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

I never really thought too much about aliens, but the History Channel show had a pretty convincing tv show the other day. Many military workers, pilots, etc. have seen them. One story is of a military investigative crew that went into the forest near their USA camp in England. The saw the UFO craft, even touched it, and wrote down some symbols on the spaceship. The info was then all collected by the government and they were told not to ever speak of it.

If there are aliens, I think they are not angels. Angels are supernatural. They don't need spaceships. That's only for mortals.

So it seems to me that these aliens are mortal like us. I accept evolution. So I would think it was reasonable that they also evolved on their planet in a different solar system. It makes no sense that Christ would die on Earth for their sin, just as it would make no sense for them to say "Oh yeah, we know of your prophecies, and your Christ came to our planet and fulfilled it there, and now we have the message for you." It also doesn't make sense that Christ would come down from heaven to do the work on the cross here, and then again on other planets. And then of course, this absurdity should be exponential if the multiverse theory is true.

I don't understand how people can say with a straight face that aliens would cause no problem for the gospel.

Your A) below: Why would angels need spacecraft? Notice how it doesn't even consider the most likely option that aliens are evolved mortals like us.

Your B) below: The NT speaks of telling people worldwide about the gospel, but nothing AT ALL about inter-planetary peoples.

Your C) below: Oh, there is another potential method to atone for sin? Remember that the solution for sin was from the foundation of the world. Could there be a superior way to atone for sin? No. A parallel way? Maybe. But if a sin sacrifice was needed here, and it is messy and painful; then the alternative is also probably just as messy and painful. If not, it implies there's a better way to do it, which would lead to wonder why it wasn't done here, too, if there was a better way.

And forget about the possibility that they are created mortal beings who didn't fall, because as an evolutionary creationist I would have said there never was a literal fall as there never was a literal Adam. Sin and death was always in the world, and sin was gradually recognized as such as the conscience emerged. Death is a part of life, and is a vital component of creation being "good." (Without death, life can't be sustained, as it would get overran. Creation must have death in order to be declared 'good' by God.)

Now we all may still be safe. Even if these are real aircraft from aliens, it could be that they are unmanned. Supposedly they can hover, then travel about 20 miles in a fraction of a second. They may just be advanced space probes.

...Bernie
(Friend of the ASA)

-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of David Campbell
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 6:57 PM
To: ASA
Subject: 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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