In the time of Galileo or Copernicus, just the mere thought of the Earth not being the center of the Universe was enough to send the Church into panic mode and heliocentric believers into prison. After all, God would most certainly place the Earth at the center of everything, right? The new science of the day made people start to question their archaic beliefs about God and the universe.

 

Turn the page...

 

We will one day soon , thanks to science, discover that we are not alone in the Universe. In fact, we will, I believe, be confronted with the fact that there are billions or more other civilizations out there. Likely, not one of those civilizations will have ever heard of Jesus or Mohammed or Joseph Smith or the myriad of other characters that are at the center of the plethora of man-made religions on Earth. You think there is the Bible or the Koran on Planet UXE-692 ?

 

Would the discovery of life elsewhere in the Universe give you pause for concern or cause you to rethink your beliefs in God at all? I think the religious community would again be in a panic of sorts, as it becomes apparent that humans are pretty much irrelevant in the Universe.

 

The guru indicated awhile back, and I agree, that the reason the population is becoming less religious(the stats bear that out) is because of the access everyone has to so much information now. With the internet and all the emerging data that science provides us, it becomes harder and harder to believe the kind of things that religion wants us to believe. Still believe the sun revolves around the Earth like Ptolemy said? Of course not. Still believe the Earth is flat? Of course not. (Well... some do). Really believe the Earth is 6,000 years old? I won't even go there! Think climate change is as fake as Moses' tablet? Not a chance. The point is, science directs our path of understanding and enlightenment. Religion stunts our growth. With every advance made by science, every new galaxy seen by Hubble or the James Webb telescope, we will come closer to the undeniable fact that we are not alone and we are not that special in the Universe. Over billions of years and with many, many billions of opportunities, science predicts life will eventually form. It did here we know for sure. One day we will find that it did many other places as well... in my opinion, without the help of a magic man in the sky.

 

Evangelicals, if the day comes in your lifetime when we find out there is life all over the universe just as science predicts, will that change your views any about a grand wizard as universal designer or will you still cling to your faith as tightly as you cling to your beloved AR-15?

Not at all. No different than it being nigh on impossible for folks on the other side of the world to have heard of the Abrahamic religions in centuries gone by.

I would hope the Almighty did not stop after having given us our worldly life. Hope to goodness there are others out there giving it a try. The universe is a big place......we seem to doing a pretty good job at messing up our little piece of it.

I would hope the Almighty did not stop after having given us our worldly life. Hope to goodness there are others out there giving it a try. The universe is a big place......we seem to doing a pretty good job at messing up our little piece of it.

 

 

For sure.

Not at all.

 

I don't know which threads I've said it in, but I know I have more than once: It would be pretty arrogant of us as humans to think that God created all of the entirety of the universe and only created life on one little planet.

In the time of Galileo or Copernicus, just the mere thought of the Earth not being the center of the Universe was enough to send the Church into panic mode and heliocentric believers into prison. After all, God would most certainly place the Earth at the center of everything, right? The new science of the day made people start to question their archaic beliefs about God and the universe.

 

Turn the page...

 

We will one day soon , thanks to science, discover that we are not alone in the Universe. In fact, we will, I believe, be confronted with the fact that there are billions or more other civilizations out there. Likely, not one of those civilizations will have ever heard of Jesus or Mohammed or Joseph Smith or the myriad of other characters that are at the center of the plethora of man-made religions on Earth. You think there is the Bible or the Koran on Planet UXE-692 ?

 

Would the discovery of life elsewhere in the Universe give you pause for concern or cause you to rethink your beliefs in God at all? I think the religious community would again be in a panic of sorts, as it becomes apparent that humans are pretty much irrelevant in the Universe.

 

The guru indicated awhile back, and I agree, that the reason the population is becoming less religious(the stats bear that out) is because of the access everyone has to so much information now. With the internet and all the emerging data that science provides us, it becomes harder and harder to believe the kind of things that religion wants us to believe. Still believe the sun revolves around the Earth like Ptolemy said? Of course not. Still believe the Earth is flat? Of course not. (Well... some do). Really believe the Earth is 6,000 years old? I won't even go there! Think climate change is as fake as Moses' tablet? Not a chance. The point is, science directs our path of understanding and enlightenment. Religion stunts our growth. With every advance made by science, every new galaxy seen by Hubble or the James Webb telescope, we will come closer to the undeniable fact that we are not alone and we are not that special in the Universe. Over billions of years and with many, many billions of opportunities, science predicts life will eventually form. It did here we know for sure. One day we will find that it did many other places as well... in my opinion, without the help of a magic man in the sky.

 

Evangelicals, if the day comes in your lifetime when we find out there is life all over the universe just as science predicts, will that change your views any about a grand wizard as universal designer or will you still cling to your faith as tightly as you cling to your beloved AR-15?

 

Disagree with the bolded. Christianity is responsible for the modern hospital systems and university systems, in addition to being the most charitable institution in the history of mankind among dozens of other advancements.

 

It'll take a helluva lot more than the discovery of life on other planets (which there is still no hard evidence of, by the way) to shake my faith.

Not in the least. If anything it would, at least for me, strengthen it.

Evangelicals, if the day comes in your lifetime when we find out there is life all over the universe just as science predicts, will that change your views any about a grand wizard as universal designer or will you still cling to your faith as tightly as you cling to your beloved AR-15?

 

Nope, not at all. Still going to have my guns and still going to have my God. You should open your eyes once in a while, a little vision may create a glimmer of faith and that may be all you need. Good luck to you on your quest, I'll take my chances with God

Why would it change anything? Would just be more evidence of his power and greatness.

As my wife says ,she feels sorry for anybody that thinks this life is all there is.

As my wife says ,she feels sorry for anybody that thinks this life is all there is.

 

This is precisely why she chooses to think this life is not all there is. It's a happy thought. The thought that this life is the only one we have is not as happy. Your wife chooses happy over sad. Very understandable. Problem is, she has absolutely no evidence to think this way. To think that there is some King of Kings in the clouds somewhere to welcome us to the golden gates and walk with us through streets of gold and to once again feel the loving embrace of our dearly departed loved ones is a happy and comforting thought. But again, there is not one scintilla of evidence of this happy thought being anything but fantasy. I would love this to be the case but just because it's a nice thought doesn't mean it's for real.

Better make good use of your time on this insignificant blue dot in space that we live on because there is no "overtime" in some Nirvanaland . Nice thought, but nice thoughts are created by man to cushion the psyche from sad rational thoughts.

Well then earthlings would just have to be God's instrument and deliver the gospel to the aliens

Well then earthlings would just have to be God's instrument and deliver the gospel to the aliens

 

Manifest Destiny II: The Final Frontier