Earth 2.0

Does this affect your worldview?
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070424/D8ON8OSG0.html

For many Christians, the notion that we are the only planet with life is crucial to a biblical worldview. After all, if there is life on other planets (and that remains a huge IF for now) there would be some question about the biblical story of creation in Genesis...or would there?

Consider:

Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

Notice "the earth" is singular, and it certainly appears to be referring to our planet, not many of them. Additionally, the planet God created (and would later create Man to rule, posessed dry ground and waters he called "seas".

So, Genesis 1 describes our planet, but does it rule out other planets? Verse 1 indicates that he first created the "heavens" which might be interpreted as the entire universe, including other potentially habitable planets.

So what about life? Well life comes in many forms, we know through Scripture that we are created in God's image and given dominion over the rest of creation. If we ever do discover life on another planet, my belief is that it falls under the "rest of creation".

The question that is really tough to answer would be: What if we discover intelligent life on another planet? That opens a can of worms that I don't believe we can answer through scripture.

After all, wouldn't that intelligent life also need and be offered a Savior?

Interesting questions to ponder.

Additional reading material (for better or worse):
http://www.arn.org/docs/williams/pw_christianityspaceandaliens.htm http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0506301.htm
http://baliset.blogspot.com/2005/10/can-i-be-christian-and-believe-in.html#links