Are we the only inhabited planet in God's Universe?

You sound like you engage in substance abuse.
@Sorn You sound like you engage in a not-so-subtle form of defamation.
People who believe the worst about you don’t know you.

Just saying...

Sorn said:

You are kidding right? That article is primary school stuff!
There is no weight behind it. It acknowledges that Christ would not be repeatedly dying for other worlds but offers no explanation or logic or rational as to why Christs death would in anyway atone for sin elsewhere on other planets when they would not have heard the gospel.

Its basically agreeing with my position:
1) Christian theology implies no extra terrestrial life as it does not provide a way for those others to be saved if they sin
2) As such, one has to assume that God has 'another plan' for them, in other words make up another theology if you want to allow for aliens. So back to fiction.

So in summary we have not been contacted by other alien civilizations and we never will because they don't exist, ergo my position is supported by events to date!

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Dr. Heiser works for Logos Bible software, has had numerous papers published in credible Christian journals and has appeared in more evangelical churches than you can shake a stick at.

You are kidding yourself about not taking him and his work seriously.

visionary said:

PaReS

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PaReS ???
Are you talking about this now:
https://www.google.com/search?q=PaReS

visionary said:

PaRDes

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Fine and dandy......as long as the the extended meaning never contradicts the base meaning.

Kiterius said:

Nothing in the Bible says that there is life on other planets. There will be someday of course - as humans go forth to colonize.

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Doesn't mean there isn't. It's just something we are not given to know.

visionary said:

We are just the only group that sinned.

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how do you harmonize that with Peter referencing angels that sinned in 2 Peter 2:4 ?

visionary said:

Beings vs spirits

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What’s the difference, and how would that make humans the only group of “created intelligences” that sinned?

do you consider angels and humans to be categorically 2 different groups of “created intelligences”?

visionary said:

Which it doesn't.

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Then it's not PaRDes

A Realist said:

Fine and dandy......as long as the the extended meaning never contradicts the base meaning.

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By base,
Do you mean 4 sons born of certain mothers rarely spoken of like literal miracles?

visionary said:

It doesn't contradict.

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There is a land beyond the (s)od that few find worthy of mention.
Its like a 4 pronged shin taught to those who speak with a shibbolet tongue.
And I imagine a certain judge with strength in his hair was taught well by his mother.

Sorn said:

Actually Christian theology would strongly suggest, imo, that we are the only intelligent (ie more than plants and animals) life in this universe.

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And on what scripture(s) would such a theology be based??

Dave-W said:

And on what scripture(s) would such a theology be based??

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Well here is my reasoning:

The bible teaches that man was created and that he sinned after giving in to Satan's temptation. Man was created in part in order to be tempted and tested as part of the answer to Lucifer/Satan's rebellion.
However God, in his grace and mercy and love, who knew this would happen, made a way for man to be reconciled to Him again. This being by Jesus coming to earth to live a sinless life as a man and to die for our sins.

The bible teaches that a flesh existence is not how we are meant to live, we are meant to have far better bodies (of which Jesus has one now) which are in fact higher than the bodies of angels, therefore, the true place we should be living is in heaven (or the new earth and heaven, yet to come). These bodies also will not die or perish. In short we live in these material bodies while the time of testing and temptation exists.

Now Jesus died for us so we can be saved and be able to attain life in heaven (new earth etc) and have glorified eternal bodies and life. In living on earth and dying he started Christianity and the message of Christianity is preached to this day to mankind.

To be saved you need to hear the message of the Gospel, know who Jesus is , understand the message and accept / believe on him as your Savior.

Now Jesus only died once, he will not die again, He is now seated at Gods right hand (ie in heaven as 2nd in command and even better than he was before his life and death here.)
However he still has the wounds of the nails etc to show he was crucified and he will apparently have these for eternity.


Now, if there were intelligent life comparable to us on other planets, then :
1) if they sinned they have no way to be saved as Jesus will not die again and he did not die for them. It would be like someone saying to us that Gods Son went to live on another planet as some alien and lived a perfect life there and if you believe that he did that then you can share in his salvation, but the story of his life and death be set in alien worlds and cultures etc with not one shred of proof. Yet you'd still be expected to live a moral life because of it and even die because of it.

No religion does that and one should not expect any alien life to understand, believe or accept what they are told about some far of planet called Earth.

In short this position states that any aliens that sin don't have a way to get right with God again AND therefore God would not have created them if he knew He would not be able to save them if they sinned.

2) Further, if the assumption is that there are aliens but they have never sinned, then they would not experience death as God would not let them die, but rather they would already have entered eternity, ie be at least equal to angels and hence not need to dwell in this material universe.

Lastly, the bible says that when Jesus 1000 year reign is over, some time after that the heavens and earth will be rolled up and replaced with new heavens and earth. This is saying that this universe exists as long as Gods plan for man is in operation, once the fullness of salvation has come to mankind, then this universe is replaced with the eternal heavenly universe and creation.

It is broadly due to this line of reasoning that i say that as a Christian, my theology leads me to conclude that there is no other comparable intelligent carbon based mortal life anywhere else in this universe, other than possibly plant and animal life.

visionary said:

What are the 99 righteous who have never sinned?
In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Luke 15:7
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance

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That is a parable. They are stories to illustrate a point, the point being that a sinner that repents causes much joy in heaven.
This is about a newly repented sinner, ie a new convert to Christianity, perhaps even a backslider returning than about those already converted who are living good lives though Heaven celebrated when they were saved as well.