Beam me up Jesus!

[macjoe53]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080513/...vatican_aliens

[Mad Hatter]

I saw this on my Yahoo news today. I wonder how protestants feel about it.

[weetone]

I saw that in the paper today. Interesting.

[andrewsutherland2002]

Not to offend anyone, but it's about time! Not that I believe that anyone has had or will ever have alien contact, but to say that in this entire UNIVERSE, we are the only beings around is somewhat pompous (IMHO). I believe in God and also the POSSIBILITY in alien life (no, I don't believe in UFO's or Roswell theories, but there is more than likely something else somewhere out there). Its about time the Vatican responded to this.

[PadronMe]

Originally Posted by Mad Hatter

I wonder how protestants feel about it.

About the same as I feel about the rest of what comes out of The Vatican.

[jbudlives]

As a Christian, I really can only assume that there are not any intelligent beings out there in space. This is because in Genesis it talks about God creating "The Heavens and the Earth" and from there it goes on about the creation of things on the earth including living things. It does not say anything about life anywhere else.

That being said, if it is true that there is another form of life out there somewhere, it wouldn't shake my faith at all. Most Christians, at least my type, believe everything in the bible is true, but not everything is included in the bible. There is still a lot about God and what he does that we don't know about.

I really don't understand why the Vatican would have to make a statement on this. Does Pope Benedict know something that we dont? Did he go up in his super secret "Pope Spaceship" and meet some of these dudes?

[andrewsutherland2002]

Originally Posted by jbudlives

As a Christian, I really can only assume that there are not any intelligent beings out there in space. This is because in Genesis it talks about God creating "The Heavens and the Earth" and from there it goes on about the creation of things on the earth including living things. It does not say anything about life anywhere else.

That being said, if it is true that there is another form of life out there somewhere, it wouldn't shake my faith at all. Most Christians, at least my type, believe everything in the bible is true, but not everything is included in the bible. There is still a lot about God and what he does that we don't know about.

I really don't understand why the Vatican would have to make a statement on this. Does Pope Benedict know something that we dont? Did he go up in his super secret "Pope Spaceship" and meet some of these dudes?

exactly: It does not say anything about life anywhere else. That doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, it simply means that it isn't mentioned. IMHO, until we discover or are visited by other beings, then it is not important. The Bible doesn't mention it, leaving this open to discussion by both believers and nonbelievers. Religion doesn't come into play as to the existence of aliens. Therefore I applaud the Vatican for not ruling out the belief in alien life. (I am not a Catholic BTW, I am a Southern Baptist)

[taltos]

Wait for next week's big announcement that the earth and other planets do orbit the sun.

[andrewsutherland2002]

Originally Posted by taltos

Wait for next week's big announcement that the earth and other planets do orbit the sun.

No they don't. The world is flat too!! You didn't know that?

[TheEconomist]

Originally Posted by jbudlives

As a Christian, I really can only assume that there are not any intelligent beings out there in space. This is because in Genesis it talks about God creating "The Heavens and the Earth" and from there it goes on about the creation of things on the earth including living things. It does not say anything about life anywhere else.

That being said, if it is true that there is another form of life out there somewhere, it wouldn't shake my faith at all. Most Christians, at least my type, believe everything in the bible is true, but not everything is included in the bible. There is still a lot about God and what he does that we don't know about.

I really don't understand why the Vatican would have to make a statement on this. Does Pope Benedict know something that we dont? Did he go up in his super secret "Pope Spaceship" and meet some of these dudes?

^^spoken like a true protestant...

Traditionally catholics would say intelligent life does not exist on other planets, because God supposedly made us, and only us (humans) in the likeness of himself. That link that we share is reason(logic), and free will.

if there is intelligent life, that shows that they have reason, which would mean that we were not the only life given this unique trait.

So why did the vatican have to speak up on this? Because unlike most non-denominational/protestant religion, (notice i said most, not all), Catholicism is a community of beliefs.

this is unlike the many protestants where everyone who holds a bible in their hand and who has the ability to read can interpret different passages however they chose. Catholics tend to leave it to the people who have studied christian theology across their whole lives and continue on from previous generations, and continue on those studies and deep commitment to prayer, to arrive at certain dogma or general beliefs.

many non/denominational / protestant religions will follow interpretation based on what their preacher says, and every preacher will interpret different Sentences and Phrases differently. this is why many protestants and nondenom's take the bible word for word. and always use the "if it isn't in the bible it isn't true" type of speech.

all catholic priests are supposed to teach the same interpretation of the book as a whole. and that interpretation comes from the pope, who is selected from a group of the most studied theological minds alive. and this is also why catholics do not tend to focus on word for word. word for word or even sentence by sentence interpretation is not how the bible is supposed to be taught or read. It is supposed to be taken as a whole experience. each individual word is only important as it relates to every other word in the entire bible. not in how it relates to the word next to it.

because of this, official statements need to be made to clarify official belief, since all catholic belief is not present in the bible. For example, Mary, the mother of jesus, being the only human besides jesus who never sinned.

Such statements make it clear what the official stance is on certain ideas. IF no official stance was taken, we'd all still be the same religion because no groups of people would have ever broken off from the catholic church.

[andrewsutherland2002]

I am not a Catholic, but well said!! I agree

Originally Posted by TheEconomist

^^spoken like a true protestant...

Traditionally catholics would say intelligent life does not exist on other planets, because God supposedly made us, and only us (humans) in the likeness of himself. That link that we share is reason(logic), and free will.

if there is intelligent life, that shows that they have reason, which would mean that we were not the only life given this unique trait.

So why did the vatican have to speak up on this? Because unlike most non-denominational/protestant religion, (notice i said most, not all), Catholicism is a community of beliefs.

this is unlike the many protestants where everyone who holds a bible in their hand and who has the ability to read can interpret different passages however they chose. Catholics tend to leave it to the people who have studied christian theology across their whole lives and continue on from previous generations, and continue on those studies and deep commitment to prayer, to arrive at certain dogma or general beliefs.

many non/denominational / protestant religions will follow interpretation based on what their preacher says, and every preacher will interpret different Sentences and Phrases differently. this is why many protestants and nondenom's take the bible word for word. and always use the "if it isn't in the bible it isn't true" type of speech.

all catholic priests are supposed to teach the same interpretation of the book as a whole. and that interpretation comes from the pope, who is selected from a group of the most studied theological minds alive. and this is also why catholics do not tend to focus on word for word. word for word or even sentence by sentence interpretation is not how the bible is supposed to be taught or read. It is supposed to be taken as a whole experience. each individual word is only important as it relates to every other word in the entire bible. not in how it relates to the word next to it.

because of this, official statements need to be made to clarify official belief, since all catholic belief is not present in the bible. For example, Mary, the mother of jesus, being the only human besides jesus who never sinned.

Such statements make it clear what the official stance is on certain ideas. IF no official stance was taken, we'd all still be the same religion because no groups of people would have ever broken off from the catholic church.

[AAlmeter]

Where's CL when we need her?

[TheEconomist]

May I ask who CL is?

[AAlmeter]

ChurchLady...shes a FOG...er...FOL...er, long time well respected member.