Evolved or Created?

We know God created two forms of intelligent life – angels and mankind. Popular science fiction adds a third form of intelligent life that evolved – extraterrestrial intelligent life (ETIL).  It’s still fiction because even with all the billions of dollars spent in search of ETIL, none has been found. Christians should reject evolution due to its many scientific and biblical problems.  But is it possible that God created ETIL, popularly known as aliens, or any life for that matter, somewhere else in the universe?

Our Unique Earth and Mankind

 The earth is unique. There are many scientific facts that make earth uniquely suitable for life and scientific inquiry – its size and distance from the sun, its rotation, its water, its atmosphere, its magnetic field, a comparatively large moon, etc. God created it for the purpose of sustaining mankind and life in general (Isaiah 45:18). It was created before the sun, moon and stars. But God did not position the earth at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.  He did this intentionally, so we would be able to observe the stars and constellations and to learn about our universe. If we were near the center, the night sky would be too bright; if we were at the outer edge, the night sky would be too dim. The celestial bodies have a purpose to serve mankind – in maintaining his calendar and for agriculture and navigation (Genesis 1:14, 15). But of course, we must not worship (Deuteronomy 4:19) or give undue influence (i.e., astrology and horoscopes) to celestial bodies.

Mankind (men and women), made in God’s image, is His crowning creation. After day six of creation, God called His creation “very good” and He was finished (Genesis 1:31-2:1) – the Bible mentions no other life created by God. When Adam and Eve exercised their free will and chose to defy God’s command in the Garden of Eden, they unfortunately corrupted the human race (Romans 5:12) and the entire universe (Romans 8:20-22).

 The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ as a Man and His Redemption

 Even though Adam and Eve brought sin upon the entire human race (Genesis 3), God loved us so much, that He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to earth to redeem mankind from his sin (John 3:16). He took on Himself the form of a man (Philippians 2:7-8), not an angel, not an animal, and not an alien.  He lived a perfect life and died for mankind, not angels (Hebrews 2:14-17). He died “once for all” (Hebrews 9:26-28, 10:10; 1 Peter 3:18). He did not go to another galaxy to redeem another race of ETIL that had been corrupted by Adam’s sin. The alternative is that He created them, they were corrupted by sin, but He provides no redemption for them. How illogical!

 God – a purposeful Creator

Some might propose that God created ETIL without souls (which needed no redemption) or non-intelligent life. But God is a purposeful and orderly God. He is not arbitrary. Everything in the universe operates according to His laws and performs according to His plan and purpose (Ecclesiastes 3:1). He created the universe for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11) – especially mankind, for His glory. The earth was created to be under man’s dominion (Genesis 1:28), and for his benefit. This is true of non-intelligent life – plants and animals. Simply stated, the primary purpose of plants and animals is to bless and support man (Genesis 9:1-3). God always has a purpose in what he does. To create non-intelligent life by itself elsewhere in the universe, with no purpose whether it is the smallest bacteria or some “higher” animal, or soulless ETIL is inconsistent with God’s character and would serve no purpose.

 What about Aliens and UFO’s?

Since World War II there have been thousands of sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFO’s) and even reports of encounters with “aliens.”  People say this is proof that there is other intelligent life in the universe. The fact is that no UFO sightings have ever proven to be visits by intelligent beings from outer space. Honest research of UFO’s leads about 95% of the time to atmospheric phenomena (lenticular clouds, ball lightning, etc.), manmade objects or activities (usually military), or out-and-out hoaxes.

What about that 5% or so of unexplained UFO’s?  The naturalist explanations of these phenomena are intelligent beings (aliens) from outer space, and historically, the US government, through Project Blue Book, has tried to minimize, even cover up, unexplained UFO’s. But these few difficult to explain UFO encounters point to another source – demonic activity. Demons could certainly possess abilities and use machines (if desired) beyond human capability.  The demonic nature of “aliens” is also supported by a number of cases where they were repulsed when the name of Jesus Christ is invoked. The naturalist who denies the spiritual dimension would discount this explanation. But Christians, who understand the reality of the spiritual realm and spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:12), can understand this likelihood. Demonic encounters with mankind are described a number of times in the Old and New Testaments (Genesis chapters 3 and 6; 1 Samuel 28, Matthew 8, Acts 16 and 19, etc.). An encounter between angels and demons is mentioned in Daniel 10:12-13.

Although all Bible students are not in agreement on this, many believe the passage in Genesis chapter 6 referring to the “sons of God” likely describes fallen angels (demons) possessing men as part of a diabolical plan to corrupt the human race and spoil the Seed of Eve, the promised Messiah (Genesis 3:15, Galatians 3:16). God foiled their plot by chaining these demons for future judgment (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6), “renewing” the world through a worldwide flood, and preserving mankind through Noah’s family (Genesis chapters 6-8).

We might expect an increase in interventions by demons in these end-times. Most people will explain away this demonic activity as “extraterrestrial aliens.” It is even likely that when the rapture occurs, God will use this alien mindset to “strongly delude” the unbelievers left behind (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).  They might say something like, “those wicked and non-cooperative Christians were removed by our space brothers to make way for the New World Order.”

 Summary and Conclusion

The Bible and true science do not support evolution. Therefore, if extraterrestrial intelligent life exists, it would have to have been created by God. This is extremely unlikely given the uniqueness of the earth and mankind, the purposes for which God created man (intelligent life), animals and plants (non-intelligent life), and the redemptive plan through Christ. For life to be created elsewhere other than planet earth is totally unnecessary and theologically inconsistent and illogical.

Although there are some unexplained UFO encounters, these appear to describe interactions with mankind by fallen angels (demons), not space aliens. There are a number of encounters with demons described in the Bible. Unfortunately, people have been so inundated with the idea of aliens and extra-terrestrial life that many accept them and their evolutionary origin as fact. The truth is that any true “alien” encounters are demonic activity and should be treated as such.

Jack Snyder