Life on other planets.

[SVD997]

I have been watching a lot of Stargate and Star Trek lately, and I would like to pose a question for you all: Do you think there is life on other planets? I mean, there are billions of stars and most of those stars have solar systems. Do you really think that there is no life in the rest of the universe? I find it hard to believe that God created the massive universe for just our little planet with our small group of people. I have thought of two solutions: 1. The Lord will not come back for thousands of years, and we will begin to populate the other planets and galaxies. 2. There is life on other planets. Now I have had several people say that if there was life on other planets, then God would have told us in the Bible. My answer is why? What would it accomplish? Nothing. If God told us about other life on planets, what could we do about it? Anyway, I just thought I would put this up for discussion.

[Shao Feng-Li]

While there is the extremely slight chance God created life on other planets but didn't mention, I don't think there's life on other planets. Whether or not we'll populate other places, only time will tell.

[Lynx]

*whistles x-files theme*

[Tenshi no Ai]

While there is the extremely slight chance God created life on other planets but didn't mention, I don't think there's life on other planets. Whether or not we'll populate other places, only time will tell.

I agree. ...although it would be VERY boring to live anywhere else :/ I mean take Mars for example "Wow, same ol' red rock..." like an endless red, boring desert :/ Unless they can grow stuff of there but still. Not fun :/

[Shao Feng-Li]

I agree. ...although it would be VERY boring to live anywhere else :/ I mean take Mars for example "Wow, same ol' red rock..." like an endless red, boring desert :/ Unless they can grow stuff of there but still. Not fun :/

The lack of oxygen(sp?) doesn't help.

[Yojimbo]

We could always terraform Mars and fix that.

[SVD997]

Yes, that's in this galaxy, but there are many, many other galaxies out there. The possibility that there might be life in other galaxies I think might actually be possible. We can't even see real well past our own solar system, much less galaxy.

[Steeltemplar]

I think there is life, but not sentient life. Just plants and animals. How would that classify in this vote?

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I don't believe there is life out on other planets.

[Puritan]

No idea. I see no compelling reason for there to not be life on other planets, and no reason to suspect that there is life on other planets.

[meboeck]

No idea. I see no compelling reason for there to not be life on other planets, and no reason to suspect that there is life on other planets.

My thoughts exactly.

[Radical Dreamer]

My thoughts exactly.

I concur.

[Joshua Christopher]

Where the heck do you think John Tesh came from, dorks?

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

John Tesh? Who's that?

[Sakura15]

No idea. I see no compelling reason for there to not be life on other planets, and no reason to suspect that there is life on other planets.

I also concur

[Nate]

Hey, let's all quote Puritan's post and then add nothing of value!

No idea. I see no compelling reason for there to not be life on other planets, and no reason to suspect that there is life on other planets.

I concur as well.

[Syreth]

Isn't it funny how many people think of aliens as higher life-forms than humans? I mean, if they do exist (which they probably don't) who's to say they couldn't be primitive? But yeah, we know what's on a good number of planets around us: nothing... so why should we expect there to be life on planets further and further away?

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Isn't it funny how many people think of aliens as higher life-forms than humans? I mean, if they do exist (which they probably don't) who's to say they couldn't be primitive? But yeah, we know what's on a good number of planets around us: nothing... so why should we expect there to be life on planets further and further away?

Depends, if other life forms came to us, then they'd probably be a higher-life form than us. If we went to them, then we may be a higher-life form. Of course that's not completely accurate. Just a thought.

[Maledicte]

To quote Contact: "If there isn't, seems like an awful waste of space."

[Slater]

life on other planets? Maybe God put some there. Intelegent (eg human-like) life on other planets? Absolutly not, that would go against the Bible.

[SVD997]

Slater, out of curiosity, what is your Biblical reasoning for that?

[Yahshua]

According to University of Washington Seattle Professor that Life on other planets maybe impossible due to the environmental conditions on other planets are not as good as that of the Earth for the reason that Earth is just far enough from the Star to have the heat, also it is not too far enough where it freezes. And there are the Asteroid belts to protecting Earth from getting hits by many meteors. So Earth by far has the best environmental conditions for the life to develop on.

[Slater]

God created the human race to be the #1 lifeform in the universe; this is commonly accepted in all realms of bible study that I've been in when we notice that God does not call Creation "very good" until after He created man. There are no other lifeforms that have spiritual bodies as we do; that's what sets us apart from all of creation. Also, according to scriptures in the NT, if there were a seperate race of setient beings in the universe, they would require another form of salvation if they sinned since the blood of Jesus only extends to mankind, and such a thing cannot be since Jesus' sacrafice was the sacrafice to end all sacrafices.

[SVD997]

Okay Slater, point well taken. Here's some things I've heard others argue, and I'll put them here for debate: 1. What if he created man in other galaxies, but they have not fallen to sin. I know that this would create problems if we ever met, it's just kinda wierd to think about. 2. What if Jesus DID go to every planet with man and die for them? I mean, what if their is life, and every one has fallen to sin. Why would Jesus only come to earth and die? Personally, you make some good points Slater, I just thought this would be a cool topic to discuss, and I think it is.

[Slater]

1. Read CS Lewis' books for an interesting viewpoint on that speculation (specifially, the Space Trilogy)

2. The Bible says that Jesus died once and that would be sufficient enough for all time, so it wouldn't be right to say that Jesus died more than once. It really is an interesting question that theologans have been thinking about recently and they have come up with similar answers. I'd point you in their direction, but posting such a link would be sufficient enough to get this thread locked...

I'll bet that there are some sort of unicellular lifeforms out there somewhere, but beyond that is extremely unlikely.

[Anime Dad]

As far as i'm concerned, i believe that unless you're God, you will
A) Never have a full understanding of God's plan for the world, and the universe
B) Never have a full understanding of the universe itself.
So I think the best option is to choose "no idea"

[Sammy Boy]

I am assuming we are talking about life on other planets in the extraterrestrial, and not the hyperdimensional sense.

A more in-depth look into the requirements for carbon-based lifeforms (I've read that silicon is stable, but repetitive in a non-interesting way and thus not suitable for real life - chemistry buffs will have to correct me on this if I get it wrong - thanks) on planets in the astronomical context would seem to favour the view that life on other planets is quite unlikely.

This is due to the type of star required (a G class comparable to the Sun in terms of mass), the distance between the planet and the star (0.95 AU to around 1.05 AU, with 1 AU being the mean distance between the Sun and the Earth), the kind of star system (multiple stars or even binary stars in the system can play havoc with the planet's orbits), the position of the star system within the host galaxy (too close to the centre is not a good idea as the gravitational pull of galactic nuclei is usually too strong - often due to the presence of supermassive black holes, out on the arms of a spiral galaxy is better), and the relative absence of supernovae going off in the proximity of the star system (supernovae spew all manner of harmful radiation around themselves - a real big no-no for planets that wish to harbour life).

There are other reasons, but none of them come to memory right now.

----
Regarding the possibility of intelligent lifeforms on other planets - if they sinned, who is to say that God prepared a method of salvation for them? We don't deserve salvation, God was being loving and gracious to us. Anyway, that's just my two cents.

[Technomancer]

From what we know about the origins of terrestrial life, I think there is good reason to believe that it can be found elsewhere in the universe. Specifically earth-like conditions would not be required for instance given the original conditions when life arose here (at the end of the Hadean), so there is likely to be a certain variance in where life can exist. Even if we admit that the general conditions themselves are fairly rare, we should also remember that there are ~100 billion stars in our galaxy alone and ~100 billion galaxies throughout the universe. This should mean ample opportunity for life to develop somewhere. Based on a general set of constraints for example, Ulmschneider estimates that there should be on the order of ~1.0*10^4 habitable systems in the Milky Way.

Also, you should read this book

[Lady Macbeth]

Yes; the arguments that Technomancer makes are similar in principle to the arguments that Carl Sagan makes in Cosmos, and which are again reiterated in the movie "Contact" as SirThinks2Much pointed out. It is more statistically impossible for there to not be life, and to a smaller degree, life of a developed, semi-sentient variety as we know on our planet, than impossible for there to be life.

And not to be all Gnostic/Matrix-esque on all of you, but with our limited contact with space outside our planet, who's to say that our books and our promises for salvation, no matter what religion we are, are the only ones in the Universe? Given the likelihood of other planets with life, and other planets with developed, sentient life, it stands to reason that at least a percentage of those developed religion along the same sort of themes that we have on our planet. Wouldn't it then be equally reasonable that they have been told that they are the unique, special ones and that they alone have the chance at salvation?

That's what pushes the search for beings like us in the Universe - beings able to communicate, and able to form complex, abstract ideas. The money backing the projects is searching for resources, but the minds executing the projects are searching for the Truth. We've sent junk into space with the hope that someone, somewhere will find it and send some of their junk back to us to look at.

There is no doubt in my mind that other life - other people - exist in the vastness of the Universe, and there is no doubt in my mind that they spend significant portions of their life looking at the sky. Some are just thinking about it, some are reaching toward it, and some are holding this very same discussion among their peers. However, I don't worry about why the connection has not been made between us - like the "mythical" Indian city that was revealed on the bottom of the Indian Ocean by the 2004 tsunami, the others will be revealed when they were meant to be revealed, not when we want them to be.

[chibiphonebooth]

i said yes because God loves to create life, why would he just limit it to this one planet- if the galaxy and universe are so massively huge? :p