What About UFOs?

09.20.23

What About UFOs?

The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth He has given to the children of men.                         (Psalm 115:16)           

UFOs have been in the news of late as Congress has held hearings regarding their existence.  Witnesses testified to many reports of seeing them.  Some of these claims are quite sensational.  One even claims that non-human biological remains have been found.

Should we be skeptical?  A biblical worldview gives us caution.  Let me offer some Biblical reasons why it is unlikely that we have encountered life from other worlds.

First, the curse effects all Creation (Genesis 3).  Because of Adam’s sin- suffering, pain and death entered the world.  We are told that this impacted all of Creation. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now (Romans 8:22).  Would it make sense for beings on another world, who are not sons of Adam, to suffer for Adam’s sin?

Second, salvation is for mankind.  God desires all people to be saved. Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).  There is no indication in Scripture that Jesus died for any others than the children of Adam.

Third, Jesus died once for all.  For Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, by made alive by the Spirit (1 Peter 3:18).  This is a crucial doctrine. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us (Hebrews 9:12).  Extraterrestrials would not have partaken in Adam’s sin nature, nor would they have been guilty of His crucifixion, yet, as noted, they would be part of the curse and thus need salvation.  Jesus couldn’t go to their planet and die a second time.

Fourth, Man is made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).  All creation has value.  However, humanity is a special creation with greater value than the rest of creation over which he is to have dominion. If there are extraterrestrials, that would raise all kinds of questions about their value, souls, moral agency, etc.

Finally, The Earth is Unique (Genesis 1:1).  God gave man dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:14-19), while God rules over the heavens (1 Kings 8:30).  Thus, there is a distinction between the earth and all of the rest of space [the sun, moon planets, stars, asteroids, etc.].  This contrast is clearly stated in the opening text.  This distinction continues into the future as we are told that one day God will destroy the present heavens and earth (2 Peter 3:7) and restore them (Revelation 21:1). 

What then can we make of the strange sightings that have been claimed?  Quite likely these are secret military projects from ours and other nations.  Some experts have claimed that there are things in research that are beyond our wildest imagination.  This might bode well for future technologies, but also is frightening if they are the work of nations which hate us.

The idea that life exists on other planets is far more consistent with a secular-naturalist Darwinian worldview—the world started with a Big Bang, after which various planets began to randomly take shape, and at some point life began on earth.  If this happened, why not on other worlds too?  This is not the view found in God’s infallible Word! 

[An edited version of an article found on the World Magazine website, 9/26/23]