“The whole galaxy to explore! Millions of planets, eons of time, countless civilizations to meet…”
That’s a line from an episode of the old British science fiction TV series Dr. Who and it gives a pretty good illustration of an idea that many people accept today- that is, that life exists in places other than the planet Earth. In fact, a number of popular television series and movies depend on this idea as a major part of their story lines.
Now maybe he just looks spacey, but for some reason, people often ask The Doctor if he believes that life exists on other planets. After all, with billions of galaxies each containing billions of stars and gazillions of potential planets orbiting these stars, the chances seem pretty good that we will encounter an extraterrestrial life form some day, right? It’s a really fascinating question and it’s one that has fired the imaginations of untold numbers of science-fiction readers and movie-goers over the years.
Is it possible that alien life forms really do exist? Well, The Doctor believes that the best way to find out if alien beings exist in outer space is to seek the Creator of outer space. So let’s look through the pages of Scripture and see if we can make an educated guess on this question. We’ll get started by looking at this verse from the book of Genesis…
“I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish” (Genesis 6:17 NIV).
Many people recognize this passage as part of the well-known story of Noah’s great flood. Now at the point in history just prior to the flood, the Scriptures tell us that humanity had become really, really evil. In fact, things were so bad that Genesis 6:5 tells us that everyone’s thoughts and intentions were always evil, all of the time. God was tremendously grieved by this continuing wickedness and finally made the decision to eliminate humanity by means of a great flood.
But in Genesis 6 we also read of a man named Noah -a man who had found favor in God’s sight. We’re told that Noah received instructions from God concerning a huge ark that he was to build, one that would carry him to safety as the rains came down. In addition, a number of animals were to be brought into the ark to repopulate the Earth after the floodwaters had gone away. Now, it’s important to understand that this passage means just what it says- everything, everywhere on the Earth lost it’s life in the flood with the exception of Noah, his family, and of course, those animals that he brought with him onto the ark.
Now some of you are probably saying, C’mon, get to the point! What does all this have to do with aliens? OK, be patient because we’re going to use three key words from the verse that we’ve just looked at in Genesis 6:17 to help answer this question. Those three key words are “under the heavens.”
You see, the Hebrew word for “heavens” used here doesn’t only refer to the area within the earth’s atmosphere. It also signifies the area where the sun, moon and stars exist or what we would refer to as “space” today. This word is also used to identify the place where God dwells, a place outside the physical universe.
This little bit of information is more important than it might first appear. Notice that God is bringing the floodwaters upon the earth and that the end result of that action will be the destruction of all life under the heavens. Since we’re told specifically that all life under the heavens (or “within space”) will perish as a result of the flood, this passage would appear to limit all life under the heavens to this planet alone.
In light of this, it would seem that any life that exists in the universe exists on this planet alone according to the Scriptures. So while projects such as the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) are fun and interesting, The Doctor fears they will be ultimately unsuccessful. It appears that the Bible rules out the existence of life on any other planet other than our own. So if you were hoping to meet a Klingon one day, hopefully you won’t be too disappointed.
Now does this mean that we are really alone in the universe? No way. In the pages of Scripture we find that an incredible Being really does exist outside the confines of our universe. This Being is immensely powerful, intelligent, and unlimited by the laws of space/time. Unlike movie aliens who once existed “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” this Being is here right now and has been observing your every move since before you were born. In fact, this Being once actually became a human and in doing so answered the question, “what is the meaning of life?”
Of course, the Being that we’re speaking of here is God. You see, the Bible tells us that the real meaning of life is to love God and have a relationship with Him. Jesus Himself once said that the greatest commandment (and the reason for your existence) is this: “‘…Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment…'” (Matthew 22:37-38b). Of course, God already loves us because He is a God of love (1 John 4:8) and Jesus even said that He will personally come and have fellowship with anyone who opens the door to Him (Revelation 3:20).
God loves us and desires that we return that love and have a relationship with Him. This relationship with God is available to anyone who accepts Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for the things that they have done wrong. Don’t forget that Jesus was once quoted as saying, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). No one who comes to God though Jesus Christ will ever be alone in the universe.
So the truth really is out there- the question is what will you do about it?