Full Disclosure
Oh, don’t get too excited; I don’t have anything to disclose. On the other hand, there is a new movie from Steven (Close Encounters) Spielberg that is meant to make us question our beliefs, a movie called “Disclosure Day.”
It may seem to some that I have recently relocated to a cozy dirt home under a rock, seeing that I haven’t heard of this movie until about 2 a.m. this morning. But I did watch the trailer that included Spielberg’s vision for the film. It also included the question, “What if it’s all true?”
What If Bones…?
Well, I don’t know what Steven Spielberg has been up to over the last sixteen years, but back in October of 2010 I published a post right here entitled “Dinosaur Bones Found on the Moon.” The intention of the post was to initiate thought, thought about how Aliens (or even bones on the moon) could affect our faith.
Many Christians hold a strongly anthropocentric view of creation that leaves little room for life on other planets. They limit all life, not just intelligent life, to the created life forms inhabiting Earth. The only exceptions are spiritual, angelic beings or demons. For some, even microbial extraterrestrial life would seem to create a major challenge to their faith.
However, the article I wrote back in 2010 presented reassurances that are as valuable today as they were back then. Because of God’s nature (without which He could not be God), whatever is out there would have had to have been part of His Creation.
The Creator and Sustainer
Speaking of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the Apostle John wrote:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. – John 1:1-3 KJV
There are multiple passages which affirm that not only the earth, but the “heavens” were created by the Word of the Lord and that all creation (which would necessarily include E.T.’s home planet) was made by the Word (Jesus) and for His pleasure.
If God’s sovereignty extends to the stars named in Scripture, then the question becomes: how far does that reach?
Heavenly Property Line
In Job 9:9 and Amos 5:8 we read that God, OUR God (the one in which we Christians place our trust), created “the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades.” These verses remind us that the God revealed in Scripture is not a local deity confined to Earth, but the Creator whose authority extends across the heavens themselves.
The Pleiades cluster is about 400 to 450 light years away. The stars in the Bear, or Ursa Major, are mostly around 80 light years away. But the stars in Orion vary widely, ranging anywhere from 500 to over 1,300 light years away!
So, just to put the whole idea into perspective, aside from all the other bodies of light in the sky, the God of Christianity would still be the God of any alien coming from a planet up to and including over 1,300 light years away.
Yet, that’s nothing compared to V762 Cassiopeiae. This one star, the farthest we can see with the naked eye in a dark sky, is at least 16,000 light years away!
But all this astronomical math becomes secondary when we remember that God, to be the God of the Bible, must be wholly distinct from time, space, and matter. Only God is eternal. Only God is omnipresent. Only God exists independently of creation and reigns over all things.
Even little green—or gray—men, if they exist, would still be part of the created order and would ultimately bow before the Holy One of Glory.
So no, I’m not afraid of a movie like Disclosure Day. What should concern all of us, including Steven Spielberg, is that Scripture repeatedly teaches that one day everything hidden will be revealed (Matt. 10:26; Mark 4:22; Luke 12:2–3; 1 Cor. 4:5).
One day, all that is hidden…will be disclosed.
If extraterrestrial life were ever confirmed, it would not dethrone God or undo the Gospel. It would simply mean that God’s creation is larger and more astonishing than we imagined.
The Recovering Legalist 