Aliens and a Biblical Worldview
By: Shafer Parker, FBB Content Director
This is going to be a blog about UFOs and a Biblical Worldview, but, like taking a swim in a cold lake, we need to ease into it gradually. Last week my regular Bible reading took me to II Kings, chapter 6, which includes the familiar story of Elisha’s servant learning a lesson about angels. You will remember that the story begins with Ben-Hadad, king of Syria getting angry because Jehoram, king of Israel, had many times escaped his ambushes. Ben-hadad became convinced that he had a traitor in his inner circle. But his men affirmed their loyalty, and told him that it was the prophet Elisha who repeatedly exposed his plans to Israel’s king. “Elisha is so in tune with God,” they told the Syrian king, “he even knows the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
Being a linear thinker, Ben-hadad knew immediately what to do. “Seize Elisha!” And upon being informed that Elisha was staying at Dothan he sent a “great army” to surround the city. When Elisha’s servant awoke the next morning and headed for the outdoor privy, the first thing he saw was the Syrian army in full battle array surrounding Dothan. The servant ran back to inform his master of the looming disaster, crying, “What shall we do?”
Not surprisingly, the man of God knew what to do. First, he told his servant that “those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” But when the servant didn’t get it, he prayed that God would “open [the servant’s] eyes that he may see.” Immediately, the “young man” saw the mountain “full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” Elisha then took control of the situation. He asked God to strike the Syrian army blind, and when that happened he said to the army, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.”
God help me, but when I read what Elisha said to the Syrian soldiers, in my mind I heard a familiar British accent saying, “You don’t need to see his identification. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for,” lines uttered by Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi master introduced in Star Wars: Episode IV—“A New Hope,” the movie that began the Star Wars franchise. As soon as I heard that voice in my head I was struck by two thoughts: (1) Isn’t it amazing how even in 1977 Hollywood was blatantly trying to replace the Biblical worldview that we live in a personal universe filled with God’s supernatural servants (angels), with an impersonal “Force” that could be turned toward either good or evil, depending on the whim of the user, and (2) Isn’t it amazing how difficult it is for even non-Christians to write stories that aren’t influenced by Biblical themes?
In fact, much popular literature is either a reflection of Biblical themes (think fantasy works by Tolkien and Lewis), or a parody of Biblical themes (think George Lucas with his Star Wars, or Lucas’ friend Steven Spielberg with his Close Encounters of the Third Kind). Speaking of Close Encounters, Spielberg, raised by Orthodox Jewish parents, has freely admitted that in his movie he used the Devils Tower in Wyoming as a deliberate stand-in for Mt. Sinai, and that the extraterrestrials are designed to take the place of God. To make sure no one could miss the resemblance, Spielberg included an earlier scene where Cecil B. DeMille’s Ten Commandments played on a TV in the background. And to complete the Close Encounters connection with Scripture, some interpreters have compared main character Roy Neary entering the UFO vehicle with Elijah going to heaven in “chariots of fire” (II Kings 2:11).
It occurs to me that nearly 2,000 years after Paul wrote his epistle to Rome, his words are as relevant as ever. The “Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God,” he writes in Rom. 3:2. But then, aware that most Jews had rejected Messiah Jesus, he was forced to ask, “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means.” It’s unlikely that when Paul wrote Romans he was thinking about unbelieving Jews writing science fiction and fantasy in the 20th and 21st centuries, but the Holy Spirit knew perfectly what would be going on in the distant future. God knew that many Jews would still be rejecting His Son, but that, because of who they were, they would still be unable to stop thinking about “the oracles of God,” and retelling Bible stories.
Thus we have today’s situation, in which Jewish writers are hugely influential in the fields of science fiction and fantasy. They can’t help it. They reject the God of the Bible, but because they were once His covenant people they can’t stop thinking up pretend gods and goddesses and wrestling with such fundamental questions as, how can we connect with the universe in a personal way?
It’s this last question that continually bedevilled astronomer, astrophysicist and TV personality Carl Sagan. Raised a liberal Jew, Sagan denied having a personal faith of any kind, but he did have a hunger to connect with personal beings beyond earth. Though professing scepticism that extraterrestrials would ever be found, he nevertheless became an early advocate for using radio telescopes to sweep the skies in an attempt to “hear” a coherent message from intelligent beings on other planets. Later on he worked with Frank Drake to formulate the Arecibo Message, beamed from earth to the globular star cluster M13, just in case anyone was out there waiting to hear from us. Today, some twenty-eight years after Sagan’s death in 1996, the Carl Sagan Center continues to search for life beyond earth.
At this point I can reveal that all I’ve written so far has mostly been an elaborate introduction to an experience I recently had at a Calgary Christian School called Arise Academy. I was invited by journalism teacher Laura Swart to work with four young male students who were interested in learning how to do podcasts. Laura explained that she understood print journalism, but needed help with digital stuff. So, FBB speaker Jon Rendall and I went to the school to teach the basics of podcasting.
Jon took the first session and did a masterful job of lining out the fundamentals. Then it was my turn to talk with them about the podcast they were going to do. I had brought a list of suggested topics, none of which interested them. “What, then,” I asked, “do you want to talk about.” “UFOs,” they said, and in the next few minutes it became clear they were not open to changing their minds. Yielding to the inevitable, I helped them put together a script that we eventually recorded. But I insisted they allow me to be the last speaker who would speak to the Christian view of UFOs. What follows is a transcript of that part of the dialogue.
Parker: As a Christian and a believer in the Bible, I think it is possible that life could be found on other planets, but I think it is highly unlikely. The Bible presents God as two things: (1) the creator of all that is, and (2) the God of the people of the earth. Even something as simple as the first phrase from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world” seems to indicate that God’s love is focussed on our planet, and the people who live here.
Podcast host: But why couldn’t God love intelligent beings on other planets? What makes us so special?
Parker: Well, it’s true that we’re not special in ourselves, but God has declared that we are special to Him. Think of the next part of John 3:16. How does it go? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” What does it mean that God gave His Son? It means that He sent His Son to become one of us, a fellow human being who would eventually offer himself on the cross to pay the sin debt for the human beings living on planet earth. Then, when Jesus rose from the dead, he was still in his human body. And when he ascended to heaven, he did so in a human body. There he presents the wounds on his body as proof that his saving work is complete. Moreover, the Bible indicates that he will do this forever. It is in Christ alone that we are made acceptable to God.
Do you see now why it is difficult for me to believe in alien life forms? How could God relate to other life forms if the One Creator God gave His Son to our race? If there are other races elsewhere, did they also sin? If they sinned are they damned forever? Or did God’s Son somehow also take on their flesh and die for them? If so, how is that even possible? The Holy Spirit can be everywhere at once, but a person in a body can only be in one place at a time. Not even Jesus can violate that rule. Thus, I think it is safest to say that if God only had one Son, and that one Son became one of us, died for us, and then went to heaven to represent us forever, He cannot be a Saviour for another planet or another race of beings. For that reasonI believe it is highly unlikely there are intelligent beings on other planets.
Podcast host: Okay, but you haven’t answered one important question; Why do people feel so lonely? Why are they looking so hard for life somewhere else?
Parker: It’s because we were made for fellowship with a higher being. We were made to fellowship with God, but that relationship has been broken by sin. The only way back to God is through Jesus Christ, but a lot of people refuse that path because they seek a way to ease their loneliness that avoids contact with Holy God. However, I can assure you that if you do believe in Jesus, once you know Him, you will have an eternally satisfying relationship with your Creator, and you will never be lonely again.
Parker, S. (2022, April 11). The Gospel Blimp? or a faith worth sharing? Faith Beyond Belief. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.faithbeyondbelief.ca/blog/the-gospel-blimp-or-a-faith-worth-sharing
Parker, S. (2022, May 17). Worldview evangelism. Faith Beyond Belief. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.faithbeyondbelief.ca/blog/worldview-evangelism
Faith Beyond Belief. (2021, December 9). J. Warner Wallace's Person of Interest. Faith Beyond Belief. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.faithbeyondbelief.ca/podcast/j-warner-wallaces-person-of-interest