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Originally posted by Jim Cesiro
Thats not the overall theme of the bible. The issue of god universal sovereignty is being challenged by satan. If there was life on another planet this would not be an issue. Satan would have been wiped out and god would have started over with his original plan.
If there is life on another planet, and it becomes known here on earth and proved, (I have said this twice now) I will throw out my bible and become an atheist.
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I'm not sure if the Bible should merely be considered a battle report. Matthew records the following exchange when Jesus was asked to summarize the Bible (as of that point in time):
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And one of them, a lawyer, asked him (Jesus) a question, to test him. 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."
The Revised Standard Version, (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.) 1973, 1977.
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If you are a Christian, that is pretty authoritative. If you are not, it's at least a sicinct summary of the Bible to that time by a widely acknowledged expert. Jesus also is quoted with a further elaboration on this in John 3
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16 (Jesus said) "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him." 1
The Revised Standard Version, (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.) 1973, 1977.
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My only point in quoting chapter and verse is that no where does it say anything about extraterrestial alians. Silence is silence. If it is silent, you can not say that the existance of ET's proves or dis-proves the Bible, because the Bible does not say anything about ET's. When asked to explain the Jewish Bible (aka: "Old Testement") Jesus doesn't talk about any struggle between good evil, and he does't talk about alians. When asked to explain his teachings, once again ET's and battles don't enter the discussion. So to make ET's a Bible versus athiest argment doesn't stand up. It's an argument, but hardly biblical.
When it comes to the mechanics life on this planet, once again the Bible is largely silent. A person who reads Genesis and claims to know exactly how God created the universe makes about as much sense as my 6 or 9 year old daughters reading the driver's manual of my 911, and then proclaiming that they know exactly how the car functions. So while some would proclaim that evolution absoluting invalidates the Bible, and others claim the opposite. I'd argue that both views are pretty dramatic cases of hubris on the part of the person taking that position.