If intelligent extra-terrestrials were found...

[mulimulix]

...would this change/cast doubt upon your faith? I mean, if there were being equally or more intelligent than us who had no clue about Christianity or anything like it, what would this mean to Christianity and how would priests etc. explain this?

 

[Satt]

Who can put limits on God? Maybe there are intelligent beings out there. It is a REALLY big universe afterall. Also, who is to say that beings created on different planets are even under the same rules? There are so many variables that it is imposible to say without more specific detail.

 

[mulimulix]

Who can put limits on God? Maybe there are intelligent beings out there. It is a REALLY big universe afterall. Also, who is to say that beings created on different planets are even under the same rules? There are so many variables that it is imposible to say without more specific detail.

Obviously, there are many variables, but the only important ones are that they are at least as intelligent as us and they do not have religion. I don't see why more variables are needed.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

If God created the universe then all things within are His creation - so how does that test faith?

There are humans with no understanding of Christianity - does it test my faith, no!

 

[mulimulix]

If God created the universe then all things within are His creation - so how does that test faith?

There are humans with no understanding of Christianity - does it test my faith, no!

Well, you could look at it like that, but remember, you believe those people deserve eternity in hell for that...

 

[jonsun80]

what if they have never had Christ or Christianity? We have it and some reject it, but if they have never had it what does that say?

 

[Bear.Fr00t]

Eternity is a long time. I have a suspicion this earth is not the only creation God has created, or will create. It doesn't bother me a single bit, he is God and can create as much as he likes!

 

[Bear.Fr00t]

what if they have never had Christ or Christianity? We have it and some reject it, but if they have never had it what does that say?

Maybe they didn't blow it in the garden like we did and don't need a savior

 

[jonsun80]

so then we should expect them to live in the Garden of Eden right? what if they don't?

 

[al_man]

Well, you could look at it like that, but remember, you believe those people deserve eternity in hell for that...

Can't speak for anyone else on here but I don't believe anyone deserves an "eternity in Hell" as that's not my choice to make, everyone is deserving of salvation but not everyone ticks all the boxes, even some christians *cough westboro baptist church cough*

back to the topic at hand, I don't see any problem in their being intelligent life on other planets, god created all life so he created there's maybe they sinned maybe they didn't who knows.

 

[Dark_Lite]

...would this change/cast doubt upon your faith? I mean, if there were being equally or more intelligent than us who had no clue about Christianity or anything like it, what would this mean to Christianity and how would priests etc. explain this?

This only affects the beliefs of people who think aliens are demons and those who believe in hardcore creationism. Usually the two go hand in hand.

 

[leftrightleftrightleft]

Who can put limits on God? Maybe there are intelligent beings out there. It is a REALLY big universe afterall. Also, who is to say that beings created on different planets are even under the same rules?

If you take that route as an explanation then you can also say that maybe all humans on this planet aren't under the same rules. Why would they be?
Using a similar argument as yours, pretend you are a recently-converted Jew in the 1st century living in Palestine. To you, "the unknown" is not space, "the unknown" is North America and Australia. You have no idea those places exist, nor do you know if other intelligent life lives there. You, as a 1st century Christian, pose the question, "What if intelligent life lives outside of the discovered world?" (which is essentially what the OP said). Someone could respond with, "Maybe there is intelligent life elsewhere, its a really big world after all. And whose to say that beings elsewhere are even under the same rules?"

This makes God's law subjective and localized rather than objective and universal. If God's law does not apply to everyone in the universe, then I can just foolishly claim that I AM following God's law, but I'm just following his Law for the as-yet-undiscovered species on Zalgot-5 in the Andromeda galaxy.

I don't like the idea of God's law being subjective and localized; it opens up the door to moral relativism.

 

[Satt]

If you take that route as an explanation then you can also say that maybe all humans on this planet aren't under the same rules. Why would they be?
Using a similar argument as yours, pretend you are a recently-converted Jew in the 1st century living in Palestine. To you, "the unknown" is not space, "the unknown" is North America and Australia. You have no idea those places exist, nor do you know if other intelligent life lives there. You, as a 1st century Christian, pose the question, "What if intelligent life lives outside of the discovered world?" (which is essentially what the OP said). Someone could respond with, "Maybe there is intelligent life elsewhere, its a really big world after all. And whose to say that beings elsewhere are even under the same rules?"

This makes God's law subjective and localized rather than objective and universal. If God's law does not apply to everyone in the universe, then I can just foolishly claim that I AM following God's law, but I'm just following his Law for the as-yet-undiscovered species on Zalgot-5 in the Andromeda galaxy.

I don't like the idea of God's law being subjective and localized; it opens up the door to moral relativism.

I appreciate your point. But my main point was that I refuse to put limits on God.

 

[elman]

...would this change/cast doubt upon your faith? I mean, if there were being equally or more intelligent than us who had no clue about Christianity or anything like it, what would this mean to Christianity and how would priests etc. explain this?

Nope. I suspect there are intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe. I also think the principle of loving others taught by Jesus would be applicable to them.

 

[solarwave]

...would this change/cast doubt upon your faith? I mean, if there were being equally or more intelligent than us who had no clue about Christianity or anything like it, what would this mean to Christianity and how would priests etc. explain this?

I don't think it would. There is a good chance that aliens exist and may not have had a Christ like event on their planet. I don't know what I would think if they had no concept of something like religion or the divine, and if they had no concept of morality it could cause doubt.

 

[mulimulix]

Nope. I suspect there are intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe. I also think the principle of loving others taught by Jesus would be applicable to them.

The point I am trying to make it that the bible has not said a mention of life on another planet, so if there were, he would assumingly treat them with the same rules etc. as us. If not, that would not make any sense why he would care about us so much and not another, possibly more intelligent group of organisms. Besides, wouldn't it be logical, that if god did make intelligent life somewhere else, he would mention it some time?

I don't think it would. There is a good chance that aliens exist and may not have had a Christ like event on their planet. I don't know what I would think if they had no concept of something like religion or the divine, and if they had no concept of morality it could cause doubt.

So you're saying that before Jesus, we had no concept of morality?

 

[Bryanfromiowa]

Interesting thread to the op. If they talked about God a.Trinity and a Savior would it change your beliefs

 

[solarwave]

So you're saying that before Jesus, we had no concept of morality?

No. I was just considering if they had no concept of morality. Of course we had this before Jesus.

 

[Chris81]

The point I am trying to make it that the bible has not said a mention of life on another planet, so if there were, he would assumingly treat them with the same rules etc. as us. If not, that would not make any sense why he would care about us so much and not another, possibly more intelligent group of organisms. Besides, wouldn't it be logical, that if god did make intelligent life somewhere else, he would mention it some time?

The bible never mentions the Native Americans, yet they are real, the Gospel was shared to them, and many have come to Christ. I think if we encountered extra-terrestrials, we would likely share the same gospel to them as neighbors who are worthy of our love. We should keep in mind that we have no idea what type of faith an extra-terrestrial has. Our neighbor may have encountered Christ on his own planet or perhaps God had destined humans to share the message of Christ with his extra-terrestrial friend. It is impossible to know but as Christians we put our trust in God.

 

[mulimulix]

No. I was just considering if they had no concept of morality. Of course we had this before Jesus.

I don't understand. If we had morality without Jesus, why wouldn't these hypothetical creatures?

Interesting thread to the op. If they talked about God a.Trinity and a Savior would it change your beliefs

Well, this is the thing: If they did have those things, why? That would mean there would've had to have been the same circumstances as on Earth. As someone said before, it would mean that they would have had to have stuffed up in the garden of Eden, just as we did. Obviously, I don't believe in the Garden of Eden of Jesus, but I am playing Devil's advocate (excuse the minor pun) . This basically would mean god has controlled our destinies as it is too unlikely that both circumstances would be the same.

The bible never mentions the Native Americans, yet they are real, the Gospel was shared to them, and many have come to Christ. I think if we encountered extra-terrestrials, we would likely share the same gospel to them as neighbors who are worthy of our love. We should keep in mind that we have no idea what type of faith an extra-terrestrial has. Our neighbor may have encountered Christ on his own planet or perhaps God had destined humans to share the message of Christ with his extra-terrestrial friend. It is impossible to know but as Christians we put our trust in God.

This is quite different. People hypothesised the chance of human populations outside of Europe, Africa, Middle East etc. before they discovered it.

I would be very interested in what Christians would have to say if we were visited by god-less extra-terrestrials who had not even thought about a deity. This is a massive 'if' but nevertheless, would still be interesting.