God didn't make little green men.

[SoylentGreen]

freefallife asked the question in phoenix_fire's thread on little green men, and it was one I was thinking about too.

So what would be the effect of aliens arriving on earth on theology?
After all, god said he created man, but he didn't say anything about creating little green men. He said he created life on earth, but no mention of creating life on other planets.

I can imagine three scenarios
1. They land and completely deny the existence of a god, they are atheists.
2. They believe in a god but not ours.
3. They believe in the same god as us, but they also were not told by god about us and believe like us that they are the chosen ones. That god gave them dominion over all.
Would it make any change in theology and belief?

[Kuldeep]

Sorry, I am not aware about Little Green men ! Please give some background .

I think you mean people from other planet. Do you ?

[Suburbanite]

Imagine the little green men land here and they don't understand what we mean by science.

[freefallife]

I think theists, well Christians at least, would once again revise their interpretation of the bible to fit. After all, it does say that god created the heavens. That would be their all inclusive excuse.

[Kuldeep]

Quote by: SoylentGreen freefallife asked the question in phoenix_fire's thread on little green men, and it was one I was thinking about too. So what would be the effect of aliens arriving on earth on theology? After all, god said he created man, but he didn't say anything about creating little green men. He said he created life on earth, but no mention of creating life on other planets.

God is our imagination and what he said about creating of life is also our imagination. Till now, the fact is that we exist on earth and have not found life (our type) anywhere else.

I can imagine three scenarios 1. They land and completely deny the existence of a god, they are atheists. 2. They believe in a god but not ours. 3. They believe in the same god as us, but they also were not told by god about us and believe like us that they are the chosen ones. That god gave them dominion over all. Would it make any change in theology and belief?

That is right now ! You can imagine and so can I or, anybody for that matter !!!

Yes, hypothetically or from probability there are chances of existence of our type of life on few or any other planet in whole of universe. But unless and until their senses of perception are similar to ours, we won't be able to feel their presence, leaving aside whether they believe in God as we do !!! When on our own earth itself we are not knowing, "Is there any other species other than human who believe in God"; how it is possible to know about beliefs of species of outer space !!!????

Now suppose few strange creatures (Green Men) are seen on the earth coming out of some strange Flying object and also they are able to communicate with us. We have no choice but to believe them what they say !! We do not believe each other but would be forced to believe unkown fellows !!! How to know who speaks the truth !!!?????

Concluding from all this, I feel it would not make any change in our theology and belief !!!!!

[freefallife]

Are you kidding?? It would turn our world up side down!! Just think of all the amunition atheists would have against the bible! I can't wait!!

[shawmutt]

Just think of all the amunition atheists would have against the bible!

And here I am thinking Stalin's Russia provided plenty of ammunition against the Bible.

What would really blow people's mind is if these little green men came to Earth with documented proof that they seeded the homo sapiens on this planet 40,000 years ago. That would blow some minds.

[freefallife]

Or why it wasn't "Prophesized" in the bible. The bible will make predictions like "the messiah will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey", but would leave out something like the first contact with an alien species??

[Kuldeep]

Quote by: shawmutt And here I am thinking Stalin's Russia provided plenty of ammunition against the Bible. What would really blow people's mind is if these little green men came to Earth with documented proof that they seeded the homo sapiens on this planet 40,000 years ago. That would blow some minds.

Do not worry, nothing such thing would happen!! I pointed out in my post that nobody would/should believe them, when we do not believe each other here on earth.Theists are having very firm mind, it won't get blown so easily. Rather, they would blow them back to the place, where from they might have come !!!!

[Suburbanite]

Why do atheists need ammunition against the bible? They're not antitheists.

[butterbut]

According to evolution what is the chance that intillegence life has actually evolved somewhere else? I think it would give even more evidence of intelligent design.

[Zhavric]

Quote by: SoylentGreen I can imagine three scenarios 1. They land and completely deny the existence of a god, they are atheists. 2. They believe in a god but not ours. 3. They believe in the same god as us, but they also were not told by god about us and believe like us that they are the chosen ones. That god gave them dominion over all. Would it make any change in theology and belief?

Think about the Japanese for a moment.

The Japanese language uses characters rather than letters and is written up & down rather than left to right. There is no past, present and future tense. Instead, there's "finished" and "unfinished".

Traditional Japanese society values personal honor over personal freedom. For centuries, Japan was divided into feudal kingdoms where the sword was the end all / be all of combat, societal standing, and even spirituality.

To this day, Japan remains a society that (in many ways) is far removed from Western culture...

... and yet the Japanse are human beings nearly genetically identical to all other human beings.

Point being, I hate seeing people talk about aliens as though they'd share our basic societal understandings.

Read Stranger in a Strange Land. Though it's quite dated, it gives an interesting idea of how beings from another planet may think and interact with us.

So, I reject the idea that the three options you gave are even remotely plausible. I reject the idea that space aliens would look like star trek extras.

[SoylentGreen]

Zhavric So, I reject the idea that the three options you gave are even remotely plausible. I reject the idea that space aliens would look like star trek extras.

There are possibilities zhavric. Its possible that aliens would be so alien that there is no common ground. But it's also possible that we could have common interests.
As alien as the east is to the west there was still common ground of trade and we experienced the same physical reality.
Aliens, if not too alien would share the same mathematics as us and the same desire to be curious.
The earth shows us that there is a myriad of life forms here, so it's not impossible to imagine myriads of life forms on other planets.
They may not share our social understanding but that does not mean they are unaware of differing social standards.

To reject the idea that the three options I gave are even remotely plausible your going to have to come up with a better argument than a stranger in a strange land.
Even there there was common ground even if it was misunderstood.

[Rainbow]

Quote by: SoylentGreen 1. After all, god said he created man, but he didn't say anything about creating little green men. He said he created life on earth, but no mention of creating life on other planets. 2. I can imagine three scenarios 1. They land and completely deny the existence of a god, they are atheists. 2. They believe in a god but not ours. 3. They believe in the same god as us, but they also were not told by god about us and believe like us that they are the chosen ones. That god gave them dominion over all. Would it make any change in theology and belief?

#2
1. A possible scenario
2. 3. They are morons :-)
I do not think any scenario would influence the Science and Technology and/or Theology.

#1
That concept reflects the way many Homo Sapiens representatives perceive the information within the Bible.
(Most) People take the Bible very literally. That is mistake they make.

[freefallife]

Quote by: Suburbanite Why do atheists need ammunition against the bible? They're not antitheists.

Some atheists are anti-theist.

[freefallife]

Quote by: butterbut According to evolution what is the chance that intillegence life has actually evolved somewhere else? I think it would give even more evidence of intelligent design.

The chances are extremely high.

There are about 130 billion galaxies, each containing as many as 400 billion stars. Nobody is certain of how many planets are in our universe. A reasonable (albeit very rough) estimate is about 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, which is reached by multiplying 130 billion (galaxies), 400 billion (stars per galaxy) and one

The probablility for just ONE of those 50,000 billion billion planets has evolved life is astronomicly high. That would lend no more weight to intelligent design that there is now, which is none.

On the other hand, it would be hard for people to explain the LACK of an explaination for other life in the universe in the bible. According to the bible, the universe was created for US. Another question would be, as I stated before, with all the "amazing" prophecies in the bible, why would the encounter with another intelligent life form not be one of them?

[Thanatos]

If they show up I hope they have the good sense to not say a word about religion. If they feel like proving their beliefs regardless of what their beliefs are, then all the religious fundies the world over are immediately going to start shooting at them and kick off an interplanetary war. Regardless of what they say the majority of the Earth is going to be proven wrong; we can't all be right. People who have just been proven wrong do not suddenly see the light. They just get really, really pissed off...

[Technosoul]

Quote by: freefallife Or why it wasn't "Prophesized" in the bible. The bible will make predictions like "the messiah will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey", but would leave out something like the first contact with an alien species??

How about the "sky parting" and a " city flying down from the sky to land in Israel". And what about visitations from angels? Both devel angels and the good ones?

What about a "star" leading wise men to Jesus on Christmas, it might have been a UFO.

What about the UFO that dropped manna to Moses that looked like a cloud by day and a light by night?

December 21, 2012 AD 11:18 AM GMT

[freefallife]

Quote by: Technosoul How about the "sky parting" and a " city flying down from the sky to land in Israel". And what about visitations from angels? Both devel angels and the good ones? What about a "star" leading wise men to Jesus on Christmas, it might have been a UFO. What about the UFO that dropped manna to Moses that looked like a cloud by day and a light by night?

Completely unfounded conjectures....just like every other theistic claim.

[Jack]

I think the most likely form of alien life we'll encounter will be mold-like, single cell. Simpler life forms can survive hostile environments better than complex ones. Those little green men might turn out to be little green slime.