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UFO’s and God

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There is a large percentage of the population that believes in UFO’s, or more specifically, alien life on other planets. I have studied cosmology and astronomy to a degree (I am by no means an expert), and could write a fairly technical article on the theoretical science behind space travel to convince readers of its ridiculousness.

Example? How about the simple math of exploring the 400 million other stars in our galaxy alone; or applying Einstein’s theory of special relativity and propelling an object at the speed of light, the fastest possible speed (c) which would allow you the ability to get to the next closest galaxy, Andromeda, in 2.3 million  years traveling at 186,000 miles per second where you would have only just begun exploring the universe; except as our speed increases, so does our mass increase necessitating even more power to generate this kind of speed, such that a mere one pound object, far smaller than what is required to transport life, would need the energy of 100 atomic bombs to travel at 50% the speed of light. If we do the math, this means that a modern-day sized ship traveling at 90% the speed of light would require the energy of 73 million atomic bombs. Furthermore, it takes the same amount of energy to slow down the object, meaning a round trip would cost 4x the energy required to make speed just once. But consider also the particles of dust in all of space too small to detect (hence the force fields and deflector shields in sci-fi). Hitting an object the size of a pea at 50% of c would impact like 2 atomic bombs. Even dust would be catastrophic. Safe to say, without a lot of unreasonable mental gymnastics, UFO visitors are not possible.

I understand this can be an emotional subject for certain people. There are those who believe to there core that aliens are so, and no amount of reason or logic will dissuade them. But I would implore you to ask yourself why this is so. My opinion is that evolution requires it to be considered. There has been no gains in the theories pertaining to life-from-non-life, and genetics have proven no friend to the theory of evolution (genetics articles to come). So evolutionary science is forced to look to the stars for answers, so long as the answer is not God. The idea is technically called panspermia, and suggests that life was started by a distant race of other beings. My last article highlighted the influence and suggestion that science has on society. Can we not say that alien mythology permeates our social construct?

Example?  When I say picture an alien visitor, do most people not picture the pale-skinned, long-necked, oval-faced, black-eyed, bald, prototypical alien? In mass interviews from supposed sightings, these were non-existent before the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Afterwards, this became the popular description among those who reported seeing aliens.

Panspermia is a convenient hypothesis for non-believers,  because it requires no proof, passes the problem of life-from-non-life to a distant time and space where it can be assumed to have happened, and can still dismiss the idea of a creator God. Some may find this silly that this theory has reared its head in the annals of science, but it is a strongly considered theory that allows for humanists to kick this pesky can down the road. Even atheist figure heads such as Carl Sagan promoted the idea, without a shred of scientific backing.

Why does evolutionary theory allow for this mindset, you may ask? The logical assumption is, if the universe is considered to be 14 billion years old, and we evolved by chance (or were planted here by someone who evolved by chance) then it stands to reason that it must have happened elsewhere too. This does seem logical on the face of it… almost, but not when science so clearly and so often precludes the result.

The mythology of aliens and appetites for sci-fi have only grown in our modern era. From Star Wars, to Star Trek, to Superman, alien life is fun to consider, no arguments here. But the lines between reality and fiction can often be blurred over time for even the most astute citizens. Without realizing it, people allow for things to be so in their minds that contradict the authority of scripture, and do so without evidence to back it up. Jesus says in Mark 10:6 “In the beginning God made them male and female,” clearly teaching the creation story as accurate. If billions of years existed between the beginning and Adam, this would make Jesus a liar. Furthermore, Christ says in John 5, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” and Matthew 24, “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Christians must be careful not to strip authority from the very words of their savior, for it is clear that Christ Himself believed in a six day literal creation, the deluge, and historicity of Old Testament events. When you believe in aliens, you indirectly support and believe the reason why they must exist, evolution. If you believe in evolution, there is no getting around disagreeing with Jesus of Nazareth, or Moses, or Paul, or John, or any number of patriarchs. I am not saying you mustn’t believe in evolution to be saved, but I will say you have damaged your testimony in some way by undermining the authority of God’s word, and those who do will have to square with that some day.

Do you succumb to the power of suggestion?

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When your kids see this in class, or at the museum of natural history, what is the reaction? Is it an indoctrinating scene? Told of Neanderthals, beginning to walk upright. Even the term Neandrethal naturally invokes images of brutish hairy cave-people. Did you know that it is simply named for the Neander Valley, a small valley of the river Düssel in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located about 12 km east of Düsseldorf.

Did you know that every time we see an image of cave people, it is purely dependent upon artist renderings, and subject to the presupposition of an evolutionary timetable? They will ask artists to draw, or mold a model based on bones, to which they reply, what would you have him look like? Many times, a find will consist of a bone, or a foot print. You have to be a pretty good artist to know what a guys wife looks like by looking at his footprint. But that is the exact way you and your children are receiving this information. And they receive it as fact.

Let us consider, the oldest known footprints ever found are human. In 1974, it was Leaky who discovered some “3.5 million years old” which showed no difference in ours today. Then the first in England during the ice age at around “800,000” years old showing England was inhabited by man at that time (probably ancestors of Japheth). There are African ones, Chilean ones, and per the fossil record, depending on how they are uncovered and what sedimentary layer they are found in, a date is attributed, and someone gets further funding for their dig. But the truth is, the Laetoli footprints of 1974 show man walked upright, and have shown no signs of evolution since, despite the many pictures suggesting otherwise. Neanderthals used tools, wore jewelry, buried their dead, cared for their sick, and have even been found wearing armor. This information comes to us from evolutionary anthropologists. Interestingly enough, they declare the DNA of Neanderthal to be almost identical to modern man.

Despite tee-shirts and pictures in text books, the fossil record holds no slowly evolving creature that goes from the ground to bipedal,and there is no evidence of information being added to bipedal, modern man in order to evolve him. There have been several finds of “out of place” fossils, or strange anomalies that garner no attention due to the inability to fit them within the evolutionary framework.  Many adults of today still remember being taught of Java Man, Piltdown Man, Rhodesian Man, Taung African Man, Nebraska Man, Peking Man, all of which didn’t hold water. Then we had the Calaveras skull of 1866 that was dated in the tens of millions because it was potentially pre-flood and fully human. Also the Guadalupe Woman, taken off display because of the controversy of finding a perfectly formed 5’2″ woman in a limestone casket from “25 million years” ago.

I would ask that you share, comment, and ask questions, but would leave you today with this thought? Have you been indoctrinated to believe you are nothing more than an evolved mammal? People are extremely susceptible to visual stimulus, and coupled with the respect we have for teachers and for elders, when they tell us this is the case, we listen. But there is no evidence out there, despite our myriad of drawings, paintings, and sculptures, to indicate we have ever been anything but a creation of the Most High.

 

Note From the Author

Note from the author

       I have never written a novel before. I have no qualifications that I would tout in order to persuade one to read what I have written here. And to be quite honest, I wasn’t sure of the endeavor ever making it out of my computer file. I did not start with the intension of selling it, or publishing it. Only with the intension of getting it out of my heart, and out of my mind. I needed to clear the mechanism. It was a purge that had to take place so I could snap back into my real life and move on without this obsession looming over every dark corner of my day. As a Christian, I was tired of seeing Christians poorly depicted in books and on the silver screen. It seemed that they were used for target practice mostly, set up to be the punching bag of normal society. They were always the zealot extremist, the racist radical. The hillbilly church goer who believed in Jesus Christ out of a profound ignorance rather than any qualified reasoning. If religious subject matter was the protagonist topic, it usually entailed New Age spiritualism, or apocryphal and mystic acceptance. It was common place to see the doctrines of faith in Christianity be torn down in lieu of socially acceptable religious parameters. The Christians always wanted to burn the witches. The Christians always want to control money, sex, and power. The Christians always wanted to promote war against other people groups.

I studied apologetics on my own through my late twenties and on into my thirties, and it has become an insatiable hunger that I plan on continuing. I don’t claim intelligence beyond most. I am actually rather forgetful, and have to keep re-studying the same things to keep it all in my head. My grammar is terrible, and my spelling is worse, and my tendency to start things without finishing them would have precluded me from ever finishing a work like this in all likelihood. But against all odds, it has surfaced from the depths of my mind and taken what I hope to be a legitimate form of entertainment and instruction. Despite all I had going against it, I had a great respect for the content I was sharing, for the authors I have studied under, and for God’s inspired and holy word. And I set out to portray a true likeness of Christian love, and doctrine, and reason, in a fun and educational way, which could possibly serve to help a dreamer dream of Godly things.

Apologetics is a defense of the bible. It is simply being prepared to defend its authority. But after debates without credentials, and faith without an audience, a buildup of knowledge was aching to get out in some form or another. I realized I could portray a conversion in proper doctrinal context, without the real and rude world kicking against it, and within a medium that causes readers to already approach it in an open minded fashion. It had the potential to at least share how real Christians in my experience try to act. They pray together. They love each other through problems. They read the word and apply it. And they are imperfect, and in need of grace, just as I am. I am so flawed, and am so far from worthy that I really come to the table with nothing. But God has blessed me with some gifts, and I prayerfully and sometimes even begrudgingly try to live my life appreciating and utilizing them.

My hope is that I have used a believable fiction to teach real and teachable truths. I needed to show that Christianity was logical, that the word was special, and that the message existed for those who need to find God. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I dreamed of the haunting characters, and the plot began to form and take directions I honestly didn’t feel smart enough to generate on my own. I prayed and hoped that the Holy Spirit was with me when I was writing this. The basic story was done in about one month, after a lifetime of saying I wanted to write a book, and after no less than ten books started and never finished.

I also needed to present the gospel, in as clear and concise a manner as I could. The manuscripts is  make-believe, but I needed to present a real conversion, and real prayers, and real belief in the bible. I hope I have done that, and I hope I have done it with love.

I would finish  by writing my favorite verse to you, and one that I would encourage you all to meditate on, for the end of the age in which we live is imminent. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling – Philippians 2:12

J.R. Cooper

Johnson City, Tennessee

Touch Publishing

Wanted to plug Touch Publishing at http://www.touchpublishingservices.com/ , and thank them for their support. This is the company out of Texas, that has agreed to publish my manuscript. They are a growing Christian-based company with an array of titles from children’s books, to fictions, to non-fiction and biographical or testimonial titles.. The story we are editing now will be a fiction drama adventure, and I can’t wait to make it public. Thank you for the opportunity to tell my story. I look forward to our partnership.