Theological Implications of Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life

Since the federal government released its long-awaited UFO report in January, there have been plenty of headlines related to UFOs. (Technically, the government refers to them as UAPs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena; I have no doubt a good number of taxpayer dollars were used to pay someone to come up with that acronym.) Two months ago, the Pentagon said it is in the process of reviewing more than 650 UFO (oops, UAP) incidents. So far, it says none of them can be attributed to alien (extraterrestrial) origin.

This report has prompted me to revisit something I hadn’t thought much about for 40+ years: how does the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life relate to Christian beliefs? Let’s go back to 1976. This is when the two Viking landers on Mars performed several experiments to determine whether Mars had any microbial life. Although initially there was plenty of excitement about the results, ultimately, they were inconclusive because they could be explained by unusual chemistry rather than biology (life); in other words, there was something in the soil mimicking life, but it wasn’t life itself. And of course, even if the Viking experiments had shown evidence of such life, it wouldn’t have been evidence of intelligent life. A few years later, I read a book by German astrophysicist Reinhard Breuer called Contact with the Stars. Breuer came to the conclusion that, at least within our galaxy, we are the only technological civilization. (Among other things, the Drake Equation is fascinating, although it relies almost purely on various kinds of speculation; you can research it if you’re interested.) Breuer left open the possibility that there was intelligent life out there, but perhaps we just didn’t know it yet because their technology had not yet developed enough for them to send out messages, for example.

The idea of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is a very intriguing idea, to say the least. For naturalistic scientists who believe in evolution, it seems illogical that our planet is the only one in the universe where intelligent life exists. However, it is not so easy, to put it mildly, for life of any kind to develop by chance; click here if you want to read more: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2023/02/09/the-intelligent-designer/ In addition, however, it seems that some people have an understandable desire to find life elsewhere because they think, among other things, that intelligent beings from another world would help us Earthlings solve some of the problems we have here. This presupposes that these beings from another planet would not be hostile, but is that realistic?

I have enjoyed good science-fiction novels, short stories, movies, and TV shows since I was a boy. Many of these have to do with encounters with intelligent extraterrestrial life, very occasionally friendly (the blockbuster 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind), but almost always hostile. Admittedly, this is all fiction, but it seems to me that the hostile portrayals of extraterrestrials are more likely than the friendly ones.

If you’re a Christian, then you know that sin entered our world through Satan, who tempted Adam and Eve into sinning; this is commonly referred to as the Fall. I believe that if there are planets with intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, then the Lord created it, just as He created Adam and Eve, the parents of the human race, here. I also believe that Satan would visit such planets and try to do what he successfully did here. Would intelligent life elsewhere be able to resist the temptations of Satan? C.S. Lewis wrote a space trilogy, the second book of which is Perelandra. On Perelandra (which is the planet Venus), there exist two beings, a king and a queen. A visitor to the planet who is possessed by Satan tries to tempt the queen into doing the one thing she had been commanded not to do. However, there is also another visitor (a Christ-like figure) who ultimately battles, and defeats, the demon-possessed man. Thus, sin does not enter Venus, so the Fall never happens.

I enjoyed Perelandra, and it is truly wonderful to imagine a world where Satan does not succeed in his temptations of the first people there. However, if Satan succeeded in tempting intelligent beings on another planet (which I think is likely), then sin would enter that world as well. Taking it a step further: would the Lord enact His plan of salvation on that world? I believe the answer is yes. However, wouldn’t that mean that Jesus, God’s Son, would have to die for that race of intelligent beings as well? Based on everything I read in the Bible, I believe the answer is yes. Hebrews 9:22 says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

I can’t imagine the Lord Jesus, Who is my Lord, having to die again and again for sinful intelligent beings on other worlds. This has become the most fundamental reason why I don’t believe there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Perhaps I will be proven wrong someday, but so far, the scientific evidence doesn’t suggest that there is life of any kind elsewhere in the universe, let alone intelligent life.

I should add that I’m aware of Christians who have said that angels (and demons, for that matter) are examples of extraterrestrial intelligence. However, even though angels can take corporeal (bodily) form, they are spirit beings. In addition, demons cannot be saved from sin; they will spend eternity in hell.

Are we alone in the universe, as some like to say? I believe that in a sense, we are. However, it is a universe created by the Lord God, and He chose to create this life-sustaining planet for all life, including intelligent human beings, to live on. And then, after the parents of the human race sinned, He enacted His plan of salvation for all who believe and trust in Jesus. How amazing is that?!

Making Your Mark

People may not articulate it or even be aware of it, but deep down, everyone wants to make their mark in life. Some ways are very negative, while others are positive, even God-glorifying.

In my city, as in many others, there are two very obvious negative ways I have noticed that people try to make their mark, quite literally, in fact. One way is graffiti, sometimes done by gang members as a way of marking their territory. In my neighborhood, there is only one time that I have seen graffiti, many years ago on what was essentially a faceplate over electrical wiring. However, in a couple other parts of the city, graffiti is much more prevalent, some of it gang-related. The other obvious negative way that some have tried to make their mark is by “burning donuts” on the street or in a parking lot, most often with a pickup. Many years ago, we had a young neighbor and his friends who used to enjoy making their mark in this way, in our neighborhood as well as in other areas.

On the one hand, graffiti tends to be more permanent than “donuts,” although thankfully, the former can be painted over. “Donuts” fade over time; the worst ones that we had in our neighborhood had faded in a matter of months. Every several years, the city also paves over streets with fresh blacktop. As far as dealing with the people who perpetrate their graffiti: according to the National Gang Center Bulletin, gangs have been around in various parts of the United States since the early 19th century, but in the West only since the early 20th century. The Bulletin attributes the emergence of many of the street gangs to immigration and poverty. However, on a more fundamental level, especially in today’s world, much has been written elsewhere about how gang membership provides a way of belonging, especially for those from broken and dysfunctional families.

As for those who enjoy making their mark with donuts: that seems to be less a function of gangs and more of a function of young single guys with pickups and too much time on their hands. (My wife had also mused, “Who pays for the tires that these guys are quickly wearing down on our streets?”) Regarding the young ex-neighbor that I mentioned in a previous paragraph: I contacted the owner of the house that he was renting, and she came up with the wonderful idea of gradually raising the rent over a period of a few months until the guy was priced out. Thankfully, he ended up living in our neighborhood less than a year.

On a related note: there was another neighbor around that time who sometimes enjoyed speeding around in his pickup. One afternoon I heard him speeding around the block, so I went outside with a clipboard and pen. When he came careening around the corner, only somewhat in control of his vehicle, he ended up stopping in front of my house, breathing hard and clearly relieved that he hadn’t had an accident. While he sat there, I wrote down some info, like the color and make of his pickup, and frankly just some scribbling, before I went back in the house. He slowly drove away, and the next time we saw each other, we nodded; I didn’t notice him speeding around again. On yet another related note, and also around that time: one evening a friend stopped by to pick up my son for an event at church, and while we were chatting for a few minutes out front, I noticed three young guys I had never seen before sitting on the curb several feet away. Every time I looked their way, they were staring at me, so I eventually stared back. A few minutes after my friend left, I went back outside, and the three guys were gone; I never saw them again. Maybe it was nothing, but maybe it could have been. Only the Lord knows. Thankfully, my neighborhood is now much more peaceful than it had been for a couple years back then.

The examples of graffiti and donuts have struck me as pathetic attempts by young guys who are trying to make their mark. On the other hand, I understand that a lot of these guys didn’t grow up with a father in the home. Thankfully, there are positive ways to leave your mark. In almost any kind of work that people do, they have the opportunity to leave their mark. One obvious example is construction. I have never worked in construction, but I have a lot of respect for people who do. Several years ago, we hired a guy and his crew to replace our roof; about twenty years later, you can still see the quality of the job that they did. My plumber is another man I admire for several reasons; one is the quality of his work. His father (now in heaven) used to be our plumber, and his son has taken over the business. A couple months ago, he replaced a couple of fixtures for us, and he commented on a related fixture by saying, “I see my dad’s handiwork here; he and I replaced this for you.” He talked about how he had learned so much as an apprentice from his dad, and now he is following in his dad’s footsteps, in faith as well as in work.

I’m retired now, but I used to be an ESL teacher in my city. A former student of mine used to work at our local pharmacy, and every time I went in, I took great pleasure in watching her at work and in talking with her. She was always (overly!) complimentary of me and my teaching as well. I have another former student who works at a restaurant that my family and I frequent; I also take pleasure in watching her at work and in talking to her. (She also sometimes gives us a free dessert!) I periodically run into other former students whose names I usually don’t remember but whose faces I do; somehow, they always seem to remember my name.

Speaking for myself as a Christian: the most important way that I can leave my mark is in the lives of others. I have mentioned some of my former students who are still here in my city. I also have other former students that I taught in a Third World country many years ago; I have had the incredible joy of seeing some of them come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. For some, I have been there at the moment when they prayed to accept Christ; for others, I have found out later that they became Christians and that the Lord allowed me to play a part in that. If you’re interested, you can read more about that here under the theme of planting, watering, and harvesting: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2021/02/24/planting-watering-harvesting/

There’s an excellent old movie from 1938 called You Can’t Take It with You. The message of the movie is that no matter how much money and “success” you have, you can’t take it with you. For those of us who are Christians, I have heard it said that the only “thing” we can take with us to heaven is people. Amen to that.

More about Heroism

At the beginning of this month, Jordan Neely, a homeless man, entered a New York subway car and began both speaking and acting in a threatening manner to the other passengers. According to the police report, Neely was acting in a “hostile and erratic” manner while shouting threats that he would hurt people. He also said something about “going to jail or getting life in prison.” Perhaps most ominously, Neely said he was “ready to die.” Marine veteran Daniel Penny stepped in, attempting to subdue Neely by putting him in a chokehold for about fifteen minutes; once Neely stopped struggling, Penny put him in the recovery position. However, Neely was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Initially, it seemed that might be the end of it, but the following week, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg gave in to mob pressure (including people standing on subway tracks) and charged Penny with manslaughter. Leftist activists, including several in the media, have called Penny a “vigilante.” As so often seems to be the case with the homeless, no one seemed to care about Neely in life, but so many have jumped on the Jordan Neely bandwagon to exploit his death.

Thankfully, there has been an outpouring of support for the heroic Penny, including financially, to the tune of more than two million dollars for his defense fund. Many others have expressed their thanks to Penny: “I would’ve wanted you on the subway if I was there. You are a very brave man,” one donor wrote. Another wrote, “I would only hope that if my husband wasn’t with me and someone was threatening me, someone would help me as well. Thank you sir. May God be with you and your family during your time of need. My prayers are also with you.”

Daniel Penny didn’t know this about Jordan Neely at the time, but Neely had been arrested forty-two times, including multiple times for assault. Like many homeless people, he suffered from mental illness. This is not to say that Neely’s life didn’t matter; of course it did. It does, however, give some context to his death. Mentally ill or not, each of us is responsible for our words and actions.

Ultimately, the charges against Penny may very well be dropped. If this case were to ever go to trial, I believe he would be acquitted; hopefully, it won’t come to that. Regardless, cases like this are going to continue to have a chilling effect on potential heroes stepping up in situations where others are being threatened, or even attacked. Why would someone be willing to risk his life, given the threat of losing his freedom even if he is successful in protecting the safety, and possibly life, of a potential victim?

On a related note: Back in 2009, before my son went off to college, I had a conversation with him related to the mass shooting at Virginia Tech two years before. I asked him what he would do if a gunman entered his classroom, and although our responses to that situation were different, it was a rich conversation. Just a couple years ago, he wanted to talk about that kind of situation again, and my heart swelled with pride when he indicated that he would rush the gunman if the opportunity presented itself.

With the ever-increasing prevalence of mass shootings, I have thought about what I would do if a gunman entered my church. I have wavered between at least three options: covering my wife with my body; throwing a chair at the gunman; or grabbing a mike and commanding him to stop in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose my response would depend in part on where the gunman and I were in relation to each other. Lord willing, one thing I would not do is cower. However, part of me wonders whether I would be arrested if I hurt the gunman. Seriously!

2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV) says, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” I like the way the New King James Version puts it even better: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” We can never know for sure how we will react in dangerous situations, but if we are prepared, it is more likely that we will respond the way we want to rather than being frozen in fear. Because of Daniel Penny’s military training, he knew how to respond to the threat posed by Jordan Neely; I want to be ready as well for whatever situation I may find myself in.

You’re probably thinking that it’s unlikely you will ever be faced with someone who is acting threateningly, or with some other imminently dangerous situation. I would say you’re probably right. However, I believe this kind of mental and spiritual preparedness can also make us ready to step in to help in other, more ordinary, less risky situations. For example, have you ever had the pleasure of changing a tire for someone? I have, a couple of times. These days, for various reasons, it seems that this skill is one that many people don’t possess, at least in my area. Or how about jump-starting someone’s vehicle? Maybe you can clean out the gutters of your elderly neighbor. These actions may not seem very “heroic,” but they can have a profound effect on the person you help.

(A while back, I wrote another post about heroism; take a look if you’re interested: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2021/07/27/what-does-heroism-look-like/)

Climate Change: Alarmism vs. Facts

Much has been written and said about climate change, often with rather extreme predictions about what will happen relatively soon if we don’t make radical lifestyle changes. This post begins with examples of alarmist predictions related to climate change and then moves on to facts via a couple of “cool” graphs that I came across. I will conclude with a Christian perspective on this issue.

Here are a few alarmist predictions about world catastrophe related to climate change.

  • In 1967, a book came out called Famine 1975! America’s Decision: Who Will Survive? (Notice the alarmism in the title!) This book predicted widespread starvation in the developing world in less than ten years due to ever-increasing population. Here’s an alarmist quote from the book: “Today’s crisis can move in only one direction – toward catastrophe.” However, in the ensuing decades, deaths from famine plunged, thanks in large part to major improvements in farming technology. In fact, more people died from famine in the decade immediately prior to the book’s publication than have died from it in the 50+ years since! In 1989, there was an echo of that starvation prediction by U.N. official Noel Brown, this time moving from overpopulation as its cause to climate change: “Shifting climate patterns would bring back 1930s Dust Bowl conditions to Canadian and U.S. wheatlands.” That hasn’t happened, either.
  • In the 1970s, believe it or not, there were widespread forecasts of global cooling–even global freezing. In 1970, for example, in the book Earth Day: The Beginning: A Guide for Survival, Kenneth Watt warned that then-current trends would make the world “eleven degrees colder in the year 2000 … about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.” Five years later, British scientist Nigel Calder wrote in International Wildlife magazine, “The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind.” Three years after that, even Leonard Nimoy (who played science officer Spock in the original Star Trek series) joined the chorus, predicting a coming ice age in a documentary film. Given the current hysteria over global warming, these global ice age predictions may seem hard to believe.
  • In 1989, U.N. official Noel Brown made yet another prediction: “The most conservative scientific estimate [is] that the Earth’s temperature will rise 1 to 7 degrees [Celsius] in the next 30 years.” However, from 1989 to 2019, the temperature rose about half of a degree Celsius, according to NASA. (More on this below.) In a related prediction, Al Gore in his 2006 movie An Inconvenient Truth predicted that much of Florida and the San Francisco Bay would be underwater by 2016; has that happened, even now, seven years later than predicted? The movie also suggested that hurricanes would increase in frequency and intensity because of climate change; however, hurricane frequency has decreased since 2006, and their intensity has not increased significantly. A side note: Al Gore has since bought a beach-front property near Los Angeles for nearly $9 million, indicating that he doesn’t seem overly concerned about rising ocean levels.

Now let’s move from alarmism and hysteria to facts. Is global warming real? Yes, it is; the question is how much. Click here for a fun chart, which shows global temperatures from 2500 B.C. to 2040 A.D. (predicted), along with several historical notes: http://www.longrangeweather.com/global_temperatures.htm The most important thing to note is that climate change is cyclical over the long term; in other words, there are alternating periods of global cooling and global warming; we are currently in a period of global warming. The only thing I don’t like about the chart is that it shows temperature fluctuations in Fahrenheit rather than Celsius. For example, in the small orange rectangular box in the upper left, it says “RECORD GLOBAL WARMING IN 2016/2020; global temperatures hit 1.69 degrees above normal.” 1.69 degrees Fahrenheit = 0.94 degrees Celsius. Here’s the link to another chart that shows global temperature changes from 1880-2022: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature You can see that since 1977, every year has been warmer than average. Notice, however, that it has not been a continuous upward movement from one year to the next; 2022, for example, was significantly cooler than 2020.

Sometimes, scientists and politicians make very revealing comments. For example, in 1989, Stephen Schneider, a professor of biology at Stanford University, told Discover magazine, “We have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.” And here’s Sen. Timothy Wirth, a Democrat from Colorado, who said in 1988: “We’ve got to … try to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong … we will be doing the right thing anyway in terms of economic policy and environmental policy.” Do you think anything has changed in the last 30+ years? Are “scary scenarios” and “simplified, dramatic statements” still the norm? How about it, Al Gore? And ponder Wirth’s frightening statement: “Even if the theory of global warming is wrong … we will be doing the right thing anyway…” The current “Go Green” movement is an extreme extension of that, with one of its goals to make fossil fuels obsolete and eventually make all of us drive EVs.

Climate change is related to environmental stewardship. Since this blog is focused on giving Biblical answers to questions and issues, what does the Bible have to say about this issue? In Genesis 1:28, God says to newly-created Adam and Eve: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'” This verse and others like it indicate that we are to responsibly take care of creation.

I have told many people over the years that some of my best times of worship have been out in nature, enjoying God’s creation. I believe that Christians should be the best stewards of creation on the earth! However, I don’t believe that alarmism and hysteria from any of our scientists and politicians is helpful. Obviously, they do it to get our attention, but in so doing they distort the truth, to put it mildly. Let me repeat a sentence from biology professor Stephen Schneider, above: “Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.” Now that’s scary! I believe it’s clear that climate change is cyclical and that in the current cycle, the globe is getting warmer. However, I also believe that at some point (probably beyond my lifetime), we will enter another cycle of global cooling.

In the article under the 2500 B.C. – 2040 A.D chart (see the first link, above), meteorologist Randy Mann says, “We believe we should be ‘going green’ whenever and wherever possible. However, some of the long-term warming and cooling of global temperatures may be the result of climatic cycles, solar activity, sea-surface temperature patterns and more. Our planet seems to be in a cycle of constant change.” I don’t agree with everything he writes in his article, but I agree with this statement, and I appreciate his nuance and balance. Our leaders should learn to do the same.

Volunteerism in My Community, Then and Now

Volunteering in various ways has always been important to my wife and me, so when we moved our young family to our current location back in the mid-1990s, we immediately started looking for ways to volunteer. We hosted a Vacation Bible School in our backyard a few weeks after we moved, and the following year, our son started kindergarten, so we took turns volunteering in his classroom. That same year, we were excited to hear that our city had a coalition of ~70 pastors who had begun meeting together regularly to pray for their congregations, each other, and our city. This was clearly the Lord’s timing because the following winter, the southern part of our city was inundated by a flood; a large number of the volunteers who went to help, including me and my young son, were from those churches. The fact that the informal coalition already existed made organizing the volunteers a very quick process. The following year, the coalition organized another work day with various projects around the city. The day began with a gathering of the volunteers, and we sang a Christian contemporary song and/or hymn a before heading out to the various projects; if memory serves, we sang “Amazing Grace,” and we did it a cappella. There was also a short prayer.

Another aspect of the church coalition was that the pastors agreed, among other things, that they would officiate and host weddings only for couples who had gone through pre-marital counseling. My own church, in fact, had a strong pre-marital program, and a few years later, my wife and I found another way to volunteer: we met (two-on-two) over the years with engaged couples and took them through a curriculum put together by one of our pastors. Our leadership also encouraged us to “prayer-walk” in our neighborhoods. This was really a time of blessing for our city! However, the devil was at work; the pastor who was the leader of the church coalition became involved in sexual immorality. He stepped down from his position as pastor; in addition, the church coalition fell apart because none of the other pastors stepped up to take leadership of it.

Fast-forward a few years, and a new organization of volunteers emerged; in fact, it originated in the church where the sexually-immoral pastor had stepped down. My son and I (and then also my wife and daughter) continued to volunteer at the annual work days. We began to notice some changes; for example, instead of singing “Amazing Grace” a cappella in our gathering at the beginning of the day, we heard the chorus of Journey’s iconic “Don’t Stop Believin'” pounding over loudspeakers. The next words of the chorus are “Hold on to that feelin’, streetlight people.” There are differing interpretations of its meaning, but if you listen to the whole song, let’s just say that “streetlight people” doesn’t exactly refer to people of wholesome character. On the positive side, another difference I have noticed is that this movement has spread to nine additional cities, and the number of volunteers has grown astronomically. So has the number of sponsors, which has grown from zero to more than one hundred; a few of them are churches, while the vast majority of them are local businesses.

On this year’s flyer, I have noticed some free giveaways (by drawing), including four tickets to one concert and two to another; a large-screen TV; two tickets to the Broadway national tour of Anastasia; and just added this week, four tickets to Six Flags! Oh, and if you pay $10 for a full pancake breakfast, your name will be entered into a drawing for a Yogurt Mill Gift Basket worth $150! (I should add that there are also free refreshments and snacks for everyone, which is as it should be.)

The sponsorships and giveaways prompted me to read the home page of the organization’s website; no mention is made of Jesus Christ or even of God. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with this in and of itself; certainly, both believers and unbelievers can volunteer together! My main question for God’s people is this: if you’re volunteering for an event like this, that’s great, but would you be doing it even if there were no free stuff? Here’s what Proverbs 16:21 says: “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.” A companion verse is Proverbs 21:2, which says, “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”

A lot has been gained in my community in terms of volunteerism since the 1990s; this is particularly true when you look at the huge increase in the number of volunteers on our annual work days. At the same time, I think that something has been lost as well. My wife and I have gotten to that age and stage of life where physical labor is more difficult than it used to be; may the Lord continue to guide our youth and their parents in their volunteering in our community–and indeed every community–as we move forward.