Why don't most Christians believe in aliens?

[Ashyne]

7 out of 10 Christians I've asked: Do you believe in alien life beyond Earth? they say 'No I don't'.

So I ask them, If Earth is the only planet in the Universe that supports life, why did God make the Universe so big? Surely he does not expect an 'intelligent' species like the human race to colonize the entire Universe for itself? It is almost a certainty that the human race would either wipe itself out or Nature would destroy it completely before we have even colonized this galaxy.

[OvercastComfort]

I'm Christian and I don't know what to think about the phenomena. I have thoughts of the origins of UFOs, perhaps they're domestic in origin, perhaps something else. Some people attach a demonic presence with UFO's. I'm not saing I do or do not; however, to reject something out of hand as not existing, even beyond all of these sightings is certainly not something one should do IMO. I can't begin to speculate on what the Almighty has created His universe for, other than his own purpose, which is just fine with me, for God's purpose is beyond all other importance.

[Gatofeo]

In my opinion, Christians don't like to think about life on other planets because it's distracting and perhaps upsetting to their belief.

If they acknowledge life elsewhere, they also have to acknowledge that they are not God's chosen folks.

Imagine the effect an alien landing would have, even the most peaceful contact. The stock market would plunge. Suicides would soar. No one would report to work, they'd all stay at home to "protect" their family.

And within it all, you'd have all kinds of religious leaders --- Christians, Muslims, Jews, Bhuddists, etc. --- making wild claims that the aliens are agents of Satan, whipping their followers into a frenzy.

You think a lil' ol' meteor striking Earth would be catastrophic? It would be a popcorn fart compared to the impact of a few aliens stepping out of a ship.

If aliens have contacted our leaders, as is alleged, thank GOD our government won't disclose that fact! It would be worldwide panic --- especially if our government admitted it was powerless to stop or monitor them.

Christian leaders are in much the same boat. They'd lose millions of followers overnight if aliens landed. People would turn to them for guidance, instead of Christ. So, to keep the masses of Christian followers in line, Christian leaders dismiss any notion of a life elsewhere as foolish, impossible or even demonic.

Jesus is supposed to have said, "Many sheep not of this flock have I" or something akin to that. Personally, I believe he may have been referring to beings on other planets, to whom He also brought God's word.

I hope the folks on other planets have done a better job of following Jesus' teachings than we have here. For 2,000 years, the followers of Christ have run roughshod over the rest of humanity. Jesus must weep to see what they have done in His name.

[OvercastComfort]

I beg to differ. I think church attendance would skyrocket, as it did after 911. An alien contact would frighten people thoroughly, thus leading them to try and get comfort, most likely in a church or temple or some sort. Mankind is always looking for someone to give him answers other than the teachings of Christ. This is because mankind is inherently evil and seek that which pleases themselves, not Christ. Can you confirm or deny the possibility of extra-terrestrial visitation? Can you say, in fact, they are not demonic? Can you at least have the decency to quote the actual words Christ said instead of a rough generalization of what you think? You say how Jesus weeps at what those do in His name, yet you don't give an actual quote of his words. BTW I'm not bashing you, but speculation by Christians is the same as specualtion by yourself. Peace.

[brave_new_world]

The universe is infinite and the dimensions also contained in it are infinite(well so I think) ...........There would be billions upon billions, upon billions upon untold trillions and infinite amount of different life forms or whatever it's equivalent in other dimensions may be. To think that life and intelligent life exists only here on earth, one measley planet in the whole of existence is just stupid. Oh wait some closed minded believe there are angels in heaven and demons in hell as well, so some say only this physical universe and that only earth supports life and some others think only three dimensions exist and support life. JESUS MAN!!! We wouldn;t be able to imagine the various multitudes of forms taken by consciousness out there!!!! There would be no end to it. If the Universe is unending then life forms also would be unending......

THE WORLD ISN'T BLACK AND WHITE IT IS SHADES OF GREY.

Edited October 29, 2006 by brave_new_world

[ROGER]

Saying Christian's dont care is a narrow view. Got bad news for you, most all people dont care and think you a little odd for asking or thinking of the question.

Work , money ,sex , war and other things are on most peoples minds.

Them and REALITY TV!

[jesspy]

Work , money ,sex , war and other things are on most peoples minds.

Them and REALITY TV!

Atheist turned christian here *raises hand* I believe i aliens I belive its possible. In the bible it clearly states that anything is possiable. My mum belives that in fact Jesus is the alien.

[Cadetak]

I mean it never says in the Bible that God didn't make other people on other planets. Believing in aliens doesn't contradict christian faith in any way.

A lot of people just plane don't believe in aliens, I don't think it has a lot to do with religion. I mean life supporting planets are rare...there could only be two or three in the galaxy, who even knows if they support intelligent life.

[brave_new_world]

I mean it never says in the Bible that God didn't make other people on other planets. Believing in aliens doesn't contradict christian faith in any way.

A lot of people just plane don't believe in aliens, I don't think it has a lot to do with religion. I mean life supporting planets are rare...there could only be two or three in the galaxy, who even knows if they support intelligent life.

How do we know that life supporting planets are rare???

[Cadetak]

I'm not a scientist but theres a lot of things that make earth habitable. For example the distance from the sun, the size of our moon, magnetic fields, rotation, and other stuff i think.

Also just froma gamblers point of view there are eight planets and a ton of moons in our solar system and only one is habitable.

Even if it wasn't rare for a life supportable planet to exist it would also be rare to find a life habitable planet that is habitable at the same time ours is habitable.

for example people believe that Mars was once habitable and that Venus maybe will one day be habitable but its not now. Thousands of years ago when Mars was habitable Earth may not have bin.

you get where im going?

[brave_new_world]

I'm not a scientist but theres a lot of things that make earth habitable. For example the distance from the sun, the size of our moon, magnetic fields, rotation, and other stuff i think.

Also just froma gamblers point of view there are eight planets and a ton of moons in our solar system and only one is habitable.

Even if it wasn't rare for a life supportable planet to exist it would also be rare to find a life habitable planet that is habitable at the same time ours is habitable.

for example people believe that Mars was once habitable and that Venus maybe will one day be habitable but its not now. Thousands of years ago when Mars was habitable Earth may not have bin.

you get where im going?

certainly. I just meant as general rule of life supportable planets in themselves for whatever life. Other life forms dont have to necessarily breath air. But i know what you mean.

[Cadetak]

Oh ok i think i know what you mean too.

[Cigarette_Smoking_Man]

7 out of 10 Christians I've asked: Do you believe in alien life beyond Earth? they say 'No I don't'.

Geez, every time somebody does a poll, they forget to ask me!

I'm a Christian and I believe in alien life beyond Earth. Full disclosure wouldn't hurt my faith in any way whatsoever. I think it may for some of the more fundamentalists or conservatives, but I think there are a lot of us out here that don't see an inconsistency between our faith and belief in life on other planets. Maybe 30% of us

[Pax Unum]

Other life forms dont have to necessarily breath air.

what do you base that assumption on? if one believes the claims made for aliens, it's pretty clear the reptillians, greys, and nordics all breath oxygen... just wondering

[Hypathia]

I'm a fundamentalist/evangelical Christian turned atheist leaning agnostic. Growing up Christian in the bible belt everyone I knew believed in Christianity, aliens, ghosts, psychics, magic (even if they didn't call it that) hexes and planting by the signs. Now, most Christians think anything outside the dogma presented by the likes of Jerry Fallwell, Pat Robertson, or James Dobson is demonic in nature.

I think these people, with a very specific agenda, have scared the living sh** out of people and brought them into their narrow way of thinking by daily reinforcement/brainwashing thru a.m. radio and religious t.v. programing, newsletters etc. They've taken over the republican party the same way at the same time; killed two birds with one stone. When I was coming back into the fold after a period of backsliding I heard many preachers say that people are seeing aliens but that it's demons in disguise.

My parents and other relatives who are older still believe in all the things I mentioned in paragraph one including aliens. They say that it's absurd to believe that "God" created us and nobody else when He created an infinite universe. My Dad even believes that aliens have visited this planet but he believes Jesus has too .

[bigdog112]

7 out of 10 Christians I've asked: Do you believe in alien life beyond Earth? they say 'No I don't'.

So I ask them, If Earth is the only planet in the Universe that supports life, why did God make the Universe so big? Surely he does not expect an 'intelligent' species like the human race to colonize the entire Universe for itself? It is almost a certainty that the human race would either wipe itself out or Nature would destroy it completely before we have even colonized this galaxy.

Before you read this know that I am not a christen radical that believes this or god in general with no criticism.

]

There’s this very strange part of the bible that was found about 5 years ago. In it describes the war that ensues between Lucifer’s army and the army of haven. This part is in the bible we know. What’s not in the bible is where the war takes place. The script describes the war taking place across the universe each galaxy each planet being used as a battle ground. The war is so destructive that every planet becomes scared and barren void of any life. The writings state that the angels had out posts in these planets. Where they lived in luxury like all angels do.

It also sagest that god created the universe for his angels each angel his own planet. All this kind of sagest that haven might be a physical place some where in the universe. After the war god looked on to his universe and wept at the destruction. He pondered on how he could make a being that could be made into peaceful yet powerful being to serve him. He chose earth as his planet of chose to create his new servants. With the thought of giving them free will to chose there way of evil or peace. Thoughts who are peaceful and follow him would be his chosen people. And we would reach such heights as to fix and renew the universe before are rising in to haven.

[IamsSon]

I am a born-again, Bible believing Christian, and I believe there may be life on other planets in other solar systems in other galaxies. The Bible is quite silent on this subject.

However, I do not believe that these aliens have visited or are currently visiting our planet. I believe, like Jaques Vallee, and other non-Christian UFO investigators, that these "aliens" people interact with display many characterisitcs similar to those of demons, especially since a great majority of "contactees" end up displaying the same characteristics as people who are demonized.

I also have a theory that many of the UFO sightings may be equipment developed by man himself prior to the Flood in the story of Noah. It is robotic equipment which was so well made that it continues to function today and is continuing with whatever task it was given prior to the destruction of the flood.

But for the most part Christians display the same lack of interest in this subject as the rest of the general population does, not more, not less.

[Gatofeo]

"Can you at least have the decency to quote the actual words Christ said instead of a rough generalization of what you think? You say how Jesus weeps at what those do in His name, yet you don't give an actual quote of his words. BTW I'm not bashing you ..."

Geez, OvercastComfort you're not bashing me? Odd. First you say I lack decency ... sounds like a bash to me ...

Anyway, I cannot give you the exact quote because I simply don't know it. I learned it from a pastor some years ago, when we were discussing UFOs and aliens and the like and he quoted it. He said he often wondered what it meant, and others had wondered about it as well through the centuries. Apparently, it's a rather well-known quote from Jesus among scholars.

I recall it as something like, "Many not of this flock have I" or something akin to that.

I was forced to generalize it because I was averse to writing it as a quote when I couldn't actually quote it word for word, and cite chapter and verse as well.

The comment, "Jesus weeps ..." was my own quote and not intended to be construed as being in the Bible. It was my opinion.

As for folks running to their nearest church when they hear of an alien landing: very probably true. I can see it happening, as people seek protection from God.

Key to this is the word, "protection," which implies that aliens somehow pose a danger. This need for protection comes from FEAR. Fear leads to panic. Panic leads to chaos.

Initially, many non-believers or fringe-believers may run to their nearest church, synagogue, mosque, etc. for comfort. If they find comfort there, more power to them.

But ultimately, I don't believe that angels in winged chariots, bearing swords, will swoop down and smite the nasty aliens. After a few days of apparent disinterest by God, folks will turn away from Him. When they do, they'll get violent.

I believe in a higher being; I just don't attach a name to Him, Her, It or Them. I also believe in angels, which do God's work. I also believe in God's counterpart Satan (or whatever name you wish to use) and this entity also has his "workers" to do his bidding, which we call demons.

No, if aliens land and present themselves openly I cannot say they were NOT sent by Satan, to disrupt us.

But that's an ancient, specious argumentative strategy used to belittle a dissenting opinion. I can't PROVE that the sun WILL NOT rise tomorrow. By the same extension, you can't prove that the sun WILL, or that aliens --- if they exist --- are agents of Satan.

Some things are simply unproveable.

My apolgies for not being able to provide the exact quote from Jesus and its source. Since I learned it from a pastor with decades of experience, I took it on good faith that it existed.

If anyone can find it in the Bible, I"d be interested to learn its chapter and verse.

[Col. Kurtz]

I mean it never says in the Bible that God didn't make other people on other planets. Believing in aliens doesn't contradict christian faith in any way.

A lot of people just plane don't believe in aliens, I don't think it has a lot to do with religion. I mean life supporting planets are rare...there could only be two or three in the galaxy, who even knows if they support intelligent life.

2 or 3 in an infinite number of galaxies might mean more than you think.

[brave_new_world]

what do you base that assumption on? if one believes the claims made for aliens, it's pretty clear the reptillians, greys, and nordics all breath oxygen... just wondering

Simple, the universe is so vast and unending, suppose there are different planets out there that have different atmospheres with no oxygen and somehow the life forms on that planet evolved and adapted to that atmosphere and breathed in a different gas to what we breath here on earth. I make the assumption on my own opinion.

[Bella-Angelique]

I learned it from a pastor some years ago, when we were discussing UFOs and aliens and the like and he quoted it. He said he often wondered what it meant, and others had wondered about it as well through the centuries.

"In My Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:1

"And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them I must also bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." John 10: 16

[ohio tsunami]

However, I do not believe that these aliens have visited or are currently visiting our planet. I believe, like Jaques Vallee, and other non-Christian UFO investigators, that these "aliens" people interact with display many characterisitcs similar to those of demons, especially since a great majority of "contactees" end up displaying the same characteristics as people who are demonized.

I understand why someone would say it could possibly be demonic at the time of the "abduction", but all of the abductees do not appear to be possessed by demons after thier encounter.

I also have a theory that many of the UFO sightings may be equipment developed by man himself prior to the Flood in the story of Noah. It is robotic equipment which was so well made that it continues to function today and is continuing with whatever task it was given prior to the destruction of the flood.

It is an interesting theory, but if the people living in the times prior to the flood of Noah had knowledge to build robotic devices like these, wouldn't they have known more about the world they were living in? They would have explored more far off lands and possibly even discovered the whole western hemisphere long before what history has recorded.

[Mr. President]

7 out of 10 Christians I've asked: Do you believe in alien life beyond Earth? they say 'No I don't'.

So I ask them, If Earth is the only planet in the Universe that supports life, why did God make the Universe so big? Surely he does not expect an 'intelligent' species like the human race to colonize the entire Universe for itself? It is almost a certainty that the human race would either wipe itself out or Nature would destroy it completely before we have even colonized this galaxy.

I personally don't believe in aliens (as there is no biblical evidence for them) but I am very much open to the fact that I may be wrong, after all why would God make such a big universe and make one tiny planet be the only one with life. Now of course we also have to consider our view of life may be different than God's.

[IamsSon]

"And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them I must also bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." John 10: 16

That is a great passage BA, I have often wondered if Jesus meant more than what can be surmised from the context. In the context of John 10, Jesus was speaking to Jews, and so the opinion of the majority of theologians is that the other sheep Jesus was talking about were non-Jews.

[Wayfarer]

2 Peter 3:10: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up".

This doesn't seem to bode well for any possible alien life.