Q4. Are There Aliens in Outer Space?

I am sure many of us would have read stories or seen movies speculating about there being life on other planets in the universe. The sighting of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is supposed proof of these alien beings.

ET go away, and don't come back, ever.

Among the all-time top-grossing box-office favourites are "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "ET: The Movie".

So what should our response be as Christians to the question, "Are there aliens in outer space?"

Although Scripture does not specifically mention about the above, such beliefs would not be consistent with the gospel story.

In Gen 1, we read about how God created the heavens and the earth (ie. the entire universe) and out of all the thousands if not millions of planets out there, He chose to specifically place life -- the plants, the animals and finally man -- only on planet earth. We read also in Gen 2:18 that God said that it was no good for Adam to be alone, and so He created a suitable helpmeet for him, Eve.

We cannot find in the creation story any indication that God placed any other life forms elsewhere in the universe. Or that He created any other humans besides Adam and Eve. Rather it says that after 6 days, God looked at all that He had created and said it was very good. And then He rested from His work.

In other words, what the Bible says is that mankind originated from one couple -- Adam and Eve. There was no pre-Adamic race, or extra-Adamic race.

In Romans 5, Paul mentions that through the disobedience of one man, Adam, sin and death entered the world:

Romans 5:12
[ Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ ]
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men.

Romans 5:19
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

In Rom 8:22, he further states that "the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time" because via that one act of disobedience, the entire universe became cursed.

Just for argument's sake, let us suppose that God did create life on some other planet. Wouldn't the devil equally want to cause havoc on that planet since by his very nature, he is an adversary and opponent to the Lord? That being the case, what would make that human on that planet better at withstanding temptations compared to Adam? The argument will then lead to God having to redeem that race as well, Jesus having to have another genealogy through that other man, Jesus having to die for them, and so on. When we take the argument to its logical conclusion, we find that it does not fit in with Scripture. After all, we know that Jesus died for sins once for all (Heb 10:1-3) and cannot be dying all over again for some extra-Adamic race.

So why do people choose to believe that aliens and UFOs exist then? This is because they do not want to believe in a God that is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. They do not want to admit that they are sinners in need of a Saviour.  Rather than believing what the Bible says about creation, they are exchanging truth for a lie (Rom 1:25), believing that somehow, there is a "higher" and "more intelligent" form of life that is able to send spaceships halfway across the universe. God is taken out of the equation.

The unidentified flying objects are at best figments of someone's imagination, and at worst demonic distractions to puts doubts in the minds of people about the credibility of the Bible, since they present an alternative and inconsistent viewpoint to the creation story.

The devil uses different ways and means to get mankind not to believe in God. After all, he is fighting for the souls of men. So we need to be go back to the firm foundation of the Word, and use that to reject counterfeit versions of creation -- be it evolution, or aliens life forms, or some other fascinating story that is devoid of God.

So there you have it.  There are no aliens in outer space, because such a belief is not consistent with the creation story and the gospel story in the Bible.

Next up: Q5. Why did God punish some people yet allow others to get away scot-free?

The answer to this question requires context, and for that, I will first need to introduce the concept of what a pastor friend of mine terms "The Scarlet Thread".  Stay tuned!