Alien Life and the Church

In a chat with a friend the other day we were discussing whether or not Christians need to grapple with the issue of alien life (intelligent or otherwise). Broad opinion was that it was necessary now more than ever as our technology is reaching the point of making the detection of such life an answerable possibility.

My original thinking was with regard to the detection of exoplanets (more being discovered all the time) and specifically to the first successful attempts to analyse the chemical spectra of the atmospheres of these alien worlds (water and methane have been detected for instance). Given that the form life takes on our world gives out key chemical signatures that would be detectable with the next generation or two of telescopes what would our reaction be if those signatures where to be discovered?

During the talk with my friend I realised (somewhat belatedly) that there is a more immediate possibility to consider - the Mars Phoenix mission that this week landed on Mars.

It is the most sophisticated laboratory that we have sent to another world and its primary mission is to examine whether or not Mars has an environment permissible to biological life. Clearly Mars cannot support large organic forms such as ourselves, but microbes are another matter entirely as they are highly adaptable to a wide range of environments.

Next week the lander will start digging beneath the surface of Mars to get at water ice located beneath the surface. It will run a battery of experiments on collected samples to see if it is possible that some form of life could be sustained in it. As a by-product it might also detect some form of living or ancient life.

Already the probe has uncovered what may be water ice directly beneath it so it will be quite exciting to see what the results of next weeks experiments will be.

Based on orbital scans from earlier probes Phoenix itself was sent to a specific region on Mars with a particular mission in mind. It is not a generic explorer like many other probes have been. Whether or not Phoenix itself finds anything conclusive it (along with the earlier orbiters that lead to its mission profile) demonstrates our physical and technical capacity to perhaps answer some questions of alien life and our own planet's uniqueness.

The same technology that is allowing us to land on other worlds and/or characterise distant worlds around other stars also allows us the real possibility of communication with intelligent alien life should it also be out there. In fact we have had that technology for decades now in the form of radio technology.

The same development of our technology for detection will also lead to increased capacity for communication. Our communications infrastructure and technology can be turned towards interstellar communications of one sort or the other should the need arise. Indeed, if the the need arises it will probably act as a driver for technological development into that field which would have knock on effects for the wider world just as the development of the jet engine at the close of WWII did for passenger aircraft and how NASA's Apollo programme spawned a load of spin-out technologies for the average consumer on Earth.

It strikes me that there has been only limited debate and awareness on these issues amongst academic circles in the Church and even less so at a more popular level. This probably reflects across society as a whole, but for Christians (although it shouldn't) it would probably rock many of us to our cores.

Given how this sort of thing could literally crop up 'next week' for example my concern is that we are unprepared for a confirming result. If such a result comes in we will be forced to confront and deal with the profound philosophical and theological implications such a discovery would throw up.

And at the moment, once again, the Christian community will be caught on the back foot.

Science and Religion Series

Regular readers may have noted/been thankful for a lack of new entries in this series. It has not been forgotten and I am still idling away on it in the background, but lately a lot of my time has been taken up by a different 'real life' science and religion project here in Edinburgh that I will hopefully be in a position to post up some details about next week.

Normal service will resume soon etc.

Women in Church Leadership

There's some good thoughts from Duncan on this topic over on his blog.

Head over and join in the conversation (eww!):

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

I plan on more fully responding to some of his thoughts on this blog at some point soon as they link in nicely with something I was already pondering posting about.

Great minds perhaps.

The Myth of Paradise and Perfection at Eden

The Garden of Eden. Grr.

Maybe I'm just noticing it more these days, or maybe it's tied into the green revolution or people are just genuinely mentioning it more and more, but it's really starting to bug me.

Not the literal or non-literalness of it nor even that it probably had (evil) sprouts and (vile) amphibians in it if it was literal, but rather that increasingly so I am noticing Christians becoming hung up on it and referring everything from the price of oil to chimeras to our 'deviation' away from it.

What do I mean?

Eden seems to be increasingly phrased and used in Christian circles as a utopian vision of perfection of the world, something we should all be aspiring to reclaim and something for us to be looking forward to.

This puzzles me slightly (or more than slightly) as:

1. It is not the end point described in Revelation - which is a city (more so a community I'd suggest).
2. Eden was not the world. Eden was a garden, a specified region of the planet not the whole thing. If Eden was a literal paradise for mankind to enjoy there was still a lot of planet outside it that wasn't. If not where we Adam and Eve banished to?
   
3. It was still a place within the world, which historical and physical evidence suggests is subject to other created yet non-traditionally paradise-type qualities such as life/death and natural disasters and thus subject to the same laws and so would have experienced the same phenomena. Did Adam ever stub his toe in Eden for instance? Or did the wind ever feel chilly at night?
4. According to Wikipedia (which we do indeed always take with a healthy pinch of salt) the association of Eden with Paradise is probably a later, somewhat dubious association anyway.
   

Why does it bug me? Mainly because it leads us to a rather narrow view of Christian life:

1. If we assume Eden was all there was and was an airy fairy paradise we have reason to fear death as we have indeed fallen physically far, far from that high standard and stand self-condemned. Additionally life becomes fleeting and pointless. For the Christian however life is not fleeting and death is not to be feared. Through Christ's atoning sacrifice we are saved from a spiritual death and without a physical death we cannot be fully united with him until he returns. I would also suggest that the Christian viewpoint of living for Christ in this world and experiencing life as a 'training ground' for the next is not an exclusively post-Christ viewpoint for life, rather it extends to before the time of Christ as well and indeed is one valued purpose of intelligent life in general.
   
2. Technology is something to be avoided (except when it does nice things for us, like give us iPods and email). Its a frustrating niggle, but I've seen it a number of times being discussed and promoted recently that we didn't "need" technology in Eden so why do we need it now? Well, God gave us intelligence and ingenuity to use so to not use them would almost be sinful, certainly wasteful and by using the gifts He has given us we in a fashion worship Him and thank Him for those gifts. Plus we have no idea what day-today life was like in Eden. If Adam used a walking stick to help climb a hill or a stone to break open some nuts would he have sinned? I hardly think so.
   

Rather than thinking of Eden as the pinnacle of physical paradise for humans I would like to suggest its point is instead to be more of a meeting place for God and humanity in the same way as God will live alongside us in the city mentioned in Revelation. As Hell is sometimes described as the absence of God, so Paradise can be thought of as being in the presence of God.

The pattern in the Bible seems to be of God directly extending His love and grace to ever increasing proportions of humanity:

• Eden - two,
  
• Noah - a bunch,
• Israel - one nation,
• Christ - for all who accept him.

At no point however does this exclude the existence of others outside that (more) special relationship nor that God was not in some fashion active and present with them (for good or bad).

It strikes me that the above is a pattern of increasing representation by individuals and people groups on behalf of humanity to God almost as if God is starting small (testing the waters?) and ending up with big things.

I'm sure the Garden was great in itself whatever form it actually was, but at the end of the day it is people and God's relationship with those people that is more important and in our own small fashion we have a contribution ('gardening') to make to that through witnessing to Jesus here and now in the present.

We need to stop wishing for a supposed Paradise existence that may or may not have existed and even if it did probably wasn't the be all and end all of everything nor for all. To sit around dwelling on it and cursing our alleged misfortune is wasteful and distracting. Philippians 3:12-21 comes to mind.

The Garden should not be our focus, rather the gardening we can do today should be.

The State of UK Science?

Somewhat tongue in cheek....

I wanted to look up some grant information on the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's website today but find it is currently unavailable for a total period of five days. Five days!! See screen grab below...

Now, I know the research councils are feeling the squeeze on their funding but not to be able to run their website off another server for that period is surely a slight indicator things are not going well?

At least the SFTC have a well known excuse..

EDIT: Upon further investigation it seems must of the physical/'real' sciences councils websites are down without an alternative for the period as well. Harumph.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Primarily from Luke 10: 25-37...

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'"

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbour?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A human happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, an android, when it came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a chimera, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man into his own vehicle, took him to a private hospital and took care of him. The next day he handed over his credit card and gave it to the hospital staff. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Risk is Our Business

What will we be like in 1000 years?

I've been thinking about what we as the Church might have gained or lost in how we use the Bible and how this has both influenced society as a whole and also shaped the history of the Church. Also I've been thinking (day dreaming) about what we might gain or lose in the future.

Probably the first thing that got me thinking was this book which really challenged me on how sometimes we can rely so much on the exact wording of our own personal Bibles in perfect modern English, when actually the original texts were in many ways so much richer and had a higher degree of depth than the somewhat more 'clinical' expressions of the same passages we have translated for us today carry. Both the book and in a recent sermon from our pastor it was pointed out this approach (originating through various well intentioned attempts to make Scripture accessible to the wider population) can aid us in our understanding by clarify matters to a certain degree we also need to be aware of what we might be potentially missing out on.

A fellow small grouper also pointed me in the direction of this post which brilliantly suggests that our current pattern of church owes much to the passing of Biblical knowledge to the masses via the shifting from an orally transmitted basis of understanding to a written form and how this was not only bought about by new technology (printing), but that that same technology totally transformed the rest of society as well. I find this sort of thing quite exciting as it illustrates how dynamic and plastic Christianity can be while still remaining faithful to its basic beliefs.

Another MBCer has been thinking about wider Church history as well which has provided food for thought and a good reminder of just how some of our 'traditions' and denominations are actually more recent innovations than we might at first think.

In my small group we are currently discussing the possible intersections and interactions between church, Christianity and culture based on a series from the Fermi Project's 'Society Room' materials. Next weeks topic is about looking ahead to the next 1000 years of Christianity and what it might look like given advances in technology and changing society.

I was reading through some of the materials for the topic last night and (it was late) I think it was asking about how we would/will treat Scripture if we all have it on an implanted memory chip for instant recall.

I think that the prospect of that - while initially unnerving for some - might actually help to recombine the old oral traditions with the recall of the written word and layer back in all the hidden meanings of the original texts. Plus access to a few thousand books and commentaries from the entire history of Christianity can't be a bad thing either...

Of course there is a difference between knowledge and understanding and there will still consequently be a need for engagement in a community of Christians to understand and fully appreciate the knowledge you now have - and to act upon it. Who knows what form this might take, but it is another reason for the church to keep operating with and engaging the wider culture and world around it.

The future facility for easy global communications (a fully bio-integrated Internet for example), coupled with such ready access to centuries worth of teaching, thoughts and experiences certainly opens the door to exciting new understandings and insights into Christianity as well as access to new means and methods to get our message across to the non-believer.

Too often the Church says a loud 'No' to every advance that comes along and then grudgingly portions of the Church begin to except it. Typically by then the world has moved on - increasingly so in our century.

This needs to change and I do see the beginnings of that in our present time, but it needs to be accelerated. Not just in terms of delivery method for our message, but also in applying that message to situations that are new and very different to what we have been faced with before.

P.S. Just a quick additional comment.. I realised after a bit more day dreaming that I myself am already changing how I physically access Scripture. At work I am behind biosecurity so there isn't much chance of getting a Bible in here to have at my desk so instead I've been using Bible Gateway online. As well as having several translations and versions of the Bible all in one place it includes several search functions which I make regular use of as well as dipping in and out. In fact I would say I already probably use this more than my printed copies of the Bible.