P
my pops brought an interesting point of view on aliens the other day, nd gave me a link to this guy site, i think he makes some pretty valid points..what are your thoughts on this?
if you want to chek out his list of arguments on this, go here..UFOs and the Christian Worldview
UFOs and the Christian Worldview
Most Christians don't think about UFOs.
Except for catching the occasional episode of X-Files or maybe watching the latest Independence Day wannabe, the topic of extraterrestrial life simply never comes up. If a Christian ever does think about alien intelligence, he usually believes it's all a bunch of hooey, nothing more than a product of the lunatic fringe. "Addicts take their drugs and, poof, they see flying saucers�right next to flying skillets, flying Volkswagens, and flying walruses."
This is what I thought, too, before I started this study.
I have to admit to a certain fascination with the subject. I've always loved science fiction, so the idea of extraterrestrial civilizations has been with me for decades. I watched every quasi-documentary on the subject I could. I became acquainted with subjects like alien abductions, cattle mutilations, crop circles, crashed or captured alien vessels, government studies, alien autopsies, the supposed hybridization program, and men in black.
The video footage in some of these documentaries was astonishing. Even allowing for a high percentage of forgeries, there were some amazing examples that could not be explained. After watching a particularly convincing UFO special on The Learning Channel, I decided it was time to take a serious look at the subject.
You have to understand something about me: I�m a researcher. I love learning. I�m also a seminary graduate. I hold the Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. So when I decide to research a subject like this, I plunge into it with both flippers�all with the purpose of integrating it into the Christian worldview.
Before I read a single UFO book, I wanted to settle some things in my mind. What would happen if there came undeniable, absolutely certain evidence of extraterrestrial life? Would my faith be able to handle it, or was my Christianity too brittle to accept it? In other words, would I be obliged, by my own inability to face this new data, into denying it completely? Would I be in the same group as those who say the earth is flat?
I asked myself if I believed God could create intelligent life on other planets if He wanted to. I asked myself what it would mean to my faith, if anything, if that were the case. I asked myself whether other intelligent species, if there were any, would have to come to faith in Jesus Christ or if God would have supplied them another way.
I asked myself whether the pillar of cloud and the pillar fire in the Bible were really UFOs, whether Elijah�s chariot of fire were really a flying saucer, and if Paul�s trip into the third heaven were really an abduction experience.
I asked the hardest questions, too. What if God were merely a superintelligent alien? What if we are just his simulation on some cosmic supercomputer? What if mankind is not the unique creature, the pinnacle of God�s creation, that the Bible teaches we are?
I came to some faith conclusions, the chief of which was that I decided outright that I was going to come out on the other side of this study with the same God I came into it with. I wasn�t interested in dropping Jesus or making Him into a spaceman. I knew that my God was the holder of the universe, so anything that made its way across that universe would have to be under the umbrella of His sovereignty. With that settled, I opened the UFO literature.
For the record, I do believe God could create intelligent life on other planets, but I don�t believe He�s done so. If there were any intelligent extraterrestrial species, it wouldn�t impact Christianity�s validity in the slightest. Our belief system would not come crashing down like a house of cards. Our mission field would expand, but Christianity itself would never be replaced as the answer.
I believe all alien species, should there be any, would have to come to Jesus Christ to be saved. It�s just an extension of what we already believe: that an obscure carpenter from a poor family in an insignificant region of a backwater outpost of the Roman empire holds the key to eternal life. How much more difficult is it to extend that to say that the One who holds the key to eternity is from a no-name planet circling a forgotten star on the edge of an unimportant galaxy?
I don�t believe the Bible depicts UFOs in any way, shape, or form. There is no reason to believe the angels and miracles in Scripture are anything but what they claim to be: supernatural agents and works of God. As this paper will argue, I do think UFOs have something to do with angels, but not the angels that inhabit heaven.
I don�t believe God is just a super-alien who created us on his PC for a school project. God is eternal, holy, and unchanging. I believe in the God of the Bible, the God who made man His crowning creation.
All right, enough introduction. I�ll sum up my position in one sentence: I believe the UFO phenomenon is 100% demonic. I believe it is a real phenomenon, not just the ravings of crack addicts and lonesome country hicks. I believe UFOs are real, aliens are real, abductions and animal mutilations are real, and that governments (especially the American government) maintain relations with these beings. But I believe the whole thing is demonic.
The �aliens�� message can be convincing, though. As I studied it, I felt its pull. Even with my MDiv and all my years of living the Christian life, I could still feel the tug of doubt, like someone pulling hairs on my arm. What if�? The scary thing is that if it could be that troubling to me, how would it sound to someone with little or no Christian mooring? Indeed, I believe this is the Great Deception that is going to come upon man. It will be so compelling, so reasonable, so consistent with modern sensibilities, that people will ascribe to it by the billions. Even the very Elect will be deceived, if it were possible.
So I offer this document in defiance of that deception. My aim is to inform those Christians who desire to integrate the UFO phenomenon into the Christian worldview of what I�ve discovered in my investigation. If I�m wrong, no biggie. If I�m right, you will have been given the truth in time, God willing, for it to make a difference.
It is worth noting at the outset that many Christian leaders and groups consider aliens to be demonic: Hank Hanegraaff (Christian Research Institute�s �Bible Answer Man�
, cult watchdogs Watchman Fellowship, and authors Chuck Missler, Dale Sumbreru, William R. Goetz, and Dr. Mark Eastman among them.
I also find it interesting that several non-Christian sources have concluded that UFOs are demonic. A former Chief of British Defense Staff, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Hill-Norton, says some UFO encounters are �definitely antithetical to orthodox Christian belief.� Gordon Creighton, a Buddhist and editor of Flying Saucer Review, has said, �I do believe that the great bulk of these phenomena are what is called satanic.�
Such explanations are uniformly denounced by the greater UFO community as too nice and easy. The article in which Hill-Norton and Creighton are quoted (which can be found in the News Archives section of the web site, www.mufon.com) received a firestorm of opposition from secular readers. The primary criticism of the aliens-are-demons theory is that it is, to some, too nice and neat. The very essence of UFOs, they say, is that they are unexplained�by which they mean unexplainable. But what if an explanation could be found? Should it be rejected a priori?
I myself set out on this study intending to disprove �the demon theory� as na�ve. I remember sending e-mail to a former professor, informing him I was embarking on this investigation. I told him I wanted to study it seriously and not accept the simple answer I had heard: that aliens were nothing but demons in disguise. The things we say�
I read dozens of secular books on UFOs. I read Christian books on the subject. I watched programs and read articles. I scoured the Internet. I exchanged ideas with UFO researchers around the world. As I studied, I found certain arguments ringing true, making more sense than others, explaining more of the phenomena. That is the purpose of investigation, is it not?
After I had surveyed the evidence and heard the arguments, I had to reconsider my views. I could no longer assert that �the demon theory� was irrational. After all, wouldn�t it be just as closed-minded to reject the demon theory out of hand as it would be to accept it without investigation? And what if, for once, the most obvious answer�nice and neat though it be�were actually the truth? It is my hope that after you read the arguments below, you will be willing to reconsider your views, too.
Note: In this document I sometimes express amusement over the claims of these �aliens� or their disciples. Sometimes I say I �like� or �love� this or that. It doesn�t mean that I truly approve of these ridiculous assertions, but simply that I am entertained by their bald-faced audacity. I think God laughs at them, too.
if you want to chek out his list of arguments on this, go here..UFOs and the Christian Worldview
UFOs and the Christian Worldview
Most Christians don't think about UFOs.
Except for catching the occasional episode of X-Files or maybe watching the latest Independence Day wannabe, the topic of extraterrestrial life simply never comes up. If a Christian ever does think about alien intelligence, he usually believes it's all a bunch of hooey, nothing more than a product of the lunatic fringe. "Addicts take their drugs and, poof, they see flying saucers�right next to flying skillets, flying Volkswagens, and flying walruses."
This is what I thought, too, before I started this study.
I have to admit to a certain fascination with the subject. I've always loved science fiction, so the idea of extraterrestrial civilizations has been with me for decades. I watched every quasi-documentary on the subject I could. I became acquainted with subjects like alien abductions, cattle mutilations, crop circles, crashed or captured alien vessels, government studies, alien autopsies, the supposed hybridization program, and men in black.
The video footage in some of these documentaries was astonishing. Even allowing for a high percentage of forgeries, there were some amazing examples that could not be explained. After watching a particularly convincing UFO special on The Learning Channel, I decided it was time to take a serious look at the subject.
You have to understand something about me: I�m a researcher. I love learning. I�m also a seminary graduate. I hold the Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. So when I decide to research a subject like this, I plunge into it with both flippers�all with the purpose of integrating it into the Christian worldview.
Before I read a single UFO book, I wanted to settle some things in my mind. What would happen if there came undeniable, absolutely certain evidence of extraterrestrial life? Would my faith be able to handle it, or was my Christianity too brittle to accept it? In other words, would I be obliged, by my own inability to face this new data, into denying it completely? Would I be in the same group as those who say the earth is flat?
I asked myself if I believed God could create intelligent life on other planets if He wanted to. I asked myself what it would mean to my faith, if anything, if that were the case. I asked myself whether other intelligent species, if there were any, would have to come to faith in Jesus Christ or if God would have supplied them another way.
I asked myself whether the pillar of cloud and the pillar fire in the Bible were really UFOs, whether Elijah�s chariot of fire were really a flying saucer, and if Paul�s trip into the third heaven were really an abduction experience.
I asked the hardest questions, too. What if God were merely a superintelligent alien? What if we are just his simulation on some cosmic supercomputer? What if mankind is not the unique creature, the pinnacle of God�s creation, that the Bible teaches we are?
I came to some faith conclusions, the chief of which was that I decided outright that I was going to come out on the other side of this study with the same God I came into it with. I wasn�t interested in dropping Jesus or making Him into a spaceman. I knew that my God was the holder of the universe, so anything that made its way across that universe would have to be under the umbrella of His sovereignty. With that settled, I opened the UFO literature.
For the record, I do believe God could create intelligent life on other planets, but I don�t believe He�s done so. If there were any intelligent extraterrestrial species, it wouldn�t impact Christianity�s validity in the slightest. Our belief system would not come crashing down like a house of cards. Our mission field would expand, but Christianity itself would never be replaced as the answer.
I believe all alien species, should there be any, would have to come to Jesus Christ to be saved. It�s just an extension of what we already believe: that an obscure carpenter from a poor family in an insignificant region of a backwater outpost of the Roman empire holds the key to eternal life. How much more difficult is it to extend that to say that the One who holds the key to eternity is from a no-name planet circling a forgotten star on the edge of an unimportant galaxy?
I don�t believe the Bible depicts UFOs in any way, shape, or form. There is no reason to believe the angels and miracles in Scripture are anything but what they claim to be: supernatural agents and works of God. As this paper will argue, I do think UFOs have something to do with angels, but not the angels that inhabit heaven.
I don�t believe God is just a super-alien who created us on his PC for a school project. God is eternal, holy, and unchanging. I believe in the God of the Bible, the God who made man His crowning creation.
All right, enough introduction. I�ll sum up my position in one sentence: I believe the UFO phenomenon is 100% demonic. I believe it is a real phenomenon, not just the ravings of crack addicts and lonesome country hicks. I believe UFOs are real, aliens are real, abductions and animal mutilations are real, and that governments (especially the American government) maintain relations with these beings. But I believe the whole thing is demonic.
The �aliens�� message can be convincing, though. As I studied it, I felt its pull. Even with my MDiv and all my years of living the Christian life, I could still feel the tug of doubt, like someone pulling hairs on my arm. What if�? The scary thing is that if it could be that troubling to me, how would it sound to someone with little or no Christian mooring? Indeed, I believe this is the Great Deception that is going to come upon man. It will be so compelling, so reasonable, so consistent with modern sensibilities, that people will ascribe to it by the billions. Even the very Elect will be deceived, if it were possible.
So I offer this document in defiance of that deception. My aim is to inform those Christians who desire to integrate the UFO phenomenon into the Christian worldview of what I�ve discovered in my investigation. If I�m wrong, no biggie. If I�m right, you will have been given the truth in time, God willing, for it to make a difference.
It is worth noting at the outset that many Christian leaders and groups consider aliens to be demonic: Hank Hanegraaff (Christian Research Institute�s �Bible Answer Man�
, cult watchdogs Watchman Fellowship, and authors Chuck Missler, Dale Sumbreru, William R. Goetz, and Dr. Mark Eastman among them.I also find it interesting that several non-Christian sources have concluded that UFOs are demonic. A former Chief of British Defense Staff, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Hill-Norton, says some UFO encounters are �definitely antithetical to orthodox Christian belief.� Gordon Creighton, a Buddhist and editor of Flying Saucer Review, has said, �I do believe that the great bulk of these phenomena are what is called satanic.�
Such explanations are uniformly denounced by the greater UFO community as too nice and easy. The article in which Hill-Norton and Creighton are quoted (which can be found in the News Archives section of the web site, www.mufon.com) received a firestorm of opposition from secular readers. The primary criticism of the aliens-are-demons theory is that it is, to some, too nice and neat. The very essence of UFOs, they say, is that they are unexplained�by which they mean unexplainable. But what if an explanation could be found? Should it be rejected a priori?
I myself set out on this study intending to disprove �the demon theory� as na�ve. I remember sending e-mail to a former professor, informing him I was embarking on this investigation. I told him I wanted to study it seriously and not accept the simple answer I had heard: that aliens were nothing but demons in disguise. The things we say�
I read dozens of secular books on UFOs. I read Christian books on the subject. I watched programs and read articles. I scoured the Internet. I exchanged ideas with UFO researchers around the world. As I studied, I found certain arguments ringing true, making more sense than others, explaining more of the phenomena. That is the purpose of investigation, is it not?
After I had surveyed the evidence and heard the arguments, I had to reconsider my views. I could no longer assert that �the demon theory� was irrational. After all, wouldn�t it be just as closed-minded to reject the demon theory out of hand as it would be to accept it without investigation? And what if, for once, the most obvious answer�nice and neat though it be�were actually the truth? It is my hope that after you read the arguments below, you will be willing to reconsider your views, too.
Note: In this document I sometimes express amusement over the claims of these �aliens� or their disciples. Sometimes I say I �like� or �love� this or that. It doesn�t mean that I truly approve of these ridiculous assertions, but simply that I am entertained by their bald-faced audacity. I think God laughs at them, too.
