Are we alone in the universe? Or are there other extraterrestrial beings elsewhere?
Atheists and skeptics have argued that the discovery of extraterrestrial life of any kind would be disastrous to Christian faith. They assert that the discovery of life in multiple planets would prove that the “origin of life from a suitable prebiotic soup of chemical compounds must be so straightforward and easy that it’s not necessary to invoke God as a causal agent (Hugh Ross, Does the Bible say we’re alone in the universe?).”
But, despite the hodge-podge of atheists’ and skeptics’ anti-creationist assertions, recent scientific investigations tend to bespeak that we, humans, are alone in the universe.
Alex Berezow, science writer and executive editor of “Big Think” online portal, contends that “the belief that humans eventually will encounter aliens is based on two assumptions: 1) that life evolves easily and, 2) that interstellar travel is possible and practical; but neither of these two assumptions is likely to be true.”
That the origin of life is not straightforward and easy can be demonstrated by the fact that even the most knowledgeable and technologically equipped biochemists of our time have never succeeded yet in creating life in the laboratory or have been unable to assemble any more than 50 amino acids, let alone a functional protein.
“It does not matter if intelligent alien life exists elsewhere in the universe. We will never find them, and they will never find us. In other words, we are effectively alone in the universe,” Berezow said.
Then, there’s the Fermi Paradox. Also known as the “great silence” theory, the Fermi Paradox was developed by Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950. The paradox points to the conflict between the lack of clear, obvious evidence for extraterrestrial life and the various high estimates for their existence.
The Fermi Paradox provides a possible explanation why until now we haven’t had any contact yet with other extraterrestrial life forms and that a plausible explanation why we, humans, are so special is because our planet Earth is simply rare where all conditions are given for life to develop; it is neither too hot nor too cold, and there is liquid water in our Milky Way alone, and all other life requirements.
On a similar vein, Marcelo Gleiser, Brazilian physicist, astronomer and Templeton Prize awardee, believes that “while the laws of physics and chemistry are the same everywhere and that we are chemically connected to the rest of the cosmos, yet we are unique and there can be no other humans in our universe.”
“If the ‘flying spaghetti monster’ exists, it will exist on only one world. In the same way, we exist on only one world. We are the only humans in this universe. And if we consider what we have learned from the history of life on Earth, chances are that intelligent life is extremely rare,” Gleiser argues.
Then, there’s also Canadian astrophysicist and Christian apologist, Hugh Ross, who – from the perspective of biochemistry, observational astronomy, and cosmology – argues that:
“There are many features of the Milky Way Galaxy, the Local Bubble, the Local Fluff, the Sun, the Sun’s planets and asteroid-comet belts, the Moon, and Earth that affirm this notion: Earth is likely the only body in the universe that is able to harbor an intelligent physical species capable of launching and sustaining high-technology global civilization. To word it another way, everywhere astronomers look beyond Earth, they witness conditions that are hostile to advanced life and advanced civilization. Furthermore, as several astronomers have explained, the universe is too young to house more than one advanced species of physical life that has launched and sustained advanced civilization.”
Now, come to think of it. These scientific postulations simply affirm what Christian theology have posited all along: we, humans, are unique, special, and have been created by God.
From the biblical point-of-view, there is no mention of extraterrestrial intelligent beings, except the angels, as described in several passages. Angels differ from human beings in that they are not constrained by the universe’s laws of physics or the universe’s space-time dimensions.
From the theological perspective, I’d like to put forward two important points: one, that we (humans) and the universe are God’s creation; two, we are special and unique, having been “created according to the image and likeness of God.”
In Catholic thought, “The term ‘creation’ has three meanings. First, it is an action: the act through which God fully gives being to what is not. Here you find the famous concept of ‘creatio ex nihilo’ (creation out of nothing).
“The second meaning of ‘creation’ is not a verb but a noun. The world is creation that has its being from God and yet is distinct from God. Humankind and the cosmos make up creation which has value and meaning that is given to it by God.
“The third meaning of ‘creation’ is perhaps more profound. It means an event. It is an event of relationship: first, between God and what God has created; and second, between all its elements. Everything in creation is interrelated by God, who fills all things in every way.” (Donald W. Mitchell, Catholic Theology of Creation, Purdue University emeritus, Sophia University Institute).
Lastly, we’re the apex of God’s creation, being the “image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27).”
According to Irenaeus (D. OA. 200 AD), “man is a mixed organization of soul and flesh, who was formed after the likeness of God and modelled by his hands – that is, by the Son and Holy Spirit, to whom also He said, ‘Let Us make man’ (Gen. 1:26).”
Augustine (D. OA. 430 AD), another father of the Church, pointed out that “the image of God is to be found in his soul (rational and intellectual soul), and that the image of the Creator, which is immortal, is immortally implanted in man’s immortality (which is the soul).”
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 AD), in his Summa Theologica (Summary of Theology), identifies the image of God primarily in man’s rational faculty, intellect, or reason. He points out that rational, intellectual creatures are in the image of God when he wrote: “It is clear, therefore, that intellectual creatures alone, properly speaking, are made according to God’s image.” For Aquinas, the “likeness of God” is of moral aspect, because human beings were created good.
In sum, in science as in theology, we’re alone (or unique) and special in the whole universe, having been created as “one, true, good, and beautiful” (unum, verum, bonum, pulchrum) according to the image and likeness of God.
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