Life on Europa -- Need Religious "Experts"

[JogaBonito1502]

Ok, before I start, let me make a few things clear:
-If you're coming here to impose your opinions on others, GTFO.
-If you're here to judge the opinion of others, GTFO.
-I don't want to know what your opinion of Science v. Religion is, if you're here for that GTFO.

Moving on. I watched an interesting video of the possibility of life in Europa. Europa is one of the moons of Jupiter. It is believed that beneath 10km of ice exists an enormous amount of water, presumably one continuous sub-ice ocean. Within this ocean, the possibility of life is a real one.

What I would like to know from you guys is the interpretation of Bible regarding life. Is it exclusive to the Earth? What does the Bible (and other religious texts) say in reference to the existence of life. I would prefer if you guys could back it up with specific sources (quotes). I am interested in observing what the ramifications on life in Europa would cause on Humanity.

Thank you for your time,
Joga

 

[FlightSimBoy]

Well, I'm a Christian. I've read the Bible. I believe the Bible. But, no where in the book does it say anything about other life. I interpret that as meaning other life could be out there.

Consider the fact that we're just one solar system. A galaxy can have millions of solar systems. A universe can have millions of galaxies. To suggest that there could be no other forms of intelligent life is just plain stupid.

I honestly think the Bible was just written for Earth, for us humans, so it didn't delve into the possibility of other life.

I've been eying the developments on Europa for the last few years. From what I understand, it's basically a big ball of ice floating around in space. But, like our earth, once you start moving towards the center, the hotter it gets due to pressure. So, that must mean that the center of the planet is either sub-ice like you mention, or plain water. Water is the common place for almost all microbial life. I think it would be easy for life to be there.

 

[berry120]

Romans 5:8 talks about how Jesus died to save people here on earth. Revelation talks about the union of a new heaven and a new earth. And there's various other verses around that I'm too tired to find as well that refer to the earth specifically.

This would kind of imply that we're the only race Jesus saved and the only race that will be united with him in heaven - beyond that though it's pretty much a free boat as far as I'm concerned, there's definitely no verses in the bible explicitly confirming or denying alien life. Some people take bits of Revelation and Daniel to be talking about alien life, I guess that's an option though it's not one I really subscribe too!

 

[Neodude1123201]

All in all it seems to be a vague subject in the bible, unless you wanted to do some extreme research...

I Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

 

[FlightSimBoy]

There is 906 verses in the Bible with the word "Earth"
The word is mentioned 987 times
The most references, not surprisingly, are in the book of Revelation.

I've skimmed over some of the verses, and I'm not seeing anything that disproves the existence of other life.

The word "world" occurs 288 times, in 249 verses. Mostly in the Gospel of John.
"Life" occurs 450 times, in 409 verses. John, Psalms and Proverbs have the most.

As you can see, there would be a lot to study. I used this program to get my numbers: http://www.e-sword.net/

Very nice program, and free, you can download every version of the Bible for it. Perfect if you want to study stuff like this.

 

[JogaBonito1502]

Great stuff guys! I just find it very interesting to study the ramifications of other life on beliefs and values of Humanity. Stephen Hawking just wrote a new book where he argues, and I can't confirm or deny, that the spontaneous creation of universes (yes, universes) is completely backed by the theory of physics. Essentially, he argues that there is no God if the creation of multiple universes in such manner exists. As followers of certain religions, how would you guys feel about the possibility of truth in this statement? Personally, I'm still undecided between Deism and Atheism. There are instances where I catch myself thinking about the existence of a God, but since I only believe in factual evidence, I get caught in no-man's land.

 

[Celegorm]

Going off of what Barry said with Jesus dying to save us on earth, that does leave the option that God didn't care about those on other planets if they even existed. Anyways, what I remember of the bible it never really talked about anything outside of earth.

 

[berry120]

Going off of what Barry said with Jesus dying to save us on earth, that does leave the option that God didn't care about those on other planets if they even existed.

It does - but if there are other huge intelligent races out there it seems like quite a big thing to miss out to me. Just my take on it of course!

 

[Celegorm]

It does - but if there are other huge intelligent races out there it seems like quite a big thing to miss out to me. Just my take on it of course!

Agreed. Although I wouldn't put it past the church and it's mid-evil era corruption to drop out a section of people from "god's chosen".

 

[David Lindon]

Romans 5:8 talks about how Jesus died to save people here on earth. Revelation talks about the union of a new heaven and a new earth. And there's various other verses around that I'm too tired to find as well that refer to the earth specifically.

This would kind of imply that we're the only race Jesus saved and the only race that will be united with him in heaven - beyond that though it's pretty much a free boat as far as I'm concerned, there's definitely no verses in the bible explicitly confirming or denying alien life. Some people take bits of Revelation and Daniel to be talking about alien life, I guess that's an option though it's not one I really subscribe too!

Well Jesus died as a sacrifice for adam and eves sin, so if the first couple of a different race on another planet had remained faithful to god then he wouldn't need to die for them.

Personally I think if there is another race it would have been mentioned at some point in the bible so I don't there is any significant other live out there