The Most Important Image Ever Taken... - digg this
Pat sent me this vid. Watch it and let's talk.
I touched on the idea of alien life and whether or not it exists very briefly thanks to Janet and Sid also had a few thoughts. This video, though it of course proves nothing, does set things into perspective.
The universe is huge beyond my ability to understand hugeness. It's finite, of course. I don't think anyone currently disputes that, but it's really durn big. The Hitchhiker's Guide recommends drunkenness as a way of dealing with its size. A bit too early in the day for me to start drinking, but I get a similar inclination when I start thinking about God and eternity.
In light of it's hugeness and complexity I begin to understand at least in part as to what those who believe in unguided evolution are saying. It is certainly plausible that given a large enough universe and a long enough span of time we could "accidentally" arrive at the Earth as it is today. The question then becomes, is the universe large enough and has the span of time been long enough? And then of course it would behoove asking that if the answer is yes then how many other intelligent creatures there might be who have similarly evolved (not evolved similarly)? And for my Young Earth brothers out there the question is why would God create a universe this HUUUGE and only put us in it?
Those are questions that I don't claim to have the answer to, but I don't think theistic (God assisted) or strictly naturalistic evolution can say with any certainty that we're alone out here. In fact quite the contrary. If God used "natural" means to create us then I'd think he could have done it in a smaller space. He didn't, so it seems logical to me that he probably has created other beings. On the naturalistic side, if you think that the universe is probably even much larger than we currently know it to be then I don't see how you could believe that there aren't ETs.
Whatever the answer, on the theological side, since that's a huge part of what this blog is about for me, I can say that I don't see a problem with God having created of non-terrestrial sentient or non-sentient beings. Finding out on way or another isn't a deal breaker.
Either way, that vid is just tremendous.
Total Number of Comments: 12
I saw the first image in the video in '07 and was quite impressed.
No, it certainly isn't. Christianity (all religions, really) would be able to adapt. What I am curious about is what their religious beliefs (if any) would be and how would they impact the religions of our world.
Certainly if they had any mythology at all, it's likely that they'd have several. If so, I'm sure there would be enough for religionists to pick through for stories that affirm their mythology.
Even if they have no religious belief, I'm sure religionists would simply believe that their God orchestrated first contact so that His/Her/Its followers can spread the good word.
I guess most religionists wouldn't religiously flinch because of an alien race.
What of secularists like myself? My guess would be that if they had mythologies, they'd be sufficiently different from our own to dismiss any similarities as coincidental. Certainly, if one of their active mythologies were remarkably similar to one of ours, I'd have to seriously reconsider my world-view (universe-view?). But suppose two or more of their active myths bear remarkable resemblances to some of ours? In that case, belief systems would be begging for a natural explanation.
Anyway, it's fun to speculate.
It would be interesting to see how other religions line up if they even existed. Either way, you're right both camps would be able to think around it in their own way.
What if they lined up surprisingly well to our own mythologies/religions? Flood story, Messiah stories, Revelations, etc.
"What if they lined up surprisingly well to our own mythologies/religions? Flood story, Messiah stories, Revelations, etc."
I suspect a non-religious person could respond that it was simply chance, or instead that it is a product of evolution, history, or circumstances in some other fashion, like the idea of giving an evolutionary basis for religion. Of course if they were really close it wouldn't be so easy, but this is still all hypothetical - we could ask, "What if they proved God?" and there still is the fact that our own planet's religions go in many different directions just when you look outside of the west.
Hello Patric,
As Snurp mentions, it depends on the level of similarities. Simply having messianic, flood, and end-of-the-world, and even resurrection stories wouldn't be enough. Those are common on our own world and I would consider those coincidences likely. But suppose in addition they have the exact same creation story, the same commandments, the exact story of Revelations, and all the Psalms. Then, as I said in my previous comment, I'd have to seriously reconsider my world view.
Here's a question for you and Scott, what if one of the aliens' major religions was extremely similar to Hinduism? Would that be enough for you to reconsider your world view?
Oops! Sorry about the name typo, Patrick.
It would certainly be food for thought. Of course as it is I'm constantly reexamining my worldview as new data comes in.
Hello Scott,
"Of course as it is I'm constantly reexamining my worldview as new data comes in."
As are many people at a minor level. The kind of reconsideration I'm talking about is reconsideration of some of our most basic assumptions.
If we found intelligent ET's that were religious in any way then yeah I'd be reconsidering MANY things. If they were also Hindu then yeah. I'd be rethinking eating a hamburger.
Yeah. I'm with Scott on that. My religious fervor isn't as strong as his, so I don't think it'd take much for me to sway one direction or the other if the "coincidences" fell in too well. I'd still be understandably skeptical though. They could have been watching us for ages and figured out the best way to get the human race to destroy itself is to incite a war of religion.
...oh wait, that's already happened.
And for my Young Earth brothers out there the question is why would God create a universe this HUUUGE and only put us in it?
Well, one possibility is that if Adam hadn't sinned and we were all still living forever we'd need other planets by now.
Maybe so. So do you think that if we hadn't fallen we'd be in space now (f'real)?