Ufo’s, Extraterrestrials And The Catholic Church

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='Delivery Boy' post='1813300' date='Mar 21 2009, 02:00 PM']That would be so cool.[/quote]
I agree.

The "only members of my faith are saved" --like Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. Or "only Christians are saved" -- which really means only those who fit a particular definition of "Christian" are saved. So I think it is possible for non-Christians to get to heaven.

So why wouldn't other life in the Universe in need of a savior. Or who are still in perfect union with God, who have eternal souls. Others outside Earth can called to Heaven, can they not?

We could be very surprised in the hereafter.

Edited March 21, 2009 by Lounge Daddy

[goldenchild17]

I definitely believe in UFO sightings and such being manifestations of demons/spirits. The abductions I'm a little more leery of, but open to. I don't know what I think about actual human-like sentient beings on other planets, but I think its likely that life of some sort (plant and/or animal) could and possibly does exist. That quote from Padre Pio definitely makes me want to look into it more though...

[goldenchild17]

I tracked down the Pio quote to a book by Don Nello Castello entitled "Thus Spoke Padre Pio." He writes that someone in Padre Pio's confraternity asked him "Father, I thought Earth was nothing compared to the stars and all the other planets", to which Padre Pio replied "Yes, and if we leave the Earth we are nothing. The Lord certainly didn't restrict his glory to this little planet. On other planets, there will be beings without sin."

_______________

Apparently, so it says, the the following dialogue is documented and officially published by the Cappuchin Order (though I'm not sure where to find this record):
Question: Padre, some claim that there are creatures of God on other planets, too.

Answer: "What else? Do you think they don’t exist and that God's omnipotence is limited to this small planet Earth? What else? Do you think there are no other beings who love the Lord?"

Question: Padre, I think the Earth is nothing compared to other planets and stars.

Answer: "Exactly! Yes, and we Earthlings are nothing, too. The Lord certainly did not limit His glory to this small Earth. On other planets other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did." (Don Nello Castello: Cosi parlo P.Pio, Vicenza 1974)

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='goldenchild17' post='1813907' date='Mar 22 2009, 04:37 AM']I tracked down the Pio quote to a book by Don Nello Castello entitled "Thus Spoke Padre Pio." He writes that someone in Padre Pio's confraternity asked him "Father, I thought Earth was nothing compared to the stars and all the other planets", to which Padre Pio replied "Yes, and if we leave the Earth we are nothing. The Lord certainly didn't restrict his glory to this little planet. On other planets, there will be beings without sin."

_______________

Apparently, so it says, the the following dialogue is documented and officially published by the Cappuchin Order (though I'm not sure where to find this record):
Question: Padre, some claim that there are creatures of God on other planets, too.

Answer: "What else? Do you think they don’t exist and that God's omnipotence is limited to this small planet Earth? What else? Do you think there are no other beings who love the Lord?"

Question: Padre, I think the Earth is nothing compared to other planets and stars.

Answer: "Exactly! Yes, and we Earthlings are nothing, too. The Lord certainly did not limit His glory to this small Earth. On other planets other beings exist who did not sin and fall as we did." (Don Nello Castello: Cosi parlo P.Pio, Vicenza 1974)[/quote]
And you know what's awesome? God chose to become a "nothing" on this "nothing" of a planet. Is there a better translation of these words? Sounds like he's really downplaying things.

[Veridicus]

I've always been under the impression that Original Sin threw a wrench into the very fabric of the cosmos itself...not just into what sits beneath our stratosphere...

[jeffpugh]

Yeah, really. Isn't there a scientific theory saying everything is in decay?

[Veridicus]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1817897' date='Mar 27 2009, 03:13 PM']Yeah, really. Isn't there a scientific theory saying everything is in decay?[/quote]

Well I don't know about a scientific theory...but that was kinda my understanding of Original Sin. There is the "Ultimate Heat Death of the Universe" thing though. That kinda smells of elderberries...

[MithLuin]

You are thinking of Entropy - the universe tends to disorder, because energy is required to create order. The Heat Death of the Universe occurs because for heat to be transferred from one object to another, there must be a temperature gradient - heat moves from warm objects to colder objects (never the other way around). Over time, everything would eventually become the same temperature, so heat could no longer be transferred. This would be.....bad.

Not gonna happen in our lifetimes, and humanity doesn't have to worry about it, because the sun will expand and gobble up the earth first. We've got less than 10 billion years on that, IIRC.

Skepticism is always warranted, and I become suspicious when people throw it out so cavalierly. Sure, people all over the world see strange things in the sky. Not knowing what you saw, and saying you know it's an alien (or a demon) are two rather different things. This doesn't mean that all UFOs are weather balloons, military tests or ball lightening, either. It means that people saw strange things that they cannot explain. Seeking out an explanation is reasonable. Accepting UFOs or demons as a catch-all explanation for a wide variety of reported phenomena shows...gullibility rather than a sincere interest in the truth. Perhaps that comes across harsher than I mean for it to. I am not saying that demons aren't real - they are. Likewise, aliens (even on earth) might very well be real. But I think such subjects should be approached with extreme caution.

It is very reasonable to consider the possibility of life on other planets. It is perhaps a bit less reasonable to assume that that means they are visiting us in secret. What is so interesting about this planet in particular, that lots of different beings would be dropping by regularly to observe us?

The possibility of unfallen races is very interesting. Before he fell, Adam was in perfect communion with God, and shared in the divine life of the Trinity (Eve too). To say that he 'didn't need God' would be to completely misunderstand his existence. The relationship of Creator to created does not necessarily include the need for a Saviour, true, but is not itself nothing.

Mary needed a Saviour to be created freed from original sin. Saint Therese needed a saviour to allow her to avoid falling into mortal sin. We are all fallen humans, and thus rely on a Savior for redemption. An unfallen race would be confirmed in virtue, like the angels, and thus would not need Jesus to die for them. What if there were fallen races on other planets? Would Jesus become Incarnate there as well? Is such an idea heretical...or acceptable?

[Veridicus]

Maybe the aliens are hush-hush because they follow a Gene-Roddenberry-esque Prime Directive. Maybe if we develope a warp drive they won't have to sneak around anymore...

I think C.S. Lewis wrote about this "unfallen extraterrestiral races" concept.

Outside of fiction, to me theologizing on UFOs and extraterrestrials seems a superfluity; there is nothing that I know of in Divine Revelation that suggests we should even be wasting our time bothering with the "what ifs" of extraterrestrial life and if they are in a state of grace or not. "Seek not the things that are too high for thee" (Ecclus. 3:22) and all that...

[Veridicus]

Good post though, MithLuin.

[Guest]

[quote name='Veridicus' post='1817350' date='Mar 26 2009, 07:20 PM']I've always been under the impression that Original Sin threw a wrench into the very fabric of the cosmos itself...not just into what sits beneath our stratosphere...[/quote]

Mabey it's possible an unfallen alien race could exist in another universe not effected by sin.

This would also leave the idea open that a fallen alien race could exist in this universe.

Possibly at war with each other ?

Edited April 15, 2009 by Guest

[Guest]

[i]my scientific mad mind keep my rhymes out of this world all the time come n hop in my spaceship
greyish blue exterior nothen really erier when you see it flyen nighttime in amazement
this is ancient mixed with some famous catholic hiphop this is hot like the rays
coming from the sun here it come like the rain when it's pouren on down thunderen in the basement
you better be when you see the thunderstrom comen
this flow like'a twista send everybody runnen
this that back against the wall spit hall of fame music
if rhymen is'a drug I O.D. I abuse it
no use for rehab im sick but im few n far in between the stuff you see'n on the tube
in the middle of the night no light just lies
got the remedy for that i'm not blind i'm baptised
i'm the child with the name of the King change the game
put the fame to the side got the eyes on the change
that's coming in the morning when we finally wake up
from this dream called life open your eyes n wake up
see it's not really real the ego just'a fiscad
and it edge God out becaue it wanna be God
it's the spirit vs the flesh its the devil vs Christ
it's the battle for our souls it's the dreaded antichrist
with the mark of the beast trying to put it in our forehead
or in our right hand after it the world whoren
babylon the harlot my witness i'm recorden
my voice go unheard but my legacy the story in the
book that you read that make the lifes last forever
this that revleation rap in'a poem in'a letter
in'a dream that I drempt while we were all here together
before God woke us up and everyting was all better [/i]

Edited October 11, 2009 by Guest

[Guest]

If aliens or other intelligence came here and denied Christ in any way we would know they were not of God. If they came here and claimed to be with Christ we would know it was a lie. What lies in the future you can never be to sure of. Look at all that has happened in 2000 years. When you really think about it nothing is really that far fetched.

[Sternhauser]

I've seen ball lightning before. Pretty interesting. Looked like a whitish-yellow ball of plasma. It just moseyed down the street for a few seconds at about 5 miles an hour.

I know two people who recently saw a "UFO" (most likely a military aircraft, in this case.) I walked up just after they had seen it. One of them said, in a getting-ready-to-go-to-bed-voice "I'm going to go have nightmares now." We all laughed.

~Sternhauser

[Laudate_Dominum]

As an extraterrestrial from the future I find this thread to be rather amusing.

Peace and long life friends.