Rare Earth Hypothesis

Many seem to think I am wrong for saying we should not use public funds to search for life outside of our planet. I’m just including John’s posts here as he was the most recent one.

I agree with the rare earth hypothesis and that there is no Fermi paradox because God created the Earth to be special. I decided it’s worth starting another thread.

So God so loved the [cosmos] that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 Interlinear: for God did so love the world, that His Son -- the only begotten -- He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during.

So let’s have more people tell me I’m wrong and why. :slight_smile:

Maybe other Christians disagree with me. I’d hear you out.

Where is the scriptural support for this?

As a Christian why wouldn’t you want to search for life outside earth? On theism, God can create life very easily. If God can create thousands of life forms here on earth that we will never discover or interact with, why not on other planets?

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Why do you think that’s true? It clearly doesn’t come from the bible, as you previously claimed.

First you would have to explain why you think you’re right. John 3:16 certainly says nothing about whether there’s intelligent life on other planets.

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Yeah, I’m not sure what John 3:16 has to do with your argument.

Larry Norman in “Unidentified Flying Object”, one of the earliest Jesus people rockers, for those old enough to remember…

And if there’s life on other planets
Then I’m sure that He must know
And He’s been there once already
And has died to save their souls

Giordano Bruno was burned for promoting the idea of stars as distant suns with their own worlds, but I trust we might be able to disagree more civilly.

I do agree that the Earth is rare, just not necessarily unique. Most interpretations of the Drake equation seem way too indulgent of the factors. Estimates that place* f i = 1 (100% of planets with life will go on to develop intelligent life) are absurd. Earth itself has underwent extinction events that, if pressed further, might have been sterilization events. If the sun were 1.4 sol, it would have been off the main sequence since the trilobites. Any larger at all and it is anybody’s guess as to the stability of the climate. Smaller stars have their own problems. Galactic centers, where most of the stars reside, are full of cosmic drama. Solar system mechanics can perturb a perfectly happy planetary orbit.

Absence of evidence may not be evidence of absence, but a case can be made it is evidence of scarcity.

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I’m not a big fan of SETI. But search for life outside our planet would include the use of the Mars rover to look for signs of life on Mars. I do think that’s worthwhile. And astronomers use spectroscopy to look for possible indicators of life in places far more remote. I think that, too, is worthwhile.

Search for extraterrestrial life is really about understanding ourselves.

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God loves the cosmos as a whole. If there is any intelligent life on other planets that has free will, Jesus died for them. They must be able to believe on him, so there also has to be a mechanism for knowing in order to believe. We have scripture and historical evidence. So not only would we need to find evidence of intelligent life, we’d need to find evidence that they’ve already communicated with earth. Plus, the Bible seems to indicate Adam’s sin only affects Adamah [earth]. So any other intelligent life may not have had a fall or been affected by it. But God says He gave His son for the cosmos. That rules out other life unaffected by a fall.

Lol, see if you can find any logical fallacies in there, and then I’ll fix it :slight_smile:

I think the best evidence is actually Genesis 1, and I believe it more strongly after deciding how to interpret it scientifically.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Even though the waters was the heavens and the earth, the focus is on the earth being formless and void.

Then Day 2

And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven.

Heaven is not identified as a separate thing until God creates the expanse to separate it from the waters that made the earth. It’s as if heaven is part of the earth first, not earth a tiny speck in the heavens. The earth was always the focus. The creation story emphasizes this.

Then you have so many of these passages where the earth is the foundation of creation.

Job 38

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Others are Psalm 102:25, Psalm 104:5, Proverbs 8:29, Isaiah 48:13, Isaiah 51:13, Isaiah 51:16, Jeremiah 31:37, Hebrews 1:10.

So I think the Hebrew writers also interpreted Genesis 1 this way.

I think exactly because He created us to be in relationships and to be a family - we’re all closely related. Just because we don’t interact with other life forms doesn’t mean we can’t. We actually can’t interact with aliens right now if they exist.

I checked. It’s a non-profit. Do they receive government grants?

Sure. I’d agree with that. I only disagree if it’s the first and only purpose.

So far, that we’re the only ones here.

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First, God (if you believe it’s God talking) doesn’t say he gave his son for the universe, just the world. Second, why couldn’t there be another incarnation on another planet that needed such a thing? Are you claiming that Jesus is capable of only one sacrifice?

Go on. What’s the evidence, how do you interpret it, and why does it support your claims?

Of course they did. But you don’t. You have changed the story because you (I’m supposing) know that the “heavens” aren’t just some lights hung in a dome but an unimaginably vast expanse of stars and galaxies of which the earth is in infinitesimal bit. It’s the height of anthropocentrism (the word you were trying to think of) to suppose that all that is just for you.

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Since I grew up as a Calvinist, the “cosmos” is how I learned it. See the 3rd definition. Strong's Greek: 2889. κόσμος (kosmos) -- order, the world It makes sense to me. God loved the world outside of space and time and already had plan to redeem it even in His ominscience He could see that we would sin.

I explained above. God took the waters that made up the “earth,” separated the waters with an expanse, and named the expanse “heaven.” Creation began with the earth. I listed all the passages about God laying the foundation of the earth. Usually that’s mentioned with “stretching the heavens.”

Yes, I do. I do believe the earth is the focus of creation.

Yes. All of it is for me :slight_smile: God would have created it all for me and died just for me. That’s why He’s so good and wonderful. I saw a rainbow last Friday that was right in front of me, and I knew God made that rainbow for me that day.

I’m just one jewel, but that’s enough to captivate Jesus.

Song of Solomon 4:9

You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.

It can mean “whole universe” - Strong's Greek: 2889. κόσμος (kosmos) -- order, the world

You have to take apart this argument before positing there could be aliens. I ruled them out based on my definition of the Greek word. Here it is again. Once you do, then we can discuss :slight_smile: You may define it differently in which case we’d just be talking past each other, but it’d still be interesting if you find a logical flaw there.

The solution to the Fermi paradox is that there is no actual paradox at all, since the frequency with with life exists on other planets depends on such a large number of parameters with unknown values it’s ridiculous to think our not having discovered extraterrestrial intelligent life yet is some sort of problem.

Life could exist on 1 in a million planets, and of those 1 in a million planets with life, 1 in a million evolve multicellularity, and 1 in a million of those evolve intelligent life capable of radio communications.

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I had not considered the “cosmos” idea.

I see your logic. It’s ok by me. I’m on board.

[And this idea is pretty fascinating: “we’d need to find evidence that they’ve already communicated with earth.” I like running across new ideas I had previously missed. Thanks.]

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Is this based on the origin of our universe being a random event?

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I used to read a fair amount of cheap, corny, sci-fi for fun and one of the books was an interesting offshoot of a series. The Tuloriad by John Ringo and Tom Kratman takes a look at what it might mean for religion if other intelligent life existed in the universe. Fair warning - if you aren’t a fan of cheap, corny, sci-fi, this might not be for you :stuck_out_tongue:

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The more usual reference would be James Blish’s A Case of Conscience.

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I used to read cheap, corny sci-fi. I still do, but I used to too.

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I haven’t quit, I just haven’t had the opportunity in about 7 months :frowning:

My suggestion is not contingent on a particular view of the universe’s origin.