Aliens and UFOs

Question

You have said at multiple times that you don’t believe in aliens or other intelligent life in the universe (except angels). With UFOs in the news again, can you explain why you think that?

Answer

Great question. I don’t believe that there is extraterrestrial life for several reasons. If we accept that the Bible is God’s word and carries all his authority, then there are some conclusions we can make even when all the details are not given. So here are some of mine.

1) We are told that God created the sun and moon for our benefit, to give us light and help us calculate time. The stars (and other planets) are mentioned without explanation, minimizing their direct importance for us (Genesis 1:14-19).

2) We are told that God created humans in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). While there is discussion about what all that means, angels are never described that way, and there are differences in how humans and angels are treated (explained below).

3) After humanity sinned, God announced that the redeemer of humanity had to be a human, so the eternal Son of God became human (added humanity to his deity), lived and died as a human, and rose again, ascended, and lives forever as a glorified human (John 1:1-3, 14-18; Hebrews 1:1-4). He did not become an angel, and it seems that salvation was not made possible for the fallen angels (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 12:7-9).

4) However, Jesus’ death did somehow bring everything (humans, angels, and the rest of creation) back in line with God (Colossians 1:19-20). That means that if there is non-human, non-angelic life in the universe, they are inferior to humans (big picture), and any potential for a right relationship with God is still connected through the God-man, Jesus.

5) We know that Satan and his angels were removed from their status in God’s presence but have not yet been confined to Earth, so their domain is our atmosphere and the universe. Satan is called the “ruler of the domain of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), the “god of this age” who “has blinded the minds of those who do not believe” from the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4), and the one who holds the whole world in his power (1 John 5:19). His angels have power both on Earth (as seen throughout Scripture) and in the air, even against other angels, and they influence human governments (Daniel 10:1-14).

6) Finally, the goal of Satan and his angels is to deceive and destroy people (Job 1-2; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15), and they will use whatever means necessary to accomplish this.

When we bring all that together, we can conclude that Satan and his angels have the ability, motive, and organization to deceive people into thinking there is intelligent, superior life outside of Earth to keep people from facing the need to believe in the true and living God and accept Jesus as the only way to become right with God. The concept of aliens and UFOs can be a method of blinding people from the important truths of salvation and living godly lives now in preparation for eternity with God.

While we do not have all the information we would like about the universe, everything God has told us is focused between Earth and heaven, including the entire company of angels. There seems to be no biblical support for other non-human beings except angels and especially nothing superior.