we can only dream of.
    They have to be looking exactly at the right place, with no clue to our location whatsoever.
    They have to look at the right time, so they don't miss us.

    In the end, I think we are safe to say that we won't ever make contact.

    Also lol@ christians

    just to stay on topic

    Except that they found us a long time ago.
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited July 2010
    Rupture wrote: »
    I believe aliens exist somewhere, knowing the unimaginable vastness of space and the billions of planets that exist that we will never know about, its very likely. However I doubt we will ever meet them or even get in contact with them. Unless of course they can come up with some form of travel that circumvents the great distances between star systems.

    However, even if they have to technology and means for faster than light travel, how could they know where we are located? It would be like finding a piece of sand in the ocean. They could spend millions of years just looking and finding nothing. And what is our lifetime compared to a million years? What is the lifetime of our entire race compared to a million years?

    They have to have the technology we can only dream of.
    They have to be looking exactly at the right place, with no clue to our location whatsoever.
    They have to look at the right time, so they don't miss us.

    In the end, I think we are safe to say that we won't ever make contact.

    Also lol@ christians

    just to stay on topic

    This is my view as well. I think the chances of contact are so minuscule that our race will probably have died off by the time aliens find life on this planet. I believe that there is life elsewhere, but it's not something I ever talk about because people look at you like wtf. I always think of the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, where our planet is backwards and hasn't developed space flight, but maybe there's a whole bunch of other civilizations that have it already. If we spent a shitton of money on and put a shitton of effort into developing space flight, we'd have done it already. Instead, corporations want to fuck around with stupid shit like diamonds, stocks and everything from foam pool noodles to cheese whiz to make money. There's no drive to improve humanity as a species. There's too much division, and if you aren't making a buck, you're wasting your time.

    In any case, I think christians have to deny the possibility because it ruins their religion. Jesus wouldn't be god because he didn't save the aliens, so then everything is fucked and they realize they've been believing in fairy tales the whole time. I bet tons of them would try to make up excuses like they're fallen angels or devils or something.
  • DevotionDevotion Semo-Regulars
    edited August 2010
    Hmm. It seems alot of people who are anti-religion/ non-religious feel that the existence of "aliens" and religious, errr, teachings are ireconcialable. Perhaps because this means that there is no "personal God answering your prayers"? In terms of Christianity, one could argue that both Yahweh and Yeshua are aliens.

    Yahweh is the God (read: Demi-God) of this planet, Yeshua is his incarnation in phyisical form (other names include Jesus/Christ). Although we are meant to be made "in the image" of these entities, which I guess would mean Yahweh/Yeshua is not alien. Of course that using the term alien as "foreighn". Alien can often just mean "living entity outside this planet" or even "human being outside this country".

    If your question is, "Is the bible, and it's contents ireconcialable with the concept of "aliens"?", then the answer is no, it is integratable. Alot of the reasons underpinning why "Christians" would find the notion of alien existence unfavourable is because of "culture". For one, popular culture seems to look down upon it, especially conservative culture. Also because of the current popular organized injunction of "Christianity" (read: anthropocentric), the notion of aliens, is well, alien.

    I reckon it just doesn't fit with the schemata, so no, most modern "Christians" would not subscribe to the existence of aliens. That being said, the concept of religion & life outside of this planet are very... intergratable, infact many injunctions of religion practically teach it. For instance, in Vedic religion (Hinduism) there is the one supreme God, then there are all of his individuated Creations called "Devas" or Demi-Gods. These can be considered aliens.

    Actually, technically I would say we are aliens. What I mean is, the idea of "aliens" is just a galactic version of "others". In reality there are no "others".
  • CrazzyassCrazzyass Regular
    edited August 2010
    I'm pretty sure nothing about aliens proves or disproves any religion in general, Christianity specifically. I don't there is any doctrine on it either, and if there is it is probably half-retarded.
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