Did God create life on another planet?

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Written by Kim Wall

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 16:27

http://creationwiki.org/pool/images/a/a2/Alien_intrusion.jpg

Question

Did God created Aliens on another planet?

Answer

This is a question that is commonly asked amongst Christians. We seem to be fascinated by TV shows and movies which portray alien civilizations. Entertainment is not a bad thing, but we should remember that it is just entertainment. As always, we must begin to look for our answers in the Bible in order to obtain the correct perspective.

Although the Bible does not directly state that God created life elsewhere in the universe, it is very specific on where He did create life - here on planet Earth. If we look at the context of creation in Genesis chapter 1, we see that God created Earth in the "middle" or "midst" of the universe (Gen 1:6). Earth seems to have a special place in the cosmos. This is directly opposed to what secular science teaches (that there are no special places in the universe). Earth was placed in a special place in the universe because it would be home to living things. We see that the pinnacle of God's creation ended with Adam and Eve (e.g. humans). God made man different than any other living organism (Gen 1:26). The Bible never refers to any other living beings created anywhere else in the entire universe.

But the question comes up as to why the universe is so big. If Earth is the only planet with life, why such a huge cosmos? The answer is found in scripture. In Genesis 1:14ff God created the stars, sun, and moon in order to provide light to Earth, to separate light from darkness, and to be used to keep time. Again, the focus is for Earth's inhabitants - not for any other planet. The vastness of space is incredible and at times hard to comprehend just how big it really is (in fact, we do not really know its size). This also serves a purpose. Psalms 19:1 states that "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands". When we study our cosmos and are awed by its splendor and size, we should be inspired to reflect on our Creator and His power. Psalms 8:3-4 reads, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?" It is incredible to think that God made all of this just for us. But this is exactly what He did. When we think of the vastness of space, we should be humbled by God's power. God truly loves us as is displayed in the cosmos He created just for us.

Just because the scripture is silent on whether or not there is life on other planets, does this necessarily mean that there is not life on other planets? Before we answer this, we should examine more scripture. Isaiah 45:18 states, "For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the Earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), I am the LORD, and there is none else." According to this verse, God created Earth to be inhabited. The Bible does not refer to any other place in the universe this way - only Earth. The rest of the cosmos was created for the inhabitants of Earth as stated in Genesis chapter 1. Scientists have sent probes out exploring our solar system, visiting planets and their moons. We have not found any other place like Earth. Other planets and moons are hostile to life and cannot support life of any kind. Some scientists like to speculate that perhaps "in the past" some other planet could have supported life (Mars for example), but statements like this fall outside of observable science. So far, everywhere we point our telescopes and everywhere we send our probes, we find hostile, poisonous, uninviting, and non-inhabitable environments. This should not surprise us given what we read in Genesis, the Psalms, and Isaiah about our special planet and special place in the universe.

Scientists have pointed their radar dishes into space for over half-a-century in hopes to find some signal which would indicate that there is intelligent life out there - somewhere. But no such signal has been discovered. The SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute spends hundreds of millions of dollars on satellite arrays which listens for and transmits signals around the clock, yet no one ever answers, nothing intelligible is ever heard. If we look at NASA, we see that their entire objective for space exploration now centers around finding life or evidence of past life on other planets. A simple search on the NASA.gov website easily shows the infatuation (search for 'alien life'). Why are institutions like these spending what amounts to billions of dollars to look for extra-terrestrial life? They think that if life is found that somehow that would prove evolution to be true. But this does not follow. Life is too complex to have been the product of chance, random, mindless, unintelligent process. Finding life elsewhere would only make it doubly hard to believe that chance did it.

The last comment I will make here has to do with salvation. Jesus stated that He is "the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me". If there is life elsewhere in the universe, and that life is capable of knowing right from wrong, and has the cognitive skills to understand repentance, then they too, must look to Jesus for access to the Father. But this presents some difficult concepts in terms of Christian theology. Consider why Christ came to Earth. In Genesis 2:16-17) God told Adam that if he were to disobey and eat from the tree which God told him not to eat from, that he would die. The punishment for sin would be death. This has always been the case. Paul reaffirms this in Romans 6:23, "for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord". This is precisely why Jesus became flesh - in order to take our punishment for us. If God had not meant physical death when he warned Adam, then certainly Jesus could have done something non-physical to set things right for our redemption. But this was not the case. Jesus voluntarily became flesh and blood in order to take the physical punishment of death for all of mankind. If intelligent alien life exists, then they too, are under the curse of death and in need of the Savior to die for them. But scripture tells us that Jesus died once and for all (1Pet 3:18, Rom 6:10, Heb 7:27). But how do we know that planets elsewhere in the universe would be under the same curse of death due to sin? Romans 8:18-22 tells us that the entire creation suffers from corruption. What corruption? I thought God said that His creation was "very good" in Genesis 1:31 at the end of creation week? His creation was very good, until man sinned, and brought death into God's very good creation (see 1Cor 15:21-22, Rom 5:12). When Adam sinned, everything changed. God's perfect creation would suffer from the actions of the one man, Adam. Paul reminds us that the entire creation (including all other planets and galaxies) are under corruption as well.

The Bible simply does not leave much room for the possibility of intelligent life outside of planet Earth. God tells us that He created Earth special, and created man special (in His own image). God also tells us that Jesus became human (i.e. one of us) in order to die - just once, for those under the curse of sin and death. If there are aliens, they too would be under this curse and since Jesus died once, it seems to me that they would be left without a Savior. This just does not seem compatible with God's mercy. After all, it was God Himself that paid the ultimate penalty for our sin, through His son Jesus.

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