Extraterrestrial life and theology
The Vatican just concluded a five-day conference to study the possibility of life on other worlds and its implication for the church. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory, presented the results of the gathering today. “The questions of life’s origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration,” Fues said.
Indeed they do. How would the concept of life on other planets affect your philosophy and theology?
According to the Associated Press, “Thirty scientists, including non-Catholics, from the U.S., France, Britain, Switzerland, Italy and Chile attended the conference, called to explore among other issues whether sentient life forms exist on other worlds.” Obviously there is no definitive evidence of intelligent life anywhere other than earth, Funes said, “Just as there is a multitude of creatures on Earth, there could be other beings, even intelligent ones, created by God. This does not contradict our faith, because we cannot put limits on God’s creative freedom.”
The discovery of extraterrestrial life would have significant implications for at least one key doctrine: the Trinity. Consider that the concept of a Trinity is never discussed in the Bible. Rather, what we see is the one true Deity having an essence we call God the Father, an essence we call the Holy Spirit, and an essence in which God made Himself like us in order to relate to humans and be the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins. But if Jesus was God in human form, would the discovery of aliens mean that there are other forms of God that serve the Jesus role for those beings? Instead of a Trinity, could God be a Multiplicity?
Some would consider the very concept to be heresy. What do you think? How do you interpret Matthew 24:31, “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other“?
