Christian reaction to alien contact

reply to post by cloudyday


Aliens? No such thing. Those are the fallen and their goal isn't to save anyone, but to destroy you instead. Ever notice how you never see these "UFO's" anywhere but in earth's atmosphere? Don't say NASA sees them in space because those little discs shapes they see are reflections of light from the magnified dust particles floating beneath those 7 layers of plexiglass they use for windows.

God will come in science this time around because there are so many who left religion because of corruption and greed. Humanity will evolve when their DNA is fully unlocked and opens the door to our spiritual being, we will awake. We will wake one morning with shock and awe when we are faced with real truth and many will seek churches but will not find god for god is not in a church he is in you, for your body is your temple. scientists will not laugh and priests and Christians will wonder why they where forsaken, it is because when he comes they will deny him again and few men and woman will go on ahead for they are open and willing to follow god, and so the earth is also ready to evolve and with it destruction as the old world dies and millions will die and the survivors will die later as the toxic environment takes hold of the planet, our old world swallowed by the earth. Some will live on but not many, all spread out the land and they will see the return of our true freedom and embrace our brothers from the heavens and those who have left will not return. Many races and beings and solar systems and many levels of spiritual teachings as we go back to school for our spiritual journey has just begun and sickness and death are gone. Everyone will eventually be among the many who have gone before us. And when your tired and feel that you have done all you can possibly do in the name of god and will be onto you to merge with the creator.

I think many responders misunderstood the point of the question - it's about the human-centric nature of Christianity. I read a post by a Christian in another forum that essentially said he/she does not believe intelligent alien life is possible because Genesis says God created man in His own image. That was shocking to read from an otherwise sensible person.

I think Christianity is the only religion that would need to adapt after alien contact because it is so human-centric. Maybe Islam and Judaism would need a few tweaks. Buddhism wouldn't need any changes from what little I have read about it. It's a little bit like Christianity adapting to the realization that the Earth is billions of years old, etc. Christians wouldn't give up their beliefs, but they would need to redefine them.

Originally posted by dakota1s2
reply to post by cloudyday

 

Was this a real question? Or just a taunting of Christians?

Most would just fall for the delusion, like most non-believers. The rest of us who understand( I am not claiming special knowledge or wisdom or any such thing) what and who aliens represent would not do......anything.

We understand that this is probably the first step to reveal the antichrist.

Why do religious people always consider simple, perfectly reasonable questions like this to be attacks?

reply to post by cloudyday


Well they'd be shocked as they've been told we're special. Then they'd likely adapt as we're supposed to be the ones made in Gods image so there's still be the belief that we're still special.

They'd get over it like they did when they found out that we weren't the centre of the universe. Illogical debates will continue with hardly a pause.

Originally posted by Garfee

Originally posted by dakota1s2
reply to post by cloudyday

 

Was this a real question? Or just a taunting of Christians?

Most would just fall for the delusion, like most non-believers. The rest of us who understand( I am not claiming special knowledge or wisdom or any such thing) what and who aliens represent would not do......anything.

We understand that this is probably the first step to reveal the antichrist.

Why do religious people always consider simple, perfectly reasonable questions like this to be attacks?

For the same reason an abusive spouse will shout down their partner. If you walk away from the anger than the angry must be right.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
reply to post by cloudyday

 

Aliens? No such thing. Those are the fallen and their goal isn't to save anyone, but to destroy you instead. Ever notice how you never see these "UFO's" anywhere but in earth's atmosphere? Don't say NASA sees them in space because those little discs shapes they see are reflections of light from the magnified dust particles floating beneath those 7 layers of plexiglass they use for windows.

I believe in alien life. I don't believe they've been here. But going on what you've said I never saw God in church either.

Blessed be all,
I can not speak for Christians, but I can speak for myself =
I would invite them in and ask them if they would like some refreshments. Ask them many questions and answer any questions they have for me, all in all have a most wonderfull conversation perhaps even begin to learn their language to be able to communicate better with them.

Namasté

Originally posted by steveknows

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
reply to post by cloudyday

 

Aliens? No such thing. Those are the fallen and their goal isn't to save anyone, but to destroy you instead. Ever notice how you never see these "UFO's" anywhere but in earth's atmosphere? Don't say NASA sees them in space because those little discs shapes they see are reflections of light from the magnified dust particles floating beneath those 7 layers of plexiglass they use for windows.

I believe in alien life. I don't believe they've been here. But going on what you've said I never saw God in church either.

I've never seen him either but i have been in his presence. Once you've been in his presence you will know he exists because standing in his glory will be an experience like you've never felt before.

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


Yes, when you see hundreds of people fall out from the presence of God you know He is there walking among you.

Originally posted by cloudyday
I think many responders misunderstood the point of the question - it's about the human-centric nature of Christianity.

Christianity is nothing human-centric. We believe that all is about God, we place God in the center of our lives, our thoughts, or beliefs, our worship. The universe revolves around God, not humans.

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Originally posted by cloudyday
I think many responders misunderstood the point of the question - it's about the human-centric nature of Christianity.

Christianity is nothing human-centric. We believe that all is about God, we place God in the center of our lives, our thoughts, or beliefs, our worship. The universe revolves around God, not humans.

Let me put it this way: assume you are an intelligent non-human, what use would you have for Christianity?

Originally posted by cloudyday

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Originally posted by cloudyday
I think many responders misunderstood the point of the question - it's about the human-centric nature of Christianity.

Christianity is nothing human-centric. We believe that all is about God, we place God in the center of our lives, our thoughts, or beliefs, our worship. The universe revolves around God, not humans.

Let me put it this way: assume you are an intelligent non-human, what use would you have for Christianity?

The message of Christianity is not "Christianity saves humans" it is

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord.

Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

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 heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Psalm 19:1-4

Jesus is Lord over all creation, including the seen and the unseen. And Jesus did say He had sheep of another flock. The Mormons tend to believe those sheep were an ancient civilization near Mexico, but the concept of other sheep and the fact He was not specific as to who those sheep were, means that His sheep can be found anywhere. If He has sheep on Pluto or Arcturus, or wherever those sheep may be, they are His sheep.

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Originally posted by cloudyday

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Originally posted by cloudyday
I think many responders misunderstood the point of the question - it's about the human-centric nature of Christianity.

Christianity is nothing human-centric. We believe that all is about God, we place God in the center of our lives, our thoughts, or beliefs, our worship. The universe revolves around God, not humans.

Let me put it this way: assume you are an intelligent non-human, what use would you have for Christianity?

The message of Christianity is not "Christianity saves humans" it is

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord.

Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

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 heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Psalm 19:1-4

Jesus is Lord over all creation, including the seen and the unseen. And Jesus did say He had sheep of another flock. The Mormons tend to believe those sheep were an ancient civilization near Mexico, but the concept of other sheep and the fact He was not specific as to who those sheep were, means that His sheep can be found anywhere. If He has sheep on Pluto or Arcturus, or wherever those sheep may be, they are His sheep.

That sounds good, but it seems like there is more to Christianity than you describe.

Originally posted by Garfee

Originally posted by dakota1s2
reply to post by cloudyday

 

Was this a real question? Or just a taunting of Christians?

Most would just fall for the delusion, like most non-believers. The rest of us who understand( I am not claiming special knowledge or wisdom or any such thing) what and who aliens represent would not do......anything.

We understand that this is probably the first step to reveal the antichrist.

Why do religious people always consider simple, perfectly reasonable questions like this to be attacks?

I didn't consider it an attack; but the answer to your question is... Because of experience of having so many attacks being made.

reply to post by Frira


Don't like the taste of their own medicine then...

Originally posted by cloudyday

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Originally posted by cloudyday

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Originally posted by cloudyday
I think many responders misunderstood the point of the question - it's about the human-centric nature of Christianity.

Christianity is nothing human-centric. We believe that all is about God, we place God in the center of our lives, our thoughts, or beliefs, our worship. The universe revolves around God, not humans.

Let me put it this way: assume you are an intelligent non-human, what use would you have for Christianity?

The message of Christianity is not "Christianity saves humans" it is

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord.

Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

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 heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Psalm 19:1-4

Jesus is Lord over all creation, including the seen and the unseen. And Jesus did say He had sheep of another flock. The Mormons tend to believe those sheep were an ancient civilization near Mexico, but the concept of other sheep and the fact He was not specific as to who those sheep were, means that His sheep can be found anywhere. If He has sheep on Pluto or Arcturus, or wherever those sheep may be, they are His sheep.

That sounds good, but it seems like there is more to Christianity than you describe.

edit on 22-11-2011 by cloudyday because: (no reason given)

"Your instincts serve you well, young Skywalker!"

The poster is also right... "from a certain point of view!"

(Sorry. I'll knock off the Star Wars quotes).

There is more to Christianity than that... BUT... from the perspective of what our reaction to that "more" is, the concept of worship is a valid and primary response for many.

******

Please note, I did address your question (as you have since attempting to clarify), and while I agree with what I presented (of course) it should be noted that it is not "mine." I responded with an historical, theological position which predates the Council of Nicaea. Beginning with Cyril of Jerusalem and Athanasius of Alexandria, the Church has found that the tenets of the Church can be tested against the statement, "God became man (human) so that man might become god."

For over a millennium and a half, that statement has been used as a summary of the Gospel from a Christological (the nature of Christ Jesus) and teleological (the ultimate disposition of mankind) point of view.

That is, indeed, a anthropocentric statement which leaves little or no wiggle room-- no matter the intelligence of any species other than the human one. The least intelligent human (Christian or otherwise-- by my learned opinion, and I know I'll get flack for saying so) has the same hope-- of a deifying unity with God after the resurrection of the dead-- that promise is not extended to any other creature.

God may well chose to extend that promise to other creatures, but the Christian Gospel provided insufficient data upon which to speculate much beyond simply wondering if it may become so.


*******

Off the top of my head, there are only two tenets which would place the Church, specifically, in crisis if proven to be false:

1) That Christ Jesus was "incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary" and
2) That the same Christ Jesus "rose again [from the dead]... and ascended into Heaven."

The analogy of angels to aliens as regards the Gospel is a good one-- legend (not a canonical authority) has had the Church speculate about the "War in Heaven--" the rebellion of some of the angels. A popular speculation is that the angels, aware of their superior intellect and ability to man, resented God's intent to elevate mere humans above them to become deified.

Still, the Church acknowledges mystery-- things which are not known and have not been revealed and which, perhaps, are beyond human understanding. In other words, what is not known cannot be ruled out. For all we know, "a long time ago, in galaxy far, far away" God sent his son, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Klatua who was crucified, died and was buried and who, on the third day, rose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven.

In which case, when they arrive, we would do well to have bread and wine ready to share with them.

Originally posted by Garfee
reply to post by Frira

 

Don't like the taste of their own medicine then...

It is not my medicine-- you paint with too broad a brush. And I'll fight, just as you do, when someone tries to force that medicine on me.

Note, I did not take the OP as an attack. Yet, I am a Christian. How does that work into your broad brush strokes?

And your broad brush strokes can reasonably be seen to be an attack. So, how does that match your complaint of Christians? Do you not do the very thing you hate?

reply to post by Frira


Here is a quote from this website from a sermon of St. John Maximovich about the body of Christ:
www.saintjohnwonderworker.org/sermon07.htm

When the first-created people fell away in spirit from their Creator, the body, hitherto subject to the spirit and obtaining its directions through the soul, ceased to be subordinate to it and began to strive to dominate it. In place of the law of God the law of the flesh began to rule man. Sin, having cut man off from God, the source of life, has rent man himself asunder, violated union of spirit, soul and body, and death has entered into him. The soul, not surrounded now by the streams of life, could no longer transmit them to the body which became corruptible, and languor became the lot of the soul.

Christ came to earth to restore anew the fallen image and return it to union with Him Whose image it is. Uniting man unto Himself, God thus restores him to his original goodness in all its fullness Granting grace and sanctification to the spirit, Christ also purifies, strengthens, heals and sanctifies the spirit and the body. 'But he that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit (with him) ' (I Cor. 6:17).

I think he is saying that without Christ's restoration we humans have very little free will; we are mostly responding reflexively to our body's growling stomach. Then with Christ's restoration we return to God's image where our spirit is commanding the body in obedience to God's will.

So I think created in God's image doesn't necessarily mean human; it means having the capability to exercise free will in obedience to God's will instead of reacting reflexively to our environment. So God's incarnation and resurrection as a human Jesus may be fully applicable to aliens as long as they all share this capacity for obedience to God. Maybe God would choose to incarnate as an alien to make it explicit that aliens were also created in God's image or maybe he would let humans spread the good news about the human Jesus to the aliens through a new version of Paul and Barnabas.

Originally posted by cloudyday
reply to post by Frira

 

Here is a quote from this website from a sermon of St. John Maximovich about the body of Christ:
www.saintjohnwonderworker.org/sermon07.htm

....
Maybe God would choose to incarnate as an alien to make it explicit that aliens were also created in God's image or maybe he would let humans spread the good news about the human Jesus to the aliens through a new version of Paul and Barnabas.

The quote refers to recapitulation-- the re-heading of mankind in Christ and not so much as regards the created nature and purpose of man. The concern, there, is salvific/economic, but not teleological. That is to say, refers to mankind in this life since the Incarnation. I would suspect that the text was founded upon the prophesy that God would write the Law into the heart of mankind-- and in that regard, free will is truly freeing.

I grok what the text is saying and agree in as much as what was quoted. However, there is at least another layer to be considered. Being created in the image and likeness of God (male and female) is something not said of any other creature, nor is the only anthropocentric foundation of Christianity.

"Have I not said ye are gods?" quoting Christ Jesus who happens to be referring to a Psalm-- and thus our answer is, "Yes. Yes you have said it; but we do not see it in ourselves.

Where I get a bit uncomfortable with the quote you provided is that it begs the question, "Is that all there is?" And the Church shouts a resounding, "No!"

God had not completed his work with humanity. He continued the process, not only of salvation, but of much, much more. Referrig to our nature after the resurrection, Paul writes, "It does not yet appear what we shall be..." and so we know it shall be more than now.

So it is not by mistake that God placed man in the Garden (figuratively or literally, it matters not) and also placed there the serpent and the tree in the midst of the Garden-- that was the womb-- not the life. We were expelled into the hostile and cold world which no longer nourished us just because we existed; but instead were commanded to subdue it-- a whole world!

Yet God was still not done with us-- most obviously in the covenant with Abraham-- and only after Abram had first tested God and found God worthy (not the other way round, I think).

Melchizedek appears-- a priest before there was any priesthood, bearing bread and wine (which a Christian understands to be mystical symbols of an unbloodied sacrifice-- both and at once foreshadowing and remembering Abram's testing of God).

And Abraham keeps building altars that he is never asked to build and never uses. And the Psalmist "gets it" with "I desire mercy, not sacrifice," and it is Abraham who asked God to be merciful on behalf of others (the righteous in Sodom), and it is God who passed Abraham's test by providing the ram in place of Isaac.

Then came both freedom and bondage. Freedom from the bondage to other men, and bondage to Law. God was not done with us yet. Stiff penalties for a Law which is pure compassion. Mankind does not understand, but is learning.

Mankind is left in a state of seeking mercy for himself and for others, essentially waiting for the day of reckoning when a Sacrifice must be made-- knowing it without being told. It is man who tells God that the sacrifice is necessary and then it is God who can show us that it is mankind who has passed His test. God passed ours through Abraham, and we passed God's through Abraham-- but without a visible trajectory until Christ Jesus made his Way... of the Cross.

God provided the sacrifice-- and the sacrifice was God. The promise is that God and man have been joined. God and man have suffered, died and been raised-- still fully God and still fully man. And that God has "gone to prepare a place for us-- His bride-- to be joined in flesh-- and more-- as an equal-- become one.

In this life, man transcends his created nature and even his recapitulated nature in Christ for the briefest and most glorious of moments. But and yet, God is still not finished with us. It is but a taste-- a mere kiss preceding the consummation to come (blush!).

Now we are called children. Then we will be called Beloved-- the Bride. Not angels, not dolphins, not "grays" (unless they are human) and not my pet dachshund. They will endure and have their place-- but it man who has, for God's own purposes and nature, to be drawn to the very nature and essence of God.

And the message we are charged to spread is not one of Law, not to establish a kingdom-- but that we are to be gods. And THAT is good news.