Please help! possibility of other life forms

Karryjoy said:

I was reading about the extra-solar planet just found... Now, that we know that the earth is not geocentric and that the probablility is that there are other solar systems, gallaxies and universes out there in deep space with the possibility of other intelligent life forms therein, where does that place creation of humanity and earth? I can accept the possibility that God continues to create. But, where does Jesus fit into that picture if there are indeed other life forms?

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Interesting questions. If ever we do contact intelligent life out there, it will be a real hermeuntical challenge. It would also depend on whether or not they indicate fallenness. A people living in perfect harmony with their planet, each other and God would demand a very different hermeneutic than one that engaged in war, violence and destruction.

Are we the chosen people among many in a vast universe or should we not engage in speculation of that nature because it poses a danger to faith as we know it.

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Any faith that is endangered by truth is a faith that ought to be abandoned, so we should never fear asking questions, and seeking answers, on the grounds that what we learn might endanger our faith. Genuine and true faith will always withstand the test of genuine and true knowledge.

I read a quote by Padre Pio to paraphrase "There are other other intelligent life out there in the universe, but we are the only was to have fallen and sinned.

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Could be. Have you ever read C.S. Lewis's space trilogy? Especially the first book Out of the Silent Planet. Fictional, but deals with this very scenario.

you got nothing to worry about until you see the real ET or something like that.

Read up a bit on the physics of interstellar travel and all ... you'll find that any "other" intelligent civilization would probably have a load of trouble getting anywhere near Earth without having at least a few thousand years of lead over us.

Theologically, there would be a very important question of whether another sentient race, having sinned, would require an equivalent Incarnation and Crucifixion to bring them into a salvation plan of God. It's messy speculation. Furthermore, how many species can He create "in His image"? Because of that, I would probably lean towards there being no other sentient life-forms, i.e. life-forms with moral decision-making, with a desire and capability for relationship with the Creator and a place in the afterlife. However I think that interstellar life may indeed exist: for example, as "replicators" which don't have higher intelligence functions. In fact, if you believe in abiogenesis (I don't), then it is entirely possible that life has arisen all over the universe. However all these life-forms must still be subject to the over-arching will of God, and in the end all things (terrestrial or interstellar) will work for the good of those He has chosen, amen!