Young Ellie: Dad, do you think there's people on other planets? Ted Arroway: I don't know, Sparks. But I guess I'd say if it is just us... seems like an awful waste of space.
-- Contact
“Awful Waste of Space”
In my Philosophy Thru Film and Fiction class last fall we watched the movie Contact which is about what we would do with life on other planets or if we knew about life on other planets. One of the themes or major quotes was that if there wasn’t other intelligent life out there, “…seems like an awful waste of space.”
This movie had bothered me because I had grown up with the thought that Jesus died once and only once. For us. To think that there were other worlds out there that Jesus would have to die for as well…So when we read Religion and Rocketry by C.S. Lewis, I began to ponder it all anew. Are we the only race of intelligent living beings? If there weren’t other intelligent living beings, why did God create such a huge place? What does it say about us if we are the only intelligent race? What does it say about God? Or the inverse, what if there are other living beings out there in time and space? Were they as proud, ignorant and sinful as we are?
We often think well, Christ should have to come and die more than once. He came for us, we are special. When really, the fact that he had to come and die for us should really humble us. Maybe there are other planets out there where the life form isn’t dependant on God’s grace the way we are, and yet…what would that say about those creatures?
It is just interesting to think about how what we believe about the universe God created impacts how we see salvation and redemption. What would God’s purpose be in creating such a vast space? Just for his own pleasure? Because it is beautiful? It probably is still pretty tiny for him, but…We still have to think about why God created us.
What is our purpose? If we are the only living beings in the universe then God created us to do what? To entertain him? To serve him? To love him? For him to love? And if his love in endless, boundless, why would he not create numerous living, thinking, loving, breathing beings who he could love as well? Would that love constitute a saving grace for all of them? Or would some races be without sin? But then we come into the topic of sin, which is, in itself, another never ending tangent.
Our story begins in a small place -- a garden -- with only a couple of people in it. It continues as the story of God's dealings with Abraham's family and eventually the relatively small people of Israel. And yet we believe God is the God of all creation and of all peoples. This is puzzling. Given that we're already trying to figure out why the God of the universe became incarnate at only one place and time on our planet -- leaving many folks completely unaware of his coming -- all this reflection about other planets may only raise familiar points in an unfamiliar way.
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