"Habitable" planet discovered

[poche]

Scripture doesn't explicitly say everything God didn't create. It would be fastidious.

Arguments from silence are just that. Silence.

Neither does Scripture explicitly say everything that God did create.  Whether there is life on other planets or not, it does seem a tragic waste for God to have created trillions of galaxies so far away we could never even see, much less ever hope to get to.

Trifle speculation is not an argument.

What we conclude from an honest reading of Scripture is that God created life on earth and nowhere else. Earth is the centre of creation, the habitat of man who was the only creature created in God's image and the blessed locus Incarnationis. The Lord even went to further lengths by revealing to us the angels whose existence empirical sciences will never be able to prove.

If God had created intelligent alien life, He would have told us about it.

why?

[Vetus Ordo]

Trifle speculation is not an argument.

What we conclude from an honest reading of Scripture is that God created life on earth and nowhere else. Earth is the centre of creation, the habitat of man who was the only creature created in God's image and the blessed locus Incarnationis. The Lord even went to further lengths by revealing to us the angels whose existence empirical sciences will never be able to prove.

If God had created intelligent alien life, He would have told us about it.

I would call it rational speculation.  God is not capricious.  Everything he has created has a purpose, or else it would not exist.  We know that there are billions of stars in our galaxy alone, and billions of galaxies in the observable universe, and we are now discovering planets around most of the stars close enough to discern.  God has created it all for some reason, if not for us, then for something.

Scripture is largely silent on things that are irrelevant to our salvation.  What we can conclude from an honest reading of Scripture is that, if God did create life elsewhere in the universe, it is not relevant to our salvation any more than an explanation of the laws of physics governing our world are. Further, the angels are certainly relevant to our salvation.  Your conclusion that there can be no life anywhere else is nothing less than an eisegetical presumption.  You may ultimately be correct, but Scripture does not tell you, either explicitly or implicitly.

Also, no one said life out there had to be intelligent.  I imagine if we do settle on similar planets one day, the craving for a decent cheeseburger may not go away for lack of terran beef.

Yes, you're correct: God is not capricious, we are.

He has revealed to us what He has created. Besides idle curiosity or a desire to conform to modern scientifical expectations, there's no rational basis for a Christian, mindful of divine revelation, to believe in alien life.

[Vetus Ordo]

Where does it say in the scriptures that Earth is the only planet that possesses life?

Where does it say in the Scriptures that the flying spaghetti monster doesn't exist?

Your line of presumptuous questioning is a dead end.

[Greg]

But if there is intelligent ensouled life then it does make one wonder why Mary would be Queen of the Angels and mother of an incarnate God.  That would seem to relegate the Andromedans and Zorgs into second class citizens in Heaven.  Unless they have their own son of God and own Queen of the Angels or theological equivalents.

Scripture indicates, however, that Jesus is God's only son.  Does not appear to be wiggle room there.

It would be quite a privilege to have one of your species as Queen of the Angels when the Angels are superior to Andromedans and Zorgs.

It is unknown what the intelligent life would be like that would be outside of Earth. It could be that they never sinned the original sin. It could be that they are very intelligent and it is because of their superior intelligence that they are avoiding us. Or it could be that they are very human like us waiting for the right time to hear the Gospel.   

is Our Lady their Queen or not?  Just answer the question yes or no because She either is or is not. Do they know of the existence of Jesus, true God and True Man?  The Angels ALL answer yes to both these Questions.  "Ave Maria...".  Ave is something you say to a superior, a Queen.

Could there any aliens who answer no to either of those questions?  I think not.

[beagle]

Don't care about the debate, I just want to know how to get there.

[tmw89]

Don't care about the debate, I just want to know how to get there.

I know, right?  I'd suit up and take the warp-speed-transport-thingamajig there myself if given the opportunity...

[Greg]

You'd probably find they had the new mass there and it was being said by lezi nuns in rainbow coloured garments.  Then the dilithium crystals would burn out.

[tmw89]

You'd probably find they had the new mass there and it was being said by lezi nuns in rainbow coloured garments.  Then the dilithium crystals would burn out.

Hey, I said I wanted to travel to an habitable planet, not Hell!

[Melkite]

For those capable of entertaining abstract ideas, if we were to find intelligent, rational life on another planet tomorrow, what would it do to your faith?  Crush it?  Reenforce it?  Do nothing to it at all?

[Greg]

It would crush mine, assuming they had no belief in God or their belief was theologically contradictory to ours.

For one thing the evolutionists would appear to be correct. Which makes the bible account of Original Sin a nonsense.  Why do you think they are looking and listing?

With all the galaxies known to be out there a new race of aliens who presumably would come from within our Milky Way, would prove that the Universe was teaming with life.

For another it would be a nonsense to say "everything was revealed at the death of the last apostle" and then have a race of Vulcans show up one day.

And frankly forget the aliens for a minute.  The fact that plenty of Catholics will say below "it would make little difference" to them, causes me to question because it suggests to me that many people are not at all rational as to why they believe the things they do but actually just want to attach themselves to a tribe of other humans with common beliefs and shared values.

[poche]

Don't care about the debate, I just want to know how to get there.

Turn right and go up.

[Vetus Ordo]

And frankly forget the aliens for a minute.  The fact that plenty of Catholics will say below "it would make little difference" to them, causes me to question because it suggests to me that many people are not at all rational as to why they believe the things they do but actually just want to attach themselves to a tribe of other humans with common beliefs and shared values.

This is true of all human groups, though.

[Greg]

And frankly forget the aliens for a minute.  The fact that plenty of Catholics will say below "it would make little difference" to them, causes me to question because it suggests to me that many people are not at all rational as to why they believe the things they do but actually just want to attach themselves to a tribe of other humans with common beliefs and shared values.

This is true of all human groups, though.

Perhaps so, but since they are in error those other human groups need to paper over those errors and keep them comfortable in their denial.  When I see a lack of critical thinking in people who claim to have the only divinely revealed truth it makes me wonder why people with the truth are not able or willing to explain in rational terms why those truths are true.

[Vetus Ordo]

And frankly forget the aliens for a minute.  The fact that plenty of Catholics will say below "it would make little difference" to them, causes me to question because it suggests to me that many people are not at all rational as to why they believe the things they do but actually just want to attach themselves to a tribe of other humans with common beliefs and shared values.

This is true of all human groups, though.

Perhaps so, but since they are in error those other human groups need to paper over those errors and keep them comfortable in their denial.  When I see a lack of critical thinking in people who claim to have the only divinely revealed truth it makes me wonder why people with the truth are not able or willing to explain in rational terms why those truths are true.

Well, to be fair, each person's faith is not perfect. The faithful range from the most zealous and educated ones to the merely simple-minded or even lukewarm folks. In this respect, all religious groups are the same. Each religion should be judged not just by the strength and coherence of its adherents but especially by the coherence of the truths it upholds and the fruits it produces.

[erin is nice]

Only the planet earth possesses life. Scripture proves it.

Anything else is just satanic fables.

No one is saying these other planets actually have life forms, just that they may be able to support living things from earth.