by jimwalton » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:23 pm
We have to follow truth wherever it leads. If there's life elsewhere in the universe, then there is. It only makes us Christians look like idiots if life is proved to be elsewhere and we deny what is obviously true. It's laughable, though, to assume that life elsewhere in the universe disproves that God is the creator; it does nothing of the sort. The Bible is clear that God created the entire cosmos—to reveal his glory and to sustain life.
Nor does it show that Genesis is untrue. The traditional view of Genesis is geocentric, and the writer wasn't speaking of life anywhere else. The functional view of Genesis is theocentric, and God ordered the entire universe to function well. Neither interpretation insists that there is only life on the earth.
If life is found elsewhere in the universe, good for it. It neither shakes my faith nor disproves the Bible.
I think scientists are hoping that if they find traces of life elsewhere, it proves some segment of their theories about the possibility of evolution, but who cares about that either? First of all, it really doesn't prove that, and secondly, if one segment of evolutionary theory is maybe substantiated by a possibility elsewhere, that doesn't mean much. It certainly doesn't dislodge any of the truth in the Bible.
We have to follow truth wherever it leads. If there's life elsewhere in the universe, then there is. It only makes us Christians look like idiots if life is proved to be elsewhere and we deny what is obviously true. It's laughable, though, to assume that life elsewhere in the universe disproves that God is the creator; it does nothing of the sort. The Bible is clear that God created the entire cosmos—to reveal his glory and to sustain life.
Nor does it show that Genesis is untrue. The traditional view of Genesis is geocentric, and the writer wasn't speaking of life anywhere else. The functional view of Genesis is theocentric, and God ordered the entire universe to function well. Neither interpretation insists that there is only life on the earth.
If life is found elsewhere in the universe, good for it. It neither shakes my faith nor disproves the Bible.
I think scientists are hoping that if they find traces of life elsewhere, it proves some segment of their theories about the possibility of evolution, but who cares about that either? First of all, it really doesn't prove that, and secondly, if one segment of evolutionary theory is maybe substantiated by a possibility elsewhere, that doesn't mean much. It certainly doesn't dislodge any of the truth in the Bible.