Nope, that wouldn't affect it one bit. 

No.

It is quite likely that there is life on some planets in this vast universe of ours. It won't affect my faith.

Like Arminius, I think it quite likely that somewhere out there other life form exists. And this does/would not affect my faith.

Wouldn't affect my faith, why couldn't our God also have created others?

The other intelligent life in this corner of the universe probably has us on quarentine until we grow up.

The more important question is:  If there is intelligent life on other planets, do they know that Jesus Christ is their savior?

I've always assumed that it is possible that there is intelligent life in other galaxies.  If it is discovered it would just be something else to wonder about in God's world. 

Not in the least.

I could really care less, to be honest.

Bolt

Well, I would guess not. We must go forth and spread the Good News on other worlds. I'm starting to build a space ship on which we can travel to do just that. Who'll be first to donate to this good cause?

Hi Azdgari:

I used to be a member of Carl Sagan's SETI (Search for Extra Terrestial Intelligence) We didn't find any, so we started STI (Search for Terrestial Intelligence)

Alas, we didn't find any, either.

Discovery of intelligent life ON EARTH would increase my faith indeed. 

It took a while for the news to filter through to China.  Imagine how long it would take to travel just one light year.

That would take...umm...whole year!  Damn.  Of course, that's if the signal is strong enough, and focused toward that one star system.  There's a whole universe out there with possibly hell-bound aliens.  We need to start broadcasting in all directions, using much more powerful systems than we currently have.

Hopefully, not too many of them will die between now and the thousands-to-millions of years in the future when our signal gets to them.  Their immortal souls are at stake!

One question, though:  Which translation of the Bible should be sent?

The Universal Egalitarian Lord's Prayer:

Our Father, Mother, Divine Other, Unitive Whole, Cosmic Singularity or Totatity,

Hallowed be thy name, whatever IT may be,

Thy kingdom, or whatever the most blessed state is, come,

Thy will be done, through whatever or whomever it becomes manifest,

On Earth as it is in Heaven as it is throughout the universe.

Give us this day our daily bread, or any other physical and spiritual nourishment,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against  us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil,

For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory,

Throughout the universe and for all times.

Amen

Maybe Jesus is the saviour for this planet and another son or daughter of God has been given that role elsewhere.

To answer the question, no.

Well maybe the discovery of life on another planet would affect my faith if they had some information that would add to it or take away from it. Hard to say.

I've always been torn between what would be more amazing, finding out that we really are the only intelligent life in the universe or discovering "others".

No, I don't see how this discovery would affect my faith . . . my faith is in God of the universe, whatever the universe entails.  Wouldn't affect how I see Jesus - he would still the one who has revealed God to me here on this planet.

Oops!

Wanted to edit "revealed God" to say "revealed face of God".

Our own posts do have an "edit" button under them.  It's the one on the left, in yellow.

EDIT:  Right here...

VVV

No, there only is one Son of God. Recall that He is the only begotten.

Yes, I accidently hit the "quote" button and then couldn't get back to an "edit" button in my original post - eeks!

There's microscopic life on other planets.  If there's INTELLIGENT life depends on whether or not they have a good hockey team. 

And,no, it wouldn't affect my faith other than to indicate that my faith may need expanding.

I wrote a futuristic novel (actually, I'm still working on it, albeit slowly :-) entitled Apprenticeship on the Green Planet

My Green Planet is a planet in one of the nearby galaxies. It has intelligent life: a species somewhat like us, but far ahead of us in the evolution of consciousness. They not only perceive the cosmos as a unitive whole, they also perceive their individual memory-bodies as inseparable parts of the cosmic memory-body, and they perceive the entire cosmic memory-body—which they call the Continuum—or any part thereof, by choice.

Through the Continuum they influence perceptive people on our planet; and through the Continuum they recruited my memorybody for an apprenticeship on their planet. I lay comatose in my bed while my memorybody was hosted by a Green, and I partook in the daily life and culture of their planet and, upon returining from the Green Planet, wrote down the memoirs of my apprenticeship.

The Greens don't have a religion, but their consciousness, their daily life and culture, is dominated by the awareness of at-one-ment with everyone and everything. Their planet is almost totally treed, their lifestyle is largely self-supportive and dedicated to the practice of gardening, the arts and crafts. They walk everywhere; their only non-walking forms of transportation are boats and hot air balloons. The infrared radiation to propell these balloons is produced with concentrated imagination. Each village has a Balloon Master to operate these balloons, and the Balloon Man of one of the villages is my master and I his apprentice.

The Greens have no cities, just centers of higher education. Each institution of higher education is divided in a "Syncreticum" and "Analyticum," with the Syncreticum teaching the direct experience of the cosmic synthesis and the direct apprehension of the Continuum, while the Analyticum teaches the cosmic analysis. What little technology they have is very simple but, at the same time, very far ahead of ours, because they are able to use concentrated imagination to transform matter and energy at will.

I actually experienced what I later named the Green Planet in a series of dreams and wrote them down. The novel is based on that dream series.

So much for imaginary life on other planets. And, yes, the imaginary life on other planets affects my faith continuously.

Long live the imagination!

-Wiliam Blake

What if there is a world where one is neither called a man or a woman for that matter, or even "human"

 & they within that collective were in the same "condition" that needed an expression of a saviour.

Then why would one referance that saviour as a "Son of God"

& Who is to say that within the collective culture that women were of the dominant gender in this world, who is to say she cannot be a "Daughter"of the most high God?

Who is to say, or not to say?

Bolt

Because that's who Jesus is.

God is, Bolt (notice the comma). As stated in the Bible, as shown by history, Jesus was a man. It doesn't matter if some alien society out there somewhere was matriarchal or matrilineal, Jesus would remain male.

 Nope.

Um, you did notice the referance to "another world" as in not our's, didn't you?

I am obviously making "assumptions" here, as are you to say that every saviour would be male.

Bolt

Yes, however, what's your point? As I said, regardless of what kind of society an alien world might have (more likely to be societies, actually), Jesus remains the Son of God. No nature of any society that is, was, or may be, can change who Christ is.

Because I believe that there is only one Saviour for all who need to be saved, and that He is male. Jesus came for the Jews, but His saving power was then also given to the Gentiles. In the same way, it could next be extended to sentient beings with souls who are not human. I would see it as a new expansion of evangelism.

So if their "Jesus" was physically female, it would still be the "Son of God"?

What if their species had no sexual dimorphism at all?

Who is changing Christ?

Was Christ made in our image? Were we made in God's image?

If God is Spirit, then who is to say what image would best represent God?

He who is spiritual judges all things within.

Bolt

Indeed.

Bolt

They wouldn't have their own Jesus. There is only one Jesus.

Everything expressed in biblical referance is in relation to our world, we cannot comment accurately of another world, unless we've been there.

& even then accuracy would depent on other factors than our perception of a world unlike ours.

Bolt

We can, however comment accurately on the essence of the Son of God as it is revealed to us in the Bible. There is only one begotten Child of God.

Someday, when our technology is advanced enough, or should they choose to visit us first (if they even prove to exist) we much reach out to the poor lost souls of other worlds with the message of salvation in Christ. In the same way Christianity was brought to many parts of our own world. Let us share Christ's Word with them and may God give them the power to believe in Jesus.

Given that my personal faith is based on celebrating the awe and wonder of the universe as revealed by science as well as spiritual sources, it would likely give my faith a boost. UU'ism as a whole would be similarly affected since we acknowledge multiple sources of wisdom and any new wisdom gained from such contact would just add to that pool.

Mendalla

 So when we build spaceships we can share the gospel of Christ with them?

This sounds absurd to me , sorry.

Bolt

The writer of that was talking to the people on the other planets to confirm that?

My answer to the question about my belief in God would be no.  As for my faith I would hope it would be a time to broaden my faith and be open to new ideas.

TL

Centuries ago perhaps some made remarks very similar to the one you just posted. What? Share the Gospel with people in other lands? Preposterous! Thanks be to God for missionaries!

People in other lands are Human beings.

We now have such a hard time to express an "accurate" Gospel of Christ with our own.

What makes you think a saviour from another world could relate enough to deliver the message required to these creations of which we know nothing about?

Bolt

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness," - 2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)

Did you catch that? "All...breathed out by God..." That's how we know the Bible is true. God does not lie, and the Bible is His Word.

For us, and for our alien siblings (if such beings even exist).

I've always been a big believer that each culture, each belief system, each religion (whatever it may be) shares part of the truth. 

Not a big fan of missionaries - or the evangelizing part of that - missionaries have done other positive things (really depends).

TL

Hey I'm a fan of each culture as well!!! Can I join the fan club?

Bolt

Again, brother Bolt, you sound like someone from centuries ago. What makes you think a saviour from another land could relate enough to deliver the message to these creations of which we know nothing about? You are a fine human being, Bolt, but you do not seem to have a missional heart.

Hi, Bolt and Mach3frog -

Speculative fiction has been playing with this idea for a while. I remember reading an SF book by James Blish, "A Case of Conscience" (1958). I think there was a new edition that came out in 2000. An interesting exploration of exactly what you're talking about, from a Roman Catholic Christian perspective.

Christ's peace - r