Could Aliens Exist, Even if God Never Told Us About Them?

The US government recently admitted to investigating UFO and alien encounters. Pilots, government officials, and generally "respectable" people have apparently had more contact with the mysterious unknown than they've previously been willing to admit. Society's interest in alien life has been steadily growing for decades. I think it's important in this environment for us to consider the possibility of aliens existing from a Christian perspective. The old dismissive answer, "God would have told us if aliens existed," just isn't satisfactory anymore. We need to think more seriously about this issue. 

WHAT IS AN ALIEN? 

The word "alien" means something belonging to a foreign land. This definition is commonly used to describe illegal aliens in the context of national immigration. Some Bible's use the word when discussing the ethnic gentiles who resided in the nation state of ancient Israel. However, most people use the term to mean extraterrestrial life dwelling somewhere in outer space. The Alien movie franchise is among my favorites and represents the popular perception of aliens as hostile monsters or perplexing humanoids. 

There are, however, alternate possibilities. It's possible aliens are merely humans who previously escaped earth and colonized other planets, or perhaps they were created by God to inhabit different worlds. Could some humans have left earth in the antediluvian era before God reset civilization with the flood? Is there any hint of that possibility in the mysterious controversial Genesis 6 passage about the sons of God, daughters of men, and giants?

There are also less spectacular options. What if aliens are merely bacteria, vegetation, and animals God planted on other worlds for humans to discover and utilize? Perhaps God wanted us to be fruitful and multiply and fill the cosmos.

Among the oft overlooked options, however, is that aliens are merely angels, demons, and spiritual manifestations that have become detectable to human senses. Anyone familiar with UFO research is aware of the many reinterpretations of Bible events into materialistic alien terminology. Ezekiel's spinning wheels are reinterpreted as alien spacecraft mistaken for angelic beings. However, what if the connection runs the opposite way? What if aliens aren't mistaken for spirits so much as spirits are mistaken for aliens? 

RELEVANT BIBLE PASSAGES 

There are six Bible passages I'd like to explore with possible links to the UFO alien question. The passages will be explored more or less in the order of how frequently they're cited on the topic. The first is Ezekiel 1:1-28.

"As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings." -Ezekiel 1:4–6

"As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went." -Ezekiel 1:16–17

There are similarities between what Ezekiel saw and what modern people claim to see in UFO sightings. Ezekiel's creatures were metallic, wheel like, and appeared able to move in ways defying common physics. However, the descriptions involving various animal anatomy don't seem very relevant. The next passage we'll look at is Isaiah 45:12.

"I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host." -Isaiah 45:12

Was Isaiah saying that God created the heavens, including outer space, with hosts of beings living across the galaxy? Or, was he referring to the birds and flying creatures? Nehemiah 9:6 says the "hosts of heaven" worship God, but can birds worship? Thirdly, let's look at Genesis 6:1-22.

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown." -Genesis 6:4

The traditional interpretation of this passage is that angels intermarried with human women and had hybrid offspring possessing extraordinary power. A more recent interpretation, and the one most common among Church of Christ members, is that the sons of God were merely the descendants of Seth. The modern alien interpretation is that the sons of God were extraterrestrial beings who descended from space to mate with humans. The fourth passage we'll look at is Acts 19:35.

"And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, 'Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?'" -Acts 19:35

Was the sacred stone merely an asteroid? Or, was it something more? Finally, let's look at Revelation 12:12.

"Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!" -Revelation 12:12

Who is being asked to rejoice in this passage? Is it the birds? Is it the angels? Or, is it the alien civilizations existing beyond the Devil's reach? 

POSITIVE THEORIES 

One theory affirming the possible existence of aliens arose from CS Lewis. His Chronicles of Narnia built a universe in which multiple dimensions exist simultaneously and contain the same "Jesus truth" expressed in different ways. The Pevensie children hail from our present dimension in which Jesus died on the cross. Jesus also existed in Narnia in the form of the lion Aslan, but his story played out differently while still containing the same underlying truth. These separate dimensions were able to interact with each other despite existing as distinct realms with different rules and types of beings. If there are alternative dimensions like Narnia then it remains possible that aliens are crossovers from these other worlds. This possibility allows us to escape the conundrum many Christians face about how alien beings could be saved through Jesus without knowing about him. They might have had Jesus in another form. 

Another possibility is that the cosmos is inhabited by soulless beings. These organisms, or even humanoids, may possess animal or plant like qualities. Or, they could possess the capability to develop high technology and space travel without being ensouled. We've never encountered such a being before, but it's theoretical existence seems highly possible. Our recent innovations in artificial intelligence and learning have increased the likelihood that such a race could exist. An example of this kind of being, imagined as a super high IQ insectoid, can be seen in the Alien movies. 

NEGATIVE THEORIES 

The most oft cited reason people claim aliens couldn't exist is the argument that God would have told us about them. This argument should be ridiculous in the twenty first century. How much of what we've discovered over the last five hundreds years was mentioned in the Bible? Did God tell us electricity existed? Did he tell us the American continents and their inhabitants existed? Did he tell us Antarctica existed? Did he tell us other solar systems and planets existed? In retrospect, we might find references to these things in the Bible, but we couldn't have recognized them as references until after we'd made the discoveries. Similarly, if we eventually discover aliens we'll then point to the verses listed above as proof God told us about them.

Another way of dismissing the possibility of aliens' existence is to claim Jesus would have had to die on every planet where aliens lived. Again, however, there are numerous potential solutions to this problem, and many of them are quiet likely (including the ones mentioned above). We need not project our own world's spiritual paradigm onto other worlds.

Another way of dismissing the possibility of aliens is to claim the stars and heavenly bodies were created for "signs and seasons" rather than alien life. There's little reason to believe, however, that this is their only function. We've already discovered that the moon is more than a light and calendar, it also regulates the oceanic tidal cycle. The existence of one function doesn't eliminate the possibility of other functions.

The last, and perhaps strongest, argument against the existence of aliens is that we havn't discovered them yet. However, what is the definition of "discover?" If the American government is investigating UFO sightings and possible alien encounters is that not enough evidence to suggest contact has already been made? Some kind of "discovery" has obviously been made, or at least enough of one to initiate high level action. Whether or not something has been discovered is largely a question of how skeptical we choose to be. If Christopher Columbus returned to Spain reporting he'd found a new continent then we'd ask whether a single explorer's testimony was enough to prove America existed. Shouldn't we first assume he's just a lone conspiracy theorist? 

RELEVANCE & APPLICATION 

Among the biggest questions facing twenty first century Christians is how far we should push the limits of our capability to manipulate ourselves and God's creation. Do humans have God defined limits when it comes to technology, medicine, and exploration? Or, were we created in the image of God in the Promethean sense? Does our imago dei imply an unlimited ability to press forward? I've previously discussed this question within the context of gene editing. The time appears to be fast approaching when we'll have the ability to choose what planet our children are born on. Should we become aliens? Will we miss the return of Christ because we're too busy farming Mars?

Aliens are also relevant to the questions surrounding evolution and atheism. If aliens existed on other planets would that support or refute evolution? This is a complicated question. It might first appear to prove life isn't rare or special and has the ability to evolve on different planets. Or, due to the rarity of life evolving, it might suggest that only a creator could have planted life on different planets. If the aliens were human then it might simply rewrite our history books. Other possibilities exist depending on the discoveries made.

Finally, how central are humans in God's creation? We know that our physical earth is at the center of the universe. From whichever direction humans look into outer space we see the universe expanding away from us. However, if aliens exist on different planets perhaps we humans aren't as special as we thought. 

INTERPRETING THE EVIDENCE 

Is the evidence for UFOs and aliens substantial enough for us to think much about this issue? Are we jumping too far ahead on flimsy proof? Some people may object in this way to serious thought about these issues, but I think we have enough evidence to move forward, and I want to explore this angle before ending our study.

Firstly, the evidence presented by governments and credible sources has to be explained somehow. It's not as if our crazy uncle caught something on his VCR recorder during a hiking trip. The video evidence is from the highest sources available to us. These are the most credible witnesses possible. If we don't believe these sources then we're admitting nothing can change our minds.

There are only a few likely explanations for these phenomena. The first possibility is that all the evidence can be explained away in some perfectly normal way. Maybe it was just clouds, solar phenomenon, asteroids, etc. This is the least likely possibility because we're talking about things recorded by professional pilots using the most advanced aviation equipment available to humanity. We're talking about long recordings locked on their targets. We're talking about million dollar investigations into the authenticity and clarity of the evidence. We're talking about explaining away numerous documented cases of similar extraordinary events with no clear alternative explanations. We're talking abut the best experts. We're talking about events that defy not just human technological capability but also the range of normal physical phenomenon. In order to dismiss the evidence one must first explain away all these factors.

Secondly, there's the possibility that UFOs are top secret human technology funded with government black money. This is unlikely because the phenomena witnesses were so extreme they defy the comprehension of observers. We're talking about aircraft traveling above the speed of sound and changing direction at ninety degrees, rotating in impossible ways, and accelerating at unthinkable rates. If our governments have this kind of technology than its likely humans have already colonized other planets via secret projects unknown to the general public. If UFOs are human technology than extraterrestrial life is probably a current reality. Additionally, if the government put so much effort into keeping these projects secret than why were officials allowed to leak this information to the press? Is our government really so divided and/or blind about it's own activity?

Finally, there's the possibility that all the evidence is a giant conspiracy or government PSYOP meant to achieve some unknown objective. The problem with this theory is that we have no discernible motive for why our government would do this. If our government had cooked up some conspiracy that made Russia or China look bad then we might ponder whether the evidence was faked to discredit our enemies. However, what would be the motivation for this level of manipulation? I can certainly think of possibilities, but I'm not enough of a conspiracy theorist to really believe any of my wild ideas.

I'm sure I've missed some of the alternative possibilities, but I think I've covered most of the big ones. We need to make decisions based on probabilities. Given the evidence, what's most probable? We can never know anything with absolute certainty because we can't rule out all the possible alternatives, but we can use evidence to pick an interpretation that's statistically more likely. 

CONCLUSION 

My personal hunch is that UFO and alien sightings are often spiritual phenomena. Some of the high profile cases being researched by governments involve aircraft moving at speeds and directions incompatible with all known physical laws. These aliens are either playing by altogether different rules or so incredibly advanced they can manipulate forces we're not even aware of.

Whatever the case, it's time for modern man to discard his arrogant assumptions about human logic, embrace humility, and accept mystery as part of reality. For too long we've assumed we can understand, predict, and manipulate the world around us. We've deceived ourselves into thinking we have life under control. Reality is breaking through our presumptions. We're way our of our league, struggling in a world dominated by spiritual forces and facts we can't see or control.

Aliens may or may not exist. Either way, the spiritual world, with its pantheon of princes and principalities, is very real. Luckily for us, we have a God capable of leading us through the labyrinth, and we really don't have another choice but to put our trust in him and follow his commandments. His wisdom is beyond our human understanding.