i think phemox already came up with the same question deep in some other thread but if i remember correctly it didn't really get answered.

what would literal bible believers think if aliens visited earth? not that i think this will happen anytime soon - it's just an interesting theoretical question. would that prove the bible wrong to them?

is there anything at all that could prove the bible wrong to them?

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what would literal bible believers think if aliens visited earth? not that i think this will happen anytime soon - it's just an interesting theoretical question. would that prove the bible wrong to them?

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No. The Bible doesnt exclude the possibility of other creations on different planets. However theoretical questions aside: the Bible lays out a prophetic plan in Revelation. Aliens are not mentioned in that plan.

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is there anything at all that could prove the bible wrong to them?

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I dont think so.

Any more questions?

It is indeed an interesting speculation by which scenario an unfalsifiable belief - like the faith of some bible believers - could be overcome. Certainly not by reality or by logic, otherwise the belief would be falsifiable. But how about the following hypothetical scenarios?

a) Archeologists discover the original of the bible, and find that it on the last page contains a statement "This book is wrong".

b) The Lord himself appears in a blinding flash of light, a heavy document folder under his arm, and exclaims "Sorry - the bible was published a little too hasty. Here's the correction!".

Would this make hard-core bible believers get second thoughts?

OK well I really liek that earlier example:

What if God poofed into being for the entire world to see ( even allowed himself to be on camera despite not having the opportunity to apply makeup).

What if then..people go: Jesus?..

God:..No...

Person 2: Allah?...

God:..Nope...

P3: Buddha (?) ?...

God:.. Fraid not...

Everyone:..Who are you? What's your name?...

God:..Goddy G. Goderson.

I sense billions of people having mental breakdowns having found out that their lifelong beliefs were incorrect.

I think that's the reason that if there is a God ( not neccesarily one by our definition but the being reaponsible for our creation nonetheless) and he is still alive, that's the reason he doesnt show. We couldnt handle a society/civilization altering truth like that. I think he/she/it kind of trusted us to make our own truth and deal with it that way because Earth and God are far too alcient an inquiry for us to know now.


Tho.. what if one day we uncover an actual vocally expressed message left behind by what did create us.. and it explained everything? Would we accept it and move on, now knowing the truth or would the powers that be lock it away never to be revealed..?

It occurs to me that humans revise these holy books, humans keep secrets from one another and humans perpetuate religious beliefs. No one within those 3 circles wants to know the truth because it either conflicts with their interests or attacks them too personally.

I think it'll be a few hundred million years before we come anywhere near the actual truths of our existence or origins. We just want so badly to be right here, now, and today.

I think I know the begginings of it.. its starting to make logical and scientific sense..( as the truth must) but the minute I explain this to a person who's far too religious to really give this a timeshare of their cognitive thought, it.. pretty much get's dismissed.

In order to find the truth and be genuinely enlightened, humans have to be less willing to sheep into the creations of other men.. and more willing to be candid, exploratory and accepting of the truth. We have to get out of this attitude that we know everything and accept first that we dont.

About ET's tho.. almost no religious reference makes room for life beyond earth. While they may not disavow it, they conveniently make earth the center of creation and man the focus of creation, perdition, and such. Texts that limited in a universe truly as vast as ours tell to me that they came from man.

If they were originally written by a divinity, I doubt we could comprehend it. The authors thinking would be so far advanced and so much of a larger scale than our own.. it would be a big mouth burger on which we would only be capable of taking one nibble at a time. Aliens exist, so if God wrote about the universe, the existence and role of other societies would have to be a little more than just " not mentioned... but not left out either".

You just dont tell a story about the universe and leave out reference all other life in the universe. A book of origin is supposed to be written with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That's how, to me, you can tell most religious texts were not written nor inspired by divinity. They may have been written by the wisest of the wise and then edited a few times by the powers that be.. that's what it seems to me they were.. but just too humanity specific to be crafted by a God (by ours or any definition warranting the title).

the bible and aliens dont fit together how?
i never found a passage in the bible saying
"And God Stopped Creating"

XD

Are there any direct remarks in the bible about extraterrestrials, as in something 'not originating from earth'? Just curious.

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i never found a passage in the bible saying
"And God Stopped Creating"

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I never found a passage in the bible saying he likes pizza, doesn't really mean he doesn't like pizza, he just never said so. But you knew that, off course.

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You just dont tell a story about the universe and leave out reference all other life in the universe. A book of origin is supposed to be written with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That's how, to me, you can tell most religious texts were not written nor inspired by divinity. They may have been written by the wisest of the wise and then edited a few times by the powers that be.. that's what it seems to me they were.. but just too humanity specific to be crafted by a God (by ours or any definition warranting the title).

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Okey, so any flaw in the bible would discredit it as being the truth and nothing but the truth. Enough said I guess. The text isn't as perfect as most claim, for example it doesn't have answers to ALL questions, so how can it be the truth, the only truth and nothing but the truth? But yeah, that's a whole different topic.

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a) Archeologists discover the original of the bible, and find that it on the last page contains a statement "This book is wrong".

b) The Lord himself appears in a blinding flash of light, a heavy document folder under his arm, and exclaims "Sorry - the bible was published a little too hasty. Here's the correction!".

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Hahaha lol , but no, those people definately would simply disbelief the archaeological find is authentic. I'm currently working at an archaeological site ( www.archeologie-in-ede.nl (sorry, dutch only) ) and you'd be surprised how many visitors simply walk away saying they simply don't believe the finds are as old as they are and they even accuse us of misleading people.
The area of Ede, or more precisely Bennekom is pretty religious, more specifically Jehova's, so it's not really a surprise to me to hear that they don't believe us. But it is fact we actually hold the evidence right there in our hands, right there before their faces ... Some even said something along this line "yeah, very cool finds, but no it's put there in the ground by God, simply because God wants to test our faith in Him". Jup jup, I guess we can wave any evidence good-bye then, with these kind of responses ..


sligtly OT, but also relevant in the bigger picture hehehehe :

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I sense billions of people having mental breakdowns having found out that their lifelong beliefs were incorrect.

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Uuuh, yeah, if only it worked like that ... billions of people are infact having a lifelong belief that's 100% incorrect. Doesn't really matter if one is right, because others will be wrong. That fact alone still doesn't convince anyone to stop believing what they are believing in now and they are selfish enough to not even realise it's actually pretty plain stupid to think you can actually know wether or not God exists, wether it's the Buddha, Allah or simply God or your kindergarten teacher with magical powers ...

It's all equally as wrong, simply because we can't know and chances are the current most popular religions aren't more right than someone stating God is an evil Spaghetti Monster eating misbehaving Macaroni's all day long ... Turn it around all you like, but it's like a circle, it's round, so people please wake up and stop imagining it's a rectangle with perfect 90 degrees angles. Thank you.

There is enough evidence on this planet to discredit most religions, of course billions of people would disagree, simply because they believe in (a) God, whatever that means. Lol, d o t h é y e v e n k n o w? No offence to anyone more religious than I am, but they should realize that it's pointless. No claim is valid without evidence, no nice bedtime story will change that, nor 1000s pages of text will, which suposedly are pretty old and never rewritten (yeah right ).

Think of it like this, I have made a drawing of something abstract, not a circle, not a rectangle and not a triangle, however it has features of all of those forms mixed into a very complicated piece of eeuhm 'art'. Now imagine this 'art' would be God. Off course you haven't seen this 'art' yet, so how the [censorredd] could you know exactly what it looks like? Yeah, because that's exactly what some people think to now ...

('knowing what it looks like' would be equal to understanding more or less the concept of whatever God would be out there, what he would think is wrong to do and other of those more specific details, some if not all of which are mentioned in the bible or any other religious text as if they now them for truth and nothing less.)

Okey, and now you may forget everything I've just said, because who knows, I can be wrong just like everybody else.
However demanding some evidence before believing in anything sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Cheers

what i don't understand is why other christians will say "the world couldn't be billions of years old", i do not agree. In the original hebrew context of the bible it states that God "began to create", not "created it in one day". Alot of what you read in the bible has changed since the original translation, not to mention there are parts of the bible that were taken out after it was written (search for "the lost books of the bible"). The reason extraterrestrials weren't mentioned is the bible is not about what went on out of our planet, it teaches on God's relation to man. It merely mentions that God created animals and the earth, the meaning of the bible is not to explain about "other" life forms. Well, i'll just leave you with this word, i hope i didn't go against anyone's beliefs, if so i'm sorry, i'm not here to tell you that you're wrong.

Cheers, enjoy the debate. (don't fight now)

@ Phemox.. well sadly what makes those billions break down is that for some..well alot.. their religion is a deep pathogen.. so if something so unequivocable as God literally showing up and demoing to prove so happened.. theyd all have breakdowns..

That's probably the only logical reason why if there is one..he doesnt.