Re: [asa] Fw: (aliens) November Newsletter from Reasonable Faith

I have heard of rejection of the possibility of aliens by non-YEC, but
not with direct evidence on details.

C. S. Lewis has discussion on the possibility of aliens; unfortunately
I think the essays have received different titles. At any rate, he
quite thoroughly refutes the claim that the gospel doesn't make sense
in light of aliens. For that matter, Mark Twain recognized the error
of that claim.

Possibilities
A) Humans are the only ones who need the gospel. Intelligent aliens,
if they exist, are either unfallen (like angels) or irredeemably
fallen (like demons).
B) Just as (after varying degrees of debate) it was recognized that
newly discovered peoples needed the gospel originally known only in
the Near East, so the gospel is to be spread to other planets. Note
that this does not imply earth-centered hubris: 1) Earth may have been
selected as the worst-case spot for intervention; 2) it had to start
somewhere; 3) Christianity on Earth might be a mere prelude to what
the folks on some other planet develop with it.
C) Other methods/events of redemption might apply to other fallen but
redeemable races. (Twain invokes this in Captain Stormalong.)

In light of the history of human-human interaction, Lewis is extremely
pessimistic about how well we would handle an encounter with an alien
race and is glad that interstallar distances seem uncrossable.

Two other points Lewis made that may be of interest.
One, noting that the whole question is extremely hypothetical, he
invoked Augustine on the topic of whether fauns, etc. need saved-we
can work it out if we find any.

Two, he notes that the opposite claim (i.e., that Earth is the only
home of life in the universe) had also been presented as supposedly
inimical to Christianity. The claims that absence and existence of
aliens are both incompatible with Christianity highlights the
doubtfulness of either.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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