UFO's and the Bible, Part 1- Aliens

  Let me start off by saying this; prior to my conversion to Christianity in 1995, I was inordinately interested in UFO’s and the idea of extraterrestrial visitation.  People have seen unexplainable lights in the sky for thousands of years, and   accounts of encounters with strange beings go back as far as we have records far. I have probably read every major book on the subject, and quite a few of the lesser-known books. Some of them even  touched on the Bible. I read books that used UFOs and alien technology to explain away biblical miracles or prophetic visions. I read books that suggested the God of the Bible was an alien that was mistakenly taken as a deity after seeding this planet with human life. None of these authors believed the Bible; they were just merely using it as a framework to introduce their theories. However, after receiving Christ, and becoming convinced of the truth and completeness of the Biblical revelation, I became curious as to what the Bible actually has to say about these phenomena, if anything.  This topic is a perennial favorite in my Sunday School Class during our "What Does the Bible Say About....?" sessions.  The notes are  a bit extensive, so I've broken it into parts.

  It is the most natural thing in the world to look at the sheer vastness of space and wonder if we are alone.  It seems inconceivable sometimes that God could make a place so big, and then only populate one little corner of it, but the scriptures make an interesting statement, “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited : I am the LORD; and there is none else.” (Isaiah 45:18)  If we take this statement at face value, the earth was made to be inhabited, but nothing else. The idea that a God whose hand spans the heaven, and whose creation speaks of his glory and his handiwork taking an exclusive interest in one little planet in one little galaxy seems hard to swallow, but let me remind you that God said “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…”.

  Then why, you may ask, make a universe so big that we have yet to find  the edges of it? Why make a cosmos that a man or generations of men literally could not travel fast enough or far enough to cross it? The Bible says in Rev 4:11 that everything was made for God’s  “good pleasure”.  The answer is simple; he made such a big universe because he wanted to, and he made the earth specifically to be inhabited.

  There are several scriptures which argue against the existence of any life outside of the earth.  For example, Genesis 2:1-2 summarizes everything God had created in the previous chapter.  Not once is anything alive referenced except for things created on earth.  There is no mention of fish or birds, or creeping things being called forth anyplace except on this planet.

  The Bible elaborates on God’s desires in Psalm 145:9-13. “The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.  All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.  They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;  To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.  Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations”. Its clear that God intends on ruling over all his works, and he intends to receive worship from all his works, but he only one he seems concerned with notifying is the  “sons of men”. Also in the future date where all of God’s creation comes before him to worship, that worship takes place on earth. Rev 21:1-6, 23-24 says “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away ; and there was no more sea.  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying , Behold , the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away .  And he that sat upon the throne said , Behold , I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write : for these words are true and faithful.  And he said unto me, It is done . I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely….. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.  And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.”  The Greys and Reptilians are a no-show when it comes time to bow the knee to the maker of the heavens and earth.

  C.S. Lewis theorized that, as we ventured out among the stars we would find alien culture after alien culture with their own Redeemer who had come and died for them. There would be a Martian Jesus and Jesus from Alpha Centauri as well as a Jesus from Oork. That notion, however interesting, has no scriptural support. In Hebrews 9, great detail is gone into regarding the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, and the Bible specifically says in verses 11 and 12 that Christ entered into the holiest of holies “once”.   If the universe were chock full of Venusians and Martians and Vulcans and Wookies, wouldn’t it have been necessary for God the Son to live as one of them, die as one of them, and more than “once’ enter the holiest of holies to pay for their sins?

  What you think those lights in the sky are hinges on your worldview. If you were a superstitious Roman Catholic peasant in the 1200’s, you would assume the lights to be angels or spirits or demons, and it would be time to run to your priest for help.  We don’t live in that time frame, we live in a science fiction culture where everybody has seen movies and read books about aliens coming down from above, with brightly illuminated craft.  When modern man sees lights in the sky, he has been pre-dispositioned by TV and movies to think ‘aliens’. But that concept carries with it some pretty serious implications and you can put yourself in quite the theological pickle with it.  Such   tight spots are unnecessary when the Bible make it so clear as to what UFO’s are not. Now what the actually are is the subject of a future post.  Coming soon….