On August 6, 2012 the NASA rover “Curiosity” landed on Mars. It’s two year mission is to gather enough data to do two things. 1) To discover if life could have ever existed on Mars, via the verification of water on the surface. 2) Gather enough data to lay the ground work for an actual manned mission to Mars. I watched the landing live online. Very awesome. Come back Thursday for a video.
I’m all about spacey things. I wish it would be possible for me to go to the moon or to Mars in my lifetime for the cost of a train ticket. But that’s unlikely to happen. And unlike some Christians, I think it’d be pretty cool if we could discover alien life somewhere.
Wait. What did you say?
Alien life doesn’t bother me. It’s not a big deal, really. Some Christians fear that a discovery of that sort would undermine their faith. Some atheists believe (lol…I just said “athiests believe”) that discovering life on another planet would validate all the scientific theories about evolution and about the non-existence of God.
First of all, verifying evolution doesn’t prove the non-existence of God anyway. There are actually several solutions to this that fit nicely with the Bible without causing any contradiction to its teachings or the Christian faith. But that’s another blog post. Maybe next week.
Secondly, life on another planet only tells me that there’s more creation out there made by the hands of God than we thought. Why wouldn’t God put some sort of life forms on other planets? Why would He make such a vast creation, yet only pour out living qualities on one? So I think we can all agree that some lower life forms on other planets are easily within the realm of possibility, and Christians should be excited about the existence of more creation pointing to God’s handiwork.
But you’re not thinking of that. You’re thinking of intelligent life. Right? If there’s intelligent life, what does that say about sin and the redemption process? What does that say about Jesus? What does that say about the Bible, which speaks nothing about other “people” out there?
It says nothing. The Bible is God’s love story to US. And we needn’t loose sight of that. We’re not told of other beings out there because they’re not part of our story. Maybe they have their own. Maybe they have a separate creation experience. Were they tempted? Did they sin? I don’t know. Not our story. But if they did sin I can guarantee you this…God would provide a means of forgiveness and redemption for them same as He did for us.
Ultimately we’re all in this together. We are all a part of God’s creation, whether on this planet or another. Let’s stop being scared of what life on another planet might mean to our faith and let’s celebrate the possibility of yet another layer of His amazing creativity.
Job 38:31-33 – Can you direct the movement of the stars—binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the sequence of the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth? (NLT)
Isaiah 40:26 – Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing. (NLT)
-k
