“Does the idea of life on other worlds contradict the Bible?”
The Bible does not address the question of beings on other planets but it does speak of another dimension of life called heaven. Still, there is absolutely nothing in scripture to refute the theory of life on other planets.
Having said that, there is usually more than meets the eye when this question is asked. Often, the dogma of both Christian and skeptic comes forth. Christians tend to think that the idea of intelligent life on other worlds contradicts their faith while atheists act as though life on other planets would contradict the Bible. Both are mistaken.
To explore this topic, let’s begin with what we do know from scripture. First of all, if there is intelligent life on another world, it would not be superior to human life. According to the Bible, nothing is of more value to God than human beings. It is humans who are made in His own image (meaning spiritual image). We may someday discover other humans or life equal to that of a human, but nothing superior.
Meanwhile, we already know that a type of intelligent life does exist outside the boundaries of our own world. The Bible tells us much about beings known as angels and demons. We will save any detail for another discussion but one should marvel how quickly people dismiss the idea of angels and demons, yet accuse Christians of being too closed minded when discussing intelligent life on other worlds. Well, that is exactly what demons and angels are, intelligent life existing in other dimensions (if not other worlds).
” But atheists usually mean mortal life on other actual planets when bringing up the subject of aliens.”
True. And let’s face facts: If intelligent life did develop elsewhere, it would be far more of a contradiction to evolution than to the idea of God. According to the theory of evolution, life developed randomly and there would be a billion to one shot that it could accidentally happen again. But if the universe works according to a purpose, if life is the result of a plan, put forth by a creator, then it makes perfect sense that He could have created intelligent life in many places.
“Supposing we were visited by aliens who claimed there was no God.”
All that would mean was that we encountered beings who did not believe. As a matter of fact, not all of our own astronauts have believed in God. God’s existence or non-existence is not dependent upon space travel.
In scripture, the concept of the term world kept changing. When Jesus told His disciples to share the gospel all over the world, to them the world was Europe, Asia and Africa. The very notion of crossing the Atlantic Ocean and finding a continent (later named America but originally designated “the new world” ) and meeting Native Americans, would have been about as bizarre in those days as us today discovering humanoid life on some far off planet and deciding to share the gospel with the this new species. The “world” that Jesus returns to someday may be a whole solar system!
“But would alien beings even need to hear the gospel? Would they too be expected to believe in Jesus?”
There is only one God. The God of our world would be the God of all worlds. As for whether or not they needed to accept Jesus, it would depend upon their own unique history. If (unlike us) they never fell into sin, we would not need to tell them about Jesus, because they would already know Jesus!
“Does this mean we can accept books like Chariots of the Gods?”
Not at all. Such books attempt to explain away the miracles of the Bible and attribute them to alien beings instead. We can dismiss such nonsense, all the while embracing the notion of life on other planets as a concept.
CONCLUSION: The Bible exists primarily to carve the way of salvation and forgiveness of sins. It does not seek to answer every mystery of the universe. Christian and skeptic alike should maintain an open mind regarding such speculations.
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