Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ukma!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: harling@pictel.uucp (Dan Harling) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Extraterrestrials and human religion Message-ID: Date: 26 May 91 05:20:33 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: PictureTel Corporation Lines: 57 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu I think that C. S. Lewis used this idea in one of his Space Trilogy books (I did not read the book; I just read ABOUT the book). I just thought I would interject some ideas, most of which are probably attributable to Lewis: As a result of Adam's rebellion in the Garden of Eden, God cursed the serpent (Satan), Adam and Eve, and the Ground. God's curse on the ground sounds arbitrary at first (the ground didn't do anything!), but I think that the first chapters of Genesis may help explain this. Adam was placed in charge of the Garden (Creation), to take care of it. He was God's representative to Creation (as a "vassal king?"). Perhaps the curse on the Ground indicates that Creation shared in Adam's Fall, for this reason. The question now is, how much of (or what part of) Creation fell with Adam? Were its effects felt only on the Earth, or did they touch the entire Universe, or somewhere in between? If the entire Universe were affected, then I suppose you could say that we pretty much screwed it up for everyone, if there were any other races out there. What if, however, there were a race unaffected by Adam's Fall? If this other race never fell, as Adam did, then they would be sinless and not need atonement, since they would still be in the state in which they were originally created. However, suppose that this other race had its own version of Adam's fall. What form would their salvation take? God sent his eternal Son to us as a man, so that he could be our representative, and bear the guilt of our sins. While I think that Jesus' death was sufficient for all men (whom he represented), I do not think that Jesus' death would apply to members of this alien race, since Jesus was our representative at Calvary, not theirs. This would not, however, preclude His doing the same sort of thing as a member of this other race, in their own world, for them. The sacrifice of God's Son, in a spiritual sense, occurs only once; His expression of love for his creation is eternal. However, the event in history in which the Son dies as a representative for a race would (in the above system) occur once for each race being saved. There is a reason that the Bible does not tell us about how salvation works with alien races, or angels, or rocks, etc.: because it doesn't concern us. I can sit here and speculate all day (well, at least a couple of hours!) on all of these matters, but I will never know any of it for sure. I do not claim that any of my speculations above are true; I only assert that they are interesting. Now, on to more important things (like going home and having dinner)... God Bless, ______________________________________________________________________ Daniel A. Harling PictureTel, Inc. Rockport, MA Peabody, MA Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of PictureTel, Inc.; they are MINE, ALL MINE! (So there.) ---- === ====