Last week Congress held hearings devoted to answering one of humanity’s most persistent questions: Are we alone in the universe? Is there life on other planets?
Military aviators testified that encounters with UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, formerly known as UFOs) are more frequent than most people think. They provided graphic descriptions of these UAP, along with rather unsettling reports of encounters, including Russian aviators allegedly engaging with UAP in dogfights.
Whatever is zipping around in our airspace needs to be identified. Maybe future studies will provide concrete answers. But for now, we still wonder, are we alone in the universe?
The idea consumes us
We are obsessed with the idea of extraterrestrials. And in our obsession, we imagine all kinds of encounters.
Hollywood imagines aliens to be nefarious and dangerous (War of the Worlds, Signs, Independence Day). Or kind and condescending (Vulcans in Star Trek). Or curious and cute (ET).
Or they are already here, hiding in plain sight, living among us and ready to use their other-worldly powers to destroy us (The Day the World Stood Still) or to save us (Superman).
The Darwin connection
Most imaginary extraterrestrials are shaped by a Darwinian worldview (Star Trek). These fictions nearly always assume that aliens of other worlds will be more advanced than humans because they are more evolved.
Take Chariots of the Gods authored in 1968 by Erich von Däniken. His basic premise was that ancient people, in their ignorance, mistook aliens for gods. He claimed that’s where religion originated.
He applied this to the Bible. Ezekiel’s vision of the angels and the wheels describes a spacecraft. And the Ark of the Covenant was a device intended for communication with an alien race. The destruction of Sodom? Oh, that was a nuclear explosion.
Von Däniken’s “scholarship” was debunked, but the History Channel continues to promote this evolutionary narrative in pseudo-documentaries.
So, are we alone, or not?
Which brings us back to our question. Are we alone in the universe?
The biblical answer is extraordinarily simple. Of course not.
We are creatures, created by the One God, whose nature is revealed in the Bible as loving, holy, and personal. He pursues a relationship with each of His creatures—human beings made in His image and designed to have a relationship with Him.
And He has visited us. Jesus Christ is God, who came to us to explain Himself and so that we could be restored, by faith, to a right relationship with our Creator (John 3:16).
So yes, there is another Being in the universe. We are not alone, and He is greater than us. He has made Himself known, and He wants us to know Him (Jer. 29:13).
In addition, the Bible instructs that God created other beings besides us. We know, therefore, that there are supernatural beings called angels. They are not gods, and are not to be worshipped, but nevertheless they are not human, either (Heb. 1:4).
And not all supernatural creatures are benevolent. Satan, a fallen angel, is a deceiver and a liar (John 8:44). He can deceive humanity and distract us from the truth about God and ourselves.
Is ET really out there?
See, our search for extraterrestrial life, and our incessant assumption that such life would be more advanced than we are, reflects the human yearning to know God. That is to say, all people, even Darwinian atheists, implicitly admit this fact—we are not alone. And the One who is there is greater than we are. Searching for substitutes doesn’t change the truth.
Personally, I think UAP are advanced craft with earthly, very human origins.
But even so, what if we find there is life on other worlds? Along with truths that we already know, how would we fit that into our biblical worldview?
If other worlds are populated, would it change anything?
Consider these three biblical truths:
- If aliens exist, it would not change who God is.
If other creatures exist on other worlds, they are still part of the created order. They are not gods. They are creatures, also created by God, who happen to live on another planet.
God is still God. And if He chose to create life on other planets, that’s His prerogative. He is not obligated to let us in on everything He does everywhere.
We may not yet know all that is out there, but we do know Him. And all of the heavens—the galaxies and all they contain—belong to Him. And He, in his sovereignty and grace, created earth for human beings (Gen. 1:1, Ps. 115:16, Heb. 11:3).
- If aliens exist, it would not change who we are.
Two facts inform our grasp of humanity. We are made in the image of God, and we are sinners in need of a Savior (Gen. 1:27, Rom. 3:23).
If God created other creatures who populate other civilizations on other planets, we are still created in God’s image. All human beings share this privilege, and it would not be shared by any other creatures, no matter how advanced they might be.
But also, we sinned against God. As the apex of His creation, and designed with free will, we are capable of resisting His love and refusing His will (James 1:14-15). We choose, and we are held accountable for our choices.
Finding extraterrestrial life would not change or diminish who we are or who God created us to be.
- If aliens exist, it would not change the Gospel.
Because we need redemption, our Creator came to earth as a human being to sacrifice Himself for our sins. And He has risen so we can live with Him.
These are indisputable biblical facts (1 Cor. 15:3-5). If other beings exist on other planets, that does not change these facts, and does not change who Jesus is or what He has done for us.
In addition, the Bible teaches that not all created beings can participate in the benefits of the Gospel and the atoning death of Christ. God’s salvation is exclusive to human beings. For instance, angels cannot be redeemed, but they yearn to see the gospel played out and human beings saved (Luke 15:7, 1 Peter 1:12).
And last, our sin has impacted every planet in the galaxy, and every planet will be restored by our redemption (Rom. 8:19-22). Humanity is central to the story of creation and redemption—for the heavens, the earth, and for every other planet God created.
One more thing
So, if life exists on other worlds, should we be afraid? Should we brace ourselves for The Borg?
No, we do not need to be afraid. The Bible teaches that there is only One whom we should fear. There’s no reason to fear creatures if you know the Creator (Prov. 9:10, Matt. 10:28). And He gives grace and life to those who turn to Him.
So, today, we may not have the answers about UAP. We may not know if there is life on other worlds.
But we know the Giver of Life (John 11:25), and we know our place in the universe. And, because God is with us, we know we are not alone.
The heavens are the Lord’s, but the earth he has given to the human race.
Psalm 115:16