Does Jesus save aliens?

Four hundred years after Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for his belief in the "plurality of worlds" (aliens), scientists and religious leaders gathered this week at a seemingly more open-minded Vatican for a conference on astrobiology (aliens).

The meeting focussed on current science, rather than the theological quandaries thrown up by the possibilty of other life forms beyond this planet. But that hasn't stopped debate spilling over outside the conference.

Yesterday I spoke to Paul Davies, a cosmologist from Arizona State University, just after he addressed the conference. In his view, the possibility of other civilisations - potentially more intelligent than our own - puts Christians “in a real bind”. Specifically, he says that nobody's satisfactorily addressed the question of whether aliens get saved. “The Catholic church offers a very species specific brand of salvation. Noone says that Jesus came to save the dolphins and certainly not little green men,” he said.

The possibility of extraterrestrial life does not pose the same problems for Eastern religions, which tend to be less Earth-centric, or Islam, which speaks explicitly of life beyond Earth, he said.

The Vatican does not have an official position on alien life forms, but a number of its scientists have spoken out on the issue. Father Jose Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory told the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, that the possibility of “brother extraterrestrials” was not incompatible with Catholic theology.

William Stroeger, an astrophysicist at the Vatican Observatory Research Group and a Jesuit priest, agreed: “There might be fundamentalists for whom the two things are incompatible but mainline congregations - Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists - would not have a problem with this,” he said.

Stroeger pointed out that the Catechism introduced after the second Vatican council states that there can be no conflict between science and religion. “If there’s a contradiction it means that we haven’t understood or interpreted one of them correctly,” he said.

This may be the case, but I agree with Davies that this isn't a trivial issue for theologists. Giggle factor aside, the question of whether Jesus would save aliens goes right to the heart of Christian beliefs. If you believe that "intelligent life" equals having a soul, then you have to ask where you'd draw the line. If scientists found dolphins on a distant planet, they would be mad with excitement at having found something so smart. But what would theologians make of them?

Stroeger conceded that the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe would pose a challenge, but said that it would not be insurmountable. “There are some difficult issues to resolve, such as whether Jesus as saviour is the one who saves everyone in the Universe or if there are other equivalent salvation events that take place elsewhere in the Universe,” he said.

I was left feeling slightly mind-boggled at how you would even begin to answer such a question.
 

Comments

[David]

LAWL!

[Steve]

It's simple. All the aliens and dolphins go on to eternal damnation, the same as the untold human billions who lived before the Bible or who's geographical location has made their signing up to the Great Scheme difficult or impossible. Next question please.

Actually, I've got one for you: "If there’s a contradiction it means that we haven’t understood or interpreted one of them correctly". Guess which one.

[Michael E]

Watch out aliens! The christians are coming to save you!

[Frederick Christensen]

Is there any point to this brainless banter?Surely you materialistic,anti Christian hacks can engage in something a little less redundant.The sophistry is dim witted indeed.Oh I know,trying staring up your assholes for a change of pace...might do all you atheistic fools a world of good.

[Keith Templeman]

Getting involved in a discussion about the detail of religious belief is pointless, as it is all a complete invention anyway. If they reach an impasse with observable facts they will simply choose to invent and then believe in something else. Don't give them the oxygen.

[A Visitor]

How is there a problem here? "Only begotten Son" means "a male human". The same with "No man comes to the Father except through me." It does not mean a cub, a calf, a duckling -- or a member of a non-human intelligent race. The more literally one takes essentially biological doctrines like Adam's Original Sin, or Mary's Immaculate Conception, or Christ's Virgin Birth, or the Eucharist, the more obvious it is that non-human intelligent races have their own scenarios. If they have not fallen, they are still in a State of Grace. If they have fallen, they have a past or present or future Savior, as God wills it. Christians say that angels are intelligent non-humans; that one-third have fallen; that two-thirds are in Grace; that their entire scenario is separate from Humanity. Isn't that also true for any other race, anywhere in Creation?

[MisterQ]

"Aliens" as the article calls them are deceiving you as to their origin. They are merely the fallen 1/3 of all angels, cast down from heaven along with Lucifer. As such, there fate is already sealed. No amount of "religion" being preached at them by the cult of Catholicism will "save" them. From my experiences, I would guess 95-99% of self described "Christians" don't have a clue what the bible states about demons. How can anyone expect an atheist or a Catholic to know God's truth?

[InternetExplorer]

Wonder whats gonna happen when science finds all the answers. Are people still going to pit fact and faith against each other? Or will religion be forced to finally submit?

[Jabba]

What a stupid debate. They may as well debate the salvation of the Easter Bunny. How about we first confirm the existence of intelligent ETs before speculating what the theological implications might be? Assume we do discover an intelligent ET. How exactly would religion quantify that the ET possesed a soul that required "saving"? It can't.

[Billy]

Read Job, Chapter 1.

This is a non-argument.

Of course there are other worlds watching us. But Earth is where the contest of sin is taking place.

[Billy]

This article shows amazing shallowness regarding this topic.

The Bible states that we are in the midst of a great controversy that is to be settled here on Earth. These UFOs and other such images are nothing but demons which are trying to convince the world that the Bible is not true. They did not come from another planet. They have been here on Earth since Adam's fall. Earth is where the sin issue is to be decided. Earth is where it will be finished. Once sin is dealt with, and once Satan and his demon angels are destroyed, those who were saved (John 1:12) from this planet will be taken to see the center of our Creator's kingdom. After a thousand years, we come back, the wicked are raised up to face their judgement of permanent destruction by fire. The Earth is remade when the fire cools down, and then this planet becomes the new center of God's kingdom. Yes there are probably trillions of other angels and being and different worlds out there. But none of them are sinful. All of them are watching Earth carefully to see the final solution to this sin problem. Essentially, Earth is under a "sin quarantine". None of us can leave without being de-contaminated.
Again, this is such a NON-ISSUE, but leave it up to the Catholic beast of Babylon to try and deceive the world regarding this "alien" mess. They are not aliens. They are demons.

[Billy]

In our lifetime, you will see these "aliens" reveal themselves.

They will tell us that Earth is in great danger, and only one being can save us.

Satan then appears, pretending to be Christ.

He causes the whole world to worship him, which has been his goal since the start.

The only ones who do not worship him are the last remnant of saved Bible believing people who refuse to bow down.

This is part of Satan's end-game. The Bible warned us about this.

[Billy]

As this last remnant is chased, murdered and persecuted to the corners of the Earth, there will eventually be only 144,000 of them left.

At this point, during great volcanoes, earthquakes, diseases and wars and hunger...

You will be seeing the complete end of the world.

I would not even buy green bananas by this point.

The return of the true Christ would be only days or weeks away.

[Billy]

There will be no mistaking the real Second Coming of Christ.

Every eye will see him.

Every ear will hear him.

It will not be on Youtube or Myspace.

The entire universe will be rolled apart like a scroll, and if your feet are not lifted off the ground, you will know that it is a deception.

Christ will not touch the ground. Instead, He lifts us up in the air to meet Him.

That's how you know its the real thing, and not a demonic delusion.

[Shatterface]

James Blish tackled this question in the 50's in his classic SF novella 'A Case of Conscience'.

[jim]

Catholics need to accept the age of the earth and evolution before even getting into other planets.

[Brnon]

I *believe* that theology also faces some challenge as regards Time, and the end of Times. What if the End of Time does not happen everywhere at the same time in the universe ? And are there creatures somewhere facing an Apocalypse as we speak ? or does an Apocalypse always occur when all lives are just souls ? Is God relativist, partly creating the Universe at one time, and at the same time ... in a distant galaxy

[Brnon]

Hmmm... And what about the .... reproduction ... or eating... habits of these superiorly intelligent creatures ? Are we sure that they do not have some kind of way of life that makes them altogether and definitely unredeemable ? Some kind of Original Sin that cannot be erased by any means ? Could these creatures be unequivocally all going to team up with the already numerous Hell's populations ?

[Clover]

Such Good Christian tidings and love from Frederick Christensen's post up there.

[redthron]

Jesus is alive.Aliens don't exsist.
The Bible is like opening our eyes to the reality which sometimes isn't......but He loves us all so much through our life when we are unaware that He is really present in the Eucharist full of joy at our presence.People are looking for the explanation their existence on earth feel so alone unhappy.Life is so hard.He can give us peace which the world cannot give.We can experience it in the Holy Communion with Him.I love You Jesus.I was blind and hungry and You Gave me Yourself You gave me real hope YOU are giving me Your loving heart.Please Jesus if someone is looking for You and is so unhappy hungry of true love that is looking YOU even in the moon please now......VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS:)

[alfuso]

why would any extra-terrestrials care? What if they come here try to save US?

Such Christian arrogance.

[redthron]

Jesus feels like an allien among Souls which mean for HIM all.One look at Him one smile one thought ten minutes beside HIS loving heart half an hour a day trying to know HIS words in the Holy Bible and is so grateful so moving.He is the greatest Treasure for mankind but He also is hungry of love:)our Love:)our memory of Him:)Yes He would like to save the ALLIENS-us:)

[redthorn]

The animals don't have souls:)they can't be saved:)greetings to everyone:)Have a nice day:)Aliens exsist:OOOOFunny:)Children are more intelligent:)

[Kevin Archibald]

C.S. Lewis, famed author and Christian apologist wrote a fine collection of essays called Fern-Seed and Elephants - one essay was called "Religion and Rocketry" in which he imagined aliens in the Christian context.
He wondered if there could be "unfallen" aliens out there - a planet eden. Then he asks, if human and eden-ite met, would the cunning human take advantage of the innocent (read:naive) aliens, or would their wisdom dwarf our petty cunning?
Worth a read for sure!

[D]

I love how the atheists claiming to be enlightened are the ones jumping to conclusions here. There's no science in making assumptions. Consider today a sad day because the Catholics in the article are making you look like horrible scientists with their, "Let's observe some data," attitudes. How dare they collect data before forming an opinion, how dare they.

[angel]

People are you crazy?:O Aliens?:OOOO
with green skin?:OOOmore intelligent?::OOO God will save them?:OOVENI SANCTE SPIRITUS VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS

[David Dawson]

I entirely agree with MisterQ on this discussion. The so called aliens we are talking about are in fact demons that is to say fallen angels. These deceivers though invisible have been and are enitrely manifested through their human hosts, their desires, their wants, their needs and their will for the destruction of humanity have been playing out through all of history. They are in fact a very intelligent life form far so than the most intelligent and wise of human beings accept for One that being Jesus Christ who is both God and man and who is Lord, Savior, Alpha and Omega. Christ did for humanity what it could never do for itself. He took sin upon Himself, God His Father judged and condemned that sin pouring out His wrath upon Christ who then embodied it, in this single defining moment CHrist was able to save all of God's children simultaneously, judge and condemn every unbeliever there would ever be, conquer and destroy the work of sin, sinners and the Devil. At this point Christ could truly say "It is finished.!" Meaning that in Christ the will of Gdd is made complete, and that in Christ all things of time, space and matter, which includes everything have now been reconciled unto God the Father and made right for all of eternity.

So yes the answer is that there are alien life forms, they live among us every day, they have human faces, and they inhabit people like a home like we inhabit our homes, they set up shop in the richest and most powerful people in the world. THey are working towards the goal of NEW WORLD ORDER which is the cornerstone of the Rule of the ANti-Christ. Everything that is happening in this day points to these facts. We are not alone. We are inhabited by very powerful demonic forces or we are inhabited by the Holy Spirit of God and the means that God lives in us, our hearts, minds, souls and bodies and that we think, desire want and need the things of God for His substance and for His sustanance, there is no grey area in Spritual Warfare. And my GOd is one of absolutes. Absolute truth, absolute love, absolute life, absolute freedom and absolute vistory! Praise Him!

[Andy James]

First of all, God didn't seem overly concerned with The Chinese, Japanese, or the native inhabitants of both North and South America. No mention of them, no holy revelation whatsoever to the vast majority of humanity. It's safe to assume God's conscious is not stirred by the though of great suffering, should hell exist. I love the fact that the religious are so bothered by this. What is especially funny is the desire to prove aliens exist first, as if that were the logical course of action. Really, in order for the debate to have any merit at all, prove God exists first, then if it does, let God worry about 'em.

[give us REAL HEART OF CRYING IN HUNGER OF US GOD]

Veni Sancte Spiritus Veni Sancte Spiritus Veni Sancte Spiritus Veni Sancte Spiritus Veni Sancte Spiritus Veni Sancte Spiritus Veni Sancte Spiritus Veni Sancte Spiritus

[Shiloh]

The Mormons had this one figured out over 100 years ago.

[h0llywood]

^ to this guy above
Failing to plan is planning to fail..
What I want to know is if Canadians can buy American land, will aliens be able to buy it as well? : O

[not clear]

if all is GOD creation, GOD Love all. never stop to Hope and Believe GOD promise and go to the Right way from now on.

[PA Keable]

The fact that humans can even suggest or entertain such an inane thought goes a long way in demonstrating that there there is no intelligent life anywhere in the universe at all.

[Squintologyst]

I will start to place more faith in science, when science can provide hard "facts" that don't change with each new discovery that confounds the previously discovered "facts" about the mysteries of origin and the universe. With every discovery there is some arrogant scientist pounding his chest screaming “I have found the truth.” What these pompous wind bags fail to realize is that each new “discovery’ points out that the previous pompous windbag didn’t know what he was talking about, and the next discovery will prove the same. When you get right down to it, the fact is if you choose to believe science over scripture (whatever text you choose) you simply place your FAITH in things that cannot be proven beyond doubt. Welcome to the new religion of science, atheists.

[Duane]

I am not sure how many people are actually interested in the answer to the title of this article or whether they are simply here to reject the notion of religion entirely...
But religion (not just Christianity and Catholicism) is my field of study and I found this a very intriguing question. My opinion on it, if I were to take on the Biblical worldview here, would be that Jesus would not save aliens unless they were a form of man. The whole "souls" issue is irrelevant to this topic. I'll explain -
Jesus is sometimes called "the second Adam". This means that Adam (remember - this isn't my claim, this is the Bible's) was mankind's representative in the Garden of Eden, and because he broke the law all "man" was guilty. Jesus is like Adam in that he represents "man" as a whole too, any portion of "man" that accepts him. They were both representatives of humanity as a whole.
Here's the important part: the Second Person of the Trinity BECAME a man. He wasn't naturally a man, he became one to fix the problem for man. Only a man can represent mankind. Likewise, I wouldn't think a man could represent anything else (like aliens). The Second Person of the Trinity would have to become whatever alien needed to be saved in order to take their punishment.
Imagine you're guilty in a court of law, and you say, "Your honor, my tree has volunteered to take the punishment for me." That doesn't work, and it's immediately obvious. If your friend, or brother, or any other MAN (mankind) volunteered to take the punishment, that's different. That's a sufficient substitute.
Anyway, always open to discussion.

[Matt]

Apparently nobody here, including the author or this Stoeger have never read CS Lewis. Although "A Visitor" is on the right track with this one. I get frustrated with people who will openly bash 'religion' while not recognizing their own. (I'm talking to you, Keith and IE.)

[Xavier Du Château]

Haven't they got anything better to do with their time and money?

[Red Team Scout]

So where is the Biblical "proof" that aliens are really fallen angels? Oh yea, it doesn't exist. For being a religion of love, Christianity sure has a lot of racism and hatred in it. Let's suppose for a second, that God does exist, and that aliens from another planet do exist. Let's also suppose that maybe, just maybe, they're NOT daemons. Does God still hate them?

[Fragrantlilys]

The test of LOVE is in relationships
http://petertan.net/text/l14perfected.htm
God loves all His creations. If aliens are included only He knows ;D

The Spiritual World - free download
http://petertan.net/index-books.html

Peace, Love and Joy!

[Tom Hall]

If the aliens were to read some of the comments of the religious here, I`m sure they would determine that intelligence is indeed a very rare commodity.

[Alan B]

This was better the first time when it was a miniseries called "V".

[J B D]

Has it ever occurred to anyone that God is all about change?
Consider that the New Testament does indeed change "an eye for an eye" to "love your brother". If there is intelligent design behind evolution there is God initiated change as well. The earth changes as does the weather. The entire solar system moves changing the configuration of the planets. Every galaxy’ is motion and stars are born and die and the big bang changed nothing into everything.

My point is that if intelligence exists elsewhere in space is it not just another of God's changes? A religion that blinds itself to the evidence God presents and fails to adjust accordingly is doomed to pass away as irrelevant.

[ch]

Modern religions were manipulated(from old ones) to control the masses. they also allow those who claim to "believe" to look down there noses at those who don't believe or those who don't behave like them... god, Zeus, Allah, tooth fairy, easter bunny etc. same thing...

[Scott]

First, Jesus did NOT come to save dolphins but to save humanity (John 3:16/17). Second, cats and dogs are intelligent yet they have no soul so being intelligent does not translate to having a soul. This article is full of holes in its logic and urban legends about the objectives of God and Jesus. At least study the Holy Bible first, and then report on its sound reasoning before making unfounded statements.

[Scott]

I also look at it this way. The Holy Bible is specific for one type of being; humans. This doesn't mean that God hasn't created other intelligent beings elsewhere but God probably has a purpose for them also, if they do exist. The argument about why God did not mention them to us in the Bible or at any other time is really His business, not ours, and we may never know, if they do exist. Regardless of this fact, if there really are aliens from other worlds, we need to be cautious. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be naïve in their objectives yet we shouldn’t be trying to be their best friends until we know what they want or need. And look at our history of our own world. We don’t exactly perpetuate the kind of world that most would want to visit if there were aliens. We’ve been at war with each other since the beginning of mankind. Earth isn’t the first stop that I would pick and you know that there would be some numnut that would want to “shot first, ask questions later”. Not only would that make us look even far worse that we do already, imagine the ability of an aliens weaponry in relation to their technology to travel space. We’d be toast. But looking at how human beings treat each other, I doubt we’d treat them any better.

[Colby Cheese]

Treating the Bible as "THE WORD OF GOD" is a paradoxical violation of the First and Second Commandments.

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me."

"You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them;"
NRSV Exodus 20:2-5a, Deuteronomy 5:6-9a

We are to worship only God. The only way to worship God is to worship God directly. We are to worship God without the use of any surrogate or intermediary person or animal and without the use of or dependence upon any symbolic or revered object. The more we try to elevate the Bible to a level of indisputable sanctity, the more the Bible enjoins us from doing so.

[BCL]

So what about the flip side of the coin. What if aliens come to Earth some day because a profit in their past told them to come here to find the teachings of the Son of God?

[Pietro Firma]

Trollhaven.

[SmH]

If we found aliens, even if they were intelligent, I imagine they would be viewed as animals or as food resources. Unless there, by some miracle, is shared human language, our politics/human nature would have its way. After all, cats are intelligent, but they can't speak. Therefore they are not human, considered animals, not protected under human laws, and Jesus did not die to save their souls. Same logic could be applied to any non-human intelligent species. I have never hear anyone ask if a whale will go to heaven. Don't see why an alien would be any different, if you look at it from that angle.

[Jerry Zahmees]

Watch the old 80's sci-fi movie "Enemy Mine" All your questions will be answered. ....well?..go on.

[Eric]

Holy crap! What a bunch of christian lunacy in these posts. So many insane people (or maybe just one really crazy guy with multiple names). Get off my internet(it was designed by science and therefore no TRUE BELIEVER should use it) and back to church! :)

[Eric]

Hopefully if and when we come in contact with intelligent life from another planet, our species will have evolved past the need for religion, sparing us the embarrassment of having to explain it to them.

[Marklar]

Marklar?

[David C.]

The people commenting in this thread, going on and on about aliens being demons is just the most bizarre, freakish nonsense I have ever heard spewed before.

Whether there are aliens or not is debatable, but whether or not they are actually demons is so frigging stupid. How can adults be so irrational? Get your heads out of your asses,and wake the hell up, please.

[anonymous coward]

We are all marklar.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103422/?searchterm=Starvin'+Marvin+in+Space

[Pat]

If you follow monotheism, this doesn't sound like an issue, there can be only one answer. They might not agree with your beliefs about their origin, but you can't kill ALL the nonbelievers.

If you believe as the early Hebrews though, that there are competitive gods, you might have to start writing new texts.

[piopio]

The reason no species besides man is saved by Jesus is because man is the only species that has fallen (back in Eden) and needed to be redeemed. We wouldn't have needed to be saved either if we hadn't sinned in the first place. Since Jesus came only to re-open the gates of heaven, the aliens wouldn't need him to save them unless they had their own form of original sin. (If that were the case they probably have their own manifestation of a savior already anyway.)

[anon]

All Hail Raptor Jesus

[SDL]

Not all Christian religions would be torn assunder by such things. The mormon church is christian and believes that God created numerous planets with numerous beings and Christ died for the salvation of all of the universe. Of course, this is all the more reason people mock the mormon faith that is until they find out it is true.

[billy]

It's a cult what more can I say.

over and out

Billy

[Release of Ignorance]

The myopic fervor of the religious component in the comments here is truly scary.

Christianity is, by far, the most intolerant, fear-fueled collection of lies, deceit and fable that man has ever been presented with.

Jesus Christ would himself be appalled at the level of ignorance being displayed by his 'followers'. To even think for a second that life on Earth is the only life that exists, and that all other sentient beings are fallen angels or demons to be feared and fought...is such remarkable close-mindedness that it makes me physically ill.

I can only hope for the eventual evolution of the collective human psyche, wherein such archaic and repressive world views like Christianity are eliminated altogether.

[Shaina]

Maybe the aliens are coming to teach us about alien Jesus.

[Peter]

Settle down. Everyone is jumping to conclusions, claiming that aliens are demons, that aliens will prove Christianity wrong, that aliens can't be saved by Jesus.

All I have to say is: Who knows?

We aren't even sure of their existence so how are we to know any of this? There are millions of possible scenarios and the most likely one is probably the one nobody has thought of.

Quit jumping to conclusions and claiming you have the truth. Do some research before you start thinking you know all of the answers.

[Jim]

Why is this so difficult to understand friends? The Catholic Church is almighty and all knowing. The self-righteous have lived comfortably in their own reality for generations. Whenever forced to justify their biblical bull-sh*& against science, they simply have a "Catechism" and all is well. Please read more fun facts at http://CatholicsSuck.com

[B. Buckman]

I am part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints aka Mormons, and we believe in aliens/other worlds. These aliens are our brothers and sisters and the only reason Christ came to this planet was because it was the only planet that was wicked enough to crucify him. And just as my own personal speculation, I think Jesus Christ would go visit these other worlds after he was crucified.

[chuck]

i thought God is an alien. He's not of this earth is he?

[wikiBuddha]

My data is not acceptable.

[Nivek]

This article is interesting to me as an LDS (mormon) person. It reveals to me how important many of the truths taught in my church are, which I often take for granted. Here are some of the things we believe which to my knowledge are unique in Christendom to us:

* All living things have souls and were created spiritually before they were created naturally (physically) upon the earth.

* Jesus Christ presents salvation to the world in two ways, through the overcoming of both death and sin. Resurrection is what happens as a result of his overcoming death. We belive ALL living things are resurrected and that it is a free unconditional gift. Redemption from sin is conditional upon accepting Jesus and His gospel. That gift is necessary only for humans as they are created in God's image. Only humans have reason and free will that enables them to sin. The rest of the living creation does not need to access this gift of forgiveness from sin.

* God has created worlds without number in the universe and peopled countless numbers of these worlds with his own children. Jesus is the redeemer for this whole family of Heavenly Fathers children.

* Jesus was placed on this earth because of all of them, this is the only one that was peopled with children wicked enough to kill its own God while in mortality.

Regardless of what others may think of Jospeh Smith, he provided to the world as a prophet these insights by means of revealing scripture that gives these very doctrines back to the world in the 1830's-1840's. These teachings are found in a book a scripture called "The Pearl of Great Price."

Just because most of the Christian world does not accept this book as scripture does not mean that nowhere in the halls of Christendom is an answer to be found on these theological issues. They were given in a day long before talk of "aliens" was even taken seriously.

Regardless of your current views on theology, or of the calling of Joseph Smith to be a prophet of Christ or not, the "Pearl of Great Price" is a fantastic read and deals with many of these "deep" theological issues. The Book of Mormon is the same way. These teachings have helped me to have a deeper respect for the reality of God who is far more merciful and just than much of the world wants to give Him credit for.

God bless you all in your own personal quest for what is true and real. I know that God does understand the depth of complexity in the human mind and heart and is ready to reveal answers about reality as we are ready to recieve it.

[devonknight]

Catholic priests spend six years studying theology and philosophy prior to being accepted to the Priesthood, as such they are as entitled, or more entitled than many other groups, to debate the issues highlighted in this article IMHO.

It is my understanding that the Creation story of the Old Testament is accepted by many priests as a myth, like the many myths existant which give a simple answer to a difficult question.

If, as has been stated, animals have no souls, why did Noah save them at the time of the flood? The animals listed were not only edible,

I have not read C S Lewis's book mentioned above but imagine it to be a thinly disguised comment upon the "destruction" of the world's native cultures and inhabitants by the so called civilised societies of the West of whatever denomination.

Whilst the news debate highlights an interesting point, could it not be more of an allegory with the so called aliens representative of the different beliefs and faiths existant in our world today.

Certainly the RC church today offers a simple and friendly face to its many practitioners and also visitors to the Church. Rather than debate this item on a forum such as this, visit a Priest to discuss the matter in depth. They are surprisingly knowledgeable about a number of issues. It does not always have to result in a commitment to attend church or become RC!

[Andy Kadir-Buxton]

Jesus would save those aliens that gave all their wealth to the poor, and to hell with the rest.

[Mandy]

Hypothetically speaking if it's confirmed that intelligent life on other planets exists, it's arrogance to determine in advance that we'd have souls and not the aliens, this is under the theory of the soul. Everything I say after this point is IF the soul, God, AND aliens do all exist as incontrovertible fact.

If all three of these things were confirmed to be somehow scientifically fact and the supernatural descended into natural and we then go by biblical wording we are told; God created man in his own image. It never specified on what planet. Theoretically if God or a Goddess (an intelligent force of creation) created all things in the universe logic dictates that such an entity as this intelligent force of creation would have made these other life forms too bearing the same spiritual essence that we hypothetically possess.

The existence of self-aware alien life should have no bearing on religion other than a few zealots using it as grounds for the anticipated sort of ignorance, arrogance, and xenophobia as to declare 'We have souls and you don't!' Hopefully the other race of beings wouldn't be so shallow or arrogantly narrow minded.

Simple logic dicates if God created us God created them otherwise how else could they come into existence? To claim they exist but God didn't make them would hand them over to The Devil's domain and or contradict the notion of an all knowing entity that created all.

The simple route of thinking would be God created us AND them. Otherwise you're just grasping at a superiority complex waiting to happen.

Suddenly I find myself thinking of the Walter Tevis novel, The Man who fell to Earth.

[stephen banna]

There are greater problems in the world which the vatican should think and discuss but there is no need to worry about the salvation of aliens. Excess wealth and more time to waist makes the Theologians to break their heads on silly matters.
Stephen Banna,Gadag

[John]

The "Christians" writing in this
correspondence show an alarming level of arrogance and stupidity. Unfortunately a lot of people associate this sort of thing with the
concept of "God" and it plays straight into the hands of atheists.
No wonder Dawkins sells so many books.

[henry smith]

Its worth noting that the probability of intelligent life on other planets, despite the scientific interest, is unknown. Its also unknown what any such life would be like.
Its also worth noting that without a reference point for truth all truth is subjective and what you believe does not matter.
Jesus said I am the truth.
To a Christian any intelligence that emerges from Creation is human (even artificial intelligence) and is invited to have a personal relationship with the Creator.

[Pad]

This board seems rammed with ignoramusses.

I will say, to SQUINTOLOGYST, that you are utterly misled. To take one example of a scientific paradigm shift that you speak of, how about the discovery of the theory of relativity. Previously, the world dealt mainly in terms of Newtonian mechanics to describe the behaviour of things moving and interacting, and the forces at play.

Newtonian mechanics IS NOT WRONG - it is only accurate and usable in 99.99% of cases. General relativity simply takes into account the physics that comes into play at ridiculously high speeds. Similarly, quantum mechanics comes into play on extremely short time and length scales. These new theories do not contradict Newtonian mechanics, they only complement it, by altering the theory under certain conditions.

Facts before mouth, religious types.

[Michael S.]

Billy. 22:54 and 23:40.

There seems a connection to James Jershom Jezreel in your writings.

[Jettboy]

For those Mormons posting, and I am one of them, I think there is a bit too much positive conclusions going on. It is true that Mormon scriptures present Jesus as a Universal, and not just Earth bound, savior. There is I feel a little stretching going on in relation to "Aliens" based on one or two scriptural references mostly from the The Pearl of Great Price as interpretable framework.

For instance, "the only planet that was wicked enough to crucify him," is simply not a good interpretation of the scripture it came from. Sorry I can't think of it off the top of my head, but that scriptural quotation only talks about the inhabitants of Earth and that where Jesus was born and lived was the only people who would have done what they did. It has little to nothing to do with other planets.

This is becoming more of a blog than a post sized writing, so I'll make a conclusion. Mormonism is a very Universal if not Cosmic focused religion that looks past this Earth into the planet filled Heavens. That doesn't mean it has anything to say directly about "Alien" salvation. It simply has allowed from the days of its theological formation a speculative framework where they could very well fit the Salvation narrative.

As for those U.F.O. aliens? Recitations of their behavior if you believe such things indicate they would be daemonic.

[Dave]

The most significant thing about this article should be the implicit reminder that religious ideology is easily co-opted, and that the most unspeakable evils, such as burning people at the stake, have been perpetrated in it's name.

[Just Visiting]

Why does all religion have to be equated with christianity? dunno about eastern religions and islam, but i do know that judaism has no problems with ETs. there is even, according to the talmud, a reference to them in the Bible (that's the Old Testament only, thanks) in Debora's song; "cursed is meroz, cursed are its inhabitants". the talmud (moed katan 16a) says that meroz is a planet; it has inhabitants, hence aliens. there are also plenty of midrashic legends about ETs and also parallel universes. it seems that fundamentalist christians are the only guys with a problem...

[G Knight]

Aliens and other life forms don't need salvation as they didn't descend from Adam and Eve and therefore don't have 'original sin' - or so the fable goes.

[Listener]

Who ever said that "Aliens" needed salvation? Jesus represented the salvation of humanity from the problems "humanity" brought upon the earth and themselves. For all we know Aliens might be highly evolved enough to understand the concepts Jesus spoke of and humanity is still having problems with. Dolphins co-exist with mother earth and themselves without disturbing the balance. Something humanity seems to have a huge problem with. Lets us continue to fix the problems closer to home before tackling those of other solar systems

[Not a christian, but wants to be one]

True Christians do not enter into controversy. True Christians only converse to edify the church. This issue has nothing to do with Christianity, hence it is irrelevant if Jesus saves aliens. The question should be; is He saving you?
note to Billy: your adventism is showing with error. EGW says there are other beings other there.

[David Ben Yakov]

Very interesting topic. Word studies in the Greek and Hebrew show that Jesus came to save Mankind and furthermore, there aren't any intelligent lifeforms out there. One would think that the Times would do something more proactive like fighting the Muslim takeover of Great Britain, which will happen unless you somehow get a backbone and get a set of testicles. You Brits have always fought enemies bravely, but you allow the enemies of your nation to immigrate and take over? Now that makes makes even less sense than debating whether Jesus can save the aliens. Visit us at The Delusion Resistance to read more.

[Harky Dolmen]

typical ignorant mainstream media article, talking about something you know nothing about. the new testament clearly addresses the issue - angels are not saved, and they are curious about how men are saved and would like to know more.

[ravikiran kamble]

i think there is nothing like god this is all nature and this is governed by natural forces.

[P V Ariel]

This question does not deserve an answer, since Jesus Christ came on this world to save the sinners (the human beings. It’s a universal truth unfolded through the pages of the Holy Scripture.http://knol.google.com/k/p-v-ariel/-/12c8mwhnhltu7/0

[P V ARIEL]

This question not deserve an answer, since Jesus Christ came on this world to save the sinners the human beings. It’s a universal truth unfolded through the pages of the Holy Scripture.http://knol.google.com/k/p-v-ariel/-/12c8mwhnhltu7/0

[Popepicker]

FFS there's some real numpties in here. I suggest you all change the medication immediately.. It's definitely giving you delusions. What about diverting your over active imaginations onto something more useful.

[matthew boyden]

I am struck forcibly, on reading some of the rambling nonsense posted here, that The Times website is subscribed to by a wide range of tub-thumping nutters. Demons? Angels? Whatever an individual's religious convictions, there is nothing to support such crackerjack reasoning, and such convictions are painfully (if not dangerously) anti-intellectual. Diversity is all very well, but to debate the existence of demons et al. is to debate the existence of "ether"; and if debate is to achieve anything, it must be the general improvement of knowledge and reason. Neither is advanced by this sort of rubbish, so please, let's promote an exchange of views that warrant analysis and genuine consideration.

[James Weir]

I think at the heart of it, the debate is of interest. Christ in the Bible was said to be the Son of God (also the Holy Spirit and The Man Himself all at the same time) so we must take into consideration that if God made all, then we must presume that God would have also created Aliens.

We think of Aliens as being more technologically advanced than Mankind for obvious reasons. One fundamental debate of 'What Alien society would be like' concentrates on this very point; if we had the same technology as the Aliens would we survive as a race or would we destroy ourselves? As we are still hovering our fingers over atomic launch buttons we can assume that we would destroy ourselves.

By taking this into account, one may presume that their society would be of a more peaceful one, making them closer to God's message of love thy neighbour and so on.

Then again, that could all be wrong and there might well be aliens from Independence Day. But then we could compare them to Mankind (not quite getting God's message). But then again, what if their religious structure was based on Warrior/Hunter code? Surely that would contradict Earth's mainstream God?

Looking at it like this now, it does seem like a silly debate and have wasted valuable WoW time! lol!

[mohamed]

i think extraterrestrials have their own prophet because God is justice ,God can't send these extraterrestials to hell without sending a messenger to them.
sorry but this is my idea .And jesus will be responssible only about humans who are on earth.

[Oliver]

These comments are a pretty good example of why I typically avoid engaging in conversations with people on either side of this debate. Both sides are judgemental and close-minded, and only recognize those traits in the opposition. You people are going to be the death of actual, decent folk just trying to live their lives.

[W. R. Pursche]

I have co-authored a novel ("The Eternal Messiah: Jesus of K'Turia”) that is about the discovery of Jesus on another planet. The book explores not only how Jesus is perceived by another race, but also how those who know of the Biblical Jesus react.

Quite a few religious scholars (of different religions and denominations) read the book before publication and not only had no issue with the premise, but also felt that the exploration of the concept raised important theological issues. For example: How will God appear on other planets?

"The Eternal Messiah: Jesus of K'Turia,” by W. R. Pursche and Michael Gabriele. www.EternalMessiah.com

[Michael Barnes]

This demonstrates a lack of understanding by the church as to what Jesus actually taught. Ironically,intellectualism seems to have blinded them from the simplicity that the gospels reveal or hint at.

Why not ask the question: 'Was pre christian or unknowing mankind without salvation?'

The answer is that the gospels do not and cannot prescribe God.

[R. Steel]

Let's talk when there's incontrovertible proof - not just conspiracy theories and speculation - that aliens actually exist. Until then, I can't even begin to take this debate seriously...

[Firozali A. Mulla]

Jesus cured the sick and made the dead alive . UFOS are in Australia Sorry

[Steven Calascione]

Does Jesus save aliens? Hummm.

[john watson]

Jesus was an alien who dropped down several levels to try to teach us how to evolve beyond conflict.

The religionists killed him for his efforts and then, in an effort to stop us following his advice (all things things I can do you can do and more!),they turned him into a God and he became an object of worship as in 'we are not good enough and never will be.'

The result is that after 2,000 years the Catholic Church is the largest and richest business and land owner on the planet. It always comes back to money and power!

[Lionel Frost]

Jesus will ony save those aliens who speak English - fact! I was taught this at school, so it can't be wrong. Alien dolphins are most unlikely to speak English - at least, not with the necessary South British, Received or Estuary accents - so they will suffer eternal damnation. Unless of course,the Flying Spaghetti Monster intervenes and offers his holy noodliness to save them from their mortal sins.

Disbelievers? - prove otherwise!

[veoi xpistoy]

Guys aliens could be real but we will never see them the cclosest planet that scientist say could possibly be inhabitted is to far away to reach in all likelyhood there are no aliens but if there were god would have made a salvation plan for them these evolutionists assume that we christians are dumb that they are right that evolution must be real but it does not fit the facts and i hope that these atheists will realize this and convert to christ