Life on Other Planets

[BUCKO]

Last week NASA reported some of their findings about Saturn's moon Titan that open up the remote possibility that there could be life there. If life is found there, it pretty much sets the scientific world on its ear as far as their theories about the formation of life.

So my question is what effect, if anything, would the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe have on religious beliefs? Does the Bible(or any other religious text) say anything that might be relevant to the existence of life on another planet(or in this case, moon)?

 

[Black&Blue]

If God is the creator of everything, including life, then I don't think it matters where it originated. Regardless, it's hard to imagine life not being a common throughout the universe, just based on it's sheer size.


I think a much, much more profound topic, in terms of religious beliefs, is the "multiverse" theory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse




Astrophysicists are actually starting to believe that infinite number of universes exist, and that they can actually be mirrors of our own, and contain exact copies of us, only in a different reality. For instance, Lincoln was never shot, or Hitler became an artist. If that ever becomes the accepted belief in the scientific world, all bets are off.

 

[Plate Dad]

There is life on other planets. How do you think we got here? They are kind of gray looking. With big heads with no ears and big eyes. I have seen them on TV.

 

[hasbeen99]

So my question is what effect, if anything, would the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe have on religious beliefs? Does the Bible(or any other religious text) say anything that might be relevant to the existence of life on another planet(or in this case, moon)?

I'm not aware of any such references in the major religious texts. From a Biblical point of view, I've never thought the concept of alien life was in conflict with Judeo-Christian doctrine. On the contrary, the God of the Bible loves to create. Considering the vastness of the universe, it only makes sense He would want to fill it with more life than what exists on Earth.

 

[BWI-Panther]

It would be arrogant to assume that the only life in the universe is on our planet.

There are MORE stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on every beach on our planet. Each one of those stars has the potential to be the center of a solar system with orbiting planets/moons. Each of those planets/moons (given the right mixture of habitat and chemical composition) have the potential to support and grow life.

What IS unlikely is that we will ever come in contact with those other life forms. We'd have to be able to travel at the speed of light for 4 YEARS just to reach the next closest star, a feat we'll likely not be able to accomplish anytime soon. Stars, on average, are 8 light years apart. So it would take approxiamately 80 years, traveling at the speed of light, to get to 10 different potential solar systems to check for life. It is mind boggling how vast our universe truly is.

 

[Plate Dad]

= man thinking that explorers of the stars were Gods.

 

[Proof]

Biblically speaking I don't think it would effect much of anything. Genesis says that God created the heavens and the earth...it doesn't say anything about what is in the heavens and there is nothing else mentioned about it later on. I do, however, know quite a few Christians who are pretty set on being the center of the universe and will argue the existence of aliens til they're blue in the face.