Extraterrestrial Life vs Religion
Why is it that religion has so much bearing over extraterrestrial life? What makes religion so much more believable? There is no more proof than there is with extraterrestrial life. There is written accounts of religion (bible, etc...) However there are also millions of sightings and written accounts of extraterrestrial life. All that either is, are written accounts of what supposedly happened. The entire bible is just someone’s written account of what happened in their eyes. I mean if you want to get technical, for all we know, the bible could just be a good work of fiction, right? You might not want to admit that, but it’s a possibility whether you want to admit it or not. The same goes with extraterrestrial life though, for all we know it could be just the human mind wanting to believe in something badly. Which brings me back to my question? What makes religion so much more believable than extraterrestrial life? Maybe because religion is more socially acceptable to believe in. I know influence has something to do with what we believe in, but are people really that ignorant to see that religion is no more fact or fiction than extraterrestrial life is? Both are just written accounts that could be fact, but both could also just be a really good story though, right?
MRS SMITH
READ THIS
SISTERS IN CRIME
Maybe it's because people who have believed in religion have put it into practice and found it works?
Whereas a lot of people who believe in extra terrestrials have never had any contact with them other than Spielberg films?
It's a valid question: Is the Bible a work of fiction?
Those with faith will beleive it is the word of God, albeit written by men inspired by the Holy Ghost. Those without faith won't.
If you were to imagine yourself living in the times of Christ, and St John came down from Mt Thabor and said, "I saw Christ transfigured, and saw Moses and Elias." It would depend on whether or not you thought he was a credible witness of the events that took place up there.
I've met a couple of what I consider Holy Men in my lifetime, and their lifestyles bore testimony to the fact that they put into practice what they believed. I call them credible. When they speak. I listen and believe. There aren't a lot of people like that in the world. They would say, "I live like I do because of my faith."
Neither of these two men did anything extraordinary in the miraculous sense. But I do remember one of them saying something along the lines of, today's world is not the time for miracles. It's the time for living a very simple life, because if you can save your soul in today's world with all the distractions and temptations, that is a miracle in itself.
I think everyone wants to believe in something. It's at the core of our beings. What we end up believing in, depends upon so many factors. St Paul said Faith comes through hearing. I don't think he meant just audible hearing. You can hear text. It's why he wrote so many epistles (letters). So his voice could be heard. He had something to say about God.
On Monday mornings in the monastery you always sang Psalm 18.
To me, that's divine poetry. There's a lot in it. And it's about hearing text. Which is why Sacred Scripture (the Bible) exists in written form. We hear the voice of the author. Now if the principal author of Sacred Scripture is God Himself, and the secondary author is the man or woman who penned His words, whose voice are we principally hearing?
God is an extra-terrestrial. So I guess I do believe in them.
Fringe Faith
Samaritan's Stories
In terms of the different between belief in aliens and belief in God, I think the main difference is that belief in God gives life meaning. We can see and feel God in the world, in our lives and the lives of people around us. Belief in God can motivate us to become better people and to make the world a better place. It provides us with a purpose. Belief in aliens will never do that. It just gives us something interesting to speculate about.
I agree with Smith that everyone wants to believe in something. Some people choose to believe in a cause. Some people choose to believe in the existence of something that can't be proven. Some people choose to believe in doing something meaningful with their life. Some people choose to believe in achieving their goals. Some people choose to believe in finding explanations for the way the world works. I think each of these 'beliefs' is only part of the whole story. Belief in God covers the lot.
Light Within
How do You Express Your Creativity?
Food Leaf
Some find meaning in the footy, various codes. Who are we to say they're wrong?
Fringe Faith
Samaritan's Stories
Samaritan
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
I could not have found better words to sum up my feelings on this question.
Light Within
How do You Express Your Creativity?
Food Leaf
Infognito
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
Religion is a great panacea for many, of all walks and beliefs. Over the millenia, it evolved and sometimes devovled, and often became more popular as oppression became more intense.
It has been the banner under which many sort refuge, and then, under the same banner it has wrecked havoc and mayhem upon others who do not share its belief system.
All that, millions slaughtered, for the sake of bias as to what, or who, "God" is.
Of course "God" is an alien!
How many humans do you know can part the Red Sea, rise up into the sky and into "Heaven", cause famine and flood...the list goes on.
Man has used "God" to explain and blame since "He" or "She" was invented. The Jewish "God" and many of "His " laws were borrowed from the far more ancient beliefs of the Egyptians, (I refer you to the Egyptian Book of the Dead); the Christians, Roman Catholics originally, then adopted and adapted their own version...and so it goes on.
What makes more sense to me is, that we need "God" when we realize how powerless and impotent we are, and as science states, we are all a part of the stars, then the stars are "God", and the universe is "God".
For me, the face of "God" is the starry night sky.
However, to ignore the hundreds of thousands of photos and film of UFOs, and the evidence of first hand witnesses, many of whom are military, pilots and police, is to stick your head in the sand, like an ostrich when threatened, and hope it will all go away.
By the way, I have a personal theory, the "aliens" are, in fact, us...
cheers
fog
(P.S.
Mau-Medellin
Extraterrestrial
adjective
of or from outside the earth or its atmosphere : searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.
noun
a hypothetical or fictional being from outer space, esp. an intelligent one.
Who knows, God may well be an 'alien' and these extraterrestrial sightings could in fact be sightings of God.
Personally I'm agnostic, so whilst I live presently with the belief that there is no God; I am open to the possibility.
Mau-Medellin
Conscious Reason
Philosophically Warped
Think about this for a second. When you tell a story, do you ever just tell the facts without making your story sound a little better by expanding the actuality of what happened?
On the extra-terrestrial issue, there definitely are E.T.'s all around us everywhere. They are called angels ( or demons) and they fit the definition perfectly. They are a different race, from a different place, and they intervene in good and bad ways that nobody fully understands. Just because they don't fit our hollywood image of aliens doesn't make them any less so.
Conscious Reason
Philosophically Warped
Fringe Faith
Samaritan's Stories
I don't really think it's fair to say that people only reject the bible because they are ignorant of it. Many people know that the bible claims to have a supernatural source, but reject that. I personally think that the bible is inspired by God. But I don't think that people who disagree with me do so out of ignorance.
Also, I have read The Case for Christ and did not find it a compelling argument. I read already convinced - as a Christian. But I found it only gave a one-sided argument. I thought it would have been better if it provided two sides of the argument and showed why the case for christianity was the most plausible one.
Samaritan
Infognito
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
Fascinating, I never knew... BUT.. how then does this statement sit with the notion of the world being made in seven days, and that it is only thousands of years old?
Sorry Anthony Henderson,
we will agree to disagree.....
My father was an exploration geologist, (one of the best) and not only is there physical proof, that you can touch and examine today, proving the Earth is billions of years old, but, it also shows through the strata, ice cores, palaeontology etc that the Earth took a great deal of time to form as we enjoy it today.
And one other thing, the notion that we all came from Adam and Eve.... please... what about Cain coming back with a horde of family members, where did they come from?
The Bible is a great and wonderful work of philosophy, couched in parable terms that allowed the people of the time to understand the philosophy it contained.
I will always defend the Bible as a book of insights and truths about humanity, but never can it be seriously considered as a book of absolute fact.
cheers
fog
P.S. This does not mean I am athiest, on the contrary, I firmly believe in an afterlife, my spiritual being and a "God Force", I just do not pretend I know absolutely what that entails....
Modern Existence
The Niche Blog
I have to say that the reason people tend to lean more toward the religious side of things, especially the ones i mentioned above, is because of how long religion has been apart of our history. Just look how important things like world exploration are done becasue of religious pursuit. North America was colonized for religious freedom.
Things like UFOS and ghosts and the such was "witchcraft" and "sorcery" and you'd be removed from life if you went around doing things like this. So you can see why even though we live in an open society that is much more liberal than it was, things like UFO's and such are still on the taboo side
1) You can't understand the Bible and honestly deny it's supernatural qualities. The science of mathematical probability confirms this in just the prophecies concerning Jesus alone. Is it so hard to believe that God gave you a book to teach you who He is? Would he give you two books to confuse you? He used men to write his perfect book. The Bible has one theme that carries all the way through even though it was written over thousands of years by different men. Nobody else but God could do that. By the way that theme is that God loves you and is trying to save you.
2) I'm sure your father was good at his job, but science supports a young Earth more than an old one. Two scientific examples are the distance of the Sun and the Moon from the Earth. Even a million years ago Earth would not be able to support life because Earth would be too close to both of these with deathly results.The problem is that two people can look at the same evidence from two totally different perspectives and come to two different conclusions. Only one of them can be correct however.
3) Evolutionists cling to many false precepts. Here are two of them. The geologic column does not exist in nature. Every major form of life has been found in every type of strata, which destroys it reliability for "timing" the existence of life on Earth. Carbon Dating is even based on the geologic column. Carbon dating is kooky because you need an uncontaminated sample for it to even be marginally plausible. An uncontaminated sample does not exist in nature. Watch a debate between evolution and creation and see which side uses facts and which one uses emotional and vague rebuttal.
4) The Case For Christ is not a one sided book. It is an atheist asking Christians common atheistic questions. How is that one sided?
5) The Bible never says that Cain and Abel are Adam and Eve's only children. They lived for over 900 years and had many, many, many, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and so on. Probably enough for a whole town. (Inbreeding was not genetically damaging at the time, and therefore not forbidden.)
I could go on and on and on, but instead I suggest people open their hearts to the idea that there is an almighty God that really loves them and wants a relationship with them, His way, not mans way. Pray and ask Him, in Jesus name.
Fringe Faith
Samaritan's Stories
the reason I said it was one-sided is because he only speaks to those people who will say that there are good reasons for believing in Jesus. He doesn't interview anyone who will say the opposite thing. If you had a criminal case, you have both the prosecution and the defendant. All I'm saying is it would have been better if he interviewed people on the other side who don't believe there is a good case to be made for Christianity, and showed why they were wrong.
I have read quite good books that do this. They look at the opposite points of view, and show why Christianity still makes sense. I find them far more convincing. It's not a book I would give to an atheist or agnostic friend, because I really wouldn't expect them to be convinced by it.
Samaritan
Me and a buddy of mine saw some strange lights in the sky when we were in our teens camping outside. They were just dots and they seemed very very far away. I wasn't sure if I was seeing things or what so I asked my buddy if he saw what I saw and he said he did. They moved rapidly in one direction leaving a trail from the point they started at, all the way to the point they stopped at, then the trail caught up with the dot and then the dot disappeared. There where five of them two red and three blue and they all did the exact same thing but at different times.
I still can't explain what they were, but I can tell you one thing, it is irrelevant to me now, and someday when I go to Heaven I can ask God what they were and then I will know. Until then, why worry about it?