As US President Trump ran for re-election last year, he promised that if elected, he would quickly release classified documents regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Jeffrey Epstein documents, and all Government-held UFO footage. One of these things is not like the others. Yet, a winning presidential contender found it to his advantage to cater to the widespread desire to finally know that “we are not alone” in the universe.

Which raises a question: Why do so many people seek affirmation that alien life exists? The Christian answers that being made in God’s image means humans are made for fellowship with their Creator. Therefore, those humans who deliberately reject the existence of a Creator find themselves with an empty place in their psyche, a hole they hope to fill when extraterrestrials possessing godlike wisdom, knowledge and power finally reveal themselves. Christians, on the other hand, may enjoy the idea of extraterrestrials, but in a universe filled with angelic beings, not to mention spiritual fellowship with God through Christ, they have no need for them.

Popular literature often is either a reflection of Biblical themes (think fantasy works by Tolkien and Lewis) or a parody of Biblical themes (think George Lucas with his Star Wars, or Lucas’ friend Steven Spielberg with his Close Encounters of the Third Kind). Speaking of Close Encounters, Spielberg, raised by Orthodox Jewish parents, used Devil’s Tower in Wyoming as a deliberate stand-in for Mt. Sinai, and the extraterrestrials were designed to take the place of God. 

To ensure the allusion was clear, Spielberg included an earlier scene with Cecil B. DeMille’s Ten Commandments playing on a TV in the background. And to complete the Close Encounters connection with Scripture, some interpreters have compared main character Roy Neary entering the UFO vehicle with Elijah going to heaven in “chariots of fire” (II Kings 2:11).

Similarly, Carl Sagan, who denied having a personal faith of any kind, did have a hunger to connect with personal beings beyond Earth. Though professing skepticism that extraterrestrials would ever be found, he nevertheless became an early advocate for using radio telescopes to sweep the skies to “hear” a coherent message from intelligent beings on other planets. Later, he worked with Frank Drake to formulate the Arecibo Message, beamed from Earth to the globular star cluster M13, just in case anyone was out there waiting to hear from us. Today, almost thirty years after Sagan died in 1996, the Carl Sagan Center continues to search for life beyond Earth.

As a Christian, I think it is possible that life could be found on other planets, but I think it is highly unlikely. The Bible presents God as two things: (1) the Creator of all that is, and (2) the God of the people of this earth. Even something as simple as the first phrase from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world,” seems to indicate that God’s love is focused on our planet and the people who live here. But what makes us so special? Why couldn’t God love extraterrestrial beings as well? 

The truth is that we are not special in ourselves, but God has declared that we are special to him. Think of the next part of John 3:16. How does it go? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” What does it mean that God gave his Son? It means that he sent his Son to become one of us, a fellow human being who would eventually offer himself on the cross to pay the sin debt for the human beings living on planet earth. Then, when Jesus rose from the dead, he was still in his human body. And when he ascended to heaven, he did so in that same human body, the one by which he had been born of Mary. In heaven, he presents the wounds on his body as proof that his saving work is complete. Moreover, the Bible indicates that he will serve as an incarnate, human High Priest forever. It is in Christ alone that we are made acceptable to God. 

Do you see now why it is difficult for me to believe in alien life forms? How could God relate to other life forms if the One Creator God gave His Son to our race? If there are other races elsewhere, did they also sin? If they sinned, are they damned forever? Or did God’s Son somehow also take on their flesh and die for them? If so, how is that even possible? The Holy Spirit can be everywhere at once, but a person in a body can only be in one place at a time. Not even Jesus can violate that rule. Thus, I think it is safest to say that if God only had one Son, and that one Son became one of us, died for us, and then went to heaven to represent us forever, He cannot be a Saviour for another planet or another race of beings. For that reason, I believe it is highly unlikely there are intelligent beings on other planets.

Human beings are fascinated by the potential of alien life because we were made for fellowship with a higher being. We were made to fellowship with God, but that relationship has been broken by sin. The only way back to God is through Jesus Christ, but a lot of people refuse that path and seek a way to ease their loneliness that avoids contact with a Holy God. However, I can assure you that if you do believe in Jesus, once you know Him, you will have an eternally satisfying relationship with your Creator, and you will never be lonely again.