Calling on my Biblical scholars, pastors, ministers & friends... An excerpt from Exo-Vaticana got me thinking, or shall I say the wheels started turning in the hopes of more understanding. Maybe you can offer some insight. Here it is. The biblical philosophy of history accounts for the range of events from the dawn of Creation to the return of Christ. Genesis 1:1 boldly declares that God created the entire universe “in the beginning,” rendered from the Hebrew term bereshit, which is also the name of the book in the Hebrew Bible. Dr. John Sailhamer explains that this denotes an unspecified duration of time: “It is a block of time which precedes an extended series of time periods. It is a time before time. The term does not refer to a point in time but to a period or duration of time which falls before a series of events.”[344] Modern cosmology affirms that the universe had a beginning. We find the reluctant twentieth-century acceptance of this fact by scientists a verification of what the Bible stated thousands of years prior. Might there have been other worlds prior to our own during this primeval time of the universe? Some have even suggested a civilization on Mars, where the angels rebelled. We will save that for a later chapter, but there is supporting evidence. There have been dissenting opinions on the use of bereshit, but an examination of the biblical data verifies Sailhamer’s exegesis.[345] The Bible mentions that the angels were present and singing while God created the Earth (Job 38:7). Angels are created beings and were necessarily created before the Earth. It is clear that the Earth is already present before the days of the Creation week have ensued (Genesis1:2). A day is never specified when God created the angels, chemical elements, molecules like water, and the Earth. They are already present as the Spirit hovers over the waters. Thus, there had to be time for all of this to occur prior to day one. This confirms that the rendering of bereshit as an unspecified duration is indeed correct. ÿGod reveals further details about Creation through the prophet Isaiah, who wrote, “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:18). This speaks of God forming the Earth, which is not accounted for in Genesis. Since the Hebrew word tohu, translated here “in vain” also appears in Genesis 1:2 as “without form,” this statement in Isaiah could imply a contrast between the Earth, which was formed to be inhabited, and the other planets, which were not. Indeed, the ones we do know about are not. For many of us, this begs the question of why God bothered to create the other planets. As we have detailed elsewhere, the concept of wasted space only applies to beings with limited resources and, in this case, the same applies to effort. Again, God used Isaiah to explain: “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding” (Isaiah 40:28). He does not get tired, and He does not run out of resources. In fact, we have been given an answer. God reveals in His word that the heavens above serve for: 1) signs; 2) time keeping; and 3) illumination (ÿGenesis 1:14–15ÿ). Most importantly, they testify to God’s glory and power: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. (Psalms 19:1–2) The Bible states that the Earth was originally given to humans, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men” (Psalms 115:16). However, dominion over the Earth was usurped by a rebellious reptilian and is now under his controlling influence (Psalms 82; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 6:2; 1 John 5:19). The Apostle Paul alludes to the entire Creation being cursed when Adam sinned (Romans 8:20–22). A strict, literal rendering of the first phrase of the Greek text of Romans 8:20 (“te gar mataioteti he ktisis hypetage”) reads, “To for futility the creation has been subjected.” The one doing the subjecting is necessarily God, because the last phrase, “him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20b) would exclude Satan. The meaning of the term “ktisis” which the KJV renders “creature,” is derivative of the verb “kitzo”“to create,” and can be understood as “creation,” or, according to a scholarly lexicon, “the universe as the product of God’s activity in creation—‘universe, creation, what was made.’”[346] In fact, missionary scholars who translate the New Testament into various foreign languages try to find a term in the receptor language that means “everything that exists.”[347] With this in mind, we wonder, is it pressing too hard on this text to understand this curse as applying to the furthest reaches of outer space? Some may think we stretch it too far, but undeniably, the Fall of man extended into the realm of nature (Genesis 3:17). A better question might be, “Is there warrant to limit it exclusively to Earth?” Based on the universal language in the epistle to the Romans, it does not seem justified. Paul taught, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22, underline added). When we consider the toxic conditions in space and on the other planets in our solar system, it seems to apply. If God did create beings similar to man, they would be included in the “whole creation.” However, if they were innocent, it would be unjust to subject them to a curse based on Adam’s Fall. Because God is just and consistent, this counts against the existence of sinless extraterrestrials as part of God’s Creation. Even so, we do know that Satan fell and took a host of angels with him. Taken at face value, the sin qua non (absolutely essential element) of history’s turmoil is the devil’s opposition to God (Genesis 3:1–5; cf. Revelation 20:10). While sincere Christians have different views concerning eschatology, most agree on humankind’s central role in the divine conflict. For example, universal language describes God’s covenant with Israel: “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?” (Deuteronomy 4:32, underline added). This language implies the covenant is unique to Earth, exclusive to humans, and universally unprecedented. It follows that the incarnation of Jesus Christ as our Savior, delivered via Israel, is similarly universal. The most compelling biblical argument for the uniqueness of terrestrial life is the incarnation. The Second Person of the Trinity, the One who brought the entire universe into existence (ÿJohn 1:1–3ÿ; ÿColossians 1:16–17ÿ; ÿHebrews 1:1–2ÿ), became an everlasting member of the human race in the incarnation (ÿJohn 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:24–25ÿ). He ascended to heaven bodily and sits on His throne as a man. This strongly counts against the existence of extraterrestrials and multiple incarnations on alien worlds, a topic we will address in chapter 11, “Exotheology: Nature and Grace.” Furthermore, the doctrine of the Second Coming is Earth-centered. Jesus taught us to pray: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10, underline added). This means the Earth, not some alien exoplanet, is God’s chosen location for His kingdom. After all, even the angels long to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12). Apart from divine beings described in Scripture, we cannot say with certainty whether God has created intelligent beings living on other worlds. God is free to do as He pleases. If He did, as C. S. Lewis has argued, perhaps the vast distances involved are “God’s quarantine precautions” meant to protect them from us![348] We know that we are fallen. The twentieth-century death toll of 262 million killed by their governments leaves no room for protest.[349]
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:05:37 +0000
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