Did God create life on other planets?
Otherwise why is the universe so big?
by Gary Bates
Many people, Christian or otherwise, struggle with the notion that the earth is
the only inhabited planet in this enormous universe.
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Those who believe life evolved on the earth usually see it as virtual ‘fact’
that life has evolved on countless other planets. Discovering life on other planets
would in turn be seen as confirming their evolutionary belief.
But even many Christians think, ‘God must have created life elsewhere, otherwise
this enormous universe would be an awful waste of space.’ However, our thinking
should be based on what God said He did (the Bible), and not what we think He would
or should have done.
Firstly, since God is the one who made the universe, it can scarcely be ‘big’
to Him. Humans struggle with its vastness because our comprehension is limited to
the created time/space dimensions within which we exist, and it is mind-bending
to try and comprehend anything beyond these. Time itself began with the creation
of the physical universe, but how can we understand eternity? What was ‘before’
the universe? Similarly, how do we understand how ‘big’ God is? We cannot
use a tape measure that is made of atoms to measure Him.
The Bible and ETs
It is often asked, ‘Just because the Bible teaches about God creating intelligent
life only on Earth, why couldn’t He have done so elsewhere?’
After all, Scripture does not discuss everything, e.g. motorcars. However, the biblical
objection to ET is not merely an argument from silence. Rather, understanding the
big picture of the Bible/gospel message allows us to conclude clearly that the reason
the Bible doesn’t mention extraterrestrials (ETs) is that there aren’t
any.1
- The Bible indicates that the whole creation groans and travails under the
weight of sin (Romans 8:18–22). The effect of the Curse following
Adam’s Fall was universal.2 Otherwise what would be the
point of God destroying this whole creation to make way for a new heavens
and Earth—2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1 ff? Therefore, any ETs living elsewhere
would have been (unjustly) affected by the Adamic Curse through no fault of their
own—they would not have inherited Adam’s sin nature.
- When Christ (God) appeared in the flesh, He came to Earth not only to redeem mankind
but eventually the whole creation back to Himself (Romans 8:21, Colossians 1:20). However, Christ’s atoning death
at Calvary cannot save these hypothetical ETs, because one needs to be a physical
descendant of Adam for Christ to be our ‘kinsman-redeemer’ (Isaiah 59:20). Jesus was called ‘the last Adam’
because there was a real first man, Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22,45)—not a first Vulcan, Klin gon
etc. This is so a sinless human Substitute takes on the punishment all humans deserve
for sin (Isaiah 53:6,10; Matthew 20:28; 1 John 2:2, 4:10), with no need to atone for any
(non-existent) sin of his own (Hebrews 7:27).
- Since this would mean that any ETs would be lost for eternity when this present
creation is destroyed in a fervent heat (2 Peter 3:10, 12), some have wondered whether Christ’s
sacrifice might be repeated elsewhere for other beings. However, Christ died once
for all (Romans 6:10, 1 Peter 3:18) on the earth. He is not going
to be crucified and resurrected again on other planets (Hebrews 9:26). This is confirmed by the fact that the redeemed
(earthly) church is known as Christ’s bride (Ephesians 5:22–33; Revelation 19:7–9) in a marriage that will last
for eternity.3 Christ is
not going to be a polygamist with many other brides from other planets.
- The Bible makes no provision for God to redeem any other species, any more than
to redeem fallen angels (Hebrews 2:16).
Fitting them in there … somehow!
One attempt to fit ETs in the Bible is on the basis of a word in Hebrews 11:3: ‘Through faith we understand that the
worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were
not made of things which do appear.’
The word ‘worlds’ appears in the KJV translation and some others, and
some claim that it refers to other inhabitable planets. However, the word is αιών
(aiōn), from which we derive the word ‘eon’. Thus modern
translations render the word as ‘universe’ (entire space-time continuum)
because it correctly describes ‘everything that exists in time and space,
visible and invisible, present and eternal’. Even if it was referring to other
planets, it is an unwarranted extrapolation to presume intelligent life on them.
Jesus’ teaching was causing division among the Jews, because they always believed
that salvation from God was for them alone. Jesus was reaffirming that He would
be the Saviour of all mankind.
Another is the passage in John 10:16 in which Jesus says, ‘I have other sheep,
which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice;
and they will become one flock with one shepherd.’ However, even an ET-believing
astronomer at the Vatican (thus a ‘hostile witness’ to the ‘no
ETs cause’), a Jesuit priest by the name of Guy Consalmagno, concedes, ‘In
context, these “other sheep” are presumably a reference to the Gentiles,
not extraterrestrials.’4
Jesus’ teaching was causing division among the Jews (vs. 19), because they
always believed that salvation from God was for them alone. Jesus was reaffirming
that He would be the Saviour of all mankind.
A novel approach
A more recent idea to allow for ETs arose out of a perceived need to protect Christianity
in the event of a real alien visitation to Earth. Michael S. Heiser is an influential
Christian UFOlogist/speaker with a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages.
He claims that the arguments put forward earlier might not apply to God-created
aliens. Because they are not descendants of Adam they have not inherited his sin
nature, and thus, are not morally guilty before God. Just like ‘bunny rabbits’
on the earth, they do not need salvation—even though they will die, they are
going to neither heaven nor hell.
On the surface this seems a compelling argument; after all, fallen angels are intelligent
but are beyond salvation (Hebrews 2:16). However, angels are immortal and not of our
corporeal dimension. And Heiser’s ETs in spaceships require a level of intelligence
not found in rabbits. This acutely highlights the injustice of their suffering the
effects of the Curse, including death and ultimately extinction when the heavens
are ‘rolled up like a scroll’ (Revelation 6:14). It also seems bizarre to assign no moral
responsibility for the actions of highly intelligent beings.
Heiser also claims that vastly intelligent ETs would not displace mankind’s
position as being made in the image of God because ‘image’ just means
humans have been placed as God’s representatives on the earth.
However, the Bible says we are made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). Man was immediately created a fully intelligent
being about 6,000 years ago and was involved in craftsmanship shortly thereafter
(Genesis 4:22). Since that time, even we have not been able
to develop technologies advanced enough to travel to other star systems. If aliens
were capable of developing incredible faster-than-light spaceships needed to get
here, one would presume they must have been created with vastly superior intellect
to ours—which would make them even more in God’s likeness in that sense
than we are. Or, their creation is much older than the 6,000 years of the biblical
six-day timeframe; the aliens were created before man and had sufficient time to
develop their technologies. However, God created Earth on Day 1 and later the heavenly
bodies on Day 4.
Influenced from outside the Bible
Although Heiser does not promote theistic evolution, he is sympathetic to a universe
billions of years old, as proposed by the progressive creationist Dr Hugh Ross.5 In theory, this could allow
the time necessary for any unseen ETs to develop the almost science-fiction-like
technologies required to get here. But, this is circular reasoning.
However, there is a huge problem for the Gospel in these long ages. First, it’s
important to understand that long ages derived from the belief that sedimentary
rock layers on Earth represent eons of time.6
This in turn derived from the dogmatic assumption that there were no special
acts of creation or a global Flood, so that Earth’s features must be explained
by processes seen to be happening now.7
This philosophy of uniformitarianism seems to amply fulfil the Apostle
Peter’s prophecy recorded in 2 Peter 3:3–7.
The conflict with the Gospel is that these very same rock layers contain fossils—a
record of dead things showing evidence of violence, disease and suffering. Thus,
taking a millions-of-years view, even without evolution, places death and suffering
long before the Fall of Adam. This undermines the Gospel and the very reasons that
Christ came to the earth—such as reversing the effects of the Curse.
Ranking the created order
Psalm 8:5 says that man was made a little lower than the
angels and crowned with glory and honour. Heiser has said that salvation is based
upon ranking, not intelligence. If so, where would ET sit in this pecking order
(which omits to mention them)? Would they be higher than man, and lower than angels,
for example? If these advanced ETs were capable of visiting the earth, mankind would
now be subject to their dominion. (Even if the ETs were friendly, potentially
they would be much more powerful due to their intelligence and technology.) This
would be in direct contravention to God’s ordained authority structure when
he ordered mankind to ‘subdue’ the earth—also known as the dominion
mandate (Genesis 1:28).
Be ‘awe’ inspired
Psalm 19:1 tells us a major reason that the universe is
so vast: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His
handiwork.’
It reminds us that the more we discover about this incredible universe, the more
we should be in awe of the One who made it all. That’s who we should be thinking
of, not imaginary aliens we’ve never seen.
Could there be ‘simple life’ elsewhere in space?
NASA
NASA
Two identical Mars Rovers traverse the surface searching for evidence of water.
Evolutionary researchers are eagerly looking for past or present signs of (even)
microscopic life.
The Bible’s ‘big picture’ seems to preclude intelligent
life elsewhere in God’s universe1 (see main text). But what about
bacteria on other planets for example? It’s possible that God made these,
but exceedingly unlikely.2 What would be their purpose? The entire focus
of creation is mankind on this Earth; the living forms on Earth’s beautifully
balanced biosphere are part of our created life support system.
If bacteria are found elsewhere in the solar system, it will be hailed as proof
that life can ‘just evolve’.3 However, we have previously
predicted in print that in such an unlikely event, the organisms will have earth-type
DNA, etc., consistent with having originated from here as contaminants—either
carried by recent man-made probes, or riding fragments of rock blasted from Earth
by meteorite impacts.
References
- Compare Grigg, R., Did life come from outer space?
Creation 22(4):40–43, 2000; Bates, G., Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the evolution connection,
Master Books, Arkansas, USA, 2004.
- Sarfati, J., Conclusive evidence for life from Mars?
Remember last time! <creation.com/mars>, 15 May 2002.
- Matthews, M., Space life? Answering unearthly allegations,
Creation 25(3):54–55, 2003; <creation.com/space_life>.
Related articles
References and notes
- Of course, there are angelic beings. These were made early
in Creation Week—referred to as ‘sons of God’ and ‘morning
stars’ in the poetry of the book of Job, they rejoiced and sang at the formation
of the earth’s ‘foundations’ (Job 38:7). Return to text.
- Sarfati, J., The Fall: a cosmic
catastrophe: Hugh Ross’s blunders on plant death in the Bible, Journal
of Creation 19(3):60–64, 2005; <creation.com/plant_death>.
Return to text.
- The church was bought with the blood of its Saviour from the
wound in His side, a clear analogy to the first woman being born from a ‘wound’
in Adam’s side. Return to text.
- Consolgmagno, G., Humans are not God’s only intelligent
works, <www.stnews.org/Commentary-891.htm>, 3 January 2006. He actually took
the affirmative side in a debate with CMI’s Dr Jonathan Sarfati, whose negative
is <www.stnews.org/Commentary-890.htm> (they didn’t see each other’s
arguments before publication in the liberal Science and Theology News).
Return to text.
- Ross believes in soulless man-like creatures before Adam,
similar in spiritual status to Heiser’s hypothetical ETs. For a complete refutation
of Ross’s ideas see Refuting Compromise by Jonathan Sarfati Master
Books, Arkansas, USA, 2004. Return to text.
- Henry, J.F., An old age for the earth is the heart of evolution,
Creation Research Society Quarterly 40(3):164–172,
December 2003. Return to text.
- Mortenson, T., The Great Turning Point, Master Books,
Arkansas, USA, 2004. Return to text.
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