Religion Are Christians believing in life outside Earth compatible?

Discussion in 'Blazers OT Forum' started by magnifier661, Jan 13, 2015.

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Are Christians believing in life outside Earth compatible?

  1. Yes

  2. No

  3. I'm agnostic with this question...

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  1. magnifier661

    magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

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    I have obliviously stated that i do believe in life outside the planet Earth, but I do know the vast majority doesn't. I would assume those Christians take the entire Bible for exact historical reference and being 100% the word of God.

    I do believe that God has inspired the Bible, but I question that it's exactly what God has said or wanted to say. I do believe that God has the ultimate authority for the entire universe, so if he wanted to have just Earth support intelligent life, he would have the power to do so. But I don't think this is the case. I do believe that there is life on other planets, with the same God empowering and inspiring that civilization differently.

    So back to the question... Do you think that Christians can believe in life outside this solar system?
     
  2. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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  3. magnifier661

    magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

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    That was a really good read! I can definitely get behind his way of thinking.

    And the true human nature is to survive and get closer to God. I would suspect getting closer to God would be getting closer to his creation. We aren't the only ones. This universe is so vast, and if he created it all, then it would be our duty to explore and respect it all!
     
  4. crowTrobot

    crowTrobot die comcast

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    For a Pantheist that's redundant
     
  5. magnifier661

    magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

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    How so? If one identifies God with the universe, and Earth is just a spec in this universe. Wouldn't "boldly going where no man has gone before" help man explore God's creation?
     
  6. DaLincolnJones

    DaLincolnJones Well-Known Member

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    Let me see.."
    Are Christians believing in life outside Earth compatible?
    Is the question that as Christians, is it comparable to believe in life on other planets?
    If so, I would say yes.

    Or are you asking if I believe that alien life forms will be comparable with life on earth?
    I would have to say that the odds are against it, regardless of personal religious beliefs.
     
  7. magnifier661

    magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

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    Not saying the same as us physically, but still with intelligence.
     
  8. MarAzul

    MarAzul LongShip

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    I don't believe that God inspired the entire Bible, perhaps some was, the book of Moses sure leads one that way. But I think most of the Old testament, mostly from the Jewish Torah, was written by Rabbis recording Hebrew history or in some cases rewriting history from the perspective of the Israelis or the Judeans. Then we know, most of the new testament was written by the disciples of Jesus. Some of who we know historically. Go to Ephesus, the Turks there are Keen to tell the story of how they jailed John.

    I have no idea whether Life exists outside earth, I have no evidence that it does. But then I have no evidence that it exists here without the hand of God either. I know some very smart dudes that can tell you everything you need to know about creating a creature, but they get stuck on one small detail, all of them. Some how I think the same problem exists outside earth, God is required to supply that last little detail, here on Earth or anywhere else.

    The question is not a question that can be answered by the those who see themselves as very smart,
    near savants in the science of mathematics, the probabilities they all push forward always end up with no proof. Just mere speculation and almost always smacks of attempts to show how improbable it is that life
    requires God. Odd though, that the smartest of the smart mathematically took the probability in favor of God.
    God ( Kurt Gödel).

    I don't know the answer to you question and I don't think God requires me to know or defend a position.
    Fun to watch those that do though, funny too. Who requires them to defend a position? Atheist usually.
    But then perhaps I am on the side line as not quite a Christian, I just admire the teachings of their name sake.
     
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  9. DaLincolnJones

    DaLincolnJones Well-Known Member

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    naw man, I got you. I do not think we will be comparable as life forms. The very idea of some benevolent beings beaming down and saving humanity from itself is absurd. I think that it is far more likely that what ever be more interested in resettling or developing this planet, and that we may just be in the way. This is typical when ever an advanced race encounters primitives.
     
  10. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    So much for believing in god, lol.
     
  11. MarAzul

    MarAzul LongShip

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    So, when you meet your first alien, you best determine his intent, Fight, Fuck, or Feast?
    Feast on what comes next.
     
  12. DaLincolnJones

    DaLincolnJones Well-Known Member

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    Not necessarily incomparable. One could argue that this is another reason to believe.
     
  13. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    So if we don't pray enough god will let aliens take away our planet?
     
  14. PDXFonz

    PDXFonz I’m listening

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    “It is therefore from the human point of view only that we can speak of space, extended objects, etc. If we depart from the subjective condition, under which alone we can obtain external intuition, or, in other words, by means of which we are affected by objects, the representation of space has no meaning whatsoever. This predicate is only applicable to things in so far as they appear to us, that is, are objects of sensibility. The constant form of this receptivity, which we call sensibility, is a necessary condition of all relations in which objects can be intuited as existing without us, and when abstraction of these objects is made, is a pure intuition, to which we give the name of space. It is clear that we cannot make the special conditions of sensibility into conditions of the possibility of things, but only of the possibility of their existence as far as they are phenomena. And so we may correctly say that space contains all which can appear to us externally, but not all things considered as things in themselves, be they intuited or not, or by whatsoever subject one will. […]”

    Excerpt From: Kant, Immanuel. “The Critique of Pure Reason.”

    We don't understand exactly what space is, but still we question what it contains. In his early works Immanuel Kant claims that space is the relation between objects and is not dependent on an external source of reality, but rather . I'm not sure I necessarily agree with Kant in this regard but also do not dispute his philosophies. I still have a lot of reading to do on the subject, but it is definitely one that is interesting to me.

    I certainly think it is possible, but then again I'm not a practicing Christian.

    Tl;dr: we can't know for sure, we can only know things in the way they appear to us.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2015
  15. PDXFonz

    PDXFonz I’m listening

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    Also I don't mean to offend anyone by this, but I don't think it is efficient to look purely at religion as a means of understanding our existence. I'm not criticizing the religion or those who practice it, but a lot of aspects of many religions promote closed mindedness. This question posed by Mags is a good example. I'm happy to see the results so far!
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2015
  16. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    All Christians believe in life outside Earth.

    They even gave him a name.
     
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  17. speeds

    speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

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    I went to Catholic schools until I was 18 and it's just not something that ever seemed to come up, either in mass or in the classroom. I don't imagine finding evidence of ancient microbes on Mars is something that would shake the foundations.
     
  18. magnifier661

    magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

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    This is a good answer and I would agree that the majority, maybe vast majority are closed minded in this way of thinking. I may have too until psychedelics expanded my thinking.

    I am Christian. I've felt/still feel God's presence in my life, but I've seen things that stretch farther than this lonely rock called Earth. Also, I do believe that an "all-powerful God" would design many life forms throughout this universe because he can.
     
  19. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    I'm what you would probably consider a fundamentalist Christian. I've never seen anything in the Bible that indicates that this is necessarily the only planet on which God created life. I could see it having gone either way.
     
  20. crowTrobot

    crowTrobot die comcast

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    You are compared to Mags, but on a sliding scale you seem relatively liberal.
     
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