Michael,
I always enjoy reading your posts as I
believe you possess a great sense of wonder about God, His Word
and His Creation.
I'm not sure we always reach the same
conclusions though. I would lean towards the conclusion
that we are alone in the universe, unique in His
Creation. Genesis declares that Eve is the 'mother
of all living', hence her Hebrew name.
Gen 3:20 KJV - [20] And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because
she was the mother of all living.
Of course the Bible doesn't seem to
be referring to any creature other than human.
However, we are unique in that we possess a soul, whereas some
other creatures only have emotion or instinct at the very
least. We were created in His image. Are there
little green men out there, sensient but soul-less? I hope
not. Are there little green men out there with souls,
living free-will lives who needed no redemption?
Probably not.
Rom 5:12 KJV - [12] Wherefore, as by one
man (Adam) sin entered into the world
(Greek - Cosmos), and death by sin; and
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Was it needful for Christ to bear the
cross for millions of civilizations spanning the Cosmos all
because of Adam's sin? How many times? Just once I
believe.
Rom 6:10 KJV - [10] For in that he died,
he died unto sin once: but in that he
liveth, he liveth unto God.
I'd rather tend to believe that if there
ever is a 'close encounter of the third kind' that the 'alien'
entity will be demonic unless God created a third-class of
beings related to niether humanity or the angelic-realm.
Were there other humanoid creatures prior to Adamic
humans? Genesis 6:4 differentiates between the 'sons of
God' (nephilim), which were NOT human but were close enough
genetically to procreate with humans, the 'daughters of
men'(Adamic). This is a great mystery, but could be the
answer to that third class of beings, the 'men of old'
(Enowsh). Ancient men of renown did descend from
Eve, but also something else. Do they still exist? I
don't know. IF they do come and are flesh, they came from
this planet first.
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On another note:
You rightly conclude that the Universe
appears older than 6000 years. The current estimate is
13.75 billion years old, which by my math is WAAAAY older than
6000 years, the latter encompassing only .000436% of
recorded history in the starlight. You used the
analogy that the universe was like a symphony, a design of
tablature with notes, waiting to be strummed by the Maestro's
wand at any measure of His pleasing. However, those things
we see and hear from the night sky aren't the like the static
notes on a page of music. They are physical EVENTS in a
REAL universe, governed by real physical law, which God
wrote. It is a slippery slope to say God created something
'AS IF' it appears something that it is not. That would
mean God is an illusionist rather than a
maestro. Psalms 19:1 says that the heavens declare
the GLORY of God and that the expanse shows His
handywork. God CANNOT lie. If the other 99.9999564%
of recorded history isn't real and never really happened,
then God isn't glorified and his handywork is really just a work
of fiction. On the other hand, all of the evidence
presented by his heavens for us to understand, paints the
picture of a real beginning. An atheist coined the
'Big Bang' as a durogatory term. Why? Because he knew
that if our universe had a physical beginning,
then that beginning EFFECT had to have a CAUSE. Logic
then could only conclude that the cause was something or someone
SUPERNATURAL, outside of our capability to understand by natural
laws.
If the universe is intended only as the
painted back-drop of this stage, where does reality begin?
You say the length of recorded human history, 6000 years, why
not only a few light years? Maybe only the light from Alpha
Centauri is real, with every other celestial event beyond that
just a movie of sorts? That worldview does not
glorify God. It isn't in His character to lie or
deceive. We read the passage that says God created the
heaven and the earth in 6 days, yet paint God in a box using the
brush of human experience. One day with the Lord is as a
thousand years, a thousand years as one day. How long then
is a day in the thousand year day, or the day in that one
infinitly? By Scripture, the sun, moon and stars are the
benchmarks by which we should measure time, therefore by some
standard they are invariable according to God. If the
standards by which he gives us to measure time yield a 13.75
billion year old universe then that is what it
is. It doesn't mean we evolved from pond scum.
I believe Adam was formed out of the 'dust of the ground', a
one-off creation fully functional and fully grown, around 6000
years ago based on Biblical genealogies (like
Tubalcain living at the beginning of the Bronze
Age). That dust of the ground though, the elements which are necessary
for life, were formed in more ancient stars by the physical laws
of God, who then molded them together at just the right time in
history and caused them to be Adam, breathing
life into dust, a vessel for our souls.
The bottom line is we can only be
dogmatic about what we know to be true. We weren't there
when he created everything, but we can see the stars and know
they show His handywork and declare His Glory and His
Truth!
YBIC,
Kevin H.
Job 38:1-4 KJV - [1] Then the LORD
answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, [2] Who [is] this
that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? [3] Gird up
now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer
thou me. [4] Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the
earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.