Do the JW's officially have a stand on whether there is or can be intelligent physical life outside our planet? Would contact from or evidence of alien life fit in to what JW's believe and teach? Have they paved the way for the possibility that life may be found elsewhere in our solar system - intelligent or otherwise? I'm just wondering if future discoveries of this nature would cause any uneasiness for JW's or if the machine would just keep turning. I don't have any society publications, so if you find any quotes, please copy/paste the text. Thanks.
-Eh
What's the official stand on aliens
by Eh 42 Replies latest jw friends
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Eh
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Lady Zombie
I'm not sure if the organization has made any definite statements either way. My guess though is that they will say something like no one knows except Jehovah and how JWs shouldn't dwell on the question because it may take away from godly devotion (i.e. believing anything and everything the GB says).
Although I flirt with disaster by doing this, I always love to engage a JW, especially an elder, in a discussion about possible extraterrestrial life.
My father's best friend is an elder and he piped up once and said how he doesn't believe that there is any other life except us "because it isn't mentioned in the Bible."
I asked him if he ever heard of the Drake Equation. He hadn't. I asked him if he belived the universe to be astronomically huge. He did believe that and pointed out how that should be proof of Jehovah and how mighty he is.
I then showed him how statistically, the possibility is great that there are other civilizations out there. The numbers support it!
N = R* f p n e f l f i f c L
where,
- N = The number of communicative civilizations
- R* = The rate of formation of suitable stars (stars such as our Sun)
- f p = The fraction of those stars with planets. (Current evidence indicates that planetary systems may be common for stars like the Sun.)
- n e = The number of Earth-like worlds per planetary system
- f l= The fraction of those Earth-like planets where life actually develops
- f i = The fraction of life sites where intelligence develops
- f c = The fraction of communicative planets (those on which electromagnetic communications technology develops)
- L = The "lifetime" of communicating civilizations
I then quickly pointed out, that even if there were, they're so far away from us that it is highly unlikely humankind will ever encounter them.
Unless of course they, or we, figure out how to cross vast distances in space/time, and actually do it.
You should have seen the look on the elder's face!!!!!! It was priceless. The other JWs around within ear shot (my folks included) were absolutely aghast. I was chided later by my folks not to "use my secular education to provoke."
WELL, I HAD A POINT DAMMIT!!!!!!!
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Lady Zombie
Oops, I forgot to give you a link.
http://www.setileague.org/general/drake.htm
If you Google 'Drake Equation' you find tons more!
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Sirona
Ah well I remember an article from when I was a dub...
It suggested that UFO experiences were demonic....
Blondie? can you help?
Sirona
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digderidoo
I remember many years ago an article mentioning it in the WT study. It mentioned about angels etc. but then i can't remember whether it was the article or the platform saying that we don't know whether there are other civilisations out there. The general consensus was that there could be, but we don't know.
Paul
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Lady Zombie
Carl Sagan explained and demonstrated it in a very accessible manner.
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hamsterbait
The official stand at present is that they don't exist.
Jehoobie would have told his prophets otherwise.
They produce arguments that we have had radio and TV for 100 years and heard nothing.
All that proves is there are no intelligent life forms with radio or TV within 50 light years.
If life remains or life on Mars is found, I should love to see them wriggle out of the one...
They lack either the education or imagination to see beyond the "UNIVERSAL WITCHTOWER CLOSET"
HB
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BabaYaga
Bump to quote Lady Zombie: "I was chided later by my folks not to "use my secular education to provoke."
Dear gods this is priceless!!!
Cheers,
Baba. -
yknot
For a discussion of UFO’s and extraterrestrial life, see the April 8, 1990, and November 8, 1990, issues of Awake!I
You have a PM too
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Awakened07
They have the whole 'universal sovereignty' thing that needs to be settled on earth before any other intelligent beings on the same footing as humans would be created. I think they'd say "Earth was made for mankind, but the heavens for God". It all started with earth to them. After all, "In the beginning" the universe was made, then we go directly to earth, and then stars were created after. So mankind is kinda the pinnacle of creation at least so far to them. It started here, the big questions are answered here, and then perhaps things can happen on other planets later. There was a short paragraph in a book study once mentioning that mankind might at one point colonize other planets in the future, with God's help of course.
What would happen if we do actually find life on Mars for instance, however tiny, I don't know. They would probably tell their readers not to think about it, just as they are not to think about how animals were all once herbivores and how that worked out. Why God would create microbes on another, otherwise lifeless planet would be a big question. Then again, it's really an equally big question why he bothered to make any other planets before the 'universal sovereignty' question was answered, when no one is going to live on them for perhaps thousands of years after it's all settled. I mean, he could just create the planets directly as the need arose.