Life

[Mr 5 0]

I'm not quite sure if this is a gag or not but I'll be a sport and attempt to respond.

Originally posted by bigwhitecobra:

Is there life on other planets?

Seems like a simple question, right? Looks are very decieving.

To date, no evidence has been found (via space probes and the reams of datum from the Hubble) to prove there is or was life on another planet. That doesn't mean there isn't, just that if there is, it's nowhere near our solar system and we can't find it. Maybe we're not supposed to.

What constitutes life? How would you know it even if you saw it?

Life is constituted by the ability to grow and certainly, to reproduce. This can include the lowest form of plant life, as found in the bottom of the ocean. Sentient life is more complicated, of course. Science fiction offers non-corporal life-forms all the time, but that's fiction - based on a person's imagination and has no basis in provable fact.

If there is life on another planet, did God create it? If a living thing on another planet dies, does it go to heaven?

Now you're slipping into theology. I'm a Christian but I have zero desire to argue theology with atheists and 'agnostics' and all the other forms of non-Christian theology. I can only give you my personal opinion here. I believe that God created everything and that would obviously include 'life' on another planet. The bible tells us that only 'mankind' - humans, not animals or plants go to heaven, which is defined as in the presence of God and outside of time and space. Please understand that the bible was written for and is addressed to human being here on earth, not 'aliens' from another planet. If such people - creatures - exist somewhere, God created them and it will be His decision whether they go to heaven, or not. Not our concern.

If God didn't create life on any other planet, yet it exists, and someone visits that planet an dies, do they go to heaven/hell?

You're - deliberately or not - confusing the issue here. Christian theology states that God is omnipotent and created all things. As I've stated, if life exists on other planets (which I personally doubt) then God created it for His own purposes. Who goes to heaven or hell is up to God, not where they are located when they die. Stating hypotheticals that contradict each other simply confuses the issue.

Do single celled organisms go to heaven? If they do, then by default, won't some go to hell?

No. Again, you can disagree but as a Christian, I take the bible literally and it states, clearly, that mankind (humans) are made in God's 'image'. Not like Him but as he wanted us to be. Single-cell organisms don't come close.

My head hurts.

Serves you right for thinking up such esoteric, hypothetical questions that have little point.