Life in Space

[marc]

My mind is probably a bit too speculative to make me of any use in this discussion.  I was raised on the Twilight Zone, TV matinee movies featuring mud-creatures created by nuclear testing, home-spun ghost stories and tales of UFOs and, yes, Mothman (there were sightings just a few miles from where I grew up in WV).  Having been immersed in SF, horror and folk stories from a young age, sometimes I find it hard to separate genuine scientific possibility from lurid fiction.

But this same background that makes me a bit too susceptible to speculation also leaves me open to scientific possiblities that some easily dismiss.  I have never seen the Bible as a complete catalog of all there is in the universe.  Just because the Bible doesn't mention something doesn't mean it does not exist.  We try sometimes to draw scientific truths from the Bible that aren't there (see John Clayton's example about men never setting foot on the moon--although I know some people who still claim it never happened).

The life that's currently being speculated about on Mars, Jupiter and other places is not intelligent life.  Yet if intelligent life were found, I would have no problem with this, and would not see it as a sign that my beliefs were invalid.  I tend to agree with Arthur Clarke's statement to the effect that "the universe is not only stranger than we know; it is stranger than we can know."

But there I go veering off into speculation again.

As to angels, demons, etc. inhabiting other planets--who knows?  I certainly don't know enough about these beings to say this couldn't be possible. ;)


btw, in case anyone's interested, Mothman was most likely a Sandhill crane--this was first suggested when the sightings were taking place in the 60's.  The huge birds occasionally make their way down into this area.  I saw one a couple of years ago, and I can believe how it could be mistaken for an other-worldly creature.  This is a tall gray bird with a gigantic wingspan and huge bright red patches around its eyes.  Just imagine running across one of these at night on a deserted country road.

[WileyClarkson]

The idea of life in the far reaches of outer space is indeed fascinating.  However, I personally doubt the existance of any life forms other than what is on this grain of sand stuck to a sand ball in the Sahara Desert of the Universe.  That doesn't mean I wouldn't find it interesting if other life did exist, I just don't believe the probability is more than microscopic.  Still, I'm an avid Star Trecker/sci-fi lover.  Von Daneken tried to make the Bible (and other ancient writings-pictorials) support extra-terrestrial life back in the late 60's.  These days, we hear very little about his nutty theories although they were real popular for a while.

I have a book at the house (I'm nearing the end of a 12.5 hr work day) that shows just how slim the probabilities of life existing in any other part of this galaxy (and any other galaxy) really are. Alot of the explanation involves the location of the Earth within our solar system and the location of the our Solar System in the galaxy itself.  From what I remember, if our solar system was located anywhere else in this galaxy, it would not support life because of gravational forces, radiation, heat, etc.  The Earth itself could not support life as we know it without being exactly where it is in this solar system.  It really makes you think just how precarious life really is in the grand scale and it really highlights the great accomplishment of God in the creation of the universe.

We hear about UFO's on a regular basis but nothing has ever been really proved one way or another as to their existance.  However, I've been priviledged to see a UFO phenomena that is definitely proved to exist yet is still unexplained and it is right here in Texas.  It's called "the Marfa Lights" and I have seen them up close and personal with two other people (1970).  Up close and personal means just that--less than 10 feet away! This phenomena, which very few people have seen at less than about 5 miles distance, is still totally unexplained by scientists although there are numerous theories.  Maybe we really need to concentrate on understanding the unknown parts of this Earth before stretching too far out into the ether chasing whims.

Seems to me that maybe we treat Christianity the same way alot of times, concentrating on chasing far out whims that are unattainable and not on the attaining of what's close at hand and understandable.

So much for my philosophical stance for tonight :>)

Wiley

[chrischar]

I read John Clayton's article, "Is There Life in Space?"

Coming from a "Stars Wars" fan I have to say that it excites me to think that there is a possibility of life on other planets. I would really like to be a missionary to some distant planet named Zoogma or something.

The Bible IS pretty silent on this issue. And, in the words of that guy in the movie "Contact" if the universe did not contain ANY other life but ours, it would be an awful waste of space.

I wonder if angels, demons, etc. inhabit some of those planets or stars.

Any takers?

-Chris



[!--EDIT|chrischar|Feb. 08 2002,10:52--]

[mike]

Chris and Marc,

This is an intriguing idea. I used to read a lot of science fiction, so I have thought about this before. Even though the universe is massive beyond my comprehension, I think it may have been necessary to have the huge, old universe to create the right conditions that we have on earth. So, God may well have done all this just for us. Of course, that doesn't preclude God simultaneously creating another race in his image elsewhere.

Currently, I doubt this is true, but I don't have any good evidence to back up this hunch. The Bible is silent on this topic. Nonetheless, neither the existence nor absence of alien civilizations would affect my faith.

Mike
:D

[mike]

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.  Speak up when you know.

Are you from another solar system?

Since you are replying to a 9 year-old message, I guess you must be about 4.5 light years away. 

[IAMOK]

I doubt there is any ET'S out there. We have ears in the sky and haven't heard anything...That stuff travels easy..
Plus God seems to have only made one earth..And one me. I hope. LOL
Time to resurrect the thread..

[Palmtree77]

Praise the Lord Everyone.


Well I am glad you resurrected this thread IAMOK   

I agree, not everything there is to know is in the Bible. 

When it comes to 'ET' I believe the word of God addresses that, but how you detect that depends
on your worldview as with anything else.

In some instances they are the Angels of light, in other instances they are the Angels of Satan and again in other instances they are the seed of the fallen ones who did rebel with Lucifer.


Luke 2:13,14 "And Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Heavenly hosts refers to those who inhabit the heavens, which include the sky or earthly atmosphere, the second heaven we call space also known as the Dark Abyss and the third heaven which only the translated can go to I.E. not Mars or Jupiter.

God often times was referred to as the Lord of Hosts in the Old Testament meaning his angels accompanied him as created creatures that are his messengers.

Genesis 1:26 is where God says let US make man in our image, again he is speaking to his own angels. (also himself as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were present then.)

I believe all variation of so called Aliens with Flying Saucers are simply Demonic manifestation of the Sons of Baal or Beelzebub.

Revelations 12:9 "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and the angels were cast out with him."

If they were cast out of there main home they had to wonder around in what we call space and Earth as well awaiting judgment.

It all goes back to Genesis though in the 6th chapter.

Verse 2,4 "That the Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose"

"There were giants in the Earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."

Son of God in the Old testament always referred to Angels.  These would be the disobedient ones who interfere in man's affairs even to this day.

Those are just my thoughts. 

[Victor08]

The number of stars in the universe is mind boggling. There are probably millions if not billions of planets that can support life. Is there intelligent life on other planets? I would say yes.

http://www.universetoday.com/30305/how-many-galaxies-in-the-universe

How Many Galaxies in the Universe

Our Earth feels like all there is, but we know that it's just a tiny planet in a vast Solar System. And our Solar System is just one member of a vast Milky Way galaxy with 200 to 400 billion stars. But how many galaxies are there in the entire Universe?

This is a difficult number to know for certain, since we can only see a fraction of the Universe, even with our most powerful instruments. The most current estimates guess that there are 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the Universe, each of which has hundreds of billions of stars. A recent German supercomputer simulation put that number even higher: 500 billion. In other words, there could be a galaxy out there for every star in the Milky Way.



http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110422.html



Explanation: Well over a thousand galaxies are known members of the Virgo Cluster, the closest large cluster of galaxies to our own local group. In fact, the galaxy cluster is difficult to appreciate all at once because it covers such a large area on the sky. Spanning about 5x3 degrees, this careful mosaic of telescopic images clearly records the central region of the Virgo Cluster through faint foreground dust clouds lingering above the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy. The cluster's dominant giant elliptical galaxy M87, is just below center in the frame. Above M87 is the famous interacting galaxy pair NGC 4438, also known as The Eyes. A closer examination of the image will reveal many Virgo cluster member galaxies as small fuzzy patches. Sliding your cursor over the image will label the larger galaxies using NGC catalog designations. Galaxies are also shown with Messier catalog numbers, including M84, M86, and prominent colorful spirals M88, M90, and M91. On average, Virgo Cluster galaxies are measured to be about 48 million light-years away. The Virgo Cluster distance has been used to give an important determination of the Hubble Constant and the scale of the Universe. (Editor's Note: Labels courtesy of Astrometry.net.)

[fish153]

I doubt there is any ET'S out there. We have ears in the sky and haven't heard anything...That stuff travels easy..
Plus God seems to have only made one earth..And one me. I hope. LOL
Time to resurrect the thread..

In the year 1470:  "I doubt there are any more humans on our world. If there were we would have heard from them by now.  Besides it seems God has only inhabited one part of the earth we live on".

[highrigger]

This is a difficult number to know for certain, since we can only see a fraction of the Universe, even with our most powerful instruments. The most current estimates guess that there are 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the Universe, each of which has hundreds of billions of stars. A recent German supercomputer simulation put that number even higher: 500 billion. In other words, there could be a galaxy out there for every star in the Milky Way.

Victor,

This does not sound like so many. We measure our national debt in trillions. Billions sounds passe'. We should count stars and not galaxies to keep up with the numbers we are used to. Peace. JohnR