Is there intelligent life in outer space?

This post brought to you by the great minds at the Answers in Genesis newsletter team. Also by the letter C, the number 6, and the word "ego."

A: A number of leading evolutionists, like the late Dr. Carl Sagan, have popularized the idea that there must be intelligent life in outer space. From an evolutionary perspective, it would make sense to suggest such a possibility. People who believe this possibility contend that, if life evolved on earth by natural processes, intelligent life must exist somewhere else in the far reaches of space, given the size of the universe and the millions of possible planets.

I've probably already said this, but the term "evolutionist" is about as helpful when describing scientists as "atomist" or "gravitist." Yes, scientists accept evolution because it's an amazing theory, not because they were choosing them out of a hat and happened to pick cell theory, germ theory, and... uh... creationism. Carl Sagan was an astronomer and cosmologist, so it's strange to assign this term to someone in his field (as opposed to biololgy), but I think you're just trying to single him out as "not one of us." It would, however, make sense to postulate the high probability of life existing somewhere else in the universe because of the massive amounts of planets, each with differing heat cycles, atmospheres, dominant elements, and so on. No one is saying that there is definitely, for sure life out there. But it's hard to say there definitely isn't either.

One can postulate endlessly about possibilities of intelligent life in outer space, but I believe a Christian worldview, built on the Bible, rejects such a possibility. Here is why.

Ah, forget science, the search for life, or any possible concrete confirmations we might have in the future. You've got the answer because your books tells you so... or at least you interpret it to tell you so.

During the six days of creation in Genesis 1, we learn that God created the earth first. On day four He made the sun and the moon for the earth, and then “He made the stars also” (Genesis 1:16).
From these passages of Scripture it would seem that the earth is very special—it is center stage. Everything else was made for purposes relating to the earth. For instance, the sun, moon, and stars were made “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Genesis 1:14).

...And that's how you end it. Well, you seem to have let your logic go unsaid and assume that we will just "get" what you're trying to say. And what I think that is would be "everything in this universe revolves around the earth" (metaphorically... or a few hundred years ago, literally - thanks Galileo!). We as humans are just so important that everything in the universe was made for us and our enjoyment. All of those beautiful galaxies billions of light years away and the billions more that we'll never see, yes, all for our ocular enjoyment. Forget the fact that they are all pretty much meaningless if we are only here because Yahweh wanted to make us, they are for US! US ONLY!

...'MERICA!


As the creationists would have you believe, because we are so important, there is no need for any other planet to be inhabited by aliens because frankly, God wouldn't care about them. He'd be so concerned with us, meeting our needs, answering our prayers, and sacrificing humans for us that he'd probably just forget about the Klingons. And because of original sin, they'd be sentenced to eternal torture as soon as they're born and they'd have no Klingon-Jesus to save them. So obviously, the best solution would be to just leave the planets dry and lifeless. It's a stretch to believe, but they can do it. I mean, they are creationists.

In case that last statement was too controversial, I'd like to slightly clarify. There are two types of creationists. Those that don't really know much about science but believe in creationism because their pastors tell them they have to and those that do know about science but continue to lie through their teeth and distort facts because this is what they want to believe. And a large majority probably fall into the first category, so it's hard to blame them. I just hope that one day our educational institutions will be able to adequately cover scientific explanations for basic principles, such as evolution. If we had that, I think we could cut TalkOrigins' Index to Creationist Claims in half.