Would that change your perspective about the universe? If you are religious, would that have an effect on your belief regarding biblical accounts? Are we less special? Consider that Mars is just the next planet away. The odds of having other planets hosting life would enormously increase.
Good Questions No. Just because the bible doesn't mention ghosts doesn't mean they can't exist. Just because it doesn't mention oxygen doesn't mean its not there either. I believe the bible is the inspired word of God written by man and including mans morals, poilitics, and limited understanding of the world around them. This is very similar to the ELCA Lutheran Churches stated belief. I don't believe Man has ever really understood God. This brings up an old Star Trek Episode where the Enterprise crew spent time on a planet whose civilization was a couple thousand years behind earth. At the end of the episode Spoke wondered aloud how the inhabitants of the planet could have a deep belief in and worship something like the Sun. At which point Uhura chimed in saying that she had been monitoring their communications the whole time..they weren't talking about the "Sun", but rather the "Son". They were talking about Jesus. I thought that was such an interesting idea brought up by a show headed by a self-declared Humanist. It made me wonder.."what if we did find intelligent life on another planet..and find that they had a very similar belief in a Creator-Messiah-Spirit trinity?" Is one of your children less special than the other? Of course not. So if we understand God as the father, we are all loved the same no matter what.
Life on any other planet or anywhere other than earth would in no way change my view of God. I have no doubt there are wondrous, amazing things...and probably living things...throughout the universe.
What if we discovered evidence of prior sentient life on earth...tools and language predating humans?
I was talking to a Christian not long ago who believes he'll have an opportunity to see alien life after the second coming, since it's part of God's creation. Given the theology, it doesn't seem unreasonable to think so. I don't think alien life -- even sentient life -- is at all problematic for Christianity the way evolution is.
This is a pretty interesting series on The History Channel. Some of it is far-fetched but some of it is head-scratching. The Nazca Lines in Peru and Puma Punku in Bolivia are particularly interesting to me... http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/articles/evidence-of-ancient-aliens
As a Christian I don't believe that proof of alien life means there isn't a God. The Bible isn't an all encompassing document that tells us about the intricacies of our world and universe. It is a blue print, and we have to fill in the gaps. I believe in evolution as well, although I don't believe we evolved from single cell organisms. I do believe that there is alien life out there... probably unintelligent of course.
When I posted the questions, I did not mean to make it a discussion about God but rather - biblical accounts. Discovering life on other planets does not prove nor refute the existence of a supreme being. The bible talks about creating this world for humans and makes us feel somehow, special. Does an existence of life somewhere dilute this special feeling that we have?
I personally feel that if God created this vast universe then he had good reason to do so. He could have put us in a protective box, sitting on his desk, but he gave us this infinite universe filled with questions and possibilities. I believe he did so partially to test our faith, but also to give us something to strive for. Finding alien life would mean to me that we are making progress as humans, and thus fulfilling his plan.
What makes you think tangible evidence of anything will effect belief systems predicated on a lack of evidence? The whole point of faith is that no proof is necessary. Religious doctrine, including Christianity, evolves with the times. What we see today is not what was practiced a thousand years ago. As Daniel Dennett has remarked, the god meme is strong, adapts, and finds a way to survive ie. anything can be construed as part of god's plan.
How would discovery of prior life on Mars affect the "Earth is only 10,000 years old" believers? Would they finally gain some sense or would they write it off?
