[meteorite-list] ALH 84001 and Creation - Part 2 of 2

From: Bernd Pauli HD <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:44:11 2004
Message-ID: <3B1BE651.BC0EFBAB_at_lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>

Kenneth Woodward (1996) Sacred Realms: God's Expanding Universe - The
Mars discovery excites religious thinkers (Newsweek, August 19, 1996, p.
46):

If the laws of life are uniform throughout the universe, what about the
laws of God? For Hindus and Buddhists, there is no problem: their
cosmologies already teem with alternate universes inhabited by celestial
and other beings. But the religions of the Bible clearly have
theological questions to consider. Does the revelation of God on Mount
Sinai apply to beings from another planet? If Christ died for the sins
of a fallen humankind, would his death redeem beings from a distant
galaxy? And must Muslims wage holy war with aliens to extend the
community of Allah?
For the world's largest religion – Christianity - Scripture may provide
a clue. The New Testament proclaims that all creation was sanctified and
redeemed through Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John, in particular,
presents Jesus as the Word of God who existed at the beginning of time -
and, therefore, presumably of space as well. "It may be that God became
incarnate in other forms elsewhere in the universe," suggests Jesuit
Consulmagno. "If we were to make contact with other intelligent life,
we'd have to tell our own sacred story, listen to them tell theirs and
learn. But who would be the teachers, and who the learners - that we'd
have to find out."
To astronomer Slavsky, the mere possibility of intelligent life
elsewhere in the universe opens up a new sense of community - and an
expanded notion of sacred drama. "We already have a different sense of
community than that which existed 5,000 years ago," he says. "Today it
means everyone on this Earth. Someday I hope we can extend that sense to
a community of the universe." And what about God? Perhaps the Lord's
reproving words to Job, his protesting faithful servant, will still
inspire awe. "Where were you when I laid the foundations? Tell me, if
you understand."
Received on Mon 04 Jun 2001 03:49:37 PM PDT