How Does Existence of Extraterrestrial Life Impact Our Religion and Perception of the Universe?

JimBowie1958

Old Fogey
Sep 25, 2011
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Now that the pentagon has released a report that confirms extraterrestrial vehicles, there MUST be extraterrestrial sentient life, no?


Before the question can be answered, it is a good idea to consider the issue of the definition of religion. For most people in the Western tradition, religion is something that follows a set form of patterns. There is a God, there are usually sacred books, and places to go for people. Generally, when it is explained that many non-Western and indigenous cultures do not think of religion in this way, it opens their minds to the fact that they’ve had an idea of religion that is not universal across the planet. In many indigenous spiritualities, for example, extraterrestrials, often called “star people,” exist and are even ancestors of certain tribes on Earth. Even in certain Western indigenous spiritualities, such as pre-Chrisitian Irish, for example, extraterrestrials came from the clouds and provided humans with knowledge about how to live.

Even in the Western traditions—take Catholicism for example—talk of extraterrestrial life has been going on for more than one thousand years. In 1891 Pope Leo XIII established a space observatory (which was there already) to study “unexplained flying objects.” Buddhism also references the existence of other worlds. It is obvious that most religions and spiritualities have considered the existence of beings from other worlds. It is actually not new.
So people of a religious or even Christian background have given thought to this topic, but what about NOW? Today?

Given that this is a real thing, I want to consider the likely morals and character of these extraterrestrials; what can we deduce from what we do know?

1) These sightings go back thousands of years to ancient Hindu records of battles among the gods in vehicles flying through the sky. So our Friendly Space Aliens have been around for some time it would seem. Experts int he Pentagon on this subject have said that they have faound evidence of extraterrestrial 'visits' for thousands of years also.

2) This would seem to imply that these 'Unidentified Extraterrestrial Aliens', UEA for short, have no malice toward us or they would have enslaved or genocided us by now, and they have not.

3) So what is there purpose for being here? To protect us? From what? To guide us in some way? Are they the voices behind the prophets and the Messiah?

4) How does this impact your faith, if UEAs are in fact real?

I put this in an outline to help specify what we are refering to in our comments, but what do you think?

Are UEAs what were refered to across the globe as Angels?
 
Yanno.......................if Dr. Who himself (or herself as the storyline has gone) were to land in my backyard, there would be 2 questions that I would ask................

1. Can I go travel with you?

2. What do you consider to be a Higher Power (remember, he's a Time Lord).?

3. And last, can you teach me to be like you?

Yeah, I know it's 3, but hey, how many times do you get to ask questions like that?
 
Yanno.......................if Dr. Who himself (or herself as the storyline has gone) were to land in my backyard, there would be 2 questions that I would ask................

1. Can I go travel with you?

2. What do you consider to be a Higher Power (remember, he's a Time Lord).?

3. And last, can you teach me to be like you?

Yeah, I know it's 3, but hey, how many times do you get to ask questions like that?

Doctor Who is celibate.
 
religion is made up...Aliens are not

I can name several hundred aliens that are totally made up...

The-Day-the-Earth-Stood-Still-image.jpg
 
religion is made up...Aliens are not
I never understood people like you. You give credence to alien life that may have "seeded" life on earth but then out of hand reject the notion of a God.

Why?

Obviously we are not alone in the universe. If the notion of God is soooo painful for you when discussing these possible life forms, then so be it.
 
religion is made up...Aliens are not

I can name several hundred aliens that are totally made up...

View attachment 367773
fake

That's my point.
the fakeness is religion--not aliens...the OP question is ludicrous
All religions are fake? IF humans are not alone and IF they are so interested in us that they appear to be, then perhaps they seeded a religion along with it.

Bible central religions dominate our planet.
 
Now that the pentagon has released a report that confirms extraterrestrial vehicles, there MUST be extraterrestrial sentient life, no?


Before the question can be answered, it is a good idea to consider the issue of the definition of religion. For most people in the Western tradition, religion is something that follows a set form of patterns. There is a God, there are usually sacred books, and places to go for people. Generally, when it is explained that many non-Western and indigenous cultures do not think of religion in this way, it opens their minds to the fact that they’ve had an idea of religion that is not universal across the planet. In many indigenous spiritualities, for example, extraterrestrials, often called “star people,” exist and are even ancestors of certain tribes on Earth. Even in certain Western indigenous spiritualities, such as pre-Chrisitian Irish, for example, extraterrestrials came from the clouds and provided humans with knowledge about how to live.

Even in the Western traditions—take Catholicism for example—talk of extraterrestrial life has been going on for more than one thousand years. In 1891 Pope Leo XIII established a space observatory (which was there already) to study “unexplained flying objects.” Buddhism also references the existence of other worlds. It is obvious that most religions and spiritualities have considered the existence of beings from other worlds. It is actually not new.
So people of a religious or even Christian background have given thought to this topic, but what about NOW? Today?

Given that this is a real thing, I want to consider the likely morals and character of these extraterrestrials; what can we deduce from what we do know?

1) These sightings go back thousands of years to ancient Hindu records of battles among the gods in vehicles flying through the sky. So our Friendly Space Aliens have been around for some time it would seem. Experts int he Pentagon on this subject have said that they have faound evidence of extraterrestrial 'visits' for thousands of years also.

2) This would seem to imply that these 'Unidentified Extraterrestrial Aliens', UEA for short, have no malice toward us or they would have enslaved or genocided us by now, and they have not.

3) So what is there purpose for being here? To protect us? From what? To guide us in some way? Are they the voices behind the prophets and the Messiah?

4) How does this impact your faith, if UEAs are in fact real?

I put this in an outline to help specify what we are refering to in our comments, but what do you think?

Are UEAs what were refered to across the globe as Angels?
Where is the origin of the angels in religious folklore? Earth (terrestrial)? or the heaven (extraterrestrial)?
 
Where is the origin of the angels in religious folklore? Earth (terrestrial)? or the heaven (extraterrestrial)?
The book of Enoch says that the angels were sent to watch over us, and that some had relations with human women and bore the Nephilem as a result.

That is all I know of any Judeo-Christian text that speaks of Angelic origen.
 
Now that the pentagon has released a report that confirms extraterrestrial vehicles, there MUST be extraterrestrial sentient life, no?


Before the question can be answered, it is a good idea to consider the issue of the definition of religion. For most people in the Western tradition, religion is something that follows a set form of patterns. There is a God, there are usually sacred books, and places to go for people. Generally, when it is explained that many non-Western and indigenous cultures do not think of religion in this way, it opens their minds to the fact that they’ve had an idea of religion that is not universal across the planet. In many indigenous spiritualities, for example, extraterrestrials, often called “star people,” exist and are even ancestors of certain tribes on Earth. Even in certain Western indigenous spiritualities, such as pre-Chrisitian Irish, for example, extraterrestrials came from the clouds and provided humans with knowledge about how to live.

Even in the Western traditions—take Catholicism for example—talk of extraterrestrial life has been going on for more than one thousand years. In 1891 Pope Leo XIII established a space observatory (which was there already) to study “unexplained flying objects.” Buddhism also references the existence of other worlds. It is obvious that most religions and spiritualities have considered the existence of beings from other worlds. It is actually not new.
So people of a religious or even Christian background have given thought to this topic, but what about NOW? Today?

Given that this is a real thing, I want to consider the likely morals and character of these extraterrestrials; what can we deduce from what we do know?

1) These sightings go back thousands of years to ancient Hindu records of battles among the gods in vehicles flying through the sky. So our Friendly Space Aliens have been around for some time it would seem. Experts int he Pentagon on this subject have said that they have faound evidence of extraterrestrial 'visits' for thousands of years also.

2) This would seem to imply that these 'Unidentified Extraterrestrial Aliens', UEA for short, have no malice toward us or they would have enslaved or genocided us by now, and they have not.

3) So what is there purpose for being here? To protect us? From what? To guide us in some way? Are they the voices behind the prophets and the Messiah?

4) How does this impact your faith, if UEAs are in fact real?

I put this in an outline to help specify what we are refering to in our comments, but what do you think?

Are UEAs what were refered to across the globe as Angels?
Thanks for asking the question.

I have thought about it. I don't see how intelligent life outside of this planet in this universe would alter my faith or beliefs. I also don't see how intelligent life outside of this universe in another universe would alter my faith or beliefs.

It seems to me that the purpose of existence is to create beings that know and create. So I would expect that we are not alone in our level of consciousness.
 
religion is made up...Aliens are not

I can name several hundred aliens that are totally made up...

View attachment 367773
fake

That's my point.
the fakeness is religion--not aliens...the OP question is ludicrous
William James responds to your dismissal of religion....

"When all is said and done, we are in the end absolutely dependent on the universe; and into sacrifices and surrenders of some sort, deliberately looked at and accepted, we are drawn and pressed as into our only permanent positions of repose. Now in those states of mind which fall short of religion, the surrender is submitted to as an imposition of necessity, and the sacrifice is undergone at the very best without complaint. In the religious life, on the contrary, surrender and sacrifice are positively espoused: even unnecessary givings-up are added in order that the happiness may increase. Religion thus makes easy and felicitous what in any case is necessary; and if it be the only agency that can accomplish this result, its vital importance as a human faculty stands vindicated beyond dispute. It becomes an essential organ of our life, performing a function which no other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfill."
 
religion is made up...Aliens are not
I never understood people like you. You give credence to alien life that may have "seeded" life on earth but then out of hand reject the notion of a God.

Why?

Obviously we are not alone in the universe. If the notion of God is soooo painful for you when discussing these possible life forms, then so be it.
Which notions of which gods are we to accept?
 
Where is the origin of the angels in religious folklore? Earth (terrestrial)? or the heaven (extraterrestrial)?
The book of Enoch says that the angels were sent to watch over us, and that some had relations with human women and bore the Nephilem as a result.

That is all I know of any Judeo-Christian text that speaks of Angelic origen.
I view the spiritual world as a different dimension. Scientists would even agree that other dimensions exist.

Currently science thinks there are around 10 various dimensions


Our current 4 dimensions we are familiar with, includes time. This is a result of the other 3 dimensions but I think it possible to exist outside this 4 dimension parameter, meaning that time was created.

In fact, the Biblical account of creation makes more sense regarding this than any other religion since it says everything had a beginning. In fact, how can time be eternal if it measures point A to point B. You must have a point A, or beginning. In fact, the popular view in science until around 1959 was that the universe was eternal, only changing that view upon discovery of the Big Bang. There is a reason that a priest came up with the Big Bang Theory after all.
 
religion is made up...Aliens are not
I never understood people like you. You give credence to alien life that may have "seeded" life on earth but then out of hand reject the notion of a God.

Why?

Obviously we are not alone in the universe. If the notion of God is soooo painful for you when discussing these possible life forms, then so be it.
Which notions of which gods are we to accept?
The Biblical account says one God.

This makes the most sense. There would simply not be enough congruence and order for competing gods to exist.
 
religion is made up...Aliens are not
I never understood people like you. You give credence to alien life that may have "seeded" life on earth but then out of hand reject the notion of a God.

Why?

Obviously we are not alone in the universe. If the notion of God is soooo painful for you when discussing these possible life forms, then so be it.
Which notions of which gods are we to accept?
The Biblical account says one God.

This makes the most sense. There would simply not be enough congruence and order for competing gods to exist.
I have to note that the biblical account of a triune nature of gods is only one account among many competing accounts of gods. I see nothing in terms of congruence or order that would exclude competing versions of gods from the Christian gods.

It’s also important to remember that entire civilizations have flourished before there was any conception of the gods currently in vogue.

In a historical context, gods have been invented for many reasons. One of those reasons can be attributed to little more than human egotism and / or greed. If you think about the environmental and social dynamics that go/went into building religions, the truth is, they are not all that difficult to build. They’re so easy, in fact, they can be built by most anyone.

The model is to get a group of people to commit to both you and your ideas. Then it's a matter of surviving by fending off attacks against you from those who believe in a competitive believe system.
I present to you as a great "for instance": Scientology. The “belief system” (and for many, a full fledged religion), was literally conceived pursuant to a bet L. Ron Hubbard floated where he predicted he could devise a religion and do as well as J. Christ.
 

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